~Suppressing the Mind

-Consciousness: the state of being awake and aware of one’s surroundings and existence.
-When transfiguring, we suppress the creatures' active thoughts, decisions, feelings, and movements, subconscious instincts and reflexes.
-"Fight or flight" suppressed - now our responsibility to protect the creature

~Beetle

-Small
-Coleoptera
-over 400,000 species
-we will work on ground beetles
-carnivorous, mostly on invertebrates
-found in almost all habitats besides polar areas and sea
-nearly 40,000 species of ground beetle
-important to understand anatomy
-3 body sections: Head, thorax, abdomen
-6 multisegment legs
-exoskeleton
-2 pairs of wings
-outer set: Protection
-inner set: flight
-last sense breakdown:
Sight: 6 legs, 3 part body (head, thorax, abdomen), 2 antennae, shiny/metallic wings
Sound: Buzz when flying
Taste: None
Smell: defensive odor when threatened
Touch: Ridged wings, tickle when it walks across your hand

~Button

-small fastener to secure 2 pieces of fabric
-sometimes used as decoration
-3 types: shank, flat/sew-through, and snap
-typically round (sometimes square)
-made of wood, plastic, metal, or shell
-aim for flat/sew-through
Sight: Desired color/design/material, typically 2 or 4 holes in the center
Sound: When dropped, there's a soft click
Taste: depends on material
Smell: none
Touch: Smooth, may have raised edges

~The Transformation

-think about ethics
-Block:
Spell: Beetle to Button
Incantation: Ciabdo (see-AHB-doh)
Wand movement: 1 sharp flick above beetle
Concentration: Low - focus on image of target button, visualize beetle morphing
Willpower: Medium-low

-Willpower VERY important
-should feel small push of beetle's life force

~Origins/Importance

-invented by Andre Geronimo
-kept popping buttons, accidentally picked up beetle once and just used that
-used for convenience today
-Very simple
-popular household spell
-often used in conjunction with matchstick to needle spell
-Great starting point for A to I transformations

~Assignments

-Quiz (Mandatory)