So, you’re a Muggle and you want to become a wizard wielding powerful magics. In that case, I recommend you start your magical career by performing a simple ritual offering to the spirits at least once a week. What is that you say? You don’t believe in spirits? It’s quite o.k. that you don’t believe in spirits, because the spirits probably believe in you. How do I know this? I know this because I too do not believe in spirits, but it would seem that they do indeed believe in me. Let me tell you my story (of course all names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty).
Once upon a time there lived a wealthy ogre who purchased a great deal of land within the town of Sod. Being industrious, this ogre set about petitioning the town’s council to grant him permission to build an ogre fortress on his newly acquired property. Despite opposition by the town folk, the ogre secured all of the permissions necessary to build his fortress and began to mark off the territory for construction. Now it just so happened that there lived adjacent to the ogre’s property a peasant by the name of Mift. Peasant Mift knew that if the ogre built his fortress next to his land that not only would he have to endure an increase in ogre traffic but that his property would lose some of its value (who wants to live next to an ogre fortress?). Concerned over the matter, Peasant Mift pondered as to what he should do. Now Peasant Mift had been making weekly offerings to the local spirits for some time prior to all of this. He was not entirely comfortable doing this since he did not believe in spirits, but he nevertheless gave weekly offerings to the spirits of the land because some roaming sorcerers had told him that miraculous things would begin to occur if he did so. Thinking about his plight, Peasant Mift decided to inform the local spirits about the ogre’s intentions and asked them to intervene. It was their land too after all. Later, after some months passed and he became busied with his normal routine, Peasant Mift forgot all about his conversation with the spirits. Then one day, quite unexpectedly, Peasant Mift’s wife came to him and informed him that the ogre was no longer interested in building his fortress and that he would be putting the land up for sale. Upon hearing the news, Peasant Mift immediately recalled what he had asked of the spirits and began to laugh. He laughed because he did not believe in spirits, yet the spirits obviously believed in him.
