(post for January 14th, first day back for students returning to the Academy)

"Okay guys, settle down. We won't be learning anything new today, however we will cover some ground all ready discussed last semester. We're going to start off with the "Glossar of Wizards, Witches, and Mages"

A collective groan went through the students as they took out paper for notes or started looking for their old ones from the last time this was covered.

"But, to save my voice, I'm going to make you guys tell me what each one is. I don't expect complete answers, partials will be fine. Now..Miss Magnus, what can you tell me about...Wizards?"

The little girl's head jerked up like a deer in headlights and a tiney squeek broke from her before she quickly recovered and stood up.

"Wizard comes from the Anglo-Saxon wysard, which meant "wise one". Wizards are lore-masters, especially of arcane, lost or secret, knowledge. A Wizard is also a magickal practitioner; however the word is rarely used totday to describe a practitioner of Wicca, or a member of any particular faith."

As the girl took her seat, Artemus could only nod in respect as the girl nailed most of the points.

"Very good Miss Magnus. To add to that, most Wizards, but not all, tend to be solitary. They may belong to a Wizardly Council or Order though. The most famous Wizard in legend is said to be Merlin since he is mentioned in a lot of fairytales, allegories, and other mythos. However there have been a few women of equal fame. Maria the Jewess, and Hypatia of Alexandria.

Mister Elric, why don't you tell us about what a Vizier is?"

Time to see if this boy had the potential Artemus saw, or if he was just trying to coast through the classes to appears his family.

"Vizier comes from Arabic meaning "bearer of burdens". This title si for the chief minister, or advisor to the king slash sultan. Whatever they used on Earth at that era. Most famous Vizier was Imhotep who was Vzier to Pharo Djoser, and one of the first recorded Wizards."

Not bad, he thought to himself. The boy hadn't forgotten all of it.

"Very good, you may sit, but I would like to add that the title Vizier did become synonymous with "Court Wizard", especially when a vizier was renowned for his powers suc as Imhotep, Merlin, and Dr. John Dee.

Miss Porter, how about you lead us into the area of Mages, eh?"

This was the troublesome one. A pretty scrap of a girl, but she seemed to think her looks all that she'd ever need. This study was just a way to pass the time and learn some things that might be useful. Oh yes, Artemus had heard snips of her conversations in the hall.

"It's a term synonymous with Wizard, but in the complimentary sense. A mage may be called Magus, which means a master of the magickal arts. Ancient Magi, like the Three Wise men in the christian bible, were Zoroastrian Priests originating in Media and Persia, which is now earth's Iran.

At this rate, Artemus wouldn't have to say more than a few words. It's always a good day when he doesn't have to talk for an hour on end.

"Nice, I'll just conclude that the Persian word magu is the root of the word magic. This term became magos in Greek, and later magus in Latin. Eventually coming to be used for wise and powerful magicians of any sort

We'll stop right now with Miss Ruez who is going to tell us about a Cunning Man or Woman."

The last of his top students. At least for this class anyway, but it would be good to see how many of them stated the notes verbatim or in there own words.

"Cunning is from Old Norse cunna, to know, and the Old English kenning, for wise. The term applied to the resident magicians and healers of small English towns and villages ever since the late Middle Ages. They were also called wise man or woman, Wizard, conjurer, sorcerer, charmer, blesser, peller or expeller, white Witch, and recently hedge Witch. Like tradicional tribal Shamans, these country White Witches possessed magickal healing powers and provided cures, remedies, charms, spells, and divination, usually for a fee."

"Right by the book, good work Porter. You covered all the bases for a brief description, now we'll take a small break, say three minutes? And get back into it with some new vocabulary. Which I want you to write down now, so we can discuss them after the break.

Paradigm, Meme, Analogy, Metaphor, Allegory, Paradox, Synchronicity, Synthesis, Hologram, Template, Synergy, Gestalt, and Epiphany."