What are the limitations on magic? RE: Bloody Mary

[krid]

We've been told that mind-altering spells wear-off fairly quickly, but there are a few possibilities that would skirt that issue and a few mysteries that need to be cleared up.

First, the questions.
1: Are living beings the only thing capable of crafting and powering magic, or is it possible for magic to power itself from some other source.
2: We know magic can transform matter, but can it create it?
3: Can magic only work as spells, or can it be expressed as an effect of a person? Is mood hair an uncontrolled expression of magic, direction of a spell that was invoked long ago, or is it a force-of-will thing?
4: What ARE the restrictions on resurrection? I would assume that the brain must be intact and fresh, but is that all?
5: Since spells are 'bookmarks' it begs the question: Is there any way to teach somebody a specific spell? How about to transfer a cast spell to another person?
6: Do runes and symbols have any specific value? Do they modify and shape magic in predetermined ways, or are they simply an alternate means of 'bookmarking' and recalling a spell?
7: Is it possible for a strong caster to take control of a weak caster's power?

The reason given why Mary is eating people was implied to be either Pavlovian response or the result of physically altering her brain, but that's hardly
A few overlooked ways to cause and sustain Mary's bloodlust:
Number 1: Chemical stimulation. Craft a spell that dumps aggression and hunger inducing chems into the bloodstream. Since it wouldn't be working on the mind it would last as long as any other spell. If you implanted the person with extra glands to produce those chemicals then all the magic would need to do is keep the chems contained until it's time to release them, at which point the person would be faced with overwhelming urges to kill and eat.
Number 2: LAND attack. Distort the person's own magical ability to your own ends. Instead of casting a spell to cause a bloodlust, force the person's own magical power to induce the bloodlust. Since they're constantly regenerating the spell it would never fade on it's own.
Number 3: Have the spell power itself from some other source, such as the lives/blood/etc of other humans or environmental magic sources.
Number 4: Misdirection. Mary's spell is being re-cast regularly by the thin man, but she is not aware of it.

I'll add to this list as I think more possibilities up, but for now can we just start flinging wild conjecture around in the hopes of hitting something awesome?

[Azonalanthious]

Here is one for your list: Rather then the spell modifying her mind, its a mind link to another mind (animal or human), and as time passes the link strengthens, causing the second mind's feelings/thoughts/emotions to overwhelm mary's.  The link wouldn't be effected by her (or the other's) thoughts thus would be more durable then normal mind effecting magic.

[charles]

@Azonalanthious: That would probably still be a spell on the brain and would decay over time unless it was recast every so often

@Number1: Implanting the extra glands would probably fall into experimentation on living beings, or the glands the Thin Man has worked out might be the ones that cause the Bloodlust are those from the brain anyway.

@Number2: Hard to know if this would work. Obviously the general knowledge about enchantments is that once something is enchanted it's enchanted forever without needing recharging so it's hard to say if the human brain is degrading the enchantments by draining power or more distorting or even countering them over time. Since the human brain is the conduit for sorcery it's probably still in this unknown area where the alterations would need to be made.

@Number3: Again, "power" doesn't seem to be an issue for other enchantments which seem to last permanently so it's probably more a matter of the brain "undoing" or "disrupting" the spell it's self over time. Sort of like stopping an engine by throwing a spanner in the works rather than just draining the fuel that powers it.

@Number4: Another possibility but She wouldn't be much of a breakthrough if this were the case.  Plus the Thin Man would have to be bothered to cast it each day, over and over again when he's evidently moved on and no longer interested in the test subject herself.

Now on your Questions above those:
1: Hmm, Magick appears to be Spirit Essence channelled through the mind in a way to manipulate the physical world, so while spirit essence exists in living beings Magick isn't really a thing on it's own I guess, as much as it is a description of the ability to chanell Spirit Essence.  I guess you could wonder if Spirit essence can exist seperately from living beings and possibly manipulate the world on it's own, or how it's "recharged" in the human body (I suspect that E=MC² is still relevant and it takes chemical energy from the body over time).
2: I don't see why not. If it's using Spirit Essence then I gues E=MC² is still true since it'd just be a transformation of that into matter.
3: Not sure I understand you here. Suspira apparently has a magick hairstyle which apparently reads her mood and adjust it's self depending on that.  There seems to be an added effect that it grows longer when she's chanelling spirit essence.
4: It's been stated that the brain must be intact but I'm not sure there's a time limit as there was mention of being able to cast a spell to preserve a body from decay so that suggests it could be done sometime after, as long as the brain hasn't suffered any damage. I suspect it involved either healing or replacing the damaged body first. I guess it also depends if they have souls and an afterlife. If you don't have that then I guess it's simply a matter of kickstarting the brain into action again with a healed body.
5: We did see Clairen cast a spell using an enchanted item by uttering a word, but I guess if your talking about a person casting it themselves then they would need their seals broken. If you're talking about transferring the knowledge of a spell then that sounds along the lines of altering memories so they're probably not capable of it, but it could be possible.
6: It's stated that sorcerers have to meditate and explore their mind to bookmark spells. I suspect that the spellbooks are simply the writings of sorcerers on how to possibly explore these areas for others to bookmark them.
7: We may have just seen this with Danzig stealing Suspira's Spirit Essence but I'm not sure about forcing another sorcerer to cast magick.  It's an interesting question. Maytag possessed a level 1 sorcerer so could she have cast level 1 spells from her body? If we presume the doppletwins possessed Glyph and that they're sorcerers, could they cast spells using his essence or would they be incapable of it in an unfamiliar body? Heck if a sorcerer posessed someone who hadn't broken their seals, could they cast from that body?