Levitate

Levitate is one of the more unusual spells available to a mage.

Spell Description
Mankind always dreamed of flying like the birds. While the Levitate spell can't accomplish that feat, it at least allows the caster to hover several feet above the ground, at least as long as he or she doesn't attempt to move, which at once cancels this spell, making a hard fall. Essentially, the spell is a substitute for when a ladder is not at hand, but little more than that.

Trivia

 * The spell does also appear in the SNES-Port of Ultima VII. In it, the spell literally allows the Avatar to hover and fly around for around 10-15 seconds in order to bypass obstacles. However, when being over water, the spell doesn't know how to execute the timer and the Avatar continues to hover until being over dry land.
 * In 1.18f and 1.19f versions of Ultima IX, this spell does not function correctly and will not lift the Avatar up.
 * In Ultima Underworld and Ultima Underworld II, the Fly spell does allow true flight.