The Abyss

Practical Magic

We review the movie Practical Magic and talk about how the mysticism in that movie compares with Mage: the Awakening lore. https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia [https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia] https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight [https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight]

Mage Sight

We explain our understanding of Mage Sight in Mage: the Awakening, discussing the differences between Peripheral, Active, and Focused Mage Sight. https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia [https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia] https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight [https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight] Awakening is a metaphor for opening one's eyes to the Truth. Once open, however, they cannot be shut again. The primary consequence of this is Mage Sight, the ability to perceive the supernatural in one's surroundings. This always-on magical sense is called Peripheral Mage Sight, but a Mage can choose to put more attention on it. Doing so, however, is distracting at best, and dangerous at worst. If they do so choose, the Mage can concentrate on these Supernal perceptions with the hope of deriving a stronger understanding of the effects they create. This is called Active Mage Sight. Each of the Arcana offer Mages a unique sensory ability under Active Mage Sight, potentially offering clues to an ongoing riddle. Still, that is often not enough to gain sufficient understanding, and the Mage may decide to concentrate further yet on the phenomenon. Doing so is called Focused Mage Sight because it requires a Mage's attention to remain solely on their object of study during the practice, even go so far as to manipulate Mana in the area. Due to its nature, Focused Mage Sight has the highest potential to reveal information of supernatural phenomena, but that increased utility comes with the potential of alerting other supernatural beings to a Mage's study. Practically speaking, with Focused Mage Sight, a Mage may attempt to Reveal information about their subject or further Scrutinize it to hopefully allow for better revelations.

Arcana Practices

We go over the thirteen different Practices a Mage can use with Arcana to interact with the Supernal elements of the Fallen World. https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia [https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia] https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight [https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight] Understanding the means of magic is core to being a Mage. These means are called Practices, thirteen different ways of interacting with the Lie. Ability with these is used to gauge a Mage's mastery of an Arcanum. To this end, Arcanum mastery is denoted by five levels: Initiate, Apprentice, Disciple, Adept, and Master. Each of these levels encompass some subset of Practices. An Initiate will be proficient in Compelling, Knowing, and Unveiling; an Apprentice, having first learned Initiate Practices, will next learn Ruling, Shielding, and Veiling; Disciples know Fraying, Perfecting, and Weaving; Adepts know Patterning and Unraveling; and finally Masters know the arts of Making and Unmaking. Together, these Practices allow for manipulation of any apsect of the Exarchs' Lie.

Arcana

We go over the ten Arcana in pairs per Path, discussing what each governs and what they can do in theory. https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia [https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia] https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight [https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight] The power available to Mages primarily comes in the ability to cast spells. Commanding the ten sources of Truth known as Arcana is the secret to this power. Arcana which allow mages to inspect, alter, create, and destroy, any aspect of the Fallen World and even the souls contained within. The five Gross Arcana affect the physical reality of the Fallen World: Time, Space, Matter, Forces, and Life. The Gross Arcana are complemented by five Subtle Arcana, each of which encompasses some aspect of souls: Fate, Mind, Death, Prime, and Spirit.

The Abyss

We talk more in-depth about the Abyss and its relationship with the Fallen World. https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia [https://www.instagram.com/magesightmedia] https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight [https://www.patreon.com/c/MageSight] The Lie is not a passive prison, deployed once and forgotten. It is actively perpetuated by the Abyss in a manner unknown to any Mage, possibly even the Exarchs themselves. Caused by the Abyss, Sleepers are cursed to be faced with unimaginable horror any time they directly witness a Supernal Truth or Abyssal phenomenon. Mages call this curse Quiescence. It prevents sleepers from remembering anything which triggers it, regardless how memorable it would seem to be. Every Sleeper carries a piece of the Abyss in their soul. When one Awakens, the Abyss is banished from their soul, freeing them from the curse of Quiescence. But that's just the beginning of Abyssal trouble for the Mage. The Abyss separates the Fallen World from the Supernal; every spell the Mage casts must reach through this barrier for the Supernal power that makes their imagination True. This reaching risks a Paradox if the Mage is not careful with their spellcasting, including any time a Sleeper is around to witness their magic. A responsible Mage will avoid Paradox where they can or deal with it where they can't, either by attempting to contain the Paradox within their own soul, risking harm to themselves, or, when a Paradox is too great to contain, by releasing it into the Fallen World as yet another problem to solve. The stranglehold of the Abyss is unavoidable in the Fallen World.