Instruments

Common Instruments
ref: Mage 20th Ann pg 588-600

A - B

Armor	As a tool for Awakened focus, the armor in question must be created or modified by the Spheres to provide additional levels of protection. One point of Quintessence, invested into the armor with Prime 2 or better, can make that armor resistant to aggravated damage. For details about armor, see the Combat section in Chapter Nine of M20 Anniversary.
Artwork	Drawings, paintings, CGI, sculptures, graffiti, and so forth allow a mage to capture his intentions in a visual medium. One of the oldest mystic tools (as shown in prehistoric cave-paintings and goddess figurines), artwork often draws upon the principle of connection: by depicting your subject, you attach your intentions and desires to it through the art. Artwork also influences the human condition by appealing to people (or disturbing them) when they recognize the symbolic energy of a piece.
Blessings and Curses	Bestowing favor or inflicting bad luck – especially through the power of gods or spirits – remains a potent form of magick. And so, when people see witches, clergy, gamblers, and hoodoo-folk call upon God, Fate, and Fortune, they’re inclined to believe in the results. In game terms, blessings and curses tend to be coincidental. After all, superstition and religious awe are universal, even in these supposedly civilized times.
Blood and Other Fluids	Sweat, tears, blood, semen, saliva, pus, urine, bile, marrow, sap… through such fluids flow the essence of life. Sure, they seem disgusting to most folks, but mages – especially ones who practice medicine work, biotech, or primal magick – recognize their power. DNA, viruses, life force, the generative capacities of living things – all manifest in such organic fluids, so many practices employ those liquid instruments… possibly distilling them down to Quintessential Tass, painting with them, drinking them, drawing them out of the body, releasing them in acts of gory sacrifice, or otherwise opening an organic vessel and letting the magick flow. (See also Brews, Food, Offerings, and Sex.)
Bodywork	Massage, energy-sharing, chiropractic medicine, acupuncture and acupressure, yoga, and other disciplines of body manipulation allow a person to influence mental and physical health, stimulate organic functions, establish or reinforce intimate bonds between the practitioner and his subject, and simply help people feel better about themselves. As a result, bodywork forms a centerpiece for several mystic practices, especially ones that – like martial arts, shamanism, witchcraft, yoga, and certain types of medicine work – favor vitality over external tools.
Bones, Skins, Organs, and Other Remains	Like bodily fluids, the physical pieces of a living (once-living) thing contain potent magickal significance. After all, such remains facilitate life, and so they also focus the life of a spell. As a result, they often get converted into ritual instruments of many different kinds. Books might be written on flayed skin; dusts can be ground from powdered bone; items could be crafted out of organs or skeletal remains. It’s gruesome, sure – but it’s also quite traditional. Creepy mystics aren’t the only folks who do this sort of thing, either… are they, Dr. Frankenstein? The literal structures of life play important roles in magick, science, and religion, no matter how macabre that role might seem.
Books, Scrolls, and Periodicals	Is print obsolete? Not even close. Although e-books and PDFs comprise a wider range of texts now than they did even a decade ago, the printed word retains a mystic significance that those digital media have yet to achieve. 21st-century mage periodicals range from e-books of shadows to SF/ fantasy lit, computer manuals, magazines and e-zines, occult tomes, aged grimoires, ancient scrolls, downloadable PDFs, print-on-demand texts, graphic novels, and even game books like this one. Many feature the occult lore of ages, whereas others present pop philosophy, subversive concepts, historical information, cataloged facts, and any other subject that can be presented in written form. Within the last 30 years, incredibly rare arcane texts have popped up on big-box bookstore shelves all around the world, so any mage who takes herself seriously has a library of some kind.
Brain/ Computer Interface	An emerging technology among the Masses, BCI is a common tool among certain Awakened factions, especially the Virtual Adepts, Iteration X, the Syndicate, and the NWO. Microtechnology – usually a bush of carbon nanotube bundles spread throughout the brain – transmits electrical signals from the brain, interprets them through a computerized interface, and allows for physical manipulations or virtual functions through brain power alone. Because it literally messes with your brain, many mages consider BCI anathema. Even among allies, the debate about such technologies can get pretty heated. Does BCI turn its user into a tech-addled posthuman, or is it simply another step in human progress, like language, printing, or the Internet? Regardless of such objections, brain/ computer interface is a viable tool for the 21st-century technomancer – borderline coincidental so long as it’s used invisibly, and potentially game changing for the future of humanity.
Brews, Potions, Powders, and Other Concoctions	Blending various ingredients into potent concoctions, the archetypal witch’s brew and its many permutations – goffer dust, corpse-powder, dragon’s blood, beer, wine, love philters, mystic potions, and the diverse medicines, foods, and beverages found across the world – present an obvious tool of magickal intent. Regardless of the purposes or composition involved in a given concoction, the process of turning many things into one thing reflects a sort of magic. For that reason, mythology often credits gods and wise-folk with the creation of beers, foods, and medicines. In game terms, any sort of mage can use such refreshments. Holy water, love potions, hypermeds – they’re all refinements of the same basic idea: mix it up, drink it down, and watch things change!

C

Cards, Dice, and Other Instruments of Chance	Probability holds a sense of wonder, even for the Masters of Entropy whose Arts direct it, to a certain degree. The fickle hand of chance represents the randomness principles of the universe, so its talismans – dice, tokens, thrown bones, drawn straws, divination sticks, and, of course, the symbol-flashing cards – reflect command of destiny. Fate appears to speak through these instruments, and they become potent tools of omen and prophecy. Traditionally, a caster mixes up the tokens into an apparently random selection, then draws a certain number of them in order to find out what he needs to know. That mage could cheat, of course, removing the random element from the task. Still, instruments of chance present a dramatic focus for intentions – witness the gambling-hall scenes in Run Lola Run or Casino Royale – especially when big things depend upon the turn of a friendly card. Cards, given their visual focus, are especially vivid instruments – particularly the symbolic portents of Tarot or other oracular cards. Even normal playing cards, though, can be incredibly evocative, reflecting cosmic tales of sex, violence, desire, and royalty in a few simple icons that find their way into popular mythology.
Celestial Alignments	What’s your sign? Long before books or machines became common tools, mages read, focused, and calculated the schedules for their rituals by the dance of planets and stars. Even now, when modern science has supposedly disproved the old cosmologies – at least on the mortal side of the Gauntlet – the old mystique of horoscopes, the brilliant possibilities of Hubble telescope photos, and the eldritch mysteries of deep space continue to influence mystic and scientific practices, conjuring insights and miracles when the stars are right.
Circles, Pentacles, and Other Geometric Designs	As the archetypal symbol of unity, the circle shows up in mystic practices everywhere. Enclosing workspaces, sigils, ritual areas, and other regions in circles, spell casters secure that space within spheres of their intentions. Meanwhile, other circular designs – rings, belts, linked hands, dancing circles, even circular movements and sung rounds – provide similar enclosures that seal an intention with an activity. Other geometric shapes – triangles, squares, hexagrams, pentacles, and so forth – seal different sorts of activities. Symbolically, those shapes (which appear in scientific formulae too) represent cosmic principles by mathematical designs. Squares reflect stability, rectangles present expansive yet secure areas, crosses signify intersecting forces, triangles direct energy, and combinations of those designs – as seen in yantras, mandalas, sand paintings, and other ritual diagrams – combine several forces into unified wholes… wholes often surrounded by a circle. Certain ritual practices, especially in High Ritual Magick, demand elaborate designs that must be traced and crafted to exacting standards. Such designs can take hours or even days to create, and they often become permanent parts of a ritual space. In symbolic architecture, the space itself might be crafted into the design – a common practice among Freemasons and other artists of sacred geometry. Temples, cathedrals, Chantries, and other important buildings become massive works of symbolism… which, when you think about it, says volumes about the mystic dimensions of Washington DC.
Computers and IT Gear	The essential tech of the 21st century, computers and other elements of Information Technology form the basis for Consensus Reality in our age. For obvious reasons, then, mages use computers for everything from data storage to social transformation. Not long ago, such machines were toys for a privileged few. Now, almost everyone within the industrialized world has at least access to a computer, and many folks use them on a daily basis. Magickally speaking, computers store and manipulate data like handy household gods. Using arcane calculations and alchemical technologies, they transform every sphere of life they touch. The industrial world depends upon computers nowadays – they run cars, manage banks, link people, and allow for a global community that, within living memory, used to be impossible. These portals of Hermes let tech-savvy mages sidestep physical reality, not only through the Digital Web itself but through common miracles like smart phones, laptops, and streaming media. And so, in our new millennium, a mage can use a computer for damn near anything if she’s good enough at what she does. Connected to the computers themselves, the ever-growing network of clouds, sites, sectors, and connections holds an expanding universe of virtual potential. And though the gleeful prognostications of early cyber-visionaries bear little resemblance to the Internet we know today, that technology is just a few decades old. What might happen when and if the Masses catch up to the Awakened in terms of Internet Enlightenment? That potential, and its practical applications, still seem very much like magic
Crossroads and Crossing-Days	Intersections are powerful. Areas and times in which one element or energy crosses over another one, or even several, herald passages, transitions, and transformations. Clearly, such transitions are magickal – liminal spaces where options and choices multiply. As a result, crossroads and transitional periods – midnight, dawn, New Year’s Eve, certain holidays – provide focus for mystic workings. Rituals often seem most significant when performed in such places or times.
Cups,Chalices, Cauldrons, and Other Vessels	Practically and symbolically, the many vessels we create to hold and carry things – especially water, the liquid upon which human life depends – hold potent significance for both mystic and scientific practices. Cups, goblets, chalices, and cauldrons have deep associations with birth and renewal, feminine energy and fluid potential. For examples, look no further than the Holy Grail, the witch’s cauldron, Baba Yaga’s pot, or the singing bowls of Tibet. On the technical end, vats, beakers, crèches, and test tubes contain their own mystique… witness the phrase “testtube baby” or the image of vat-brewed clones. And so, mages of many kinds use vials, bottles, pots, and beakers to work their Arts, often combining those instruments with brews, water, and various concoctions in order to turn one thing into another.

D - E

Dances, Gestures, Postures, and Other Movement Practices	Movement unites the body, mind, and life force into a flowing whole that breaks physical stasis and opens channels of vital energies. Dance – often driven by Music (see below) – sends the body into ecstatic flight. Postures and katas – specifically those taught in yoga, t’ai chi, and various martial practices – program muscle memory into efficient poses while freeing the mind to pursue focus or meditation. Gestures – arm waves, hand signs, mudras, genuflections, and so forth – direct manual dexterity into symbolic displays, as peaceful as the “fear not” mudra or as incendiary as Hitler’s salute. From bowing to ballet, such activities convey deep ritual significance through physical discipline. In especially rigorous forms – advanced yoga, breakdancing, classical ballet, and so forth – those disciplines demand physical vitality and constant practice, channeled through cultural symbolism, aesthetic appeal, and just plain fun. And so, the various styles of dance, gesture, and movement form essential elements of mystic and technological practices, directing a person’s intentions and energies through the instrument of the body itself.
Devices and Machines	Humanity’s great gift is our use of tools. It’s clear, then, that such tools – from simple machines like bows and arrows to complex machines like death rays or printing presses – hold symbolic power beyond their practical utility. Humanity’s machines are a form of magick, epitomizing the Will to transcend our limits and transform our world. Technomancers are literally defined by their reliance upon machines, but even the most traditional shaman can use a loom as a creative instrument, directing his intentions through whirring shuttles, levers, and gears.
Drugs and Poisons	Like the Brews and Concoctions described above, various drugs, poisons, venoms, and so forth change one state of being into another. In the case of psychoactive drugs, that state might involve radically altered consciousness. Practices from primal shamanism to psychedelic transhumanism use mind-altering drugs to cleanse the doors of perception and open a mage to new possibilities. Poisons, meanwhile, harm or kill inconvenient people – a nasty but traditional practice among alchemists, witches, and assassins. Such substances make excellent tools for Entropy, Life, and Mind Effects and range from natural toxins to hypertech drugs.
Elements	Fire, water, earth, and air – perhaps adding metal, wood, glass, plastic, and electricity, depending on your point of view – all play important roles in almost every sort of practice. From their symbolic meanings (solid as stone, fiery passions, earthy groundedness, etc.) to their practical applications through Forces, Matter, and (for plants) Life Arts, the elements can become a mage’s primary instruments. Depending on her practice, your mage might employ elements through spiritual connection, scientific physics, angelic and demonic control, sympathetic magick, or even a personal tie to the living world. Through her Arts, that character can shape, conjure, alter, manipulate, merge into, or otherwise control the forces that make up our world… a literally elemental talent that in many ways defines the Art of Wizardry.
Energy	The life force forms a significant element of mystic focus. Through practices like Tantra, yoga, and other forms of energy work, a person can perceive and manipulate that life force, directing it to his needs. That energy, in turn, fuels martial arts, sexual disciplines, bodywork, and other practices. For mages with the Prime Sphere, this instrument focuses Quintessence-based magick. However, characters without the Prime Sphere can also focus energy as an instrument, so long as that person’s practice includes energy work as a possibility. For more details about working with energy, see the Prime and Primal Utility Spheres in M20th Anniversary. For related instruments, see Bodywork, Dance, Eye Contact, Group Rites, Meditation, Music, Ordeals, Sex, and Social Domination
Eye Contact	By using these windows to the soul, a mage can charm, frighten, seduce, bewitch, curse, intimidate, or otherwise enchant someone else. Folks have feared the Evil Eye for centuries and cultivated an extensive body of lore – banishment gestures, hex signs, spitting on the ground, and so forth – in order to escape its influence. These days, though, people often want you to look them in the eye. And so, flirtatious glances, poisonous glares, dominance-establishing staring contests, puppy-dog eyes, and other optic rituals become potent instruments for magick and technology.

F - I

Fashion	Clothes can make the mage. From the social grace of a bespoke suit (that is, one that’s tailor-made for the individual) to the fierce warnings of gang gear or the playful flirtations of a pretty dress, fashion plays a subtle yet pervasive part in social interactions. Your mage could craft reinforced clothing into armor; adopt disguises; don ritual gear (robes, skins, body paint, etc.); display a uniform; cosplay familiar or original characters; or simply use high fashion or street wear to invoke a particular effect. Especially when that clothing holds symbolic weight – like priest’s robes, biker jackets, military uniforms, or fetish gear – fashion becomes a potent focus for Mind powers, Spirit rites, and Matter-based protection from a dangerous world. the lack of clothing – either bared body parts or total nudity – constitutes its own type of fashion. Witches and shamans often go skyclad (naked) in their rites, whereas other mystics take oaths to bare or cover certain parts of their bodies. Veils, burqas, scarves, headdresses, bare feet, naked chests, gis, saris, club fashions, turbans, clothes made from certain materials (silk, fur, even meat)… all of them evoke cultural significance, concealing or displaying certain elements of the wearer’s body while sending signals about the person underneath.
Food and Drink	Even mages need to eat. And beyond the good taste and practical nutrition involved with food and drink, those meals have symbolic significance as well. Sharing meals means sharing energy – it’s an intimate communion even in the age of fast food and store-bought chow. Ritual feasts hold places of honor in every culture: Thanksgiving, Passover, potlatches, and holiday dinners combine spiritual significance, good food, and social bonds. Even alone, however, food and drink can be important, mingling bodily needs with mystical intent and chemical ingestion.
Formulae, Equations, and Sacred or Advanced Mathematics	Math has been called the universal language of the cosmos. Its esoteric applications can seem as arcane as any wizard’s ritual… and many mystic ritualsdo, in fact, feature complex numerology and brain-shaking mathematics. For Technocrats – especially those from Iteration X and the Syndicate – mathematical models help predict future events (in short, focus Time magick), plot out connections (the Correspondence Sphere), determine esoteric chemistry (Life principles), and employ physics in counterintuitive ways (that is, to use Entropy, Forces, Matter, and Prime). Older mystic practices employ sacred numerology, angelic formulae, and the dizzying principles of non-Euclidian geometry. So if it’s true that mathematics bind the universe together, then it’s easy to understand why math plays such a vital role in so many practices.
Gadgets and Inventions	Nothing beats the personal touch. As mentioned earlier, machines provide a vital edge to mages who want to get things done. Machines created by the mage himself, however, embody a bit of that creator’s Enlightenment, manifesting it as a potentially powerful device. Strictly speaking, a gadget is a minor machine that performs a specific function once and then burns out. An invention may be any device that’s been hand-crafted by the inventor himself; a one-of-a-kind machine, it’s probably the experimental prototype for a planned line of similar devices, with all the bugs and quirks that such prototypes display. Unlike the capital-D Devices, these creations don’t necessarily have innate technomagick built into them. As focus instruments, they provide mechanical vectors for the creator’s Enlightened Science.Because such devices share a personal connection to their inventor, these tools count as personal and unique instruments.
Gems, Stones, and Minerals	Diamonds are forever. Gold is good, and jade incarnates Heavenly goodwill. The mystic properties of precious stones, ores, and minerals echo down through legend, slang, and alchemical lore. Mages who know how to tap into these properties employ them in rituals, build them into instruments, wear them as jewelry, and otherwise keep them close at hand. Technology, meanwhile, employs those properties too. Did you think it was an accident that gold is so vital to the world’s economy or that diamonds find their way into so many industrial machines…?
Group Rites	Smart mages realize that raising power in groups directs the collective will and imagination of that group toward a specific purpose. Circle-dances, music concerts, plays, protests, prayer meetings, and other gatherings provide focus for mystic rites. Technomancers understand the power of groups too – why else would factories and cubicle farms be so damned effective? Generally, a mage whips her group to an emotional frenzy and then channels their energy into her intended purpose. As that energy reaches a peak, she plays the crowd like an instrument, bringing things to a climax as she casts her Effect.
Herbs, Roots, Seeds, Flowers, and Plants	Growing things hold power, especially when you want to perform Lifebased magick. Plant-based materials can be essential to other instruments like brews, laboratories, and drugs, and they provide the roots, so to speak, for practices like witchcraft, shamanism, and many forms of medicine work. By gathering, drying, curing, eating, grinding, or otherwise employing these botanical substances, a mage can distill the essence of Creation into her Arts. Beyond its practical properties, each sort of plant holds symbolic importance; in most cases, the different portions of a plant have significance as well. Holly sprigs, elderberries, acorns, mandrake roots… even now, popular culture immortalizes ancient plant lore. A creative player can learn about the properties of different plants and herbs, then bring both the practical and symbolic elements of botanical tools to the gaming table.
Household Tools	Especially among the practical Arts, household tools – pitchforks, hammers, nails, brooms, ovens, horseshoes – hold traditional power as magical implements. The same holds true for technological tools, as well… witness the atavistic terror that’s invoked by a chainsaw. Because magick so often depends upon directing energy and intentions toward a goal, household tools have all kinds of uses. Six silver dollars might be hammered into place around your property to keep the cops away; a specially brewed floor wash might cleanse tainted Resonance; a Roomba (with or without a shark-dressed cat) could patrol your Chantry-house. And when the spells are done, those tools serve double duty around the home. A witch, after all, can use her broom to fly to the gathering and then sweep the house clean once she comes home again.

K - M

Knots and Ropes: There’s a reason the phrase spellbinding exists. Long before Velcro, buttons, or carabiners, people had to tie or weave things together. Because the principle of contagion focuses on connecting spells, subjects, and casters by a single strand, knots and ropes (as well as thongs, strings, threads, and so forth) feature heavily in spells. The metaphorical Tapestry and the concept of string-theory physics both draw upon that connection, and so the acts of binding things together, weaving intentions with materials, and undoing knots to release their energy all serve practical as well as symbolic purposes in magick. And once you understand that fact, you see deeper significance in Celtic knotwork, knitting, the arcane arts of rope bondage, and the pervasive imagery of mystic spiders and Pattern Webs.
Laboratories and Lab Gear	Although you can’t usually carry a laboratory around with you (although certain portable labs can be stuck inside a vehicle, trailer, or suitcase), such places of labor provide essential instruments for technological, alchemical, and elaborate ritual practices. Generally, a mage employs his laboratory to refine other tools and spells for his practice, then uses the results of that lab work as his portable instruments. Still, without that lab, he’d be more or less worthless. You can’t grow clones, install cybernetics, or refine base materials into perfection without a good lab.
Languages: Words are a form of magick; after all, they shape abstract thoughts into reality by communicating them to other beings and thus opening their minds to your own. In a communal form, language shares thoughts and – by extension – broadens the potential of reality for everyone concerned. Words, it is said, opened the gulf between animals, spirits, and human beings… and although animals and spirits clearly have their own forms of language, the flexible precision of human words has certainly marked a major step in our development. Read More: M20 Ann, pg 593-594
Mass Media	As a magickal instrument, mass media can take many forms: music concerts or recordings, TV and radio broadcasts, Internet posts, viral videos, roleplaying games, remixes, mashups, bestselling books, theatrical productions, movies of any scale… if they reach a large audience, then they’re all mass media. Such media provide excellent venues for coincidental Mind Effects – the audience wants to receive a message, and therefore they’re already receptive to it. Such messages can occasionally seed new Mythic Threads too – just Google Harry Potter,Twilight,or Obama. ince the earliest large rituals, mages have used mass media to make things happen. The Syndicate, NWO, Cult of Ecstasy, and Celestial Chorus are the obvious masters of media, but any group or individual can employ it. (Rumors and evidence suggest that the Nephandi might be the greatest media masters of them all.)
Meditation	An intrinsic part of almost every mystic practice (and many technological ones as well), meditation involves quiet reflection through which a person screens out everyday distractions in order to connect with her inner self. Through meditation, a mage focuses her intentions, sorts through her circumstances, and often arrives at the next step she needs in order to move forward. Often simplified into mere relaxation, meditation actually runs much deeper than that. Given the hectic, distractionvfilled world we live in, though, meditation’s certainly a useful tool for relaxation as well as focus on greater things. Mages use meditation to connect to Primal Force, bridge minds and emotions, reach out to higher (or lower) powers, perceive their surroundings on a sublime level, access their inner resources, and plan the next move in their activities. As a tool, then, meditation works for just about anything, so long as the character has time to stop moving, focus on the meditation, and screen out distractions long enough to find what she seeks. It doesn’t work well, obviously, in high-stress situations, although – given time – a character can use meditation to reduce her stress. Traditionally depicted as a person sitting in a lotus position while humming Ohm, meditation can take many different forms. Postures, katas, games, prayer, running, chanting, dance, sex, music, even certain forms of fighting can all function as meditation. The vital element is the mindset of the person meditating. If she views her practice as a meditative connection, and if it takes her where she needs to go, then almost anything can be a form of meditation.
Money and Wealth	As a magickal tool, money has two potential forms: physical cash and virtual trade. Cash – paper money, coins, tokens, and so forth – allows the mage to pass along an Effect by passing along the cash. A $20.00 bill could carry a mind Effect that reminds someone of his mother; a Spanish piece of eight could bear an ancient curse; a defaced dollar bill might feature the message THIS IS NOT YOUR GOD stamped in red ink, focusing a Mind or Entropy Effect that degrades people’s trust in social institutions. Cash often holds Resonance too, especially if it’s been tainted by criminal acts or emotional desperation. As any mage knows, blood money is a real thing when you understand Resonance. Virtual trade focuses Mind and/ or Entropy Effects that get people to believe that abstract numbers determine their fate. Checks, credit and debit cards, credit ratings, bank statements, and approval processes reflect uses of virtual trade. Such tools can be extraordinarily effective and dangerous. At the time this section was originally written, in real life, the United States government was temporarily shut down over an imaginary crisis built around virtual values that have no physical counterpart, only the emotional reality of what people think a bunch of numbers mean. Societies can rise and fall over such ideas, so the practice of hypereconomics (see The Art of Desire/ Hypereconomics) manipulates virtual trade on a scale far beyond the possibilities of physical cash.
Music	One of the oldest magickal tools, music harnesses the powers of sound, art, memes, social influence, voices, symbols, and – in one way or another – many of the other tools on this list. A full exploration of the esoteric potential of music runs far beyond this space, and although its most obvious adherents include the Celestial Chorus, Bata’a, Dreamspeakers, Cult of Ecstasy, and Hollow Ones, any group or mage can use music as an instrument of focus. As a general rule, music’s vibrations carry the spell caster’s intentions into the world. That music can be broadcast to a mass audience, performed for a smaller audience, or created in solitude for personal Effects. For obvious reasons, music takes time to perform but makes an ideal instrument for rituals, especially when a number of characters are working together to weave the Effect. Read More: M20 Ann, pg 596

N -

Nanotech	Composed of miniscule, self-replicating machines, nanotechnology involves the study and design of productive engines on the molecular and atomic level. To Consensus reality, such technologies are largely theoretical; to technomancers – most especially the innovators of Iteration X and the Society of Ether – they’re an essential tool for Enlightened Procedures. Although all groups have been holding back that level of technology from the Masses (the consensus is that the Masses can’t be trusted with it, and that’s probably correct), nanotech forms a common instrument for Life and Matter Effects… most especially those Procedures that either build or repair structures or organisms. Technocratic healing Procedures often involve nanotech patches, and machines that grow out of nowhere actually spring from high-intensity (read: vulgar) nanotech clusters that create material structures faster than the human eye can follow. That speed, combined with the high level of energy and material resources involved (in game terms, the amount of Quintessence they consume), keep nanotech out of wider use. Although favored Technocracy personnel employ nanotech instruments in many Threat Level A responses, the risks and requirements of existing nanotech… most especially the awful potential consequences of unregulated proliferation (read: someone else using the stuff)… assure that such innovations will remain restricted to certain agents and application within the foreseeable future.
Numbers and Numerology	Numbers hold power. As mentioned above under the Formulae entry, that power can be unlocked through arcane mathematics. Sometimes, though, all you need is a single number – nine, for example – to seal your mystical intentions. On a related note, the occult practice of numerology draws connections between specific numbers and the deeper levels of Creation. As such, it provides a venerable focus for Correspondence, Spirit, Prime, or Time Arts, acting as a tool for understanding the ties between one thing and another. And so, beyond the baroque patterns of number theory, simple numbers or numerical correspondences (Bible verses, racing horses, sports-team player numbers, etc.) can be remarkably potent tools when they get assigned to something you’re trying to accomplish.
Offerings and Sacrifices	Often, the best way to prove that you really want something involves giving up something else in order to obtain your goal. Thus, sacrifice (“to make sacred”) holds a precious, though controversial, place in mystic practices. Essentially, a person offers up something precious – property, behavior, living things, even her own life – in order to seal a deal with the Powers That Be.
Ordeals and Exertion	Pain has a marvelous way of focusing your attention. People employ techniques of significant anguish as methods for either getting out of their heads or, in contrast, getting “under the skin” to find the deeper layers there. Many mystic practices (and certain technological ones, too) employ agony as a tool for focus. Examples: Lakota Sun-Dance, cutting, other forms of causing physical pain. Athletic exertions, too, count toward such goals. Marathons, pumping iron, cage-fighting, extreme sports… they all take you out of the routine and into the moment and thus provide focus through intense experience. Physically, such exertions are ordeals – challenges that take a person to her limits and show her how much she’s capable of doing. And so, for certain mages (especially Akashics, Thanatoics, Ecstatics, shamans, and Technocrats), the practice of intentional exertion provides a physical and symbolic way to “break on through” and reach new levels of reality.