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Post by vandergraafk on Feb 26, 2007 19:03:15 GMT -5
Phoebe becomes a banshee. Prue turns into a husky! Piper continues blowing up things inadvertently and whines more and more about her new powers!
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Post by vandergraafk on Sept 13, 2009 4:09:59 GMT -5
At the outset of this excellent episode, Phoebe is observed writing in the Book of Shadows. Ever since Season 1, when the sisters learned that the Book was the repository of received wisdom, each had been encouraged to contribute their insights. The apparent betrayal of Phoebe by Cole, as the second witch is vanquished by Belthazor as the conclusion of Exit Strategy, prompts Phoebe to add her thoughts to the Book. Prue, however, remarks that some of the comments - what Cole likes and dislikes - are less advice for the ages and more an act of catharsis that an obviously grieving and distressed Phoebe requires. As such, Phoebe's remarks seem to "mar" the Book rather than add to the spells, demonic descriptions and insights that had allowed the Book to grow with each successive generation of Warren witches.
Yet, if we fast forward to Season 5's Necromancing the Stone, we learn that Grams had also committed to the Book of Shadows many deeply personal experiences that she had learned with her encounter with the Necromancer. Like Phoebe, she was deeply smitten. Thus, the Book gets a list of likes and dislikes about the Necromancer that equal those later written by Phoebe about Cole/Belthazor.
Rather the "mar" the Book of Shadows, each of these contributions adds to the collective knowledge of the Warren lineage of witches. And, it must be kept in mind that the physical Book of Shadows is subject to change. Spells appear when needed. Insights from distant times reappear when needed. Acts of aggression towards the Book, especially when a deeply troubled Piper crosses out demon kills in Season 4's Hell Hath No Fury, get "cleaned up" as the Book renews itself. As I have argued elsewhere, there is no such thing as "THE BOOK OF SHADOWS" unless, of course, such a statement is taken to mean that the compleat Book of Shadows resides in a nebulous ether where all comments/spells/warnings/etc. reside. Much like"owning" a book and "possessing" it via the Kindle does not mean permanence. (Those who "owned" Animal Farm only to discover that amazon.com had the ability to revoke "possession" when it learned that the issuer of the on-line edition of Animal Farm hadn't actually owned the rights to release this book, learned what "owning" a book whose existence is kept in a nebular state in the etherlike word of the internet means! The firestorm that erupted over the unannounced and sudden revokation of Kindle access has yet to be sorted out, but has unsettled those who rely on virtual books as a cultural repository.)
With this understanding of the Book of Shadows, we can understand how a spell such as the Suxen spell can "magically appear" in the Book - when needed at the concluson of Season 7. We can also understand how the Book can morph from a book of good magic to the dark magic in Season 3's "Bride and Gloom" when Prue falls under the power of a dark priestess.
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