Zatanna Zatara is the daughter of magician Giovanni (John) Zatara and Sindella, a member of the mystical Homo Magi race.  Zatanna makes her living as a stage illusionist prior to discovering her magical abilities while investigating the disappearance of her father.  Her original costume is based upon her father's costume but substituting fishnet stockings and high heels for slacks.
Zatanna is one of the most powerful sorceresses in the DC universe, whose abilities are apparently genetic.  As a tribute to her father and as a focal point, she usually casts spells by speaking verbal commands backwards.  She has proven capable on many occasions of casting spells by speaking normally, and, in rarer occasions, the ability to use magic for simple tasks without speaking.  On very rare occasions, Zatanna has cast spells by writing them in her own blood rather than speaking them aloud.  It is used as a last resort, only to heal from severe physical damage preventing her to speak, like having her larynx mangled by a bullet, or her mouth magically erased by her own powers.  The only magic command issued in both cases, Heal me, had to be spelled backwards, as if she were speaking (em laeH).  Overuse of her magical powers can deplete them to the point that further use of them starts to put a considerable strain on her physical well-being: as with other magical users, the only way to restore her waning powers is an extended period of rest.
Zatanna is a skilled illusionist, showgirl and stage magician even without resorting to her innate magical powers.  In fact she considers part of her "training" exercising sleight of hand tricks, and she claims to have invented a variation of the three card shuffle game called the "Zatara shuffle", in which she's so fast and precise that, even without resorting to cheating, only skilled gamblers are able to follow the movements of her hands.
Excerpts from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatanna
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