Spellcraft

Listen up: I’m going to tell you how to cast a spell.

Take one apple. (Doesn’t matter what kind.) With a knife, peel the skin off the apple, in one long unbroken strip. (This may take you several tries.) Once you have your strip, throw it over your shoulder, and when it hits the ground it will spell the initials of the person you’re going to marry.

What, that doesn’t sound like a spell to you? That’s because it isn’t one. Well, sort of. What’s a spell, anyway? Incantations, weird ingredients, a...