It is disturbing to me that I can and have called up what I cannot put down. The search for a working spell for the evocation of light is on.
The newest incantation (which I won't try until the next night, July 18, for reasons including "not having finished it yet") is based on a set of riddles concerning celestial givers of light. English plaintext follows.
1. It gives men both food and thirst,
blinds a man or helps him see.
The father of all shadow, it shows us the face of madness.
2. A man, his wife, his dog.
On its visit, the woman bleeds,
At its visage, the dog cries out.
Though it touches not the man, it wears a man's face.
3. A fish that never knew the sea
A man that cannot hunt
A bull that never grazes
Look at them all; what do you see?
Original riddles, written with minimal poetic device to facilitate translation. In my only working incantation to date (the darkness spell), I provide the answer to the riddle in the end; thus, in this spell, they'll be followed by a statement that there is a gift that all three answers give, followed by four sentences revealing the answers to the riddles and the identity of the gift (light).
In addition to the sapphire, I also bought an emerald, an opal, a garnet, and an amethyst, intending to give all five stones to Oak. In the interim, however, I don't think he'll mind if I use all five of them in my casting. The garnet will stand for the sun, the opal for the moon, and the others for the stars.
Él da comida y sed a gente
Cega un hombre o lo ayuda ver
El padre de todo la sombra, mostra a nos la cara de locura.
Un hombre, su esposa, su perro.
Cuando este visita, la mujer sangra
Cuando mira este, el perro grita
Aunque no toca el hombre, tiene el cara de un hombre.
Un pez que no conocía el mar
Un hombre que no puede buscar
Un toro que no pace
Mires los todos; qué ve?
Tres acertijos, tres respuestas. Que es el regalo que todos los tres dan?
El primero es el sol. La segunda es la luna. La tercero es las estrellas. El regalo es luz.
The caster kneels, holding the stones in his left hand, and speaks the incantation (one minute). During the first riddle, he raises the garnet in his right hand, setting it on the ground in front of him at the end of the riddle. During the second, he does the same with the opal. During the third, he does the same with the emerald, sapphire, and amethyst in turn (one for each of the first three lines), placing the stones such that the five gems now form a star (or a pentagon, or nothing). He touches the garnet, the opal, and the others in turn on the words "sol," "luna," and "los estrellas" (with his right hand), and on "El regalo es luz," he picks up a gem and lifts it overhead; the gem he selects becomes the center of the light effect, and the light takes on the character of the celestial body the stone represents.
And if that fails, I'll bloody well set it to music and try again tomorrow. I can compose a meager tune, given a day.
__
Verbal: Spanish, necessary, +7
Somatic: Both arms, legs, +9
Material: +8, +[emerald, amethyst, opal, garnet]?
Appropriate: +5
TF 1 min (+20), duration 10 min (+0), 3 yard radius (+18)
SM = +59 +8 +????
