Sala maleco, Medicine is messy. Sorcery is messy. Lot of times you see folks posting images of pristine altars where they have their work's going, and that's cool. However, I can't help but notice that these altars are regularly almost purely about symbol, with little in the way of materia. *Warning: There will be ranting. Feel free to disagree....just don't share your opinion if you cannot handle debate.* This can work, and often does. Nothing wrong with it. It is, in my opinion, lacking depth. Working spirit without Materia, in my experience, just plain doesn't get the same result as working with the virtue of natural, fully-manifested substances. Now, there is plenty (-endless reams-) of textual evidence for materia's ascendancy in practical work in near every text written about actual practical sorcerous work. See *all* of your grimoires nearly, see Picatrix, Alexander's Treasure, Agrippa, etc etc etc. This isn't a Black-African sorc...