It has been used to refer to magic not gathered from a specialty cult.
It has been used to refer to magic "everyone can do", which is sort of the same thing as above, with more of a hint of it being commonly encountered.
It has been used to mean magic not gotten through a link to the otherworld, or given by an otherworld entity native to the mundane world. (The most structured definition)
There were some game-mechanical uses, involving active vs augment-only magic.
It appears (I may be wrong) that the HQ2 and the Sartar book has common magic be the "lowest level" of magic available to a lay person. Thus it is charms other people give you, spells, and the use of the affinity runes you are initiated to. Charms are made by higher level spirit practitioners contacting the other world and the runes contact is (from my understanding) a contact with the otherworld you made in your everyday worship/initiation into adulthood.
So it seems "Common Magic" has come to mean "basic lay member" magic, or possibly "you don't need to be in a specific cult" magic, but is no longer about magic not from the Otherworld. Either that's no longer a relevant distinction, or it's going to get some other name at some point.
Does this make sense? Magic is magic, and "common" really just means "not too hard to get because everyone whose a member of the community has access to it"? I'm fine with that, although I do think there's something interesting about "magic you get without ever having to touch the otherworlds" which might be nice to have another name for.
LC
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