First Year | Charms

Welcome to class, first years! Go ahead and read through the lessons, and if you have any questions about how to complete them, you can always feel free to ask me for help. Remember, you can submit as many of these as you want to, but you only need one to pass a year of the class.

1. Charms Basics: What is a Charm?

There are seven different types of spells: Charms, Transfiguration, Jinxes, Hexes, Curses, Counter-Spells, and Healing Spells.

Charms alter things by changing their properties. This is different from Transfiguration, which changes something’s form or internal structure. Think of it like this: Transfiguration changes what something is, while charms change what something does or how it works.

Some spells are both charms and Transfiguration spells. For example, the Fire-Making and Water-Making Spells. These are Conjuration spells, since they make fire or water appear out of thin air, and Conjuration is a type of Transfiguration. But they are also charms.

Let’s look more closely at the Water-Making Charm to understand this. It’s easy to see why it’s classified as Conjuration, since it conjures water. But if you think about it in a different way, it also makes sense to call it a charm. Air is made up of various gases, one of which is oxygen. Water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen. So to create water out of thin air, all this spell needs to do is add hydrogen to the oxygen that already exists in the air. So yes, the spell is turning one thing into another - air into water. But it’s also changing the properties of the oxygen in the air to make them do something else - that is, form water molecules.

So as you can see, while charms and Transfiguration spells are different types of spells, the lines between them can be quite blurred at times. The same is true with the other spell types.

Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses are sometimes also known as Dark Charms, and the categorization of spells within these categories can be quite subjective. Some spells might be considered Jinxes by one person, charms by another. In general, though, Dark Charms are meant to cause harm to another person, where regular charms are not. Jinxes are generally less severe, and more for amusement than actual harm, so there is some intermingling between Jinxes and regular charms.

Counter-Spells are spells that undo the effects of other spells. Counter-Charms are one type of Counter-Spells, so again, this spell type is quite related to Charms. There is also overlap between Charms and the final category, Healing Spells, as many healing spells are also charms.

So as you can see, Charms is quite a broad subject and has overlap with all the other types of spells. This is similar to the way many magical subjects have overlap between each other, such as the way Magical Healing uses Charms and Potions, and Potions uses Herbology. Because of this, learning about Charms is a great way to build up a base of knowledge that will help you with many other areas of magic as well.

Homework

Make a story, poem, video, art piece, infographic, song parody, or any other creative medium you can think of, to portray what a charm is. Feel free to include whatever details you think are interesting or important.

2. Charms Basics: How to Cast a Charm

There are three important components to charm casting: incantation, wand movement, and concentration. Incantation and wand movement are important for beginners, but advanced witches and wizards can learn to cast charms nonverbally or even wandlessly. Concentration is always important, no matter how skilled you are.

Concentration

Concentration means focusing on the spell you’re casting without getting distracted. If you do get distracted, your mind wanders, or you aren’t paying attention to the spell you’re casting, the spell could misbehave and cause some disastrous results. If you are prone to distraction, practicing mindfulness can be a good strategy for improving your ability to concentrate on your casting. To do this, choose something to focus on, such as your breathing, the feeling of the floor beneath your feet or your wand in your hand, or the sounds around you. Practice experiencing that one thing fully, without paying attention to anything else. This is the sort of concentration you need for a good cast.

Another important part of concentration is intention. You must have intention behind your cast to make it work, and without intention, the spell could be very weak or nothing could happen at all. If you’re not sure how to have intention in your cast, it can be as simple as picturing the results you want to achieve.

Incantation

The incantation for a spell is the words you say as you cast it. Many incantations are in Latin, but they can also use other languages, such as Spanish, Greek, or English. The meaning of the incantation usually has something to do with the effects of the spell.

The important things to remember when saying incantations are pronunciation and enunciation. Pronunciation is how the words are pronounced, and this is very important because if you mess up the pronunciation, it can also mess up the effects of the spell. Enunciation is saying the words clearly and with the correct inflection and emphasis. For example, let’s take a look at the incantation for the Levitation Charm: Wingardium Leviosa.

It’s pronounced like this: win-GAR-dee-um leh-vee-OH-sah, with the emphasis on the capitalized syllables.

Wand Movement

This is just what it sounds like: the way you move your wand as you cast the spell. Wand movement is more of an art than an exact science, and everyone preforms wand movements in a slightly different way, especially as they advance and develop their own styles of spellcasting. For now we'll stick with basic wand movements, but as you get more comfortable casting spells you can also start to develop your own style.

The wand movement for the Levitation Charm is swish and flick. It’s important to have a good swish and flick motion to make the spell work well, but this can be done in many different ways. Here are a few examples to show you what I mean:

You can go ahead and try out a few different movements to find the one you like best, just make sure you start with a simple swish and finish it off with a flick! Try it out with the incantation, too. The swish should line up with the gar of Wingardium, the flick with the oh of Leviosa, like this:

Homework

Choose one of the following options to complete.

Option One

Answer the following questions; there are no right or wrong answers, just tell me your thinking.

Why is the incantation Wingardium Leviosa a good choice for the Levitation Charm?
Why do you think mispronunciation can ruin a spell?
Why does the swish and flick motion work well for the Levitation Charm?
Think of a wand movement that wouldn’t work as well for this spell, and explain why.

Option Two

Tell me how your practice with the incantation and wand movement went, and try casting the Levitation Charm on this feather. How did your cast turn out? Did it do what you wanted it to? What could you improve on for next time? (This is a roleplaying question, so feel free to make up details. It won’t affect your grade if you aren’t successful in your cast.)

3. More Practice: Light Your Way

One of the biggest parts of Charms is, of course, casting charms! So today we’re going to try casting the Wand-Lighting Charm and its counter-charm, the Wand-Extinguishing Charm.

These two spells do just what they sound like. The Wand-Lighting Charm creates a light at the tip of your wand, and the Wand-Extinguishing Charm puts it out. The light can vary in size and brightness, depending on how much power you put into the cast. You can also change the incantation to create a bigger light.

The incantation for the Wand-Lighting Charm is Lumos, or if you want an extra big and bright light, Lumos Maxima. There are a few different possible wand movements for this spell, but the simplest is an upward flick, so we will be practicing with that one.

The Wand-Extinguishing Charm has the incantation Nox. The wand movement that corresponds with the movement we’re using for the Wand-Lighting Charm is just the opposite: a downward flick. For those of you who were raised in a Muggle household, you could think of it like turning on and off a light switch.

Concentration is also especially important in the casting of the Wand-Lighting Charm, because if you don’t cast it quite right, it could light your wand on fire, and we definitely don’t want that! You are also quite likely to find that when you cast this spell, your wand tip lights up briefly before going out again. This is common with beginners, but with a little more practice and intention, you should be able to create a light that will last for some time.

Homework

Now it’s your turn to try casting the Wand-Lighting and Wand-Extinguishing Charms.

First I’d like to see a little preparation for your cast. Did you practice the incantation and wand movement? Did you make any other considerations? Now cast the charms, and tell me about your results. Are there any improvements you could make to your technique?

4. More Practice: Lock and Unlock

The ability to lock and unlock doors, boxes, or padlocks comes in handy in countless situations, especially if you’re prone to losing your keys! Luckily, there are two simple charms for that.

The Locking Spell uses the incantation Colloportus. It can lock any door against manual entry; however, the key to that door will still work to unlock it again, as will the Unlocking Charm. The wand movement for this spell is quite complicated to preform, but there’s a picture of it below if you would like to try. I have also found that simply pointing your wand at the lock with a slight flick of the wrist works quite well.

As for the Unlocking Charm, its incantation is Alohomora. It can be used to unlock any lock, so long as the lock isn’t protected with other magic such as an Anti-Alohomora Charm. There are two main wand movements for this spell, so you can try out both and pick the one you prefer. The first is a swish, with a swoopy backwards S shape, and the second is a circle with a downward flick (both pictured below). Many people find one of these easier than the other, but which one will depend on your own magical strengths and casting style, since they each help out with different elements of the cast.

Homework

Choose one of the following options to complete.

Option One

As you can see, I have two trunks here to practice on. One is locked, the other unlocked. You can choose to practice the Locking Spell on the unlocked trunk, or you can try the Unlocking Charm on the locked one, or you can try both. Tell me what you did to prepare for your cast, then cast the spell. How well did it work? What could you do to make it work better?

Option Two

The Unlocking Charm was invented in Africa, and it was first brought to Europe in the seventeenth century. Do some research on the spells used for opening locked doors before the invention of the Unlocking Charm, and tell me what they are and how they work. Why is the Unlocking Charm better than these other spells? Can you think of any situations where one of the earlier opening spells would be more fitting than the Unlocking Charm?

5. More Practice: Summoning and Banishing

The Summoning Charm is used to summon an object from out of reach into your hand. It even works on items that are out of your sight, as long as you’re able to picture them clearly in your mind and have a general idea of their location. It does not work on buildings, or on living creatures (except Flobberworms, strangely enough). There are also spells that exist to prevent things being summoned by those other than their rightful owner, to prevent theft.

The incantation for the Summoning Charm is Accio, with the addition of the item you are summoning at the end. For example, if I wanted to summon your textbook, I would say Accio Textbook. The wand movement is a swish in the shape of a downturned half-circle. Make sure to make the end of the movement quite sharp for a clear finish, instead if letting it droop at the end.

The Banishing Charm is the opposite of the Summoning Charm because it’s used to push an item away from you, instead of summoning it to you. It’s different from the Summoning Charm in that it does work on living things, but I would recommend practicing with pillows or other soft things to avoid accidents.

Its incantation is Depulso. The wand movement can be as simple as pointing your wand at whatever you want to banish, or you can incorporate a wave or sweeping motion if that helps you make the cast. Whatever movement you use, you must make sure to end the cast with a clear point at the item you want to banish. Aim is very important with this spell, because it will work on whatever your wand is pointing at, so if you aim badly, you may find something unexpected flying across the room!

Homework

Describe a situation where each of the Summoning and Banishing Charms would be useful. Describe a way in which these spells could be misused.