Spiritus Animalis

A highly complex transfiguration, spiritus animalis is a very difficult piece of magic that requires a great deal of magical prowess to complete. Very rare in the magical world, a witch or wizard that completes this task is able to shift into their soul's animal form at will, whether they are wearing their clothes, or not. If they shift while wearing their clothes, it takes far more focus and training, as they must vanish and summon their clothes as they change. In the beginning days after the initial shift, the subject is always incapable of this, resulting in making sure they are alone, or with trusted individuals since it will result in nudity.

The process of becoming a spiritus animalis takes a lot of time, and involves hard to acquire resources for the potion component. The transfiguration brings out the animal that exists within the individual witch or wizard, which cannot be chosen, it is something that simply exists within the soul from conception. While in their animal forms, most types of magic don't affect the witch or wizard giving them an advantage and form of immunity. Because of that, many will look into undergoing the transfiguration. However, if done improperly, the consequences will be far reaching leaving the witch or wizard either in a permanent in between state or stripped of their magical abilities so they can barely perform the most simplest magic. This transfiguration is one of the most unforgiving that exist, almost on the levels of ancient magic.

Although a registry of known witches and wizards that are spiritus animalis used to exist within the magical world, it was discontinued after dark witches and wizards used it to hunt spiritus animalis for their own enjoyment back in the 1400s. As a result, magical governments only discover if a witch or wizard is one if they are sentenced to a stay in Xurban or Mexban prison and undergo intensive screening including questioning under truth serum. The option to disclose if they are a spiritus animalis is up to the witch or wizard in any other setting.

Some of the known Spiritus animalis in the magical world are a group known as the Constellation, respectively as a black fox, white wolf, black cat, tricolor collie, and a white lynx. They are among some of the youngest witches and wizards that have ever completed the transfiguration; all of them originating from Pureblood Houses that are old, three of which are members of the Sacred 200.

Although the basic process is taught at Gerhardt in transfiguration class, the exact timing for the potion on when to add ingredients isn't taught, it must be searched for in texts within the library or in bookstores if a student wishes to undergo the process, and it is ideal to have a completed spiritus animalis present to guide the potential in the process. This is the only transfiguration that is taught in conjunction with potions due to the complexity and overlapping areas of study. Potions teachers typically go over the potion and the consequences if brewed incorrectly, the rest of that class time is taken up by the transfiguration teacher explaining everything that comes with the transfiguration in great detail.

There is an option of making the change permanent for the witch or wizard, allowing them to keep their human mindset for the rest of their life in their animal form, though very few choose it as their life. The freedom of shifting between human and animal is far too tempting and enjoyable to many witches and wizards for the permanent change to entice them.