The Basics of Practice - Fundamental Ability

Now, keeping in mind the basic list of caster types given on the previous page, choose your type (fate?). You will, as a rule, fall under one of these categories. If you do not, you do not know your talent. Find you magical niche and exploit it. If I could offer one bit of advice, which I can, it would be this, which is: Take Your Time! The decision process is long and hard. You can not just sit down one night, ponder your brains out and emerge with the answer (normally; but, there are some people out there that are just plain gifted at everything). It takes a long time to figure out just what your talent is, and also keep in mind to search every aspect. Some people want to be conjurers, but are simply not good at it while they are good at elemental magic but do not like it. This may be the case. Do not disclude magics that you do not like for that reason alone. Try diligently to find out what you can do, and then determine what you can do with it. A good idea is to find a scryer or conjurer that can tell you (if you get really stuck).
That was the first step: Identifying Your Niche. Here is the second part: Collecting Power.
To collect power, occassionally referred to as "Mana" (though I despise the term), is as easy as breathing, literally. Ever wonder why magicians, if they are so powerful, don't simply run out into all the world and smite their foes in great, miraculous blasts of fire and lightning? Here is why; at the foundation of magic. One must collect power. A single lightning burst would nearly drain the reserves of even a fairly powerful wizard. To collect, perform this extremely simple ritual:
• 1. Sit where you can meditate and collect power undisturbed.
• 2. Begin deep slow breaths (not too slow; this should not be uncomfortable).
• 3. With every inhalation, the true magician can feel the magical energy of the area being absorbed into their body.
• 4. Understanding that this power is being saved in a finite storage, quit when you no longer feel any absorption.
A basic principle in magic is that the person themself has no true power. All power comes from the external. This practice is a must for any caster type that wishes to have power at any given time, rather than have to cast a circle, open the circle, conjure a spirit, use the spirit, recall the spirit, banish the spirit, and close the circle. This sort of power gathering is great for elemental magicians (ones who use fire, water, earth, or wind). All casters of any level require this exercise to gather personal reserves of energy. The apprentice and archimage alike have to do this. Remember that the more experienced you are, the longer this takes. The reserves of the caster grow with experience and constant flushing out/filling. The whole idea of energy reserves, however, is set apart for those that wish to have on-hand magic at any given moment. Those that are interested in (or, better put, talented at) spirit conjuring do not have to worry about instant power. A spirit conjuration is done by calling on higher powers to exert their energy to do your will. A conjurer is simply an ethereal co-ordinator, not a spell caster, and thereby does not have to collect energy.