Threadneedle (The Language of Magic, #1)

by Cari Thomas

‘With control you will be ready to make the sacrifice required.’ Anna had never liked the sharp, slicing sounds of the word. What sacrifice? Her magic? Or something more?

‘Well, true fairy tales are not always kind or pleasant but neither is life and we must live it anyway. Stories must be lived too; only then can they be understood.’

‘There are many types of magical language – candle magic, for example.’ She pointed to the candles. ‘Or words, or song, or herbs and potions, or dancing, or the light of the moon, or the click of your fingers, or wands, or brooms, metal, crystals, trees, runes, circles and seals, blowing the seeds of a dandelion head or spirits from the land of the dead, or rituals which combine many languages into one. You choose.’

‘Why would you want to be like other people? I hate other people. We belong to legend, to fairy tale and storybook, to the blood-red paintings on cave walls. Witches, sorceresses and enchantresses, the strega, the vala, the banshee women, fairy godmothers or wizened hags in the dark of the woods. Sacred. Sinners. Wonders. Wicked. Virgins. Whores. Call us what you will. It’s our duty to bring magic into this world.’

‘Men are always so quick to slap a label on things. I attribute most of the problems of the world to that. They think they’re being clever, carving everything up, but all true wisdom is lost that way.’

‘The doctrine of signatures is not just a plant’s shape or colour, it’s how it smells, how it feels, its environment, its soil. It’s unearthing its story. It’s using all your senses at once and then going deeper, saying hello to the very essence of the plant itself.’

‘As for being good for nothing, nothing could be further from the truth. There’s nothing a nettle can’t do.’

‘All cauldrons are beautiful.’

ACAB

Like darkness is the absence of light, fear is the absence of reason. You merely need to learn how to switch it off.’