Dear mr. Stroud,
I wanted to ask you a very important (at least to me ) question - I'm actually astonished it hasn't come up yet.
I'm going to write a quote here:

wrote:Magicians do not have magical abilities themselves

- the ring of Solomon, a note on magic
But if so, how can they use spells like Shrivelling Fire, Essence Lance, etc. on their spirits?
How can they fire "bright jags of scarlet lightning" from their forefingers if they don't have magic themselves?

Thanks for reading, I really liked your books! :-D

A very good queston there :D

Whoops sorry, I answered it myself

wrote:Ward: a short incantation which turns the spirit's
own power back on itself (...) include barbarities such as the
Systematic Vise

- RoS, chapter 23
Looks like those spells are just the spirit's own magic turned back
on them.

sorry for wasting a question
hope all of you didn't know this and that you learned it right now