I'm curious as to why using salt (and presumably sulfur) takes equilibrium and not balance.

You sprinkle a circle of salt around yourself, and a shimmering white orb springs up around you.

There's nothing mental about it, you're physically ringing yourself or someone else with salt.

If it took balance, it would be quite superior to circle/pentagram for me.

I would counter that historically and depending on which occult stream you are speaking from, it can be bother or either a mental of physical practice. But, since we can't say where or in how much detail Estarra and Co took the idea of circles from, I will just agree to your suggestion .

The concept of salt most definately came from the idea of protective circles drawn in the ground out of said crystals.

Said to ward off evil! Which is why one throws salt over their left shoulder (with their right hand).

Well, I just mean that drawing the salt circle takes no mana at all, so it seems there is little indication of mental concentration required either in the description of the skill, or in its implementation.

it can also be used to cleanse a space most often when creating a circle of power (or whatev )

Yeah, it should take balance.

*Waits for some crackpot to storm in and start whining about how none of us understand their religion*

Why does flying on my broom take balance? I'm not actually moving, I'm willing the broom to soar. /rant

Isn't there some sort of message about you kicking off from the ground?

With a sudden jolt, your wiccan broom soars upwards.
4356h, 5976m, 4356e, 10p, 20962w ekdb-

You have recovered balance on all limbs.
4356h, 5976m, 4356e, 10p, 20962w exkdb-

Ah, well I imagine being flung into the air throws your body off balance whether you willed it upward or not.

But not the mind magically commanding it do the action?

Actually salt in itself is said to have various affects. For instance, it is meant to be one of the few things that can harm a zombi, it can form a barrier where no one intending evil may cross, and it is used to cleanse and purrify in many spells and rituals.

What, you want it to take balance and equilibrium? The point is, the process of flying into the air at a high rate atop a piece of wood will cause someone to be unable to perform another physical action for a few seconds no matter their method of projection.

Narsrim's guess:

You sprinkle the salt and *will* a barrier to form. The important part isn't the sprinkling, its the transformation into the magic shield.

I'd agree with the equlibrium aspect here. Some actions we can do don't take balance, like walking, standing up, and putting on clothing. If I can put on body armor without being off-balance, thowing a bit of salt around me won't either (it's not like it has to be a perfect circle). The difficulty is probably in the concentration, similar to squinting. Equilibrium isn't just for magic after all: Anything you need to concentrate on will require you to do a 'mental reset'.

Well, tarot flinging takes balance, as do runes, and I imagine they both require some sort of mental focus to guide them (they never miss!) and to activate their magical affects.

In game? Yeah. Out of game, it depends who you believe . Witches will tell you one thing, Ceremonialists another, those who practice native systems (voodoo, for example) will tell you somtehing else again, while Chaotes just make stuff up.

Well, it is my understanding the alchemist makes the salt magical, and that is where the mental component enters.

Sprinkling normal salt, no matter how hard you concentrate, won't do anything.

Magically enchanted salt, however, allows anyone else - with or without any intelligence whatsoever - to merely sprinkle the salt to activate the magic.

Hence, I believe the dextrous balance component -is- the major one.

I thought half of you were nuts before...this conversation confirms that assumption. Thanks for the great read/laugh at work.

Voodoo isn't a native system so far as I'm concerned considering its like a mixture of Catholism and Vodun (or whatever its called). Furthermore, I don't think anyone group you mentioned feels that the physical action of the sprinkling of salt is more important than the symbolism.

For example, the besom it used to cleanse the circle by "sweeping away" negative energies. The idea isn't that you are physically picking up negative energies like dirt, but rather that the action helps you envision the cleansing and as such, focus upon it so the task is done.