Time Travel

"*Destiny always gets its own way. It's not as easy to change the past as you think. If you do it incorrectly, everything will change. The evil you vanquished, the good that you've done, none of it may've ever happened.*"
—Penny Halliwell
**Time Travel** is the ability to move through time and space into the past or the future. This ability can be achieved through an independent power or through other means such as spell casting and potions. Users of this power can travel through time in both directions, though there are many differences between traveling to the past and to the future.

Time Travel is a powerful and potentially dangerous ability as it can be used to change the course of history and alter the Grand Design.

## **The Past:**

It was originally believed that when Witches travel to the past, they lose access to their magic, effectively turning them into mortals. This was shown when little Piper was able to freeze adult Piper and Prudence 'Prue'. This was either due to them not being born and thus not existing yet, or younger versions of themselves possessing their magic instead.

However, it was later revealed that when Witches travel to the past, they lose their active powers, but are still in possession of their basic powers such as spell casting. Certain spells, such as the one used by Chris Halliwell and Bianca, allow time travelers to maintain all of their powers. This method of time travel creates a portal instead of sending users through time through orbs.

Cupid Rings also allow beings to keep their magical powers, as shown when Piper was immune to Patty's freezing in the past. The warlock Bacarra also retained his powers when he traveled in time through a Time Ripple.

When Clyde send Paige and Leo into the past through his portal, Paige inhabited the body of her teenage self, while Leo became an invisible spirit only Paige could see.

When Billie projected herself and the Charmed Ones back to the past to the Triad, Dumain, and Christy, they are shown to still have their powers, even though they are in the past.

## **The Future:**

When the Charmed Ones first visited the future through use of a spell, they possessed their future selves' bodies and gained access to their powers as well, which had grown in strength. They theorized that traveling to the future worked differently than traveling to the past.

When Piper and Leo accidentally traveled to the future instead of the past, they remained in their own bodies and were able to interact with their future counterparts. This is presumably due to the magic of a Cupid Ring working differently than wiccan magic.

Phoebe Halliwell traveled to the future in an Astral Premonition and was able to interact with her future self for a few moments.

## **Methods of Time Travel:**

### **Powers:**

Billie Jenkins learned to use her Projection power to travel through time. She first used this aspect of her power to locate her sister Christy, and again when she traveled back in time after the Ultimate Battle.Phoebe Halliwell has the power of Astral Premonition which allows her to astral project into the future time-frame she is seeing.

### **Spells and Rituals:**

Spells are a common way to travel through time. This ability is often used by the Charmed Ones, who used it to travel both to the past as well as to the future. Once in the past, Witches no longer possess their active powers, either because they do not exist yet, or because younger versions of them possess the powers instead. Chris used a different spell to travel to the past, which allowed him to keep his powers. This spell opened a portal through which he could reach his desired time.

### **Potions:**

Cole Turner once used a potion to travel through time. By smashing the potion on the ground, a portal opened in the ground which allowed him to travel to the past and back to the present. A Vision Quest can be used to see visions of the future, similar to Astral Premonitions. To go on a quest, one must drink a potion. Both Phoebe and Leo used this on separate occasions.

### **Portals:**

The Elders once displayed the power to send others back in time through Portal Creation, which they used to send the Charmed Ones back in time to meet their ancestors.  A spirit named Clyde also possessed the power to send people through time by using a portal that looked like a door. He used it to send Leo and Paige to the past, where Paige learned the truth about her adoptive parents' car accident.  When a destined event is prevented, it sends a ripple through time. A Time Ripple can be used as a portal to travel through time. Both the warlock Bacarra and Piper once used one of these ripples. As an Avatar, Leo also displayed the power to create time portals when he sent Paige and Kyle Brody to the past to find out the truth about his parents' death.

### **Artifacts:**

Cupids and other beings in possession of a Cupid Ring can travel through time. This method of time travel is complicated, as it relies on desires instead of thoughts. One must be very specific to get to the desired time. Time travel with a Cupid Ring appears to be bound to different rules than time travel through spells. In her hippie days, Penny Halliwell used to enchant her belongings to return to her if they were lost. When her granddaughter Paige put on a pair of her Go-Go Boots, she was transported back to 1967.

## **Notes:**

* Time Travel is a repeated plot in almost all seasons, excluding season 9.
* The mechanics of Time Travel changed several times over the course of the series and are highly inconsistent.
* In "Imaginary Fiends" an occurrence of Wyatt came from the future after Piper used her spell to find out the problem with present Wyatt. Before this it was thought witches could not do this. In the novel "Leo Rising" Leo is inspired by this to write a spell to get both Wyatt and Chris from the future to help get the Charmed Ones back.

## **See Also:**

* Chronokinesis
* Portal Creation
* Teleportation