Magic Circle - Tumblr Posts

Welcome to Emelan

My (super subjective and objectively non-empirical) experience has been that Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe is where most of her fans begin, and it seems to be her more popular universe. Heck, I started in Tortall. But as I read more, and found more of Pierce's books, I found the Circle Universe, and I gotta say, for all my love and nostalgia for the Tortall Universe, I think my heart lives in Emelan with Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris. I certainly tried to balance my Rosethorn half with my Lark tendencies and my extremely Niko academic oeuvre when I was teaching, and I love that the Circle Universe gets away from more traditional medieval europe settings. Let's talk The Circle of Magic Quartet.

Sandry's Book introduces the world, the magic system, and our four protagonists. Sandreline Fa Toren is almost royalty in two countries and has exactly zero compunction about hopping back and forth between "just Sandy" and "Lady Sandreline" as the occasion calls for it. We love her, and honestly she's perfect. Joining Sandry at Discipline Cottage in Winding Circle Temple are former street rat Briar Moss, neglected and rejected merchant daughter Trisana Chandler, and orphaned and exiled Trader Daja Kisubo.

This book brings the four together and they learn that they are ambient mages--mages who manipulate the power inherent in the world rather than mages who use power inherent in themselves (academic mages). The magic system in the Circle Universe is objectively my favorite, because it is so detailed and so nuanced and so tied to craftsmanship. It's something I've never seen done better than it is here. And because our four protagonists are incredible, they also manage to spin their powers together, making them exponentially stronger together than they could have imagined being individually--which is just a stunnign thematic tie-in. A+ no notes.

Tris's Book explores Tris's past, her magic, and the choices she has to make to keep her terrifyingly powerful weather magic under control despite her deep emotional wounds and temper. Tris is honestly one of my two favorite characters in this series because this girl just has SO MANY feelings and she has to literally learn to take herself in hand to not accidentally hurt or kill anyone. It also explores Tris's relationships to her blood and found families, and Pierce makes no bones about how sometimes family can be irredeemably toxic, and that it's ok to choose the found family that loves and supports you. Honestly Tris needs a hug, but good luck getting through the lightning to give it to her.

This book also really deepens the relationships between each protagonist and their teachers. I love how much time Pierce spends in all of her books focusing on student-teacher relationships, and the ones here, in a literal educational setting (non-traditional though it is), are top tier. This continues to be expanded in later books, but Niko and Tris's relationship really cements here and I love them as a student and teacher.

Also, there are pirates in this book. That's pretty cool.

Daja's Book takes reader and protagonists beyond the walls of Winding Circle and expands the world at the end of a difficult, dry summer that was poised for a firey fall and a possible starving winter. The Duke of Emelan is touring the outer estates to assess who needs what help and what he can do.

Meanwhile, the book explores Trader culture and Daja's relationship to it. This is done so spectacularly that I am loath to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say that not only does this book explore the downsides of exclusionary cultural practices, it also explores the complex emotions of being excluded and both knowing it's wrong but desperately missing being included. Disability is also handled spectacularly in this book, and I love it for that.

While Daja is exploring her own culture from the outside, Sandry, Briar, and Tris are dealing with the aftermath of spinning their powers together in Sandry's Book. This is very much a subplot, but it works beautifully to expand the worldbuilding and magic system.

Briar's Book sees everyone return to Emelan proper, and this book hits DIFFERENT after 2020. Winding Circle must deal with a mysterious plague, and honestly after Covid, I can't actually read this book without sobbing. It's damn good, and Briar and Rosethorn are just the absolute peak student-teacher relationship. This book also really highlights Briar and Tris's relationship, which will continue to grow and develop throuhgout the Circle Universe books.

I absolutely recommend these books. Tamora Pierce is technically YA, but the protagonists are between 10 and 12 in these books, so they might feel more middle-grade than YA at times, but that truly does not diminish any of the very human themes and challenges.

These books also have absolutely stunningly performed and edited full-cast audiobooks, and I cannot recommend those enough either. I now read these books in the voice actors' voices, and that just makes the whole experience more magical.

[ Alt Text : Tweet from Lina Posting. "Have just observed the existence of what I can Only Describe as the Culver's Transmutation Circle. Attached is an image of all of the locations of Culvers Burgers in denver on google maps ]

So of course like any neurotypical person, of which I totally am (sarcasm), i had to go check. Y'all. I do not want the "Culvers Denver Mass Transmutation Circle Event of 2025" to become the way we learn magic is real.

[ Alt Text : two images. The first one is a screenshot from Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, showing the mass transmutation circle, that covered the entire nation. The second is the SAME transmutation circle drawn over the map of Denver, rotated slightly, with 7 of the 10 points lining up near perfectly with points on the circle. There are dots on those 7 points, and x's on the 3 spots not filled in]

Anyway, felt this would do numbers on Tumblr.

In CLAMP’s literary universe, a magic circle (魔法陣, mahoujin) is a figure comprised of symbols related to the powers, techniques, and rank of a magician. Generally, magic circles are what differentiates magicians from one another—much like a signature. Magic circles work like a field of energy that activates the moment a magician is about to perform a spell.

In Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Sakura’s circle keeps the symbols of the sun and moon on opposite sides of a star in the center. The center of the circle consists of a 6- and a 12-pointed star with six 5-pointed stars on every other point. Two of the elements are situated on either side of the circle, between the sun and moon, enclosed in circles. The order of symbols in the outer circle are as follows (from left to right, clockwise): Sun, 火 (Fire), 風 (Wind), Moon, 地 (Earth), and 水 (Water).

When I adapted Sakura’s magic circle for my work, I abandoned the original kanji, replacing them with illustrations adapted from medieval woodblock prints. (While I did study Mandarin for several years, I have not formally, or really informally, incorporated any Chinese or Japanese spiritual practices into my own magical work and I did not feel like it was appropriate symbolism to keep in my magic circle.) I have used this circle often in my divinatory work—my personal divination deck inspired by the Clow bears a simplified version of this circle on the back of each card and I generally read them on a scarf that also has this circle—and I cast this circle every time I perform a banishing or utilize my cards for spellcraft.

Know what I don’t like drawing? Flowers.

Know what my brain decided this picture needed? LOTS OF FLOWERS.