When Magic is not Enough

I have not written many fantasy stories over the years. Most of my stories fall into the mystery/crime and science fiction genres. The few stories I've written that might be considered Fantasy tend to be plotted more like historicals, such as the Kira stories, which are set in the Bronze Age and follow a female warrior (pre Xena), or the Tawa stories, which feature an indigenous North American girl transported to a prehistoric Europe. They feature ancient tribes and fabulous creatures, sometimes edging into science fantasy, as in the case of "Twilight Journey," but rarely involve traditional magic, which is at the heart of classic high fantasy.

But not all my fantasy stories are bereft of magic. A few feature traditional magic prominently or have plots in which magic is central to the story. In "The Demon of Don't Ask," which appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, the magical system was provided to me because it was set in a shared universe. In other stories, I have been on my own and I did what I always do -- research research research. Yes, I do love to research.

The book I most often turned to for magical verisimilitude was The Magician's Companion by Bill Whitcomb. It contains all that's needed for myriad magical systems, plus provides the tools to customize one's own system. Even in those stories where spells and incantations were not used, it helped in setting up a mindset for those characters to whom dwelling in a magical world was as natural as breathing.

Another book that has proved very helpful over the years is Magic: An Occult Primer by David Conway. This book I have had a very long time. I purchased it from a bookstore in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in the mid 70s. At the time, I was stationed at Ft Devens. On the weekends, when were given time off, we spent our time in various little towns. Littleton was the nicest town we visited, but it was out of the way, and Fitchburg was more convenient. One of the attractions was that there was a bookstore within walking distance of the motel. This was the main book I used as source material when writing Murderer in Shadow, fourth book in the DCI Arthur Ravyn series. Though it is a cozy police procedural novel and not fantasy, the setting is an English village where magic (or the belief in it) is part of everyday life.

Magic is not always confined to books. Some people believe in magic just as others hold to Christianity, Islam or Science. I don't believe in magic myself, but as the protagonist of Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife (filmed as Burn Witch Burn-US and Night of the Eagle-UK) discovered, reality is not as important as belief. And I have known a few people personally who followed Wicca and Paganism. And, once, I met a young man who had been cursed by a bruja, a Mexican witch.

At the time, I handled payroll for about 500 people, and the young man was one of our laborers. One day, his supervisor came to me and told me Juan was having some performance and behavioral issues. That was too bad, I said, because he seemed like a nice young man and had always been a model employee, but what did that have to do with me? Certainly, they were not thinking of terminating him without giving him a chance to redeem himself? After all, we had a lot of long-time employees that were professional goldbricks and ne'er-do-wells, and they were still on the job, at least when they deigned to put in a workday. No, you don't understand, I was told, Juan has been cursed by a witch, and I need you to lift the curse.

I don't often tell people I'm a writer, but word gets around. Mostly, it's because I don't want to read their manuscripts and screenplays. But, as I found out, there are other reasons. I said I did not want to get involved, that I did not believe in curses, and that, even if I did believe in curses, there was nothing I could do about lifting one. But, in the end, I was drafted into the scheme to free Juan from the power of the witch, who, as it turned out, was his girlfriend's grandmother, a bruja of great power from the interior of Mexico and who disliked him intensely.

The supervisor had no idea what we going to to do, but I did. I arranged for the supervisor to bring him to my office that Friday. That gave me a little time to research Mexican magic. Not surprisingly, I had just the book I needed in my library. Friday rolled around, and Juan appeared in my office on time, and, much to Juan's surprise and consternation, I dismissed the supervisor.

For someone as young and impressionable as Juan, a supervisor was almost a demigod. For me to dismiss him, and him obey as quickly as he did, elevated me in the young man's eyes. Most employees never darkened headquarters' door, so it was almost as if Juan had been transported to some supernal realm. And to Juan I was...well, I was odd. I wore a glittering blue coat, a silk cravat with an Eye of Horus pin and a fez with a mystical symbol on it. For the past few days, the supervisor had played me up as a master of the occult. From the look in Juan's eyes, I judged he had reached the proper mindset.

Belief is everything, and when it came to magic and the occult Juan had belief in spades. During my talk with him, I learned that his girlfriend's grandmother did not approve him as a suitor. He had been a bit doubtful about her at first but understood her terrible powers when he saw a goat floating upside-down with candles on its hooves. And that was not all the wonders she showed him...yes, she was very good at manipulation. Then she cursed him and he knew he was doomed. All the bad luck and misfortune was all the proof he needed, but he still loved the girl.

It never does any good to talk True Believers out of anything, so I did not even try. Instead, I gave him the magical parchment I had prepared, had him read it seven times while facing each of the four cardinal points, then told him to burn it in a copper vessel I'd brought to work. We took the ashes outside, buried them in the shade of a cactus, and repeated the Lord's Prayer to the four cardinal points. Afterwards, I gave him several small white stones and had him arrange them in a cross over the ashes. 

After that, I heard nothing but good reports about Juan. He was back to being the good employee he had been before being cursed. He also got back together with his girlfriend. The grandmother still thought him an idiot and did not approve, but she had no hold over Juan. He believed his magic was greater than hers, and that was all there was to it.

I really wish I could say that Juan got promoted, that he and the girl got married and that they went on to a long and happy life. Yeah, I wish. We don't need witches or curses to bring tragedy into our lives. Juan had never been part of a gang, though gangs were a part of his culture. Often, avoiding a gang is as dangerous as joining a gang. In July of that year, shortly after the holiday, Juan did not show up for work. A few days later, his body was found in the trunk of a stolen car abandoned out on Otay Lakes Road. The murder remains unsolved.