The Trouble With Magical Ingredients

In many traditions ingredients that are rare or hard to come by are highly prized for their magical powers. Whether or not scarcity has anything to do with genuine magical efficacy, the biggest problem with such ingredients is that there is generally a limited supply. That means that as soon as too many people get it into their heads that an ingredient has magical power it can simply disappear.

On the island of Cyprus legend has it that dust from the tomb of Saint Agapitikos, whose name means "lover," is a particularly effective ingredient when concocting love potions. Unfortunately, so many people have bought into the legend over the years that a quarter of the tomb has disappeared.

Dust from the grave in the courtyard of the church in the village of Arodes in Paphos district has been used for centuries by the lovelorn, who are supposed to slip it into the drink of their objet d'amour.

But in recent years so many have been filching shards of stone that a quarter of the tomb has disappeared.

Mayor of Arodes Matthaios Stefanou is unclear whether Cypriots' love lives are becoming more troubled.

"A lot of people have said it works," he said. "In the last few years I don't know what's come over people, but they are flocking to the tomb for the stuff.

"Just the other day locals saw some people visiting the tomb, and they were there for a very long time, in the end they walked off with a huge chunk of stone, maybe even half a kilo of it!"

It sounds to me like would-be spellcasters have moved on to making talismans, which would explain the transition from dust to bits of stone. The antiquities department on Cyprus is working to prevent further damage to the tomb, which probably will mean tighter security around the tomb itself.

"You're very welcome to come and see the tomb, but please don't go taking any of it with you now," Stefanou said.

Aspiring lovers may soon be stuck with switching back to courtyard dust, though that doesn't necessarily mean potions are will be making a comeback. Dust can be placed in a small pouch and enchanted just like a piece of stone into an effective talisman, so perhaps some will go that route.