Rituals

## Age Regression

Age Regression was a ritual that is performed to revert someone's mind and body to a certain point in time of their life. The exact mechanics of this ritual remain unknown.

## Berserker Creation Ritual

The Berserker Creation Ritual is a method of attaining the supernatural powers of Berserkers, specifically superhuman strength, speed, and durability, by tapping into the mystical forces contained in the pelts and bones of bears. However, performing this ritual will also cause the person in question to begin to channel the bear's ferocity, a process that will eventually burn away the person's humanity due to Berserkers not being tempered by the moon like other shapeshifters such as Werewolves, Werecoyotes, and Werejaguars. With the loss of their humanity, the newly turned Berserker will become mindlessly violent beings who lack the self-control of the other aforementioned creatures.

### Methods

There appears to be at least two different versions of the ritual to turn people into Berserkers. The exact mechanics and methods involved in the two rituals remain unclear, but it is known that it involves tapping into the animal spirit within the pelts and bones of bears.

#### First Method

Well-known Hunter Chris Argent and his family were once called in to deal with a human teenager who had somehow turned himself into a Berserker after he and a group of his friends began experimenting with bear skins; because the teen's spirit had been dominated by the animal spirit in the bear pelts and bones, he had become a mindless killer who Chris was forced to kill, though it took every bit of ammunition Chris and his companions had.

#### Second Method

A second method of this ritual also exists, which comes as a form of Power Granting that only Werejaguars, a species which possesses a natural connection to Berserkers, seems to have. A Werejaguar with proper knowledge can force this transformation on both humans and Werewolves, without the need for the victim to tap in the animal spirit. This ritual seems to require that the Werejaguar and the person they intend to turn into a Berserker be inside the obsidian room in La Iglesia, also known as the Temple of Tezcatlipoca. The target must then be strapped to an altar in this room (which may or may not involve using Wolfsbane if the victim is a Werewolf) and held down while the Werejaguar in question concentrates and places a Berserker skull over the face of the victim. Afterward, the newly turned Berserker will be completely in the Werejaguar's control.

## Nine Sacred Herbs

The Nine Sacred Herbs are a combination of nine herbs that, when mixed with honey as a binding agent, can act as an antidote to nine supernatural venoms. One of the herbs was mugwort; the others are somewhat easily found between "raiding the hospital pharmacy, the homeopath downtown, and the salad ba." If the herbs are mixed incorrectly, they can cause the venom or toxin to become more potent, killing the infected individual.

### Real-World Mythology

The "Nine Herbs" refers to an Old English charm recorded in the 900s in Lacnunga, an Anglo-Saxon medical compilation in the manuscript which has references to both the Christian faith and English/Germanic paganism and folklore (despite Chris Argent's understanding of the herbs having had Celtic roots). Interestingly enough, the poem mentions Woden, the Germanic god associated with the Wild Hunt, also known as Woden's Hunt, the group of phantom beings and Hellhounds whose presence on the show necessitated the Nine Sacred Herbs' usage in the series.

The poem is said to refer to at least nine plants, and there are a variety of translations for the names of them that have been proposed by scholars over the years. The most common ones include (with some having conflicting translations):

* Mucgwyrt - mugwort
* Wegbrade - plantain
* Stune - lamb's cress
* Stiðe- nettle
* Attorlaðe - cockspur grass or betony
* Maegðe - mayweed (a genus which includes German chamomile)
* Wergulu - crab-apple
* Fille - thyme or chervil
* Finule - fennel

While in some versions, the Nine Sacred Herbs are supposed to be mixed with honey, some Nine Herbs Charms instruct to grind the herbs to dust and mix them with old soap and apple residue. The charm is then meant to be sung three times over each of the herbs and the apple before they are prepared, into the mouth and both of the ears of the wounded, and over the wound itself prior to the application of the salve to the wound.

## Power Granting

Power Granting is the ability of a being with supernatural powers to endow those powers upon another. It is most frequently used by Alpha werewolves (type A) to turn humans into Beta Werewolves (type A) through a bite or an especially deep scratch, but this process can also turn humans into other creatures, such as Kanimas or Werejaguars, among others. This ability is also possessed by other supernatural creatures to bestow a variety of powers upon others through different means.

### Beings Who Possess Power Granting

#### Nogitsune

A Nogitsune has the ability to possess a host body, giving said host the ability to use their powers. However, since the Nogitsune spirit is nearly always dominating the spirit of the host (and since the Nogitsune's host often has no idea that they are possessed when they are in control of their own body), the host does not usually have the ability to actively use these powers on their own. There are exceptions to this rule, however; for example, the Kumicho of a branch of the Yakuza in Japan voluntarily allowed himself to be possessed by a Nogitsune in order to rise up the ranks of his family, suggesting that he may have made an agreement with the Nogitsune that allowed him some conscious use of its powers. On the other hand, Stiles Stilinski, the human host of the Nogitsune summoned by Noshiko Yukimura in 1943, was possessed without his consent or knowledge, and any use of the Nogitsune's powers that he had was under his possessor's orders. So far, a Nogitsune has only been able to possess and share powers with humans, though it has been implied that they can also possess fellow Kitsune when in a human form, since Noshiko summoned the Nogitsune with the intention of it possessing her and imbuing her with its power so she could heal and get revenge on those who covered up the riot at Camp Oak Creek.

#### Hellhound

A Hellhound possesses the ability to endow their human vessel with an immensely powerful set of supernatural abilities. The sole Hellhound that has appeared on the series, Cerberus, possessed the body of then-human Jordan Parrish, and used his body as a tool much like the Nogitsune did with Stiles Stilinski until Parrish and Cerberus made an agreement in order to defeat the Beast of Gevaudan. Afterward, their spirits merged, and Parrish was afforded full control over Cerberus' powers. However, even before they merged, Parrish had sporadic control over Cerberus' powers, as he accessed super strength in an emergency when he was trying to free Chris Argent from the large piece of rebar that was impaling Chris Argent, and his immunity to fire manifested when Deputy Haigh attempted to kill him to earn his Deadpool bounty by dousing him in gasoline and setting him on fire.

#### Werecoyote

It was implied that sometimes female Werecoyotes involuntarily grant a part of their power to their daughters upon childbirth in order to make the next generation even stronger. It is unclear what are the circumstances required for this involuntarily power transfer to occur. However, some Werecoyotes, such as Corinne, see this inheritance of power as "theft," and as a result, she and other Werecoyote mothers to which it occurred are able to steal this power back by killing their offspring on a full moon. Corinne attempted to do just that by killing her daughter, Malia Tate, a few days before the full moon, but Malia used Belasko's talons to steal Corinne's powers instead.

#### Werejaguar

Werejaguars possess a connection to Berserkers, with at least some of them, such as Kate Argent, possessing the ability to turn humans and supernatural creatures into Berserkers themselves. This grants the newly turned Berserker with enormously enhanced strength and durability, albeit at the cost of their humanity, free will, and true sentience. Thus far in the series, it has been revealed that humans and Werewolves can be turned into Berserkers through this process.

#### Werewolf (type A)

Alpha werewolves can grant the powers of lycanthropy by biting a human with their fangs, or, in rare cases, deeply scratching them with their claws. This process typically has only two results; either the human will be transformed into a supernatural shapeshifter, or they will die. Should the bitten or scratched person survive, they will gain all of the powers of a werewolf (or, in uncommon cases, the powers of another kind of shapeshifter, such as a Kanima in the case of Jackson Whittemore or a Werejaguar in the case of Kate Argent), and they will possess a supernatural connection to their Alpha that heightens both of their strength through the pack bond. The only known instance of a person surviving the bite and not being transformed into a shapeshifter is Lydia Martin, whose latent Banshee powers (including an immunity to supernatural phenomena) were activated as a result of the trauma from Peter Hale's attack instead of being turned.

### Unnatural Power Granting

Through artificial means, the Dread Doctors granted themselves incredible powers of electromagnetokinesis, allowing them to control electricity and magnetism, possess a highly extended lifespan (the eldest Dread Doctor, Marcel, lived for nearly 250 years), and manipulate the memories of others. They also used their scientific prowess to create a form of modified mercury solution that, when injected into a human with genetic chimerism, turned them into a pseudosupernatural creature known as the Chimera, a hybrid of two supernatural species who were not truly supernatural themselves. This granted the Chimeras a power set that included a combination of the powers of their parent species, such as Werewolves, Werecoyotes, Werejaguars, Wendigos, Kanimas, and Berserkers, among many others.

### Other

Sebastien Valet arguably became one of the most deadly and powerful werewolves in known history by drinking rain water from a wolf's paw print during his deployment to what is now Canada during the Seven Years' War, which granted him tremendous power that, even as an Omega, caused him to dwarf that of an Alpha in sheer might. Drinking rain water from a paw print is a lesser-known method for a human to turn into a Werewolf that is derived from myth and folklore.

Garrett Douglas was able to become more powerful from an unexpected side effect of a wound caused by a Ghost Rider's whip mixed with the tank's fluid which he was kept submerged in for 70 years.

## Resurrection

Resurrection is the power or ritual to bring back someone or something from the dead, typically the dead individual needs to be intact, but those who resurrect through unnatural means, doesn't require the body of the deceased, only a host for its spirit.

### Beings that can resurrect

#### Dread Doctors

The Dread Doctors managed to resurrect the Beast of Gevaudan through artificial means, which was a complete success, this makes it the second werewolf to be resurrected.

#### Werewolves

Werewolves are capable of resurrecting another werewolf so long as the body is mostly intact and there is a worm moon, an Alpha werewolf or perhaps the actual killer involved, and also moonlight shining directly on the corpse. Peter Hale was resurrected this way after his spirit or imprint, forced Lydia to perform the ritual. Both Scott and Jackson have been resurrected multiple times through other methods. In the case of Jackson, his Kanima healing, and then his Werewolf healing were the reasons for his resurrections. In the case of Scott, he was first killed and resurrected through the Surrogate Sacrifice Ritual, alongside Allison and Stiles, and in the second case he was resurrected by his mother performing CPR on him while the Supermoon was enhancing his healing to stronger levels.

#### Chimeras

Chimeras do not possess any known resurrection power but if their bodies are preserved after their death, they can be brought back to life by injecting them with the Dread Doctors' serum. The resurrection was initially believed to have had side effects, such as a "darkening" of their humanity, however both Corey and Hayden have shown to remain who they were, even Josh eventually became reluctant to follow Theo. Meaning there were initially on his side likely out of a sense of gratitude or indebted for being resurrected.

#### Humans

Humans do not possess any known resurrection power, but it is possible for them to be resurrected through the Surrogate Sacrifice Ritual. This is best shown by Stiles and Allison both being resurrected through the use of the ritual, alongside Scott when they were trying to discover the location of the Nemeton. However, this ritual is not without consequences, as the person resurrected will suffer from a darkness around their hearts for the rest of their lives, which can lead to symptoms such as nightmares, somnambulism, sleep paralysis, alexia, and hand tremors as was the case with Allison.

## Surrogate Sacrifices

In Lunar Ellipse, Scott, Stiles, and Allison do this to locate the Nemeton, which they need to find in order to save their parents before they become sacrifices to increase the Darach's power. In order to locate the Nemeton, the trio must die in ice cold water with Mistletoe and an object with personal meaning to their parents present in the water. After they locate the Nemeton, they must be brought back to life, and resurrected. That can be done by having the person who is to drown them in the water have some kind of emotional bond with them, and the emotional bond will allow them Theke to bring that person back to life.

### Effects

One of the effects include giving power back to the Nemeton, and when the power is given back to the Nemeton then supernatural creatures will be drawn to Beacon Hills. Whoever performs the ritual will have a permanent darkness around their heart. The last known effect is death. If something goes wrong while this ritual is performed then there is a chance that the user may die.

## Threefold Death

Jennifer Blake used this ritual on many Beacon Hills citizens. This ritual was performed by the Darach because each sacrifice added to her power. She was doing this to increase her power to fight Deucalion's alpha pack. The ritual is performed by killing an individual three ways; a blow to the head, cutting of the throat, and strangulation by a garrote.

The ritual was incomplete due to Jennifer Blake not being able to kill three guardians. By sacrificing warriors she gained enhanced strength, Healers for healing abilities so great she healed Deucalion's blindness, Philosophers for intelligence and strategy, and Virgins, supposedly to seduce people easily for her goals, as with Derek. The Guardians sacrifice was possibly for protection.

## Transitioning

The Transition is the process in which a human, witch, or werewolf undergoes the process of transitioning into a vampire, and is noted as being neither alive nor dead due to the effects of vampire blood in their system after death. The transition into a vampire can lead to either death or vampirism, the latter being achieved if human blood is consumed within the transition window.

### Physical Conditions

A human who had consumed vampire blood and has subsequently died with the blood in their system will be magically revived as an undead vampire, just like the vampire who sired them. The exact nature of the human's death is irrelevant to this process; the only condition that must be met is that the body has to be more or less intact and able to function once they reawaken in transition. If the head or the heart is missing at the time of death, the person in question will not awake in transition, but simply stay dead.

Currently, it is unknown what will happen to a person who lost other organs, such as a liver, or kidneys, and woke up in transition. Most fatal injuries, such as snapped necks, slit throats, stab wounds, and shattered bones from falls will be healed before the fledgling vampire awakens in transition. Furthermore, the person must be mortally wounded or ill to the point that conventional means cannot save their lives, otherwise, the vampire blood in their system will only heal whatever non-fatal wounds or illness that the victim sustained prior to dying. However, in recent years, it has been discovered that there are several illnesses and conditions that cannot be cured by ingesting vampire blood, such as cancer and tuberculosis. In the case of tuberculosis, those who have the disease will not be healed by ingesting vampire blood, and if they die from the condition, they will be healed of the effects of the disease and will awaken in transition. Those who die of cancer with vampire blood in their system will still have cancer even as a vampire, as the mutated cells will continue to rapidly multiply as a result of the vampire blood speeding up their regenerative capabilities.

### Nature

Following a human's mortal death after consuming vampire blood, the recently deceased will awaken in a state of transition. In order to complete the transition into a vampire, the person must then consume a significant amount of human blood, at least a sip's worth, within the next twenty-four hours, or else they will die. Vampires can only feed on human blood to complete their transition, though once they complete this process, they can then choose to feed on blood from other sources, such as the blood of animals, or even that of other vampires. Until a vampire drinks human blood to complete their transition, they will be not be susceptible to the standard weaknesses of the species they are soon to become (i.e. they can still walk in sunlight and can enter homes without an invitation).

Some vampires and hybrids in transition have demonstrated vampiric abilities despite having yet to feed on the blood they need to officially become vampires; most commonly, these abilities are super-strength and the appearance of vampire fangs. Once the vampire completes their transition, they will develop the rest of their supernatural abilities; as super senses, speed, accelerated healing, mind compulsion, and their true vampire face.

### Hybrids

#### Werewolf-Vampire Hybrids

As far as the general public of the supernatural community knows, only humans can be changed into vampires, and werewolves can be changed into werewolf-vampire hybrids. However, to become a hybrid, it requires the werewolf to have died with either the blood of the Original hybrid, Niklaus Mikaelson, or the blood of his daughter, Hope Mikaelson, in their system. The werewolves who die with Klaus' blood in their system will need to complete their transition into hybrids by feeding upon the blood of a human Petrova doppelgänger, as the Doppelgänger's blood was used in the spell to create the Original Vampires, which spawned their regular-vampire progeny. Because of this requirement, a hybrid whose first consumption of blood comes from any other human besides a doppelgänger will be transformed into an unstable version of a hybrid that will ultimately become rabid and die an agonizing death; this unstable hybrid becomes so out of control that they are typically mercy-killed before that point. However, werewolves who die with Hope's blood in their system can be successfully turned into hybrids by also feeding on Hope's blood after they awaken to complete their transition, as she is the first of her kind - a true vampire-werewolf-witch hybrid who was born as such - whose blood possesses different mystical properties than her father's.

#### Siphoner-Vampire Hybrids

Witches can also be turned into vampires, but with one caveat - since Nature has deemed witches to be their servants and considers vampires to be abominations of nature, witches cannot retain their magic as a result of their immortality. Nature's belief is that having the supernatural abilities of both species would be an enormous imbalance of power for which it could not stand. As a result, one cannot be both a witch and a vampire, and those witches who die with vampire blood in their system will lose their connection to magic upon waking in transition.

There is only one exception to Nature's rule; siphoners. They are unique, aberrant witches that stem from the Gemini Coven. They do not possess or generate their own magic, but practice witchcraft by absorbing or "siphoning" the magical power from enchanted objects and supernatural beings. Upon their transition, siphoners are turned into witch-vampire hybrids and retain their ability to siphon, and subsequently, use magic. This also allows them to siphon from their own vampirism, a source of limited magic that they can use to cast spells as they desire. Several of these hybrids were out from their coven, then taken in by Lillian Salvatore and formed their own coven, known as the Heretics.

### Powers and Abilities

The Transition does bestow certain vampiric abilities to the transitioning would-be vampire as he or she undergoes the process.

* **Memory Gain:** Vampires who wake up in transition always remember the memories of things they were compelled by vampires to forget while they were still human. This is due to the rule that vampires cannot be compelled except by an Original.
* **Super Strength:** Although not yet fully vampire, a person in transition is stronger than they were as a human. They can easily, even accidentally, throw a grown man across a room with enough speed and force to injure them.
* **Super Speed:** While not possessing the blurring speed of a transitioned vampire, humans in transition are able to move with enough speed and force to, when combined with their super strength, thrown grown men across a whole room.
* **Enhanced Senses:** People seem to have some degree of enhanced senses before completing their transition, though they appear to be very unfocused and cause lots of distraction and pain, such as things seeming too loud. This is all shown in detail during Elena's transition in Growing Pains but Vicki Donovan also showed shades of this (saying things like that people were talking too loudly when they weren't). Enzo also said that the sound of waves was "deafening" and the faint glow of the night "blinding" when he transitioned.
* **Plane Walking:** A person in transition is able to pass through the physical plane to other planes such as the Ancestral Well, however, they need a witch to aid doing so.

### Weaknesses

* **Lack of Blood:** If a vampire in transition does not consume blood within twenty-four hours after their human death, they will die. After Bill Forbes was woke up in transition, he decided not to consume blood and eventually chose a human death. Likewise, Ivy chose to die a witch and refused to complete her transition. However, if blood is consumed, the transition will be completed and the former human (or witch) becomes a vampire.
* **Hunger:** Vampire in transition will often be really hungry, a sign that what the body is pushing them to feed and complete the transition. Stefan recounts that after he woke up in transition, his muscles ached and he felt sick. After Vicki started to turn, she was very hungry. On the other hand, some people who go through the transition, will find food taste to be terrible; so was the case for Elena, when Stefan made her a sandwich.
* **Cancer:** Vampires in transition are still affected by cancer. The regenerative capabilities gained by the vampire blood within their system however speeds up the cancer resulting in their human death. Josette Laughlin described the effects as a "Stage X," which doesn't exist as Colin was previously terminal at Stage IV. Such affects result in a beyond terminally ill, immortal-vampire patient with heightened emotions.
* **Sunlight Sensitivity:** The sun doesn't burn a vampire in transition, but they will be sensitive towards it, their eyes will hurt, and they will get uncomfortable in the sun.
* **Pain:** The gums of vampires in transition often hurt, as their canine teeth or their lateral incisors is pushing to extend from the inside of their jaws into razor-sharp fangs.

## Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt, also known as Woden's Hunt or the Wild Ride, is a term that is used in several different ways in the Teen Wolf series. The first is that the Wild Hunt refers to an immensely large group of supernatural creatures that includes Ghost Riders and Hellhounds, both of whom use their powers to ride the storm and collect souls by erasing people from reality for eternity. The second use of the term is to describe the dimension where the Hunt resides, which has also been referred to by non-members as the Phantom Train Station, or possibly another illusion-based realm where the people the Wild Hunt erases from reality will be transformed into more Ghost Riders and will ride the storm with them forever. The last use is that it describes the actual event of the group arriving to different towns and reaping the souls of its citizens, as was done in the cities of Canaan and, unsuccessfully, Beacon Hills.

The Wild Hunt as a group are so immensely powerful that it is said that they took the Anuk-ite into their captivity, as they are the only group strong enough to contain it and its power. The most recent event the Wild Hunt had was when they attempted to take all of the citizens of Beacon Hills, human and supernatural alike; during this time, Garrett Douglas, a Löwenmensch who had gained some Ghost Rider powers through being poisoned with their venom and eating a true Ghost Rider's pineal gland, began using his newly gained powers to try to take control of the Hunt to use it as his own personal army. Unfortunately for Garrett, the Hunt has no leader and cannot be controlled, and he was ultimately converted into a Ghost Rider and was forced to join their ranks. Meanwhile, the McCall Pack and their allies, desperate to get back their loved ones who had been taken, especially Stiles Stilinski, opened a rift to bring everyone back from the so-called Phantom Train Station, inadvertently releasing the Anuk-ite from their captivity along with the Beacon Hills citizens.

### Mythology

In the real world, the Wild Hunt is a myth in numerous European cultures which involves supernatural huntsmen; in some versions, they are undead warriors, while in others, they are fairies. The leader of the Wild Hunt is usually associated with the Germanic god Woden, the Saxon version of the Norse god Odin, the revered Allfather of Norse mythology and the god of battle, death, gallows, knowledge, poetry, royalty, runes, and sorcery. Other legendary figures associated with leading the Wild Hunt include Gwyn ap Nudd, a Welsh psychopomp and Biblical figures such as Cain or Gabriel. Many superstitions exist regarding the Wild Hunt, such as that they can steal people's spirits while they're sleeping and force them to join the Hunt, or that they are abducted and taken to the fairy realm or underworld. Some even believe that if the Wild Hunt was seen, it was an omen of a devastating event such as a plague or brutal war.