Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-10745887-20161024002352/@comment-26549743-20161024033650

The way I understood it was that they could use magical items if they were already there, but magic itself couldn't be used. I know that sounds weird, but for example, Graham's heart was able to be used because Regina had it before the curse and it came over. Same with the potion. Rumpel had Charming put the potion in Maleficent before the curse, so all he needed to do was have Emma retrieve it in Storybrooke. Same with Regina using the hat. I think she even made a comment in the episode about using her last little bit of magical trinkets to make the hat work. I may be wrong, but that's been my understanding of the situation.