Aluminium

Aluminium, spelt aluminum in North American English, is the chemical element Al, atomic number 13. It is a soft, ductile, non-magnetic metal about a third as dense as steel, and it looks much like silver, both in its colour and in how well it reflects light; in air it quickly forms a thin protective skin of oxide. Cunningham notes that it is a modern metal with no history among earlier peoples, now found in everything from drinks cans to aircraft. He gives it to Mercury and air and calls it projective. He mentions that it is sometimes recommended in place of mercury, the metal traditionally given to that planet, as far less dangerous to use, though he himself distrusts aluminium cookware. Small pieces are carried to sharpen the mind, and its modern link with flight makes it useful in spells for journeys to distant lands. Foil serves for image magic: shaped on the altar into the form of what is needed, charged with visualisation, then smoothed, rinsed, dried and reused each day until the work succeeds. He even counts recycling aluminium as a kind of magic, turning rubbish into money.