"There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”. I believe this is completely literal. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events. To cast a spell is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people's consciousness. In all of magic there is an incredibly large linguistic component. If a Bard were to place not a curse upon you, but a satire, then that could destroy you. Years after you were dead people still might be reading it and laughing at you and your wretchedness and your absurdity. Writers and people who had command of words were respected and feared as people who manipulated magic. The Bardic tradition of magic, when satires were justifiably more feared than curses and when the creator was respected as a powerful magician rather than as someone getting by out on the fringes of the entertainment industry, is one that today’s artists and writers would do well to reacquaint themselves with. You can kill or cure with a word." - Alan Moore

