That said, the meaning of words is also important in magecraft. Naturally, any student will glean something of the incantation's purpose once they read the text, but Merlin's secondary aim is for Watanuki's unconscious to also its job in getting comfortable with the idea of casting spells before bridging the gap between that and the effort to memorize syllables through a demonstration.
While it's good that Watanuki doesn't tolerate bullshit, banking too much on that kind of thinking can also get in the way of a mage fully committing (so to speak) to a spell. Everything must be in moderation, including skepticism.
As for the book: Merlin's helpfully translated it into modern English. Eastern magecraft is better tackled through their talisman maker's borrowed dreams, and he's not about to let his student trip over Welsh or something more archaic. One language and writing system at a time!
(Hope you like poetry, Watanuki, because that's about two-thirds of the book. And feel free to enjoy the nice illustrations. Lots of nice flowers, vines and Celtic knots on the borders, text intersparsed with various sketches, symbols and diagrams.)]
no subject
[As a frame of reference.
That said, the meaning of words is also important in magecraft. Naturally, any student will glean something of the incantation's purpose once they read the text, but Merlin's secondary aim is for Watanuki's unconscious to also its job in getting comfortable with the idea of casting spells before bridging the gap between that and the effort to memorize syllables through a demonstration.
While it's good that Watanuki doesn't tolerate bullshit, banking too much on that kind of thinking can also get in the way of a mage fully committing (so to speak) to a spell. Everything must be in moderation, including skepticism.
As for the book: Merlin's helpfully translated it into modern English. Eastern magecraft is better tackled through their talisman maker's borrowed dreams, and he's not about to let his student trip over Welsh or something more archaic. One language and writing system at a time!
(Hope you like poetry, Watanuki, because that's about two-thirds of the book. And feel free to enjoy the nice illustrations. Lots of nice flowers, vines and Celtic knots on the borders, text intersparsed with various sketches, symbols and diagrams.)]