To Separate a Witch from Her Powers is an entry in the Book of Shadows. It describes how a witch, with the use of a potion and a spell, can separate and call for the powers of another witch.
History[]
Aunt Gail and Cryto[]
In 2000, the Charmed Ones were visited by Gail Altman, a friend and coven mate of their Grams, who they considered an aunt. She had come to ask the sisters about a demon who had been skinning people in her neighbourhood and if she could look him up in their Book of Shadows. Gail, in fact, was using this as a way to get her hands on an entry from the Book so that she, together with her two friends Helen and Amanda, could strip the Charmed Ones of their powers and give them to the demon Cryto. She took her chance when she was left alone with the Book and ripped out the entry, folding it and pocketing it in her purse.
Helen, Gail, and Amanda with the potion.
Gail persuaded the sisters to help her with the demon and had them come to her house in Santa Costa. When Prue, Piper, and Phoebe arrived, she served them tea, which was in fact the potion. When the sisters decided to investigate the area, they felt dizzy and sick. At that moment, Gail and her friends were chanting the spell, calling the Charmed Ones' powers. The powers flew back to Gail's house and were absorbed by Cryto, who they had previously summoned into a mannequin covered with human flesh.
The sisters' powers returning.
Regretting her decision to bring Cryto to life and having lost her friends who were killed by Cryto, Gail returned the spell to Phoebe before being killed herself. The sisters devised a plan to get their powers back and tricked Cryto into coming after them in Gail's home. Prue and Piper went down into Gail's basement while Phoebe remained in the hall. When Cryto arrived, they forced him to astral project himself to Phoebe. Prue and Piper then fed his unconscious body the potion. When Cryto's projection returned to his body, the sisters called back their powers and vanquished him.[1]
The Stillman Sisters[]
The Stillmans steal the Charmed Ones' powers
The three evil Stillman Sisters, Mabel, Mitzy and Margo Stillman, found the spell in the Book of Shadows and cast it on the Charmed Ones. They had previously cast an Identity Theft Spell that gave them the Halliwells' identities and therefore full access to the book, so after stealing their powers, they had effectively become the new Charmed Ones.
The Stillmans learned, however, that the spell could not take Paige's Whitelighter powers because it was designed only to steal a full witch's.
The spell was later used by the Halliwells to reclaim their powers after regaining their identities, and the Stillmans were imprisoned.[2]
Zankou's Attempt to Claim the Nexus[]
Zankou taking Piper's power.
After impacting the Charmed Ones' confidence, the Book of Shadows lowered its defenses, allowing Zankou to claim the tome for himself.
With the sisters still attempting to stop him from taking in the Nexus, Zankou used the potion to steal their powers. He gained Phoebe's powers, and later Piper's, granting him near full access to the book's magic. However, by astral projecting themselves, the sisters managed to lure him away long enough to take back the book. Zankou attempted to take Paige's powers while they were in astral forms, but failed. They got their powers back after destroying Zankou and the Nexus.[3]
Book of Shadows[]
To Separate a Witch from Her Powers[]
- In a boiling crucible of the blackest lead
- combine gypsy blood with a mandrake's head
- More of the nightshades will you boil
- the henbane, datura and from nux an oil
- With hemlock root complete the draught
- foul and dark like the might and craft
- Of the creator of this brew and her desire
- to steal from another for vengeance, power or Ire
To Call a Witch's Power[]
- Powers of the witches rise
- course unseen across the skies
- Come to us who call you near
- come to us and settle here
Notes and Trivia[]
The To Call a Lost Witch spell.
- The To Call a Lost Witch ritual uses the same spell as this one but requires the additional words "Blood to Blood, I summon thee. Blood to Blood, return to me".
- This spell inadvertently summoned the Source of All Evil when the sisters called for their powers after he had stolen them with the Hollow.[4]
- This spell was used in the book Sweet Talkin' Demon to transfer powers from a demon possessing a witch's body to the witch whose soul is trapped in the demon's body.
Mistakes made in the series[]
- The Stillman Sisters and later the Charmed Ones used the spell without needing the potion.[2]
- Although Aunt Gail ripped the page out of the Book of Shadows and folded it, the page appears unharmed in later episodes. Although she did return the page to Phoebe, the page bears no sign of ever being folded.
- When Piper, Phoebe and Billie cast the spell To Call a Lost Witch in season 8, they left out the last two sentences. That would make it the spell To Call a Witch's Power and not the other way around.[5][6]