As an addendum to alchemy, the five [platonic solids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid) were equated to fire, water, earth, air, and [aether](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#Aether).
BUT, there is a [6th platonic solid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7uOj2LRso) that exists in 4-d space.
That would be the symbol for the element: magic for me!
Well it's pretty standard but one of the more common kinds of magic is divination. From the oracle bones in ancient China to the oracle of delphos in greece, people have been trying to eye up the future since forever.
Animal/human Sacrifice is another very common type of magic that you could find anywhere from the Aztec empire to the viking rus.
Another one are hexes. The concept that you can use an object to alter the life of a person has been historically widespread. The Romans were very prone to hexing about anyone, and arguably this is still relatively common in western Africa.
In fact the line dividing magic and religion is quite blurry. I've read religions can be characterized through the relationship between the believer and the world. In christianity/islam/etc the faithful has no power over the world, but in other religions that's not the case. The more powerful the believer, the more "magicky" religions feel to us, but honestly it's just a spectrum.
I raise you: Magnets. Then, take yours and mine and multiply them together to get Electromagnetism. That's magic raised to the power of magic then multiplied by magic... That's like 2magic^(magic)!
rail guns.
"For you see, if we channel the power of lightning through this copper wire, we create a power that is unseen by our eyes and yet metal armor leaps to from possibly far distances, further more we can harness this power to fling soldiers into battle fas-"
BONK
"ok, that is enough out of you."
I studied electronic and electrical engineering.
It’s a cult of mysticism dressed up as science.
It starts off sounding rational: “electricity works because electrons flow from positive to negative”, then you get “actually it’s negative to positive”, then “actually the electrons don’t flow they jump into vacant ‘holes’ in the conductor”, culminating in “actually the electrons don’t move it’s the ‘holes’ that move”.
But by the time they tell you that you’ve invested multiple years of effort into it so it’s easier to accept it than admit you’re being duped.
Even when they introduce alternating current’s imaginary friend *Impedance* you just nod and continue arranging diodes into a summoning circle to transform wiggly electricity into flat electricity.
Computers are arrays of rocks and crystals that we channel lightning through in order to trick them into emulating a simplified version of the human brain.
A very common type of magic through history is prayer and invoking the Divine and spiritual world.
So a lot of spells was really asking the divine and various spirits to do things, and various rites and rituals were considered more effective than others
One system of magic that I've been looking into recently is chaos magic. It is basically the idea that you pick up concepts/beliefs/attitudes/powers and drop them as needed. One day, you may need the protection of the Lord, so you are a devout Catholic who follows its tenets and gains its benefits. But next week you need the power of Thor, so now you're Norse! Concepts and gods exist to serve you, and you use them as needed to achieve your goals. I've been adapting the idea heavily for my own story since it's so easy to include fantasy aspects like minor gods, demons, and other spirits that you can essentially form "pacts" with. The Last Podcast on The Left has a great episode where a Scandinavian chaos magician comes on and talks about it, highly recommended.
Ceremonial Magick, of the Order of the Golden Dawn flavor. That has the cool rituals with circles full of symbols, magical implements like the Athame (ritual dagger), and other tropes that tend to show up in fiction as demon summoning. Not a fast combat magic style though.
Runic magic based on actual historical uses for runes could be interesting. That is to say, runes as an alphabet which could have magical properties in a similar way that the Romans felt the Latin alphabet could be used for spells in the right context.
you could use some psudo scientific stuff to give inspiration. like 4 humors is intresting. homeopathey is just alchemy with more medical stuff adding in
Eastern magic system could work and idk why they're so rare in modern media, Lam Ching-Ying Xiangxi series was a thrill with all sort of wacky magical nonsense that somehow still makes a lot of sense compared to many modern hollywood "magic" movies
Astrology
As an addendum to alchemy, the five [platonic solids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid) were equated to fire, water, earth, air, and [aether](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#Aether). BUT, there is a [6th platonic solid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7uOj2LRso) that exists in 4-d space. That would be the symbol for the element: magic for me!
Well it's pretty standard but one of the more common kinds of magic is divination. From the oracle bones in ancient China to the oracle of delphos in greece, people have been trying to eye up the future since forever. Animal/human Sacrifice is another very common type of magic that you could find anywhere from the Aztec empire to the viking rus. Another one are hexes. The concept that you can use an object to alter the life of a person has been historically widespread. The Romans were very prone to hexing about anyone, and arguably this is still relatively common in western Africa. In fact the line dividing magic and religion is quite blurry. I've read religions can be characterized through the relationship between the believer and the world. In christianity/islam/etc the faithful has no power over the world, but in other religions that's not the case. The more powerful the believer, the more "magicky" religions feel to us, but honestly it's just a spectrum.
Quantum Physics. Engineering. Chemistry. Practically *ANY* real world science is a magic system if you frame it through another lens.
Electricity is magic and I cannot be convinced otherwise.
I raise you: Magnets. Then, take yours and mine and multiply them together to get Electromagnetism. That's magic raised to the power of magic then multiplied by magic... That's like 2magic^(magic)!
rail guns. "For you see, if we channel the power of lightning through this copper wire, we create a power that is unseen by our eyes and yet metal armor leaps to from possibly far distances, further more we can harness this power to fling soldiers into battle fas-" BONK "ok, that is enough out of you."
I raise you water, with its solid state being less dense than its liquid form
I studied electronic and electrical engineering. It’s a cult of mysticism dressed up as science. It starts off sounding rational: “electricity works because electrons flow from positive to negative”, then you get “actually it’s negative to positive”, then “actually the electrons don’t flow they jump into vacant ‘holes’ in the conductor”, culminating in “actually the electrons don’t move it’s the ‘holes’ that move”. But by the time they tell you that you’ve invested multiple years of effort into it so it’s easier to accept it than admit you’re being duped. Even when they introduce alternating current’s imaginary friend *Impedance* you just nod and continue arranging diodes into a summoning circle to transform wiggly electricity into flat electricity.
Computers are arrays of rocks and crystals that we channel lightning through in order to trick them into emulating a simplified version of the human brain.
A very common type of magic through history is prayer and invoking the Divine and spiritual world. So a lot of spells was really asking the divine and various spirits to do things, and various rites and rituals were considered more effective than others
One system of magic that I've been looking into recently is chaos magic. It is basically the idea that you pick up concepts/beliefs/attitudes/powers and drop them as needed. One day, you may need the protection of the Lord, so you are a devout Catholic who follows its tenets and gains its benefits. But next week you need the power of Thor, so now you're Norse! Concepts and gods exist to serve you, and you use them as needed to achieve your goals. I've been adapting the idea heavily for my own story since it's so easy to include fantasy aspects like minor gods, demons, and other spirits that you can essentially form "pacts" with. The Last Podcast on The Left has a great episode where a Scandinavian chaos magician comes on and talks about it, highly recommended.
Biochemistry / Human Immun System is an army of monocell organism / + Mutation, Adapation -> Manapool Magic.
Cooking/Baking/Brewing
Ceremonial Magick, of the Order of the Golden Dawn flavor. That has the cool rituals with circles full of symbols, magical implements like the Athame (ritual dagger), and other tropes that tend to show up in fiction as demon summoning. Not a fast combat magic style though.
Maybe you could look into Taoism.
Runic magic based on actual historical uses for runes could be interesting. That is to say, runes as an alphabet which could have magical properties in a similar way that the Romans felt the Latin alphabet could be used for spells in the right context.
you could use some psudo scientific stuff to give inspiration. like 4 humors is intresting. homeopathey is just alchemy with more medical stuff adding in
things like fortune telling and tarot cards could be interesting
thermodynamics and physics have some interesting implications on magic, like a powerful wind spell producing a sonic shockwave
Eastern magic system could work and idk why they're so rare in modern media, Lam Ching-Ying Xiangxi series was a thrill with all sort of wacky magical nonsense that somehow still makes a lot of sense compared to many modern hollywood "magic" movies
Alchemy is just ignorantly doing chemistry through trial and error.