Life (MTAw)

Life is one of the ten Arcana of Mage: The Awakening, the Primal Wild's Gross ruling Arcana. Mastery of it grants control over the physical forms of all living things; Life spells might heal wounds, transform the bodies of living creatures, spread disease or exert gross physical control over animals and plants.

Mages learning the lore of Life begin with control over only the simplest organisms; as they grow in knowledge, they may affect more complex lifeforms. For these purposes, all living things are designated as Base (plants, fungi, microbes and insects), Median (other non-sentient animals) or High Life (humans and other thinking animals). The Undead - even thinking, previously living humans like vampires and reveneants - cannot be affected by Life magic; they fall under the purview of Death.

Life magic cannot make permanent unnatural changes to the Patterns of living things; a Life spell may not be of indefinite duration. The only way around this limitation is to use Fate magic to establish a conditional duration.