Cora's Spell Book

The Book of Spells is a magical item featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the second episode of the second season.

Before the Curse
Regina first learns about the power in the book after she is unhappily engaged to be married to King Leopold on her mother Cora's insistence. She complains to her father, Henry, about how being around her mother is making her angry all the time. Regina does not want to turn out like Cora, and asks her father how her mother became so controlling. Henry mentions something about a book a man gave her in the past that started it all.

Later that night, Regina sneaks into her mother's sleeping chambers and steals the book from right under Cora's pillow. She went onto the balcony and attempted to recite a summoning spell to call upon someone named "Rumplestiltskin". She says his name wrong, but Rumplestiltskin still appears and offers Regina help in getting away from her mother. Regina is unwilling to use magic to harm anyone, but Rumplestiltskin shows her a looking glass, and says all she has to do is give her mother a little push into it. This way Cora will be out of Regina's life forever, and she'll never have to see her again.

On the day of her wedding, Regina goes through with the plan with the looking glass, but Cora catches on about her daughter's plan and swiftly binds her into place. Cora says it would not be that easy to get rid of her, and as her mother she will always be in Regina's life. In a fit of rage, Regina breaks free of the binds and gives Cora a hard shove backward. Cora is able to hold on briefly, but eventually loses her balance and goes through the looking glass.

With her mother gone, Regina goes on horseback and leaves the castle. On the road, Rumplestiltskin stops her. Regina returns the book of spells to him with no other use for it, but he prods her over and over with a simple question: "How did it feel to use magic?" At first, Regina is adamant in defending her actions; saying she loves her mother very much, but finally admits why she does not want the book in her hands—Because doing magic felt so good. She is afraid of turning out like her mother, but Rumplestiltskin says she does not have to turn out like Cora even if she learns how to do magic and have power. It is implied Rumplestiltskin influenced Cora by giving her the book, and he steered Regina on the same path.

After the Curse
In present day Storybrooke after the curse was broken, Regina seeks out Mr. Gold in his pawnshop while facing frustration of not having her magic powers back. She wishes to find a shortcut to retrieving them as David took Henry out of her parental care, and did so while pointing out Regina is now powerless without her magic. Mr. Gold is bemused she needs "Mommy's help" now. He comments as she leaves that there was once he said Regina did not look like Cora, but now he can see the resemblance.

Regina opens the book and inhales the magic that comes out through its pages. She gains back a lot of magic by this process, and demonstrates her ferocious, renewed power at town hall. Everyone is gathered there waiting for David to show up, including Henry, who Regina came to get back. She only stops using her magic to openly terrorize the townspeople after Henry agrees to go home with her.

Once home, Henry tries to run away from her. She uses magic to force him to stay. Henry feels like he is in a prison because of her magic, and is angry that Regina made everyone around him think he was crazy when he knew the truth about the Enchanted Forest and its inhabitants. She promises to make it up to him, and wants him to grow up with magic; even offering to teach it to him. Henry refuses it, stating he does not want to become like her. David comes back looking for Henry, and Regina does not put up a fight. Henry's previous words appear to have helped her to be more rational. She realizes she cannot make him stay, and that he should only stay if he truly wants to. After they are gone, Regina first appeared to throw it away into a fire, but changed her mind and put it away on a shelf instead.

It's a race against time for Emma and Mary Margaret in the Enchanted Forest to find the magical squid ink in Rumplestiltskins old cell that will help them to defeat Cora, who is also scheming for a way to reach Storybrooke. One of their companions, Aurora, finds a parchment with Emma's name written all over it. They become trapped in the cell when Cora manipulates Aurora via her heart to do so. While contemplating their inability to get out, Mary Margaret recalls in her younger days watching Cora use magic from her book, and realizes the parchment can be used to help them in the same way. She blows at the parchment, and the ink turns into a powdery dust that crumbles the jail cell bars.

Regina secretly finds out about Mary Margaret and David's plans in growing magic beans to take everyone back to the Enchanted Forest. She steals one and destroys the rest, and then visits Henry to show him the means she has to take both herself and him away from Storybrooke to start a new life in the Enchanted Forest. He is keen on the plan until hearing further detail about the "fail-safe" Regina has, which will erase Storybrooke and all the people inhabiting the town once they leave. Regina reasons they can never live as a family unless everyone else who is standing in their way is gone for good, and also because Henry can see the good in her, and once loved her. Henry attests he can never love someone who would kill other people, and promises to warn them about her. But, Regina is quicker and takes out her mother's spell book to cast a memory impairment spell to clear out Henry's memory of their conversation. For a moment, Henry is still and has a blank look on his face until the spell is finished. Then, coming out of the spell's effects, as if seeing her for the first time today, he asks what she is doing here. Regina says she missed him, and directs Henry to show her the bird feeders he was working on.

Types of Spells

 * Immobilization spell
 * Barrier spell
 * Shielding Spell
 * Summoning Spell
 * Memory spell - Erases and wipes out a designated period of time in a person's memory. The person affected by the spell will have no recollection nor any sense of having forgotten the memories.

Appearances
Libro degli Incantesimi Livre de sorts