Similarity and Contagion

[Sado]

If you read a lot of fantasy you've probably come across these terms. For those unfamiliar, it's how many authors define the way magic works. They go something like this:

Law of Similarity- Things that are alike can be linked and made to affect each other. The most common example of this in practice I can think of is the voodoo doll-you make a doll that looks like the person you want to affect and do stuff to it, which should affect the intended victim in a similar manner.

Law of Contagion- Things that have been in contact with each other remain linked long after they are separated. This is seen in fantasy fiction when the magic-user gathers hair, toenail clippings, saliva, etc from the intended victim to use in casting a spell on them.

I'm swiping these ideas, but I want to make them sound more, I don't know, ancient. Contagion, to me, sounds like something you would hear in a modern hospital, not a pre-medieval fantasy setting.

Can you guys help me think of something else to call these laws that sounds more arcane and mysterious?

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Well, the word "contagion" is pretty old:

"It seems that turning to this column for help with research papers is contagious! Contagion took its current form in about 1380 when it meant `corrupting influence, contamination.' Twenty years later it had gained the meaning `a communicable disease.' It came from Old French contagion, which itself came from Latin contagionem `contact, contagion.' It is related to contingere `touch closely' from con- (intensive) + tangere `to touch,' which is the source of English contact."

 

[mythusmage]

In some schools of thought the two are brought together under the law of sympathy. Gygax used them in this manner in Mythus Magick, saying:

Similarity - Homeopathic Magick: Homeopathic magick exploits the relationship between two things which are in some way similar to each other. Causes are related to effects, and vice versa.

Contagion - Contagious Magick: These sorts of Casting exploit the relationship between two connected or seemingly unconnected objects which were formerly a part of each other or go together associatively. A twig relates to its tree, but an acorn, for instance, relates to any and all oaks.

--Mythus Magick p23

That last case could be seen as including the law of evocation. Where the item used is evocative of another thing. The acorn being evocative of oak trees for example. Or feathers being evocative of flight. In any case, I hope this helps.