INSTRUMENTS

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Belief envisions, practice inspires, and tools perform. All three elements allow a mage to focus Will and knowledge into Effects. And although any human activity can provide a tool for an imaginative mage – so long as that instrument fits the mage’s beliefs and practices – certain tools hold honored and popular places in magickal practices of all kinds. As suggested by its root word instruere (“to prepare”), an instrument is a tool or set of tools that prepares an act of magick or hypertech. That instrument doesn’t have to be a physical object – it could be a dance, a song, a prayer or invocation, an intense glance, a scent, a formula, a gesture or word or handful of ash. The potential variations among such tools are more or less infinite. If an object or activity can be used to capture an intention and bring it into being, then that object or activity can be used as an instrument. Symbolic Power of the Instruments Many tools carry symbolic weight, granting them significance beyond their practical utilities. Sure, a sword can kill you, but the mystique of certain swords can cut deeper than the blade itself. There’s a huge symbolic difference between a katana and a butcher’s knife, and that difference often influences a person’s choice of instruments. In game terms, such tools tug at Mythic Threads, adding their symbolic presence to the raw Will-power of the mage. By extension of that symbolism, certain instruments define certain groups: Etherites have their goggles; witches have their wands; agents of authority have their dark suits and mirrorshades, and all those trappings create a sense of group identity. For many people, this sense of identity bonds them to the group. Symbolic instruments, then, can be like gang colors, offering a shout-out to your sect of choice.

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COMMON INSTRUMENTS

When picking out the instruments that suit your mage, check out the following entries. People, after all, do not select their most important tools without good reasons for using them. Most instruments have symbolic and cultural significance as well as practical applications. Once you start to recognize such factors, you realize how deep a mage’s toolkit really goes… Common instruments include:

 

Armor: Protective devices can shield a mage and her allies from harm. Such instruments range from self-powered exo-suits and enchanted plate armor, hypertech fabrics, or specially reinforced clothing, to the bulletproof “ghost shirts” or woad body-paint designs intended to protect warriors in battle. As a tool for Awakened focus, the armor in question must be created or modified by the Spheres to provide additional levels of protection. 

 

Artwork: Drawings, paintings, CGI, sculptures, graffiti, and so forth allow a mage to capture his intentions in a visual medium. One of the oldest mystic tools (as shown in prehistoric cave-paintings and goddess figurines), artwork often draws upon the principle of connection: by depicting your subject, you attach your intentions and desires to it through the art. Artwork also influences the human condition by appealing to people (or disturbing them) when they recognize the symbolic energy of a piece. 

 

Blessings and Curses: Bestowing favor or inflicting bad luck – especially through the power of gods or spirits – remains a potent form of magick. And so, when people see witches, clergy, gamblers, and hoodoo-folk call upon God, Fate, and Fortune, they’re inclined to believe in the results. In game terms, blessings and curses tend to be coincidental. After all, superstition and religious awe are universal, even in these supposedly civilized times. 

 

Blood and Other Fluids: Sweat, tears, blood, semen, saliva, pus, urine, bile, marrow, sap… through such fluids flow the essence of life. Sure, they seem disgusting to most folks, but mages – especially ones who practice medicine work, biotech, or primal magick – recognize their power. DNA, viruses, life force, the generative capacities of living things – all manifest in such organic fluids, so many practices employ those liquid instruments… possibly distilling them down to Quintessential Tass, painting with them, drinking them, drawing them out of the body, releasing them in acts of gory sacrifice, or otherwise opening an organic vessel and letting the magick flow.

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Bodywork: Massage, energy-sharing, chiropractic medicine, acupuncture and acupressure, yoga, and other disciplines of body manipulation allow a person to influence mental and physical health, stimulate organic functions, establish or reinforce intimate bonds between the practitioner and his subject, and simply help people feel better about themselves. As a result, bodywork forms a centerpiece for several mystic practices, especially ones that – like martial arts, shamanism, witchcraft, yoga, and certain types of medicine work – favor vitality over external tools. 

 

Bones, Skins, Organs, and Other Remains: Like bodily fluids, the physical pieces of a living (or once-living) thing contain potent magickal significance. After all, such remains facilitate life, and so they also focus the life of a spell. As a result, they often get converted into ritual instruments of many different kinds. Books might be written on flayed skin; dusts can be ground from powdered bone; items could be crafted out of organs or skeletal remains. It’s gruesome, sure – but it’s also quite traditional. Creepy mystics aren’t the only folks who do this sort of thing, either… are they, Dr. Frankenstein? The literal structures of life play important roles in magick, science, and religion, no matter how macabre that role might seem.

 

Books, Scrolls, and Periodicals: Is print obsolete? Not even close. Although e-books and PDFs comprise a wider range of texts now than they did even a decade ago, the printed word retains a mystic significance that those digital media have yet to achieve. In older days, books were like magickal items: rare, expensive, exclusive to a certain class of people (those who could read), and able to transmit arcane lore through an apparently supernatural method. Mages, then, were an elite class simply because so many of them had, and could employ, books. Since the advent of mass publication in the late 1700s and mass literacy in the 1800s, most of the glamour has faded. And yet, when people seek deeper truths and fictions, they still turn to da Vinci codes, boy wizards. and Middle Earth. Even the rougher voices on the socio-political fringe publish books in order to seem more respectable. Talk is cheap; writing is respected. 21st-century mage periodicals range from e-books of shadows to SF/ fantasy lit, computer manuals, magazines and e-zines, occult tomes, aged grimoires, ancient scrolls, downloadable PDFs, print-on-demand texts, graphic novels, and even game books like this one. Many feature the occult lore of ages, whereas others present pop philosophy, subversive concepts, historical information, cataloged facts, and any other subject that can be presented in written form. Within the last 30 years, incredibly rare arcane texts have popped up on big-box bookstore shelves all around the world, so any mage who takes herself seriously
has a library of some kind. 

 

Brain/ Computer Interface: An emerging technology among the Masses, BCI is a common tool among certain Awakened factions, especially the Virtual Adepts, Iteration X, the Syndicate, and the NWO. Microtechnology – usually a bush of carbon nanotube bundles spread throughout the brain – transmits electrical signals from the brain, interprets them through a computerized interface, and allows for physical manipulations or virtual functions through brain power alone. Enlightened BCI lets the user tap into computerized systems through mere thoughts, manipulate cybernetic gear, access wireless Internet networks, and record or transmit impressions into or out of the brain. Essentially a technological synthesis of telekinesis and telepathy, BCI requires specialized equipment and training to employ. Electrical surges can damage or even destroy it; neurotoxins disrupt its functions; and radio transmissions can hack into the interface, cause it to go haywire, or override the primary user’s commands. As an instrument, it’s invisible to the human eye but discernible to electronic monitoring gear. And although it allows for a hands-free approach, its limitations become pretty obvious when the user tries to employ it in areas without advanced tech, regions with tech-hostile realities, or places without net access. Because it literally messes with your brain, many mages consider BCI anathema. Even among allies, the debate about such technologies can get pretty heated. Does BCI turn its user into a tech-addled posthuman, or is it simply another step in human progress, like language, printing, or the Internet? Regardless of such objections, brain/ computer interface is a viable tool for the 21st-century technomancer – borderline coincidental so long as it’s used invisibly, and potentially gamechanging for the future of humanity. 

 

Brews, Potions, Powders, and Other Concoctions: Blending various ingredients into potent concoctions, the archetypal witch’s brew and its many permutations – goofer dust, corpse-powder, dragon’s blood, beer, wine, love philters, mystic potions, and the diverse medicines, foods, and beverages found across the world – present an obvious tool of magickal intent. Regardless of the purposes or composition involved in a given concoction, the process of turning many things into one thing reflects a sort of magic. For that reason, mythology often credits gods and wise-folk with the creation of beers, foods, and medicines. In game terms, any sort of mage can use such refreshments. Holy water, love potions, hypermeds – they’re all refinements of the same basic idea: mix it up, drink it down, and watch things change! 

 

Cards, Dice, and Other Instruments of Chance: Probability holds a sense of wonder, even for the Masters of Entropy whose Arts direct it, to a certain degree. The fickle hand of chance represents the randomness principles of the universe, so its talismans – dice, tokens, thrown bones, drawn straws, divination sticks, and, of course, the symbol-flashing cards – reflect command of destiny. Fate appears to speak through these instruments, and they become potent tools of omen and prophecy. Traditionally, a caster mixes up the tokens into an apparently random selection, then draws a certain number of them in order to find out what he needs to know. That mage could cheat, of course, removing the random element from the task. Still, instruments of chance present a dramatic focus for intentions – witness the gambling-hall scenes in Run Lola Run or Casino Royale – especially when big things depend upon the turn of a friendly card. Cards, given their visual focus, are especially vivid instruments – particularly the symbolic portents of Tarot or other oracular cards. Even normal playing cards, though, can be incredibly evocative, reflecting cosmic tales of sex, violence, desire, and royalty in a few simple icons that find their way into popular mythology. 

 

Celestial Alignments: What’s your sign? Long before books or machines became common tools, mages read, focused, and calculated the schedules for their rituals by the dance of planets and stars. Even now, when modern science has supposedly disproved the old cosmologies – at least on the mortal side of the Gauntlet – the old mystique of horoscopes, the brilliant possibilities of Hubble telescope photos, and the eldritch mysteries of deep space continue to influence mystic and scientific practices, conjuring insights and miracles when the stars are right. 

 

Circles, Pentacles, and Other Geometric Designs: As the archetypal symbol of unity, the circle shows up in mystic practices everywhere. Enclosing workspaces, sigils, ritual areas, and other regions in circles, spell casters secure that space within spheres of their intentions. Meanwhile, other circular designs – rings, belts, linked hands, dancing circles, even circular movements and sung rounds – provide similar enclosures that seal an intention with an activity. Other geometric shapes – triangles, squares, hexagrams, pentacles, and so forth – seal different sorts of activities. Symbolically, those shapes (which appear in scientific formulae too) represent cosmic principles by mathematical designs. Squares reflect stability, rectangles present expansive yet secure areas, crosses signify intersecting forces, triangles direct energy, and combinations of those designs – as seen in yantras, mandalas, sand paintings, and other ritual diagrams – combine several forces into unified wholes… wholes often surrounded by a circle. Certain ritual practices, especially in High Ritual Magick, demand elaborate designs that must be traced and crafted to exacting standards. Such designs can take hours or even days to create, and they often become permanent parts of a ritual space. In symbolic architecture, the space itself might be crafted into the design – a common practice among Freemasons and other artists of sacred geometry. Temples, cathedrals, Chantries, and other important buildings become massive works of symbolism… which, when you think about it, says volumes about the mystic dimensions of Washington DC.

 

Computers and IT Gear: The essential tech of the 21st century, computers and other elements of Information Technology form the basis for Consensus Reality in our age. For obvious reasons, then, mages use computers for everything from data storage to social transformation. Not long ago, such machines were toys for a privileged few. Now, almost everyone within the industrialized world has at least access to a computer, and many folks use them on a daily basis. Magickally speaking, computers store and manipulate data like handy household gods. Using arcane calculations and alchemical technologies, they transform every sphere of life they touch. The industrial world depends upon computers nowadays – they run cars, manage banks, link people, and allow for a global community that, within living memory, used to be impossible. These portals of Hermes let tech-savvy mages sidestep physical reality, not only through the Digital Web itself but through common miracles like smart phones, laptops, and streaming media. And so, in our new millennium, a mage can use a computer for damn near anything if she’s good enough at what she does. Connected to the computers themselves, the ever-growing network of clouds, sites, sectors, and connections holds an expanding universe of virtual potential. And though the gleeful prognostications of early cyber-visionaries bear little resemblance to the Internet we know today, that technology is just a few decades old. What might happen when and if the Masses catch up to the Awakened in terms of Internet Enlightenment? That potential, and its practical applications, still seem very much like magic.

 

Crossroads and Crossing-Days: Intersections are powerful. Areas and times in which one element or energy crosses over another one, or even several, herald passages, transitions, and transformations. Clearly, such transitions are magickal – liminal spaces where options and choices multiply. As a result, crossroads and transitional periods – midnight, dawn, New Year’s Eve, certain holidays – provide focus for mystic workings. Rituals often seem most significant when performed in such places or times.

 

Cups, Chalices, Cauldrons, and Other Vessels: Practically and symbolically, the many vessels we create to hold and carry things – especially water, the liquid upon which human life depends – hold potent significance for both mystic and scientific practices. Cups, goblets, chalices, and cauldrons have deep associations with birth and renewal, feminine energy and fluid potential. For examples, look no further than the Holy Grail, the witch’s cauldron, Baba Yaga’s pot, or the singing bowls of Tibet. On the technical end, vats, beakers, crèches, and test tubes contain their own mystique… witness the phrase “testtube baby” or the image of vat-brewed clones. And so, mages of many kinds use vials, bottles, pots, and beakers to work their Arts, often combining those instruments with brews, water, and various concoctions in order to turn one thing into another. 

 

Dances, Gestures, Postures, and Other Movement Practices: Movement unites the body, mind, and life force into a flowing whole that breaks physical stasis and opens channels of vital energies. Dance – often driven by Music – sends the body into ecstatic flight. Postures and katas – specifically those taught in yoga, t’ai chi, and various martial practices – program muscle memory into efficient poses while freeing the mind to pursue focus or meditation. Gestures – arm waves, hand signs, mudras, genuflections, and so forth – direct manual dexterity into symbolic displays, as peaceful as the “fear not” mudra or as incendiary as Hitler’s salute. From bowing to ballet, such activities convey deep ritual significance through physical discipline. In especially rigorous forms – advanced yoga, breakdancing, classical ballet, and so forth – those disciplines demand physical vitality and constant practice, channeled through cultural symbolism, aesthetic appeal, and just plain fun. And so, the various styles of dance, gesture, and movement form essential elements of mystic and technological practices, directing a person’s intentions and energies through the instrument of the body itself. 

 

Devices and Machines: Humanity’s great gift is our use of tools. It’s clear, then, that such tools – from simple machines like bows and arrows to complex machines like death rays or printing presses – hold symbolic power beyond their practical utility. Humanity’s machines are a form of magick, epitomizing the Will to transcend our limits and transform our world. Technomancers are literally defined by their reliance upon machines, but even the most traditional shaman can use a loom as a creative instrument, directing his intentions through whirring shuttles, levers, and gears.

 

Drugs and Poisons: Like the Brews and Concoctions
 described above, various drugs, poisons, venoms, and so forth change one state of being into another. In the case of psychoactive drugs, that state might involve radically altered consciousness. Practices from primal shamanism to psychedelic transhumanism use mind-altering drugs to cleanse the doors of perception and open a mage to new possibilities. Poisons, meanwhile, harm or kill inconvenient people – a nasty but traditional practice among alchemists, witches, and assassins.
 

 Elements: Fire, water, earth, and air – perhaps adding metal, wood, glass, plastic, and electricity, depending on your point of view – all play important roles in almost every sort of practice. From their symbolic meanings (solid as stone, fiery passions, earthy groundedness, etc.) to their practical applications through Forces, Matter, and (for plants) Life Arts, the elements can become a mage’s primary instruments. Depending on her practice, your mage might employ elements through spiritual connection, scientific physics, angelic and demonic control, sympathetic magick, or even a personal tie to the living world. Through her Arts, that character can shape, conjure, alter, manipulate, merge into, or otherwise control the forces that make up our world… a literally elemental talent that in many ways defines the Art of Wizardry.

 Energy: The life force forms a significant element of mystic focus. Through practices like Tantra, yoga, and other forms of energy work, a person can perceive and manipulate that life force, directing it to his needs. That energy, in turn, fuels martial arts, sexual disciplines, bodywork, and other practices. For mages with the Prime Sphere, this instrument focuses Quintessence-based magick. However, characters without the Prime Sphere can also focus energy as an instrument, so long as that person’s practice includes energy work as a possibility.

 

Eye Contact: By using these windows to the soul, a mage can charm, frighten, seduce, bewitch, curse, intimidate, or otherwise enchant someone else. Folks have feared the Evil Eye for centuries and cultivated an extensive body of lore – banishment gestures, hex signs, spitting on the ground, and so forth – in order to escape its influence. These days, though, people often want you to look them in the eye. And so, flirtatious glances, poisonous glares, dominance-establishing staring contests, puppy-dog eyes, and other optic rituals become potent instruments for magick and technology.

 

  Fashion: Clothes can make the mage. From the social grace of a bespoke suit (that is, one that’s tailor-made for the individual) to the fierce warnings of gang gear or the playful flirtations of a pretty dress, fashion plays a subtle yet pervasive part in social interactions. Your mage could craft reinforced clothing into armor; adopt disguises; don ritual gear (robes, skins, body paint, etc.); display a uniform; cosplay familiar or original characters; or simply use high fashion or street wear to invoke a particular effect. Especially when that clothing holds symbolic weight – like priest’s robes, biker jackets, military uniforms, or fetish gear – fashion becomes a potent focus for Mind powers, Spirit rites, and Matter-based protection from a dangerous world. On that note, the lack of clothing – either bared body parts or total nudity – constitutes its own type of fashion. Witches and shamans often go skyclad (naked) in their rites, whereas other mystics take oaths to bare or cover certain parts of their bodies. Veils, burqas, scarves, headdresses, bare feet, naked chests, gis, saris, club fashions, turbans, clothes made from certain materials (silk, fur, even meat)… all of them evoke cultural significance, concealing or displaying certain elements of the wearer’s body while sending signals about the person underneath. 

 

Food and Drink: Even mages need to eat. And beyond the good taste and practical nutrition involved with food and drink, those meals have symbolic significance as well. Sharing meals means sharing energy – it’s an intimate communion even in the age of fast food and store-bought chow. Ritual feasts hold places of honor in every culture: Thanksgiving, Passover, potlatches, and holiday dinners combine spiritual significance, good food, and social bonds. Even alone, however, food and drink can be important, mingling bodily needs with mystical intent and chemical ingestion. 

 

Formulae, Equations, and Sacred or Advanced Mathematics: Math has been called the universal language of the cosmos. Its esoteric applications can seem as arcane as any wizard’s ritual… and many mystic rituals do, in fact, feature complex numerology and brain-shaking mathematics. For Technocrats – especially those from Iteration X and the Syndicate – mathematical models help predict future events (in short, focus Time magick), plot out connections (the Correspondence Sphere), determine esoteric chemistry (Life principles), and employ physics in counterintuitive ways (that is, to use Entropy, Forces, Matter, and Prime). Older mystic practices employ sacred numerology, angelic formulae, and the dizzying principles of non-Euclidian geometry. So if it’s true that mathematics bind the universe together, then it’s easy to understand why math plays such a vital role in so many practices.  Gadgets and Inventions: Nothing beats the personal touch. As mentioned earlier, machines provide a vital edge to mages who want to get things done. Machines created by the mage himself, however, embody a bit of that creator’s Enlightenment, manifesting it as a potentially powerful device. Strictly speaking, a gadget is a minor machine that performs a specific function once and then burns out. An invention may be any device that’s been hand-crafted by the inventor himself; a one-of-a-kind machine, it’s probably the experimental prototype for a planned line of similar devices, with all the bugs and quirks that such prototypes display.

 

Gems, Stones, and Minerals: Diamonds are forever. Gold is good, and jade incarnates Heavenly goodwill. The mystic properties of precious stones, ores, and minerals echo down through legend, slang, and alchemical lore. Mages who know
how to tap into these properties employ them in rituals, build them into instruments, wear them as jewelry, and otherwise keep them close at hand. Technology, meanwhile, employs those properties too. Did you think it was an accident that gold is so vital to the world’s economy or that diamonds find their way into so many industrial machines…? 

 

Group Rites: Smart mages realize that raising power in groups directs the collective will and imagination of that group toward a specific purpose. Circle-dances, music concerts, plays, protests, prayer meetings, and other gatherings provide focus for mystic rites. Technomancers understand the power of groups too – why else would factories and cubicle farms be so damned effective? Generally, a mage whips her group to an emotional frenzy and then channels their energy into her intended purpose. As that energy reaches a peak, she plays the crowd like an instrument, bringing things to a climax as she casts her Effect.

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  Herbs, Roots, Seeds, Flowers, and Plants: Growing things hold power, especially when you want to perform Lifebased magick. Plant-based materials can be essential to other instruments like brews, laboratories, and drugs, and they provide the roots, so to speak, for practices like witchcraft, shamanism, and many forms of medicine work. By gathering, drying, curing, eating, grinding, or otherwise employing these botanical substances, a mage can distill the essence of Creation into her Arts. Beyond its practical properties, each sort of plant holds symbolic importance; in most cases, the different portions of a plant have significance as well. Holly sprigs, elderberries, acorns, mandrake roots… even now, popular culture immortalizes ancient plant lore. A creative player can learn about the properties of different plants and herbs, then bring both the practical and symbolic elements of botanical tools to the gaming table. 

 

Household Tools: Especially among the practical Arts, household tools – pitchforks, hammers, nails, brooms, ovens, horseshoes – hold traditional power as magical implements. The same holds true for technological tools, as well… witness the atavistic terror that’s invoked by a chainsaw. Because magick so often depends upon directing energy and intentions toward a goal, household tools have all kinds of uses. Six silver dollars might be hammered into place around your property to keep the cops away; a specially brewed floor wash might cleanse tainted Resonance; a Roomba (with or without a shark-dressed cat) could patrol your Chantry-house. And when the spells are done, those tools serve double duty around the home. A witch, after all, can use her broom to fly to the gathering and then sweep the house clean once she comes home again.

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Knots and Ropes: There’s a reason the phrase spellbinding exists. Long before Velcro, buttons, or carabiners, people had to tie or weave things together. Because the principle of contagion focuses on connecting spells, subjects, and casters by a single strand, knots and ropes (as well as thongs, strings, threads, and so forth) feature heavily in spells. The metaphorical Tapestry and the concept of string-theory physics both draw upon that connection, and so the acts of binding things together, weaving intentions with materials, and undoing knots to release their energy all serve practical as well as symbolic purposes in magick. And once you understand that fact, you see deeper significance in Celtic knotwork, knitting, the arcane arts of rope bondage, and the pervasive imagery of mystic spiders and Pattern Webs. 

 

Laboratories and Lab Gear: Although you can’t usually carry a laboratory around with you (although certain portable labs can be stuck inside a vehicle, trailer, or suitcase), such places of labor provide essential instruments for technological, alchemical, and elaborate ritual practices. Generally, a mage employs his laboratory to refine other tools and spells for his practice, then uses the results of that lab work as his portable instruments. Still, without that lab, he’d be more or less worthless. You can’t grow clones, install cybernetics, or refine base materials into perfection without a good lab. By extension, lab equipment – beakers, crucibles, centrifuges, generators, analyzers, and other sundry (though expensive) tech that procures results – constitutes an essential array of tools for the practicing scientist or technician. Even
old-school mystics use labs occasionally, though they might refer to them as dungeons, workrooms, sanctuaries, and so forth. Within such space, a mage can work through difficult puzzles, experiment with methods, and enjoy a fairly secure space where Consensus interference is a bad memory.

 

  Languages: Words are a form of magick; after all, they shape abstract thoughts into reality by communicating them to other beings and thus opening their minds to your own. In a communal form, language shares thoughts and – by extension – broadens the potential of reality for everyone concerned. Words, it is said, opened the gulf between animals, spirits, and human beings… and although animals and spirits clearly have their own forms of language, the flexible precision of human words has certainly marked a major step in our development. But words are bigger than that. According to many legends, the Divine Source (by whatever name you prefer to call it) spoke words in order to bring the universe into being. Certain words and languages echo that divine command and can thus make things happen. Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic, Mandarin, and Latin (among others) supposedly capture the essence of godly speech, whereas other languages like Greek, Urdu, and Hopi encompass sublime concepts that elude other human tongues. Mundane languages can alter reality too, especially when those languages get rearranged, re-contextualized, redefined,or otherwise altered in order to change the meaning attached to the words. Hip-hop rapping presents a perfect example of such remixed language, breaking down the expected rhythms, spellings, and context of words in order to invoke an alternative truth. Internet jargon does the same thing, as does legalese. By altering the common tongue, a person (mage or Sleeper) can change the realities it describes, making codes that admit or exclude certain people, seeding new concepts out among the people, or invoking certain states of mind by forcing the audience to accept unusual modes of communication. And then there’s the anti-language of unfamiliar babble that still sounds like it means something important. Spoken words also have a sonic component that literally resonates throughout the world, changing the landscape in accordance with the speaker’s wishes. Words of power – amen, aho, ohm, and the like – convey both their interpreted meaning and the resonant power behind the sound itself. Therefore, language – both spoken and written – forms a vital element of all mystic practices.

 

Mass Media: As suggested by the name, media becomes a medium through which ideas and impressions spread from an artist to her audience. The bigger the medium, the larger its audience and the further the reach of that idea. Early on, media consisted of a storyteller and the members of her tribe; later, it expanded to sacred ritual theatres. Each new expansion of technology allowed ideas to go further and reach more people. With the advent of mass printing and distribution, followed by sound- and image-recording technology, radio waves, and rapid international travel, media become the dominant tool for shaping the Consensus. Memes (see the sidebar) can now spread across the world in seconds. And so, for the 21st-century mage, mass media becomes an essential tool when altering reality. As a magickal instrument, mass media can take many forms: music concerts or recordings, TV and radio broadcasts, Internet posts, viral videos, roleplaying games, remixes, mashups, bestselling books, theatrical productions, movies of any scale… if they reach a large audience, then they’re all mass media. Such media provide excellent venues for coincidental Mind Effects – the audience wants to receive a message, and therefore they’re already receptive to it. Such messages can occasionally seed new Mythic Threads too – just Google Harry Potter, Twilight, or Obama. Since the earliest large rituals, mages have used mass media to make things happen. The Syndicate, NWO, Cult of Ecstasy, and Celestial Chorus are the obvious masters of media, but any group or individual can employ it. (Rumors and evidence suggest that the Nephandi might be the greatest media masters of them all.) Given the vast reach provided by the Internet, data files, home-production technology, and the various things you can do with them all, anyone with a computer and Internet access can employ mass media. And though the Internet’s signal-to-noise ratio makes it hard to create large and lasting impressions, a savvy person can use a single cellphone picture to start waves rolling across our world. 

 

Meditation: An intrinsic part of almost every mystic practice (and many technological ones as well), meditation involves quiet reflection through which a person screens out everyday distractions in order to connect with her inner self. Through meditation, a mage focuses her intentions, sorts through her circumstances, and often arrives at the next step she needs in order to move forward.Often simplified into mere relaxation, meditation actually runs much deeper than that. Given the hectic, distraction filled world we live in, though, meditation’s certainly a useful tool for relaxation as well as focus on greater things. Mages use meditation to connect to Primal Force, bridge minds and emotions, reach out to higher (or lower) powers, perceive their surroundings on a sublime level, access their inner resources, and plan the next move in their activities. As a tool, then, meditation works for just about anything, so long as the character has time to stop moving, focus on the meditation, and screen out distractions long enough to find what she seeks. It doesn’t work well, obviously, in high-stress situations, although – given time – a character can use meditation to reduce her stress. Traditionally depicted as a person sitting in a lotus position while humming Ohm, meditation can take many different forms. Postures, katas, games, prayer, running, chanting, dance, sex, music, even certain forms of fighting can all function as meditation. The vital element is the mindset of the person meditating. If she views her practice as a meditative connection, and if it takes her where she needs to go, then almost anything can be a form of meditation. 

 

  Money and Wealth: Money itself is a magic(k) trick. Essentially a symbolic token of trust, money defines a person’s val-you within society. Societies, too, get defined by how much they’re worth, so human and social realities are shaped by something that has no intrinsic value beyond what people think it means. (That trick’s even more profound when you consider virtual money; burning dollar bills generate very little heat, but numbers in a database generate no heat at all.) Obviously, then, money provides a magickal focus for folks who know how to use it… and no faction understands money as well as the Syndicate does. As a magickal tool, money has two potential forms: physical cash and virtual trade. Cash – paper money, coins, tokens, and so forth – allows the mage to pass along an Effect by passing along the cash. A $20.00 bill could carry a mind Effect that reminds someone of his mother; a Spanish piece of eight could bear an ancient curse; a defaced dollar bill might feature the message THIS IS NOT YOUR GOD stamped in red ink, focusing a Mind or Entropy Effect that degrades people’s trust in social institutions. Cash often holds Resonance too, especially if it’s been tainted by criminal acts or emotional desperation. As any mage knows, blood money is a real thing when you understand Resonance. Virtual trade focuses Mind and/ or Entropy Effects that get people to believe that abstract numbers determine their fate. Checks, credit and debit cards, credit ratings, bank statements, and approval processes reflect uses of virtual trade. Such tools can be extraordinarily effective and dangerous. At the time this section was originally written, in real life, the United States government was temporarily shut down over an imaginary crisis built around virtual values that have no physical counterpart, only the emotional reality of what people think a bunch of numbers mean. Societies can rise and fall over such ideas, so the practice of hypereconomics  manipulates virtual trade on a scale far beyond the possibilities of physical cash. 

 

Music: One of the oldest magickal tools, music harnesses the powers of sound, art, memes, social influence, voices, symbols, and – in one way or another – many of the other tools on this list. A full exploration of the esoteric potential of music runs far beyond this space, and although its most obvious adherents include the Celestial Chorus, Bata’a, Dreamspeakers, Cult of Ecstasy, and Hollow Ones, any group or mage can use music as an instrument of focus. As a general rule, music’s vibrations carry the spell caster’s intentions into the world. That music can be broadcast to a mass audience, performed for a smaller audience, or created in solitude for personal Effects. For obvious reasons, music takes time to perform but makes an ideal instrument for rituals, especially when a number of characters are working together to weave the Effect.
Depending upon the character, his audience, and the scope of the Effect, that music can range from quiet humming to a full-scale orchestral symphony. Lullabies, rock operas, chamber music, plaintive solo flute, vocalized chants… if there’s a way to perform music, then there’s a mystical practice associated with that type of performance. 

 

Nanotech: Composed of miniscule, self-replicating machines, nanotechnology involves the study and design of productive engines on the molecular and atomic level. To Consensus reality, such technologies are largely theoretical; to technomancers – most especially the innovators of Iteration X and the Society of Ether – they’re an essential tool for Enlightened Procedures. Although all groups have been holding back that level of technology from the Masses (the consensus is that the Masses can’t be trusted with it, and that’s probably correct), nanotech forms a common instrument for Life and Matter Effects… most especially those Procedures that either build or repair structures or organisms. Technocratic healing Procedures often involve nanotech patches, and machines that grow out of nowhere actually spring from high-intensity (read: vulgar) nanotech clusters that create material structures faster than the human eye can follow. That speed, combined with the high level of energy and material resources involved (in game terms, the amount of Quintessence they consume), keep nanotech out of wider use. Although favored Technocracy personnel employ nanotech instruments in many Threat Level A responses, the risks and requirements of existing nanotech… most especially the awful potential consequences of unregulated proliferation (read: someone else using the stuff)… assure that such innovations will remain restricted to certain agents and application within the foreseeable future.

 

 Numbers and Numerology: Numbers hold power. As mentioned above under the Formulae entry, that power can be unlocked through arcane mathematics. Sometimes, though, all you need is a single number – nine, for example – to seal your mystical intentions. On a related note, the occult practice of numerology draws connections between specific numbers and the deeper levels of Creation. As such, it provides a venerable focus for Correspondence, Spirit, Prime, or Time Arts, acting as a tool for understanding the ties between one thing and another. And so, beyond the baroque patterns of number theory, simple numbers or numerical correspondences (Bible verses, racing horses, sports-team player numbers, etc.) can be remarkably potent tools when they get assigned to something you’re trying to accomplish.

 

Offerings and Sacrifices: Often, the best way to prove that you really want something involves giving up something else in order to obtain your goal. Thus, sacrifice (“to make sacred”) holds a precious, though controversial, place in mystic practices. Essentially, a person offers up something precious – property, behavior, living things, even her own life – in order to seal a deal with the Powers That Be.Typically associated with maleficia, sacrifice has an understandably bad rap. Slitting Fido’s throat in order to summon devils is a terrible idea for all kinds of reasons. And yet, the custom of offering things up has deep spiritual roots in even the most virtuous traditions. Jesus, Raven, Odin, Prometheus… all of them sacrificed themselves in order to achieve a greater goal. Mortal devotees – Awakened and otherwise – use sacrifice as both a tool and a display of spiritual commitment. Even atheists understand the value of such offerings; it takes money, after all, to make money.

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Ordeals and Exertion: Pain has a marvelous way of focusing your attention. From the gruesome splendor of the Lakota sun-dance to the more prosaic practice of cutting, people employ techniques of significant anguish as methods for either getting out of their heads or, in contrast, getting “under the skin” to find the deeper layers there. Many mystic practices (and certain technological ones, too) employ agony as a tool for focus. Athletic exertions, too, count toward such goals. Marathons, pumping iron, cage-fighting, extreme sports… they all take you out of the routine and into the moment and thus provide focus through intense experience. Physically, such exertions are ordeals – challenges that take a person to her limits and show her how much she’s capable of doing. And so, for certain mages (especially Akashics, Thanatoics, Ecstatics, shamans, and Technocrats), the practice of intentional exertion provides a physical and symbolic way to “break on through” and reach new levels of reality.  Prayers and Invocations: Reaching out to higher or lower powers for support, a person can, with any luck, secure aid from the force in question. Among religious people, that force tends to be the god they worship or intercessors like saints, Loa, bodhisattvas, or guardian angels. Certain desperate folks, however, pray to devils or rival gods – a heretical but surprisingly common practice. Prayer could be considered a form of meditation too, especially when it’s part of a daily ritual. For religious mages, prayer is THE instrument of choice. No other focus works as well or brings a devotee closer to his god. Invocations aren’t always prayers, but they still call in potent forces. Essentially, the mage speaks names or words of power  in order to make things happen. Materialist mages do this too; it’s amazing how effective certain phrases (“Nothing to see here,” “Death before dishonor,” “It’s a fact – you can look it up”) can be when you say them with intention. An invocation speaks Will into activity, so buzzwords and battle cries figure prominently in the Arts of Change.

 Sacred Iconography: The Qur’an. The cross. The pentacle. The Tau. Icons and scriptures. Prayer wheels and hell-money. The rich iconography of human religions provides an essential focus for mages of faith. Depending on the character’s creed, the symbols in question could be brandished while casting an Effect; employed in rituals; worn simply as a reflection of faith; or possibly – for enemies of that faith – desecrated or destroyed in order to insult the creed in question, mock the power of its god(s), or co-opt that religion’s resources in order to take them for oneself. In either case, those symbols contain potent emotional symbolism in addition to their potential mystic power. Sacred materials almost always contain a strong Resonance from that faith. In certain cases – like the legendary power of the cross – that Resonance focuses the invested power of millions of believers… which may provide a metaphysical reason for the force such icons have against certain enemies of that faith (like, say, vampires). Employed by a mage from the appropriate religion, a powerful instrument of faith – holy water, sanctified earth, a famous shrine, and so on – could contain a bit of Quintessence that it lends to the mage in question. Holy symbols tend to make certain Effects coincidental when they’re performed among faithful Sleepers, too; a group of devout Catholics won’t be surprised to see a priest perform a miracle. 

 

Sex and Sensuality: Sex is fun. Sex is scary. Sex is the most intimate thing you can share with another person, short of killing or giving birth. Hence, sex and sensuality (that is, close but not necessarily sexual contact) hold places of honor and shame among many mystical and technological practices. Certain disciplines – Left-Hand and Westernized Tantra, Gardnerian Wicca, Taoist sexual alchemy, the reclaimed Qadishtu tradition, and other forms of sacred eros – employ sex acts to focus life energy and dedicated magicks. Others simply stage orgies and Bacchanalia as tools for ecstatic worship, mysticism, and release. As the entries about Bodywork and Energy suggest, sex rituals provide intimate contact for mystics both Awakened and otherwise. Sometimes regarded as communion between masculine and feminine polarities, other times used to break down concepts of gender and identity, occasionally corrupted into violation (especially in maleficia), and frequently employed as initiation (particularly in the Cult of Ecstasy, the Verbena, and certain Hermetic lodges and religious orders), ritualized sexuality mingles the primal essence of all parties involved. Given that level of contact, such practices share Resonance and make ideal instruments for Life, Mind, and Prime Arts… although, as certain lovers can attest, sex has a way of making Time move faster or slower for you, too. 

 

Social Domination: The superior person does not wait on the whims of others. That person – male or female – moves the world through force of personality. He might not be a tyrant – he might, in fact, be most effective when he isn’t one – but his word commands respect. Mages are superior people, and the most dominant of them use that knowledge to impose their Will upon the people in their lives. The art of “alphaing” people isn’t necessarily what folks think it is. Although Alpha-Male/ Bitch types do tend to get their way in the short term, people resent them for it, often screwing them over out of vindictive spite. The most effective dominant people make people glad to be in their service. They inspire love as well as respect, and they garner long-term loyalty as a result. Sometimes, though, short-term results are enough to work with. A bully can impose dominance upon people, turning them into agents of his Enlightened Will. And really, let’s not kid ourselves: abusive bastards run corporations, governments, cults, and even Traditions. The word sociopath is so loaded these days. We’ll simply call those people movers and shakers: they move, and you shake. As a magickal instrument, social dominance plays out through command of group situations. Rank, eye contact, imposing body language, and sometimes threats provide the obvious tactics, but a seriously dominant person evokes that impression by simply being there. Presence and eloquence work far better than brutality, so a mage who uses domination – a prized skill in the Technocracy, but useful in every other faction too – directs his Arts (typically Entropy, Mind, Life, and Prime Effects) through force of personality, social cues, and the ability to back up his commands with Will when need be. For obvious expansions on this idea, see the Might is Right
 paradigm and the practices of dominion and the Art of Desire .

 

Symbols: Technically, every instrument on this list is a symbol. As an instrument in its own right, however, a symbol takes a powerful image or omen – a flag, a glyph, a raven, etc. – and then directs a practice and Effect through that vehicle. The mage who unleashes a Mind Effect by unfurling a flag (or burning it) employs a symbol as a tool of his practice. Folks who wear significant symbols – like Captain America or Batman – evoke the power of that sign, adopting its mystique as their own. Mages do this sort of thing all the time; after all, doesn’t a wizard look more impressive in his brocade robes and runecarved staff than he would if he were simply wearing jeans?  Thought Forms: Behind every potent symbol, there’s supposedly a level of psychic reality. The belief and life force invested in that symbol – and connecting it to the thing it supposedly represents – grants a level of reality to that symbol and the principles behind it. In modern occultism, that reality is sometimes called an egregore: a “watcher” that attains a sort of sentience because people believe in it. Although various practices disagree about the nature of egregores (are they independent spirit entities, psychic constructs, imaginary concepts, quantum-particle activity principles, or simply human mind games invested with belief?), these thought forms become instruments for various practices, most especially chaos magick, crazy wisdom, shamanism, reality hacking, some forms of High Ritual, the Art of Desire, hypereconomics, and – as certain postmodernist mages would argue – every form of magickal practice, particularly the religious ones. (You could think of an egregore as a meme-god; some occultists, in fact, would argue that both memes and gods are egregores, and that no distinction between the three of them exists. Yes, mages argue about some pretty weird shit.)

In game terms, a character uses a thought form by constructing a symbol, either in her imagination or in some physical and/ or social form, and then meditating upon it. If she can convince other people to invest psychic energy into the symbol, so much the better – a potent egregore becomes a stronger instrument. By calling upon that symbol as she casts a spell, either through meditation or invocation, she can focus her intentions through it as she would any other sort of instrument. It works because her belief has granted reality to the thought form, creating something from nothing. And so, although the mage appears to be working without an instrument, that instrument is actually something she holds in her head, believing – rightly or otherwise – that it has external reality as well. Beyond the egregores of various mass-media constructions (Mickey Mouse, Team Edward, even Axe body spray), an especially pervasive thought form rules the 21st century: the Corporate Citizen. Employed to devastating effect by the Syndicate, Nephandi, and other corporate-culture mavens (Awakened and otherwise), the Corporate Citizen has become the most powerful political force of our era. Wearing many different masks… one hopes… this thought form channels immense energy for the people who understand how to use it as an instrument. A CNN press pass can focus potent applications of the Mind Sphere; a Koch credit card could channel access to incredible amounts of wealth, and the Axe citizen might indeed facilitate Life-based enchantments. The idea that there could be many different entities spawned from Corporate-Citizen thought forms – each with its own powers and agendas – is too frightening to contemplate… and yet, it might also be the truth. 

 

Toys: Magick need not always be serious. Playful items – tops, blocks, dolls, toy soldiers, little cars, games, and so forth – often find their way into the Arts, especially when those Arts are being practiced by Marauders, kids, street mages, Awakened parents, geek-culture mavens, and consistently young-at-heart folks like Willy Wonka or Mr. Magorium. Toys can be creepy too, of course… especially the ones that come to life when you sleep, watch you after midnight, or seem to know a bit more than you’d like them to know about things you’d rather not have ANYONE find out about. Ouija boards, creepy dolls, action figures with working guns… such tools provide hours of fun for mages whose idea of play is rather sinister… 

 

Tricks and Illusions: “It’s an ILLOOOOSION!” Mages who’ve learned how to hide their Arts in plain sight can at least try to pass off their Effects as stage trickery. If the magician in question has an arsenal of real-life tricks – ones that don’t actually employ True Magick but sleight-of-hand and misdirection – it’s far easier to then convince the Masses that the flying car or teleportation jump was simply another cool illusion. On a similar note, pranks, gags, pratfalls, traps, con-jobs, and other tricks can be useful tools for the mystic or hypertech Arts as well. A well-executed prank or scam is kind of like magick to begin with; if the grifter just happens to employ real magick to make her tricks more effective, well, then she’s simply very good at the game. Gamblers and survivalists can put Correspondence, Entropy, Life, Mind, and Matter to good use by wrapping such Effects up in tricks and traps. And as for illusions, Mind excels at getting folks to see what they want to see, not necessarily what’s really going on. Certain Social Abilities provide excellent dice pools for this instrument.

 

True Names: To name something is to define it; to name someone is to have control over them. For this reason, among others, mages often hide their identities, taking on craft names and adopted monikers that differ from their full birth names. The New World Order, of course, has access to any legal record they care to check… which gives them an edge when they want someone’s True Name. From a technomagickal standpoint, an American’s Social Security Number might work just as well as… or better than… her True Name if the mage wants to hold power over that citizen. In game terms, the Storyteller may rule that an enemy with someone’s True Name – that is, her full legal name, perhaps with childhood nicknames attached – might act against that person as if the enemy has a unique personal instrument (-2 to casting difficulties). That option might be a bit too powerful for comfort; then again, such power could underscore the point that we take privacy too lightly in this era… 

 

Vehicles: KITT. Blue Thunder. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and every car ever driven by James Bond. Modern mages know how to get the most out of that cornerstone of our era: the magic vehicle. And though such conveyances tend to be Wonders in their own right, a tinkerer or driver can work his Arts through any properly maintained machine. Enchanted vehicles aren’t always modern machines. Coachmen used to be infamous for their apparent gift for driving coaches between worlds, and High Artisans gained renown for their devastating war machines. Sailing ships, ironclads, old diving bells, skates, even surfboards can provide a focus for transportation magicks. For rules dealing with vehicles, inventions, and repairs.

 

Voice and Vocalizations: Vibrations from the human throat focus astonishing Effects. From singing or recognizable words to the wordless cries, gibberish, or evocative singing techniques collectively known as glossolalia (“babbling tongue”), vocalizations feature prominently in mystic practices. Both the terms gibberish and jabber come, it has been said, from the 8th-century Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hazyan, who disguised his forbidden formulas in terms so incomprehensible that would-be translators referred to his work as “Jabir-ish.” In mystic practices, non-linguistic utterances and nonsense phrases often evoke sublime states of mind because they seem significant even though they defy discernable language. The “speaking in tongues” so popular in prophecy and evangelism; the channeled speech or singing of mediums and trance-artists; the passionate cries of sex, euphoria, and pain… all of them work as tools of magickal focus. Even primal sounds – snarls, growls, whining, and so forth – can contain mystic influence. And although hypertech practices tend to frown upon indecipherable words, the cyborg who snarls as he aims his chain-gun might not need Spheres in order to get his point across! 

 

Wands, Rods, and Staves: Harry Potter’s crew understands the mythic quality of wands and wizard-staves. Acting as extensions of the mage’s arm (and, symbolically, his Will and other parts of his anatomy), these instruments become common yet formidable tools. Best of all, they can be practical in the everyday world as well. Although a wand won’t do much for you beyond directing mystic spells, a rod or staff could serve as a walking stick, prop, or weapon… especially for mages who spend lots of time in the wilderness, where hiking sticks get plenty of use.  Weapons: Tools of ill omen tend to find their way into Awakened hands, often becoming channels for Entropy, Forces, Life, and Matter Arts. Any Sphere, of course, could manifest through a weapon: Spirit-crafted bullets to shoot at ghosts; Time-enhanced guns that fire at phenomenal speed; Correspondence arrows that fly impossible distances, Warrior Princess throwing discs that seem to fly of their own accord; or swords or staves so imposing that only Mind magick could explain their mystique. A canny mage doesn’t even need to enchant their weapon in order to use it as an instrument for Arts; a simple Mind-push tacked onto a witty soliloquy could do the trick.  Here, let’s simply say that weapons – from a witch’s athame to a Black Suit’s gun – are among the most popular tools for magickal focus. Even outside combat situations, a sword or dagger holds potent ritual significance.

 

Writings, Inscriptions, and Runes: Writing is a magickal act. Long before literacy became a common trait, the man or woman who could read and write understood the secret lore of texts and scriptures. Even now, the act of physically writing something down (or carving or engraving it into a surface) gives that magick a sense of permanence. It was for this art that Odin hanged himself on the World Tree, that Chinese calligraphers spent their days in meditative bliss, that monks and friars, scribes and nuns devoted themselves to copying holy words in sacred texts. And even now, a smart blog post or text message can change somebody’s world. True, there’s a huge difference between cutting bloody runes in your flesh, scribing an illuminated scripture, and texting a Twitter observation. Any and all of these methods, though, can focus magickal intentions. Hell, even writing a roleplaying book could be considered an act of Will…
 

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