Psynergy

Psynergy (a portmanteau for "Psychic energy") is the form of magic featured in the RPG video game series Golden Sun developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It is the ability to conjure sorcerous effects based on one the four classic elements and fueled by the spiritual power of the user's mind.

Basic theory
The name of the supreme force that sustains and controls the building blocks of reality in the game world of Weyard is Alchemy, and Psynergy has a fundamental connection to it that is not fully understood by its scholars. All matter on Weyard is comprised of any combination of the four base elements of both Alchemy and Psynergy: Venus (the essence of the rocky ground and living plant-life, or more simply, Nature), Mars (the essence of fire and heat), Jupiter (the essence of wind and electricity), and Mercury (the essence of water and the cold). The four elements of Weyard, however, are constantly in a game of balance, in which the elements of Venus and Jupiter (ground and wind) as well as those of Mars and Mercury (fire and water) are not in direct conflict, but induce change to one and another. (The latest game in the video game series hint at two additional elements of Dark and Light.)

All life-forms in the game world of Weyard are wielders of Psynergy to varying degrees, depending on how much of their lives they have spent under the influence of a nearby source of Psynergy's essence. Throughout Weyard, there are a select few deposits of purple-shaded stone formations, known as Psynergy Deposits, that are laced with the essence of Psyenergy. Prolonged exposure, usually numbered in years, to the effects of such a deposit, might give a life-form, such as a human, the ability to employ Psynergy. A human who gain the necessary amount of influence over Psynergy, starts developing an adeptness to Psynergy of a more potent form. A person who achieves this adeptness for using Psynergy is thus called an Adept.

The usage of Psynergy by an Adept may be defined as the concentrating of the mind of a Psynergy-imbued individual to achieve an intentional effect that is not normally plausible through simple physical factors. Every adept is attuned to one of Weyards elements in particular. Because of the way the elements of Weyard interact with each other, through a game of balance where each elements induce change upon the others, one individual is unable to develop Psynergy proficiency in more than one of the elements. As a result, all Adepts are considered "specialists", developing their Psynergy powers primarily around one base element each. However, this does not mean Adepts are unable to use Psynergy of the other elements, even the one opposite to theirs. Instead, they specialize in one element and simply have lesser levels of proficiency in others. Using Djinns, an elemental spirit of Weyard, an Adept can further specialize, augment, or alter their Psynergy so as to allow them to develop new skills.

There is also Psynergy that is not aligned with the elements, most that fall outside of either attacks or intentional defense, that are more or less like classic telekinesis or psychic power. Adepts can use this power to move, levitate, and carry objects such as statues and boulders. However, certain elemental powers of Psynergy are used for both attack and usage outside of battle.

The Power of Alchemy
Aside from being the name of the supreme force, in ancient times the people of Weyard possessed "the power of Alchemy", which allowed such feats such as transmutate a form of matter into another, and even disspell death. Since transmutation would by necessity involve being able to manipulate any of the elements at the same time, and Psynergy Adepts only can be proficient in one of the elements, it can be speculated that this ancient "power of Alchemy" was some form of art where all the elements could be manipulated at once, as opposed to the single-element power of Psynergy. In-game lore makes it clear that this "ancient power of Alchemy" and Psynergy are two separate things, though heavily related.