Witchcraft by Anastasia Greywolf is a straightforward and concise guide to the practice of witchcraft. It dives into the history and beliefs surrounding witchcraft, debunking some common myths and misconceptions. The main idea of this book is to provide readers with a solid foundation of knowledge and understanding about witchcraft. Greywolf begins by tracing the origins of witchcraft, dispelling the idea that witches are evil and associated with Satan. Instead, she explains that witchcraft is a nature-based spiritual practice that honors and connects with the earth and its energies. This is an important point to emphasize, as there is often confusion and fear surrounding witchcraft due to its portrayal in popular culture.
I was biased since I read "Star Magic".
If one were to search about the devils of the Qliphoth in mythology you would find that, with the exception of Megicula, all the names of the other devils coincide with those present through the story. Opening 2 of the anime features a montage of him, Gueldre who betrayed the kingdom for money , and Vangeance who kept secret that he hosted Patry s soul with black backgrounds, in contrast to the other captains who didn t betray the kingdom whose backgrounds are white.
This is an important point to emphasize, as there is often confusion and fear surrounding witchcraft due to its portrayal in popular culture. The book then delves into the tools and rituals commonly used in witchcraft, including wands, altars, and spellcasting. Greywolf emphasizes that these tools are merely aids to help focus and direct energy, and that the true power of witchcraft lies within oneself.
Foreshadowing / Black Clover
Yūki Tabata is particularly fond of foreshadowing in Black Clover, hinting at most major events and characters, sometimes even hundreds of chapters in advance.
WARNING: This page is meant to describe events as they related to much later, very significant ones. Thus this page will have no spoiler marks at all. You Have Been Warned.
- In Chapter 70, Vanessa, seeing Asta fighting Vetto, is glad to have left her home and become a Black Bull, noting that the thread of fate is something reeled in yourself. In Chapter 99, it's revealed that she was imprisoned by the Witch Queen for her potential to control destiny. Motivated to save her friends, she manifests the Red Thread of Fate, a spell that makes destiny favor the Black Bulls.
- In Chapter 110 Yami wonders how Mereoleona is able to maneuver mid-air to attack Asta. Chapter 138 reveals it to be Mana Zone, an ability to harness the floating mana in the surrounding area and control the territory at will.
- Chapter 2 shows the silhouettes of different Black Bulls. Mostly they're all revealed shortly after when Asta joins the squad, but there is a notably messy, long-haired member who is not introduced with them. Chapter 5 also has Asta notice that the hideout's interior changed. Come Chapter 140 and the reveal of Henry and his Recombination Magic.
- Yami mentions to Asta during his initial encounters with the Black Bulls that some of their members are off on missions. Zora happens to be one of them who comes into play later. When Asta questions Zora whether he had set traps all around the stage when seeing the latter being uneasy when the stage changes during the battle tournament, Zora concludes Asta can sense ki, a term that someone close to Yami would know. And during the introduction to the Black Bulls in Episode 4, his silhouette can be seen during their group shot.
- Gauche guesses that because Grey can transform other objects, her magic isn't actually the same as what is commonly known as Transformation Magic, and that if she experimented with it, she would figure out what the true purpose actually is. Many chapters later, Grey reveals that it actually lets her alter magic itself, transforming is only one aspect of it. In Chapter 261 Owen notes that Grey reassembling Gauche's very tissue by transforming the giant sword he was run through with may make the true nature of her magic not transformation. Chapter 312 has Owen give a proper name for Grey's magic that changes structure itself — Transmutation Magic.
- Chapter 2 has William Vangeance take note of Asta's five leaf grimoire. Human Fana says that she felt as if someone (elf Fana) had entered her body. Chapter 143 reveals that Vangeance is friends with Patry and the host of his soul. Asta's grimoire originally belonged to Licht, whom Patry was closely acquainted with before the elf genocide.
- The seventh opening has a sequence showing Mimosa cut apart from the rest of the Golden Dawn squad by a spotlight. She is later revealed to be the only member of the squad who wasn't subjected to the elves' Reincarnation Magic.
- In Chapter 51, after being defeated by Gauche's Mirror Magic, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun says, "I couldn't bring myself to hurt you." It's not until almost a hundred chapters later, in Chapter 149, that we find out the significance of this line: Gauche is one of the Magic Knights hosting an elf soul.
- In Chapter 127, Finral notes that Langris' mana reminds him of Vetto and Fana's. Come Chapter 172, Langris is shown to be a reincarnated elf just like them.
- In Chapter 66, an Eye of the Midnight Sun member senses a beast in Charmy's magic. Previously, when she fought Catherine, Charmy's giant sheep inhaled her Ash Magic. She is also quite short even when not in chibi mode, and also physically grows taller whenever she gets serious, which is noted by other characters and not just a visual gag. On top of this, it's established early on that no commoner should have anything close to Charmy's magical power (which is consistent with the other commoner Black Bulls, despite how skilled they are). In Chapter 194, she's revealed to have Food Magic, with her giant sheep actually being a hungry wolf that eats magic, and her unnatural power is revealed to come from her dwarf heritage.
- Concerning the Word Devil:
- When Vetto opens his Evil Eye, he unleashes eerie magic that Yami describes as abominable. He also murmurs undecipherable runes. The reincarnated elves are afflicted with malice as a side effect of the Forbidden Magic, hinting at its sinister origins, and later on Ronne, when possessed by Zagred, murmurs similar runes as Vetto did.
- Chapter 148 shows that Lumiere has incredibly rare light magic and hoped that humans and elves could understand each other and live in harmony, with no proof or signs of any sort of looming treachery on his end. However, the elves were killed anyway by Light Magic believed to have been his. It's revealed in Chapter 196 that it wasn't Lumiere who was the mastermind of the massacre but Zagred, who lied to the royals and killed the elves using his Word Soul Magic to form light. Zagred also reincarnated the elves' souls with Forbidden Magic instead of Licht contrary to what Patry remembers.
- When Mimosa first runs into Baval, he's surprisingly non-confrontational. Before the Apostles of Sephira strike, he only uses dice magic once before flying into the Shadow Palace. In the Shadow Palace, when Mimosa finds the unconscious body of David, who was taken over by Baval, she notes that there are faint traces of magic floating around that belong to neither humans nor elves. An author's note reveals that Zagred was already possessing and impersonating Baval since Mimosa first meets him.
- In Chapter 159, it's stated that the soul of the elf in Digit Taliss's body is angrily rampaging, with blotches of his skin darkening. Chapter 163 has the elf in Luck's body described as having something ominous swelling up in his magic and about to change into something evil as he's consumed by anger. In Chapter 198, Zagred revealing the truth of the elf massacre causes Patry to fall into despair, transforming him into a rampaging dark elf.
- Julius can transform into an old woman despite having time magic, with only devil hosts, hybrids, and experimented mages able to have two different magic attributes. Lucius Zogratis is the host of the time devil Astaroth, and transforms from the blond child form of Julius into an adult with black hair and a devil host marking.
- The Dark Triad each have an innate magical power that involves part of their body. Dante can regenerate from otherwise fatal wounds with his body magic, Vanica can manipulate blood through blood magic, and Zenon can transform his bones into massive spikes through bone magic. Julius can shapeshift, a power that alters his body by definition. If this is not enough, then his Lucius alter-ego also has soul magic, which can transform the components of someone's soul. Fitting with Lucius's plan to completely remake humanity, the Zogratis sibling's magic turns out to be based on the key components of a human; blood, body, bone and soul.
- Julius's mercilessness against the Eye of the Midnight Sun mages when he confronts them makes a lot more sense when he's revealed to be seeking Vangeance (who contains the soul of its leader, Patry) for the Qliphoth Tree Ritual. In the other hand, he's also willing to keep him alive and in charge even if he got killed and committed treason. It's not a mere act of kindness, it's part of a plan to make sure Megicula, Lucifero and Beelzebub gets drawn out through the Dark Triad.
- Chapter 36 features Julius in the color page and is titled "Light". "Lucius" is Latin for light.
- Opening 2 of the anime features a montage of him, Gueldre (who betrayed the kingdom for money), and Vangeance (who kept secret that he hosted Patry's soul) with black backgrounds, in contrast to the other captains who didn't betray the kingdom whose backgrounds are white.
- When Vangeance recounts how Julius recruited him into the magic knights, he states that "He didn't care about my appearance. All he saw was my power." Lucius sought out Yami and Vangeance, the only mages whose magics could create the Tree of Qliphoth for his plan, as Julius.
- In Chapter 128, Julius has a discussion with Marx about unconscious betrayal, using the Royal Knights Examination to find an unwitting traitor within the magic knights. Chapter 331 reveals that he was an unconscious traitor all along.
- While fighting Julius, Patry questions why he's so strong despite being only a human. Julius's, aka Lucius's, strength comes from being the devil host of Astaroth, the devil of time and one of the underworld's three rulers.
- Julius in Chapter 215 mentions that he has an instinct about unique magics "developed over long years from traveling in disguise" when excitedly asking Nero what her magic is, the double meaning being that Lucius spent many years in a different country as the persona Julius Novachrono.
- From Chapter 274 to Chapter 331, the Spade Kingdom clock tower is consistently present in the background of scenes, with following chapters showing clock times that'd be impossible with the plot progression. Chapter 331 is titled as "And Time Starts to Move" with the clock ticking to 7:29 and the reveal of Lucius and that his plan was successful, heavily implying that he has been manipulating time the entirety of the raid to obtain the outcome he wanted. Julius also supposedly doesn't have enough mana or time stored to affect the time flow of an entire continent, but he does because his power doesn't come from "stealing time", it comes from a devil bound to Lucius.
- In the fight between Vanica and Noelle, the latter's Saint Valkyrie Armor lasts long enough to defeat Vanica despite she supposedly had a minute to use it. The same thing happens to Rill's Twilight of Valhalla against Megicula (lasts for "a few minutes") and Asta's True Devil Union against Lucifero (that had 5 seconds left while Lucifero is still standing in one piece), despite they shouldn't be able to defeat the devils in time. It's another implication that he's been manipulating time to get his desired outcome. Lucius also wanted at least Lucifero dead, and Megicula replaced his host demon Astaroth as one of Qliphoth's supreme devils.
- When Julius tries to go back to his adult form temporarily to save the kingdom from the giant Spade demon in Chapter 281, he's out of time very quickly to his shock. In Chapter 311, Julius feels something isn't right, stating something enormous is about to emerge. He continues to feel this unease despite Lucifero's defeat, with it then revealed in Chapter 331 to be because of Lucius, who cut his time in his adult form short.
- In Zenon's first flashback, there's a mystery man in a wheelchair that isn't Dante who refers himself as the eldest Zogratis sibling to young Zenon. We do not see his face, but he does have a rather familiar square jawline and short, unkempt hair, just like Julius but with dark hair instead of gold. It's not a coincidence.
- If one were to search about the devils of the Qliphoth in mythology you would find that, with the exception of Megicula, all the names of the other devils coincide with those present through the story. This, coupled with Nacht's flashback mentioning the three rulers of the underworld, one of whom is the devil of time, and Julius using Time Magic it was clear that something was very wrong and didn't add up. Julius is the host of the time devil Astaroth, who left the underworld over 20 years ago, and Megicula is Astaroth's successor in the Qliphoth.
- Take a close look at Ichika and Ryuya when they see Yami on the beach. Ichika is completely unharmed and looks less like she's in pain and more like she's waking up from a bad stupor. Meanwhile, Ryuya was already injured and bleeding by the time he and Ichika arrived at Yami's location. It's Ichika's memories of the event, but this means Ichika committed the slaughter when drugged.
- Ichika states that, after the age of wars ended, the Yami Clan became protectors of the island region known as Goshu. Then we see her father, who was shown to be a belligerent, peace-hating Blood Knight who despised the fact that their people were reduced to being the guardians of a remote chunk of land, and actively desired battle again. If anyone wanted war and bloodshed, it was him. It would make sense for him to have either one of his children drugged to induce mass bloodshed regardless of cost.
- Ichika has a moon motif, much like her brother does - the crescent moon, to be precise. Her Dark Cloaked Black Warrior gives off a black aura that takes the shape of a small crescent moon, and one of her sword attacks is even named "Black Crescent Moon". On the night the Yami Clan massacre took place, a crescent moon can be seen in the sky.
- Chapter 341, where Ichika begins to tell Asta her backstory, is titled "Hazy". "Hazy" refers to something that is vague, uncertain and unclear - just like Ichika's memories of what really happened that night.
- Every time an atrocity involving mass death and destruction has occurred, it's always shown to be the result of someone whose actions were unconsciously/unwillingly carried out on their end. For the elf village and Clover Kingdom, it was Zagred possessing a Clover Kingdom minister and corrupting the Elves into thinking the royals did it, and for the Spade Kingdom, it was a Batman Gambit Lucius conducted through possessing Julius. While there's no one being possessed this time around, Ichika's actions are still not her own and Yami is definitely not the one responsible for the massacre.
In mangas when someone has Star/Gravity-related powers I'm lost already and need more of them xD.
This is a key concept that differentiates witchcraft from other forms of magic or sorcery. Greywolf also covers the various traditions and paths within witchcraft, such as Wicca, Green Witchcraft, and Kitchen Witchery. She highlights the importance of finding a path that resonates with the individual and encourages readers to explore and experiment to find their own unique practice. Furthermore, Greywolf addresses ethical considerations in witchcraft, emphasizing the importance of practicing with respect for oneself, others, and the earth. She explains the Wiccan Rede of "harm none" and the concept of the Threefold Law, where the energy one puts out into the world will come back to them threefold. This serves as a reminder to practitioners to act with integrity and responsibility. In conclusion, Witchcraft by Anastasia Greywolf is a comprehensive and accessible guide for those interested in learning about witchcraft. It provides a solid foundation of knowledge about the history, beliefs, tools, rituals, and ethics of witchcraft. The main idea of this book is to educate and empower readers to explore the practice of witchcraft in a respectful and responsible manner..
Reviews for "Spells and Enchantments: Practical Advice from Anastasia Greywolf"
1. Emily - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Witchcraft" by Anastasia Greywolf. The book promised to provide a comprehensive guide to practicing witchcraft, but it lacked depth and substance. It felt like a collection of surface-level information without any real depth or practical guidance. The spells and rituals mentioned were basic and generic, and I didn't feel like I was really learning anything new or useful. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a serious and in-depth exploration of witchcraft.
2. Brian - 1 star - I found "Witchcraft" by Anastasia Greywolf to be a complete waste of time and money. The information provided in the book was extremely basic and could easily be found for free on the internet. There was nothing unique or insightful about the content, and it felt like a regurgitation of common knowledge. Additionally, the book lacked clear organization and structure, making it difficult to follow and understand. I would not recommend this book to anyone interested in witchcraft, as there are much better resources available.
3. Sarah - 2 stars - I was really excited to dive into "Witchcraft" by Anastasia Greywolf, but unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. The book lacked depth and failed to offer any truly practical advice for someone interested in practicing witchcraft. The information provided felt surface-level and left me wanting more. The spells and rituals described were basic and lacked creativity. While the book may serve as a decent introduction for complete beginners, it falls short for those seeking a deeper understanding of witchcraft.
4. Michael - 1 star - "Witchcraft" by Anastasia Greywolf was a major disappointment. The content of the book felt disorganized and lacked clear structure, making it difficult to follow along. The information provided was basic and felt like it was just scratching the surface of the vast world of witchcraft. The book lacked depth and failed to provide any new or exciting insights. I would not recommend this book to anyone serious about practicing witchcraft as it fell short in various aspects.
Mastering the Craft: Techniques and Tips from Anastasia Greywolf