Six Disciplines: Manipulation

In other words, how to change the world around you! There are six disciplines taught at the Seminary of Magic on Androva: Combat, Remedies, History, Living Magic, Physical and Manipulation. Today's post is about Manipulation.

Whenever magic is used to create, or to change, or even to destroy, chances are the magician will be using a Manipulation Spell. It's a discipline of contrasts: from the simplest of spells to the most complicated, from the gentlest to the most powerful. First years at the Seminary of Magic start out moving basic objects across the table. Those simple Movement Spells can progress far enough to build and furnish an underground portal room by the time they graduate.

Underage magicians spend as much time studying Manipulation as they do on all the other five disciplines put together. Along the way they encounter Illusion and Illumination Spells, they learn how to change emotions and memories, they open and close portals, they create fire and ice, they master the art of protecting, hiding, tearing down, rebuilding, and changing anything and everything--colours, textures, flavours, sizes, and shapes. The limits of magic are being tested all the time, especially since Research Spells were reintroduced at the beginning of the third book in the series. It's going to take a while for Androva to get back to the sophisticated magic of Galen's time, but they've made a good start.

These are my favourite Manipulation Spells:
1. Portals2. The Communication Spell (unique to Jax, Shannon, Galen, and Claudia)3. Signature Symbols4. Illumination Spells. Imagine being able to create a smoke-free firework display in whatever patterns/colours you felt like, or a rainbow, or even something as ordinary as a bedside light that just happened to look like a different animal every night5. Augmentation/Reduction/Cleaning Spells (just so that all my clothes would fit perfectly, every day, and I would never have to do any housework