wizards, warlocks, witches and so forth

Magic is real, tangible and all around us.
I know this for a fact, for I am a magic user. I wouldn't go as fare as calling myself a wizard though. I dabble in the use of the mystical forces, I know a few tricks and a handy spell, maybe two. But me taking the title of wizard would be the same as claiming to be a guitarist, because I can play the first five cords of Metallicas Nothing else matters. (I really can, get me drunk enough and I'll prove it)
but the point remains, it's only impressive to those who don't know anything about it.

Magic is natural force, the fifth element you could call it. Though it'd be a simplification of something that is refered to as magic, cause it's hard to narrow down, what it exsactly is. Magic is energy, but also possibility and life. But not tied to life as such.
Think of it like the earths magnetic field, a second layer of energy evolping the planet, running in currents along ley lines around the globe, there are eddies, currents and malmstorms of it. places of powers, areas of void. It is a living thing, but not alive.
you know, never mind. people have written inch thick teories on what magic is and how it works and where it comes from and where it goes. Magic is magic.

And then there's the users, commonly refered to as mages (magic users). Wizards, Sorcerors, warlocks, witches, sharmans, voodo priests, medicin men and so on.

Wizards are the most common, for the simple reason that they write their knowledge down. where most others magic users are self taught or instructed by exsample or word of mouth.
Wizards on the other hand. Any wizard worth his or her staff (wizards can be both genders) will have a library of books, scrolls and tablets. with spells, theories, rituals, wards, potions and enough self importance to make the better part of hollywood look meek.
Some wizards even gather together in courcils or schools, but generally wizards tend to keep to themselves.
Now magic users are rather uniform from the get go, to be able to able to use magic. you gotta have the talent and be aware of it. The Talent or gift or spark or ninth gate or what ever they may call it is simply the ability to tap into the magic around us. The way a seeing person can use the light of day to see, as oppose a blind that live in darkness. Now you got the talent, Then there's how strong it is and how much you train it.
Wizards employ magic via spells, it's a series of tried and tested ways to get a certain magical effect. The trick is, you use your body to draw in the magic around you, the focus it with your mind and generate an desired effect. Sounds really simple right? try and remember back when you learned how to whistle. Using magic is a whee bit harder.
The use of words and gestures helps focus the mind, the words rarely have direct relevance to the spell, but it's easier to make a fireball, if you say something that sounds fire like. Arch mages are supposedly able to make the heavens rain fire and earth heave, by just willing it. But I doubt that's really true.
So problem is, if you don't have a spell book to give you some hints, you're in for ALOT of trial and error (personal experience btw) Before you get anything resembling the effect you want.
But a spell book really only give you some hints, because it's the mind that focuses the magic and shapes it, and no two minds are totally alike in the way they imagine things. So what worked for one mage, won't most likely work quite as well for another.
Hence a wizard always have a private spell book with their own version of various spells. sorta like a private cookbook, you know your favorite recipies by heart, but most you gotta look up before you use them if you wanna get them right.
Staffs, wizards in particular use staffs. using the right wood or metals, a staff can help you focus your spells better, sorta like a magical lightning rod. popular myth is that old men just felt like having something to lean on and wack their apprentices on the head with and it turned out to helpful casting magic.
Rods are, well shorter than staffs and thus less effective. but on the upside, they are also draw less attention and fit nicely in a coat pocket or back pack.
Wands. Unlike in certain movies, arn't a must have to be able to cast magic. most wands, are more like a ready made spell, you channel magic into them and you get a particular effect out of the other end, usually something that makes things go boom or woosh.

Now opposit wizards are sorcerors and the two are at each others throat like you wouldn't believe. Almost as bad as the darn vampires and werewolves.
Where wizards use spells to use magic, sorcerors weave magic. it's hard to explain, but in a way their connection to the magic is greater and their grasp of it more intuitive. You can compare it someone who only knows the poems they've read in a book to someone who can compose on the fly. It's not, that sorcerors can't learn or use spells. it's just why bother, when they can just wing it and get the same effect.
So, while sorcerors tend to be rather powerful, compared to wizards of like strength of talent. They don't have the same milage, as the way wizards use magic is more controlled. and believe me, using magic takes it out of you. like taking pushups with your brain and mind you, it's pure energy you are using your body and mind to challenge. burning out is a very real and very litteral danger with mages, particularly sorcerors.

clocks a'running. I'll continue this segment in a latter post. It's about time to get to work and got a charm to work a map.