The Spheres of Influence
(WARNING: LIGHT SPOILERS)
The magic system in The Witch of Cheyne Heath series is based loosely on the Tarot. The psychospiritual force behind all magic, known as Influence, is governed and doled out by supernatural beings that emerge from the deep psychological substrata of the human psyche.
Long ago in prehistoric times, a sorcerer of the British Isles designed and forged an artifact that would take the wild magic of the world and tame it just enough that women and men could harness its power.
Because Influence comes from the human psyche, it’s subject to the archetypal forces that govern mankind, and the harnessed wild magic began to divided itself into different houses, the Spheres, each with a different area of effect.
The tarot offered the perfect map for those archetypal forces, so I used the major arcana as models for each of the Spheres. The major spheres of Influence:
- Chaos
- Making
- Mystery
- Abundance
- Authority
- Faith
- Devotion
- Will (though this Sphere was excised from the pantheon by the Convocation of Saints after the rebellion of John Grey in 1643.)
- Strength
- Introspection
- Fame and Fortune
- Law
- Surrender
- Transformation
- Desire
- Liberation
Each sphere has a saint, a sorcerer who takes an Oath of Fealty to the Lord or Lady of Influence of one of these houses. Each saint can then initiate acolytes, who take their own Oath of Fealty to the saint.
The Craft of witches, is an entirely different story…
Below is the inspiration board for the spheres of Influence I used while writing the series.
