Wow! Thank you, first of all, for getting this to the table. And secondly for the very thoughtful feedback.
I think your solution to use spells as traits works perfectly! It’s elegant and doesn’t require additional rules, plus you can level up your spells!
I may be able to fit a blurb in the rules that would clarify that if you’re going to have magical abilities, make them super specific so that other traits aren’t rendered obsolete. As you said, if I have a trait like “magic”, there’s no reason to use anything else. But a trait like “fire bolt” is situational and makes things much more interesting.
It may also be worth writing up a small supplement for folks who want a little more definition for a magic system while still staying true to the core concept of the system. I’ll definitely give that some thought as well.