178 - Hover

Ritual: Hover

Cost: 3 minor charges

Ritual Action: Eat only yellow food for at least a day beforehand. Take 3 needles, two of pure silver and one carved out of a bone from a pregnant animal. Insert the two silver needles through the skin and into the space underneath your shoulder blades. Swallow the third. In a place lit by sunlight but not directly visible to the sun say the five word Hindi incantation, fully turn anti-clockwise once and raise both feet off the ground.

Effect: You hover, about 6 to 8 inches off the ground. Most people will assume this is some kind of street magician trick as you waver a little bit but you’re genuinely levitating. You can’t bear a whole lot of weight without sinking and will do so very gradually regardless unless you concentrate solely on maintaining the effect. You can keep it up for as long as you can maintain focus but it’s exhausting, people have described it like swimming constantly against a strong current.

A cheap, flashy, reasonably easy magickal ritual? Why isn’t everyone doing it? What’s not to love?

The hidden downside is that it destroys your liver and kidneys. For every minute (or fraction thereof for brief castings) you lose about 10% function as they shrivel and atrophy under the strain of lifting you into the air. This does not recover naturally but other magick may undo the damage.