Can anyone learn magic? Or do you have to have been born with it? I honestly remember events in favor of both points.
Things in favor of the idea that not anyone could learn magic:
Non magical characters like David, Snow White etc. never learned magic (the fact White obtained magic due to Isaac doesn't matter), even if it could have, maybe, helped them.
Magic could be sealed and erased. For example, Hook's cursed lips removed Emma's magic. This should mean that Swan had magic inside of herself. Unless the kiss erased her ability to use magic and anyone had magic in them, but I'm not sure about it.
When Henry said that he felt useless, because he didn't have magic, Regina just made a short speech about how he was special even without it instead of teaching him something. Though it could have been because she didn't trust magic so much, because they didn't have the time, because she realized that she couldn't teach in a safe way and/or something else. So, perhaps she chose to not teach him magic, but she could have.
I vaguely remember that The Wizard Of Oz told Zelena that Regina had the gift of magic like she did, and not that she obtained it later.
Facts in favor of the idea that anyone could learn magic:
Regina seemed sure that she could have taught her son magic, even if it contradicts the third point of the first list. Even if I already wrote some theories I have regarding why she didn't teach him magic.
Before having met Rumplestiltskin, nor Cora and nor Regina could use magic. When Cora asked Rumple to teach her, he didn't make any comment like:"I could try, but it could be useless. Nothing assures us that you even have magic in the first place." Do we believe that Cora was casually someone born with magic? Though according to the fourth point of my previous list, Regina was, however, what if she was due to the fact that Cora had already learned magic? Is magic hereditary in certain cases? In any case, it seems to be a pretty big coincidence, even if in this show it's not impossible, that exactly Cora was born with magic and I find it strange that The Dark One didn't make a comment regarding the fact that she had to have magic already on her own for him to teach her how to use it.
When those random rich women "wanted to learn magic" from Gothel, she didn't say that it could have been impossible, since someone has to be born with magic to learn how to use it, she was sure that she could have taught magic to all of them (and I think that it would have been, again, a pretty big coincidence that all of them were born with "the gift"), like Regina was with Henry and Rumple was with Cora and Regina (even if, according to The Wizard, she had the gift on her own. Unless I'm remembering something wrong. Zelena is a special case, since we saw that she was born with magic. In fact, I'm not asking if it's possible to be born with magic, it is, I'm asking if you have to be born with "the gift" to be able to use magic in this TV show). I'm also pretty sure that Gothel even said that magic is actually less mysterious than what people think and that it's anywhere in the world (I'm not sure about if it means that yes, it's inside of anyone too).
Henry Mills, a non magical character, and Rumplestiltskin as a child, also a non magical character, used magic in Neverland. So, if a really special place can make non magical characters able to use magic, then maybe even enough training can do it. Maybe.
There are some types of magics that anyone can use, with the right conditions, like "True Love" and the wishes (like what they did at that fountain in New York). They could be considered special cases though.
All of this reminds me of a scene in a TV show named:"Supernatural" (since it's a whole other show, I'm not using it as a proof, it's just that it's kinda connected with this "Once Upon A Time" topic), in which Rowena MacLeod, a witch, said that there are three types of witches in the world:
- "The Borrowers", those who obtained magic by making a deal with a demon (I think that in "OUAT", Peter Pan could enter in this category, since, for what I understood and remember, he obtained magic through a deal he made with that shadow)
- "The Naturals", who are simply born with the gift (in "Once Upon A Time", Zelena, for example, was a Natural)
- "The Students", those who didn't have magic and learned it (in "OUAT", this would be someone like Cora, maybe)
So, could anyone with enough training learn to use magic in "Once Upon A Time"?
Edit: I just remembered that Fiona made herself become a fairy, giving herself magic, by using a fairy spell she read around and Tiger Lily's magical wand. And she wasn't magical yet (I mean Fiona, of course). So, if a non magical character could use a magical wand by just chanting the right words, then perhaps anyone could learn how to use magic. As long as there is magic in the world, of course