I'm tryin to remain nuetral. But energy can be a form of magic. And I feel like I have to make this explanation even though I don't want to and I know you'll still disagree. There are three kinds of energy. Physical, mental and spiritual. I can explain mt thinking of it and yes, there will be a few examples.
-Physical
Seeing is believing. Forming a ball of fire, changing forms, and even maintaining a pair of wings are physical. You can feel it, see it, or even hear it. This seems to be the most common form of magic. But sometimes the background is mental or spiritual. In the physical realm of things, you can't really explain how you can summon a fireball unless you say training. But how you acquire that magic can be recieved in almost any form. You can meet another being or a charm and all of a sudden gain a new power. But you could also inherit it. Since this one has a common definition, it won't have a long reason of my insane logic.
-Mental
You can do it, just believe. So what if you had a form of magic but you feared that you would hurt someone. Or if you didn't know how to use it. The mind is a powerful thing in the real world or the roleplay world. If you think you can do something, chances are it'll happen. Now if you think you're a fast healer with magic, and you believed in that greatly, you'll most likely be able to heal nicely. If you think you can't, you'll mess up and that person will be affected. This is all in the mind.
-Spiritual
To see is to do; to feel is to believe. This is my favorite type of magic. This magic seems to dwindle off as a civilization grows and breaks from belief. But when a civilization is "tribal", they preform rituals of sorts. A ritual is a form of magic within the people and the event. To obtain spiritual magic in the highest degree, you'd have to be a shaman. The shaman was always considered a link to the gods next to the high rulers of an empire.
Another, darker, form of spiritual magic is for a necromancer of the restless dead. They form a haunt of the night that manages to torture a victim.
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-Physical/Spiritual
From a tribal view, whatever the healer or high ruler said, will in fact happen to their own empire. I'll use mayans as an example. In the Mayan Calendar, shamans and scribes of sorts created this calendar to forsee the events in time. The shaman could have recieved a message from their gods about an event. Astrology was also used in forseeing the events. However, the stars were thought to be past high kings or gods themselves and sent messages to their mortal link for what will happen. One of the most memorable event was when the Spaniards came to take over Latin America. To some, this is dumb luck. But the calendar proves that they knew men of great power would come.
In the Dark Arts, a necromancer provides a sacrifice and a spell along with weird ingredients to summon. This as a thought that the ingredients were to stir a certain being in Hell or the afterlife. This is a spiritual magic in a physical realm.
Another spiritual piece is the restless dead. You hear about people who encounter a ghost or demon and suddenly a tv show recreates it. I'll use a story from one. This mother and her daughter had no clue what'd happened when one day some presence came along and fed on them. They moved and felt better. But then that presence came back. They hired an exorcist and the mother was getting attacked during the ritual to send this "energy vampire" back to Hell. What happened was a spirit who fed on energy finding a host. This "vampire" was in a form of the dead but also gave a physical touch such as a sudden feel to do nothing and scratch marks.
Another story is a native american encounter with a coyote spirit. Upon moving in a house next to the woods, there was a spirit rock. This rock appeared to be like other regular rocks. But once moved, they heard uprisings of howls and saw a form just before it vanished. Native americans born in a reservation close to the area brought a shaman to figure things out. He felt the presence near the area where the rock was. But he had to do a ceremonial piece to make the spirit calm down and find a new resting area into the woods.
Spiritual/physical magic involves high amounts of the beliefs of the people. What they were born into doing to satifsy gods or if one wants to summon to do their bidding, that's a physical and spiritual route.
-Physical/Mental
An actioned influence starts with the mind. Though it appears to be meaningless I can list at least three common forms of this magic. Telekenesis, telepathy and mind control. They say the mind is powerful, and if your major magic is a psycic form, you know where this goes.
Telekenesis, everyone know you pick up an object with your mind and move if around or something. Telepathy is to speak through the mind with another. Mind control, you have to be strong with this magic before you can control a person or an army. This is basic and shouldn't require much explination.
-Spiritual/Mental
A summoner controls the summoned. This generally happens. The summons' debt is paid by doing the summoner's bidding. This is a control of the mind of the summoned. Like in Skyrim, you hear a ghost or a victim say "I don't want to do this" or they thank you when you kill them. This was a spirit beeing controlled physically, but they could be influenced mentally.
-Physical/Mental/Spiritual
It's all in the mind, body, and soul. It's a potent mix when you think about it. Magic will strain all three if you pass a limit. Physically, you may hibernate for years. Mentally, you blank out. Spiritually, the "orb" fades a little. If you used a magic that requires you to be involved with all three, you'd change forms in the mind and body, but your soul would have to allow this change. Like a werewolf. Your soul is yourself. Your mind goes feral into a killing spree, to run, to attack, to get a blast of bloodshed. Physically, you look like a wolf humanoid. You're stronger, faster, and vicious. As a human, you may be average in everything.
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How does that relate to energy?
Spiritual energy-The soul. The soul itself is a ball of energy controlling an open body. My neighbor an I talk about this constantly to try and understand a way of how life is in current or in the afterlife. The thought we share? What you believe is what you believe. Since he won't believe there is a God unless he himself was given proof. For now, he believes that there is no god, no underwold, your spirit turns to a form of energy. And as this said energy, you float in space until you return to lice inside an open carcass that is just born. It isn't reincarnation, because reincarnation involves immediate transfer of the soul in a continious cycle of a rank. Karma is also involved in reincarnation. "To do evil is to be eternal"-Gandhi. If you harm a being, it's forever in your soul. To harm and be reborn, you will be in the poorest rank possible. To do good, you will gain ranking.
Mental energy-The mind needs to work. If you believe it, a flow of energy transfers between mind and body. It's commonly ignored in this form since it seems unimportant but if your mindset won't work, there's no energy to fuel that plan. Mental energy is hard to explain but there has to be an energy in mind to fuel a thought.
Physical energy-The asians fuss iver this most. You have many forms od physical energy. Chi, Ki, Chakra, Potential Energy etc. Chi, Ki and Chakra are a form of energy within the body that has a high amount of spiritual belief. They flow ablong your bloodline, nervous system and lymphnetic system. Along your blood is chi. Ki is everywhere. Chakra flows throughout any passage that flows through the body. A common, less "ritual" related energy, is potential energy/kinetic energy.
How they link-
Energy can be converted to magic, at the same time it can't. To create a fireball requires one's own energy to create something of matter in thin air. Mentally, energy would be needed to control a thing. Spiriually, energy flows through everything. Magic is an energy to the eyes of those who see it. If you used magic without energy, it isn't exactly magic but more or less an illusion.
Energy flows in everything. Fire burns, but requires energy to burn. To create wings means to use energy and convert it to matter.
Now before I go insane or make anyone else go insane, I'm gonna go to a college and apply for the COMPASS test and schedule that on friday and blah blah blah.