Originally published at: Elemental Magic in the Briarverse: Thought - Ackerly Green
This week, we’re getting even more meta than usual and doing some thinking about the magimystic element of Thought.
Element: Thought
Associated Guild: Thornmouth
Associated Magimystic House: House of Reflection
Associated Time of Day: Night
There’s a weird kind of irony in spending a whole post reflecting on the element of Thought, which makes it feel as though there should be something inherently magical just in writing this post. In a sense, this is true about the way that the magimystic element of Thought functions in the Briarverse. It’s one of the more non-traditional and conceptually intangible of the six, and yet, Thought is arguably the most accessible of them all. Who among us can ever really escape the persistent barrage of our thoughts? In the Briarverse, rather than attempting to staunch that steady stream, we recognize the magic in letting it flow.
Ruled by the magimystic House of Reflection and associated with Thornmouth—the guild best known for its thinkers, readers, and scholars—the element of Thought derives its power from centuries of knowledge, passed down and imbued with the magimystic contributions of each generation. There is a reason the acts of reading, learning, and expressing an idea tend to feel borderline magical for some people, especially new or unrealized Thornmouths. It’s because there is raw, elemental power in those actions, in acknowledging the revelations of those before us and offering up the magic of our own unique perspective to the communal wealth of magic. It has even been hinted recently that, in this new age, the process of harnessing and wielding magic may now simply boil down to “a new way of thinking,” as a recent missive from Eaves has relayed.
The raw energy of Thought also serves as the building block for other more specialized magimystic powers in the Briarverse, many of which are still unknown to us in full. One that we know for certain to have encountered is the power of telemancy, as witnessed in the Cagliostro’s assistant, Lauren Ellsworth. While the exact scope of her powers both before and after her assumption of the Cagliostro title remains unclear, we know that it was a gift she was born with, and one that had, in the past, allowed her to influence and manipulate the minds of those around her. With that immense, unrefined power as a foundation, we can only guess at the kind of elemental strength the manifestation of Thought will have afforded Lauren’s newly amplified capabilities as the Cagliostro.
And manifest it will, because that is the unique power of Thought as an element. At its simplest, the act of performing magic with Thought really is as simple as thinking, as envisioning how you wish to see the world affected and sending the energy of that intention out into the Aether. Your process may vary depending on your medium of choice: journaling, meditation, candle lighting, or sigil forging, but the resulting flow of magic is the same. There’s a reason that intention and storytelling are two of the most influential factors in magimystic work in the Briarverse: at their most fundamental level, they represent both the energy and the manifestation of Thought as an element. And while the idea of receiving back what you put out into the world is not unique or new to the Briarverse by any means, it is certainly in line with the spirit of magimystic solidarity we derive from working together as a community.
We’d love to hear about any of the ways you consciously incorporate the magic of Thought into your routines, both magimystic and mundane. I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of our Elemental Support Network, which takes special advantage of the power of combined intention to reflect on and channel the respective energies of whichever element is needed in our community at any given time. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back next week for the last post in this series, exploring the classically chaotic nature of The Wilds!