Force Abilities
There is quite a list of possible Force abilities known to the Jedi. These abilities make the Jedi who they are. Oddly enough, it is possible for a Jedi to be unable to use or access an ability. Just like us, everyone has talents. For Jedi, some abilities came naturally while others took years of study. Sometimes an ability could not be mastered at all, and wasn't even present in that particular Jedi's DNA or midi-chlorian count. Let's take a look at the most known and practiced Jedi abilities.
1) Sense Powers: This ability is exactly as it sounds. Jedi are born with heightened senses, such as hearing and sight. This ability also includes sensing changes in a Jedi's environment that cannot be seen or heard. Feelings are something the Jedi do not take lightly.
2) Telepathy: With practice Jedi can read emotions and see images from another's mind. In cases where individuals are extremely close, even a short sentence can be shared. "Generally, Jedi employ telepathy to read states of minds and exchange silent communications." (Jedi vs Sith by Windham, p. 65). Telepathy was mainly used for negotiations, but could also be a combat technique to foresee an opponents actions. Unlike physically picking something up, using the Force to move an object should take the same amount of effort no matter its weight. An example comes from the unlikeliest of Jedi, Count Dooku. As a youngling, Dooku encountered Yoda in a garden staring at a plant. A potted plant had been placed in the middle of the path. Yoda asked him to move it using the Force. Dooku moved the object to the grass and was surprised to see the ground sink beneath the pot. Yoda intentionally didn't tell him how heavy the pot was because he would have doubted his ability to move it, much like Luke on Dagobah.
3) Force Leap: This ability is as simple as it sounds. The ability to leap higher and farther was a useful skill for combat, putting a Jedi out of or in range of an opponent.
4) Burst of Speed: Using their heightened reflexes, Jedi can use a burst of speed to end a fight. It was so fast, the Jedi seemed to disappear from the spot where they just stood. This ability was draining and required a recovery period.
5) Healing: This particular ability was one of the few that could be used on non-Force sensitive individuals as well a
Jedi. Young Jedi learned how using the Force to heal could ease pain and heal wounds. In Shatterpoint, a pre-Disney clone wars era novel, we see Mace Windu stop a woman from bleeding to death by using the Force to hold her aortic artery shut. On a molecular level, a practiced Jedi could encourage new growth and speed the healing of a wound.
6) Healing Trance: Some Jedi develop the ability to put themselves and others in a healing trance to heal wound even faster. Patients can remain entranced for a week in dry climates and up to a month in wet climates.
7) Farsight: This particular ability is as it sounds; seeing far distances or into the future. Farsight is shown many times throughout the Star Wars films. Yoda felt the deaths of Jedi during the clone wars. Luke felt that Han and Leia were in trouble during his training on Dagobah. Anakin saw his mother in trouble in AoTC.
8) Psychometry: A relatively unknown ability, psychometry was used to see the past of an object. An individual with these talents could "percieve past events by gathering the tenuous psychic imprints left by living hands" (Jedi vs Sith, p. 75). What makes this ability different is it's lack of the Force. Just being a Jedi did not mean you could have this ability. Only certain species had a psychometric ability and most were not Force sensitive. The most famous Jedi with this ability was Quinlan Vos, a Kiffar. Vos was seen using his abilities in The Clone Wars during the hunt for Zero the Hut.
9) Force Camouflage: Using the Force to camouflage was useful for stealth and infiltration missions. There are two different ways to camouflage. One is to target the mind of the individual from whom you need to stay hidden. A Jedi would convince that person that they did not see them, much like a mind manipulation. The second way would be for the Jedi to bend the light around them to literally become invisible. This ability was expensive for a Jedi and required a large amount of concentration. If a Jedi was concentrating so hard on remaining camouflaged that he started bumping into walls, then the camouflage wasn't worth it. Part of being a Jedi was weighing the cost and deciding what was worth giving up in order to achieve success.
Ok, I'll be nice and stop here. There are several other abilities to talk about but we've covered a lot. Come back later for more abilities from the Jedi order.
