A Continent of Banalities

 A sorcerous character for Sigil & Shadow Abel started getting interested in magic as a child. Deedee, the lady next door, read tarot cards and helped the unhappy with folk medicine and rituals. It was very interesting, and a little scary. In the end it was all done in service to compassion.  Abel encountered magic again when he went to university. Hoary old sociologists like Durkheim,  Mauss and Malinowski covered magic as a societal and psychological tool, a crossroads of faith, performance and pragmatism. Yet they always treated it from the outside looking in. Abel’s roommate called it “colonialist sociology”.  Abel started attending seances, masses, and esoteric retreats. Most were underwhelming, until he met the Tired Man. His skin was yellow like old newspapers, his teeth were lead-gray, and his eyes were a sky with drifting storm clouds. The Tired Man always dragged his feet to the gatherings, but always left with a kick in his stride.   Once Abe...