On Spirits
Mythic Europe is awash with spirits. Every inanimate thing has a spirit, and magic can be used to communicate with it or even infuse it with power and volition. Such spirits typically have a broadly human like perception (they can hear, see, and so on) but an alien perspective that shapes their interests, awareness, and memories. A spirit of fire, if asked about a conversation, might only perceive those speakers that its light glanced on, and describe things in terms of passions, tones, and action – it won't speak of the content, just like a person won't usually notice the speaker's scarf color or remember how he held his fork. An object's personality varies, but is generally related to its construction and nature (jewelry tends to be aloof and haughty, stones dour, and so on). Inanimate spirits are creatures of no name and low cunning; they can talk, given magic, but they do not posses true Intelligence. They have no names, like wild animals. Such spirits are commanded or controlled by the appropriate Form (so a spirit of fire would be affected by Ignem), and addressed by Intellego. Animals are simply “inanimate” objects with volition, and plants have lesser volition.
Inanimate spirits which are exceptionally true to their essential nature are beings of Magic. An object might posses raw vis, a creature might posses Magic Might (and often magical powers), even a place might be endowed with a magical spirit, a genius locus. Again, such spirits typically are merely Cunning, possessing no true Intelligence, and do not naturally speak nor have a name. Some, however, do have a name and/or intelligence. Magical spirits, whether creatures or places, are fairly rare except in high magical auras. Even in low magical auras most things have merely a lowly inanimate spirit of no Might.
There are also similar spirits of immaterial things. There is a spirit of love, which is present when lovers meet just as the spirit of fire is present in the bonefire. These spirits may be of any Realm, although they are most often beings of faerie. Spirits of evil things, such as lust, are often Infernal. Only a rare few are truly Divine, like the spirit of true love. Unlike inanimate spirits, such abstract spirits often have a very fleeting existence and are very weak and confused. Each is, however, a part of a greater spirit of the concept in a sense, and theurgists can sometimes channel aspects of these greater spirits. These are true beings of Might, possessed of Intelligence and having their own True Name. They are known as daimons. Unfortunately, most of the Magical daimons known to Hermetic theurgists are of somewhat unpleasant concepts such as war or intrigue; perhaps this is due to their usefulness.
People have a corporeal body that is subject to the art of Corpus and has an inanimate spirit of itself, separate from the active spirit of the person. Like other lowly inanimate spirits, it can be communicated with. It is a thing of low cunning and bodily desires, and often of a personality unlike that of the person, lacking in restraint and thought and prone to emphasize sloth, hunger, and bodily aches. It remembers the person's life, but largely in these terms, although the memory of a body's death is usually well seared into its psyche.
But people also have an animating spirit, unlike most other beings in Mythic Europe. It is a creature of Mentem, possessing Intelligence and a True Name, and has mastery over one's body except in sleep. It is the animate spirit that maintains man's memory and intellect, his thoughts and emotions, his perception and awareness. Body and mind are nearly inviolate and as long as a person is alive Hermetic magic finds it difficult to separate the animate spirit from the corporeal body, create a new one to usurp it, or so on. In death, however, the corporeal spirit is separated from the animate one on a mystical level. The spirit at this point acquires, for reasons unknown, a Might score, affiliated usually (but not always) with the Magic Realm. It usually drifts into the appropriate Realm in time. A few restless spirits haunt the living. Even fewer – of Divine Might – ascend directly to heaven.
The spirits of the dead, ghosts, can be affected as normal by Hermetic magic (although a magus cannot actually touch the incorporeal ghost's apparition). Their bodily remains and the place of their death serve as arcane connections to them. Certain magi, most notably leadworkers and certain theurgists, can also use a ghost's name as an arcane connection to it. Certain rites, such as Christian burial, may also prevent magi from affecting the spirit, and Hermetic magic cannot affect spirits that ascended to Heaven.
It is unclear how this relates to the matter of the soul. If there is such a thing, Hermetic magic seems unable to relate to it. Some speculate souls fall under the art of Vim, as it is this Form that affects angels and demons, who are thought to be made of soulstuff. Although the Order has been able to create a human spirit using Creo Mentem rituals, these spirits are found to be lacking in some ephemeral quality that prevents them from learning and they tend to be especially susceptible to the Infernal and lacking in moral fiber. Many magi speculate that the missing component is the soul, which lies beyond the reach of Hermetic magic.