Whenever a mage tries to use the powers of the Realms Supernal, they have to draw it across the Abyss and into the Fallen World. Because of this, the Awakened are always at risk of pulling some of the void's essence into their spells by confusing the Imago and giving the spell errors that the Abyss can exploit, thereby ushering in what mages call "Paradox". Pre-Hellenic traditions also referred to "Nemesis", while other Cults attributed it to a disbalance of Ma'at, the influence of druj or the inherent flaws of tamas. These traditions believed that Paradoxes were reflections of inner failures of the mage in question and reflected his sins against the gods to the outside world.