Source of Magic

[Boromir88]

I always love threads about magic, simply because there seems to always be so much to say, but everything winds up being inconclusive.

I love Galadriel's words to Sam about 'Elf-Magic' because it's just short, sweet, and straight to the point:

"And you?" she said turning to Sam. "For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what you mean; and they seem to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy."~The Mirror of Galadriel

'Magic' is a mortal word, and it's a word that as Jeff points out, seems pretty foreign to Galadriel. To Galadriel it's not magic, it's her own innate ability. She is not drawing from some sort of supernatural power (as in Star Wars with 'the force') she is drawing from her own power.

What's interesting about the Mirror of Galadriel, is after she poors the water, Galadriel breathes on it, and it seems like Galadriel's breath is what activates the mirror to show the visions. To diverge for a bit, Aragorn breathes and 'activates' the healing powers of the athelas:

’Then taking two leaves, he laid them on his hands and breathed on them, and he crushed them, and straightaway a living freshness filled the room, as if the air itself awoke and tingled sparkling with joy.’~Houses of Healing

Across many cultures and religions there always seems to be a connection between 'breath' and 'life,' or breath and healing. In Lord of the Rings, I think we actually have both, as the Nazgul have their Black Breath, which you may call the 'breath of death.'

Galadriel also doesn't appear to like what she does, to be compared with 'the Enemy,' since the Enemy is deceiptful. In Letter 155 Tolkien goes a bit further about Galadriel's comment about the 'deceipts of the Enemy' but it's rather muddled, because Tolkien really doesn't define his terms. He talks about magia, and goeteia. 'Magia' is the physical magic, that has a visible effect in the 'real' world...so say Gandalf's shutting spell on the door. 'Goeteia', is psychological magic, take Sauron's use of psychological terror to make his servants sub-ordinate, and dominate their 'will.' Goeteia, seems to be more easily associated with evil, because it attempts to control others' minds, and that was the supremely evil motive in Tolkien's story:

The supremely bad motive is (for this tale, since it is specially about it) domination of other ’free’ wills.~Letter 155

Now, Tolkien also says that Gandalf and Galadriel were capable of using goeteia (as well as magia), but their use was more for artistic purposes, and not designed to dominate free will. Gandalf inspires the Gondorian soldiers to hold and fight. I think too the 'voice' of Galadriel that Boromir hears, was Galadriel attempting to use her goetic abilities. She was not physically healing a wound of Boromir's (magia) but she was trying to 'psychologically' heal him, free his mind of the Ring and still show there was hope for Gondor without the Ring.

And I will just leave off with this question, this is always one up to debate. Does a staff play a role, or have something to do, with the Istari's powers?