While it incorporates magical elements in the pervasive fuku, it clearly locates the source of the fuku not in the realm of the magical or supernatural but in the historical world of colonialism, nationalism, and political domination, just as it locates the zafa, or
counterspell, in knowledge of history, in the act of writing to break silences.
La Inca's magical spells and Diaz' postmodern zafa (or what he defines as his "very own
counterspell") are not merely the "waste" lay aside by the urban Baroque, but are instead forcing a realignment of the imagined order.
Rhodes has transformed himself into the bear as if in an ironic
counterspell and uses this figure to smash open the world of Disney's images.
It's soon evident, however, that their former powers are sorely lacking: when one of the women tries to resurrect her supernatural powers and cast a
counterspell, tragedy strikes.
Naturally, every spell had its
counterspell: The four-leaved shamrock, a motif of good luck, is thought to guard against fairy bewitchments.
Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and
Counterspells. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and
Counterspells Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008.
Under the amused and scornful eyes of the villagers, he runs off to the sorcerer for
counterspells.
In addition to offering woman/mistress/lady as
counterspells to man/master/lord, we also can explore the language for a range of genderings in its verbs by playing with inclusive or generic verb forms.
There are seven headings: theatre and circus; sex, love and marriage; legal and political; business, shops and taverns; pleas for justice and revenge; miscellaneous; antidotes and
counterspells. A final chapter collects the testimonies from ancient authors which refer to these instruments.