DIV-301 Lessons

The Divination lounge was set up very differently for Third Year students than for Second Years.  The arrangement of desks had been put away in favor of an array of bean bag chairs. The chairs all formed a semicircle around the professor’s desk. As the students entered in, Professor Cattercorn could be seen lounging half-heartedly against her desk, which was piled with books and rolls of parchment.  At the tolling of the bell, she addressed the students.

Ahh, welcome back! I see most of the faces I was expecting… though I have to say there are a few surprises among you. But, what is life without a bit of surprise? Whatever the situation, each and every one of you is quite welcome in my classroom and I do hope that you enjoy this continuation of your studies! We will briefly take a second to review the formalities, but I confess I am eager to get started with this year’s topic.

Down to Business
As last year, the typical assignments will consist of quizzes (which include multiple choice, true or false, and short answer questions) as well as some essays, both optional and required, though now that you are Third Years, you will find that there are slightly more required essays. Additionally if you have a learning disability, or English is not your native language, please write “LD” or “NES”, respectively at the top of your essay. Additionally, all other rules that apply across the board here at HiH including, but not limited to vulgarity, mature content, plagiarism, and age limit also apply here.

On a happier note, myself and my graders (or PAs) are always available to help you. Just send one of us an owl! Also like last year, while I am not promoting plagiarism or cheating, I do promote collaboration, discussion, and working together. Find a classmate that you can study with or that will let you do readings for them, and return the favor! Talk about your favorite divinatory method! Head into Hogsmeade to grab a new book on voodoo together (now that you’re officially Third Years)! Remember, always encourage seers in your community.

Where Do I Go From Here?
Now, onto this year's curriculum. Last year, we covered the tarot, or the “entry-level” form of divination. It was basic because it allowed you to wean yourself off of how you normally use your magic, get used to not relying on a wand, and instead doing it yourself (and with the help of the cards). This year, we will be continuing those steps with runecasting, another form of divination that uses foci and astrology, which is an intermediate step between foci-using divination and divination that requires you to rely on your own magical ability, which we will be covering in your Fifth Year.

Year Three Syllabus

You may be wondering what runecasting and astrology have to do with each other. Even with a rudimentary knowledge of both, these two seem very separate. The one thing they do share, however, is their connection with nature.

Natural Divination
While this term may seem self-explanatory, we are going to take the rest of class to talk about just what exactly natural divination means and what kinds of divination fall into this category, as well as which kinds do not. Natural divination is, essentially, divination that uses nature. Simple enough, right?

The first half of the year will focus on runecasting, whose natural roots will become obvious once we discuss the theory of runecasting next lesson, and again when we talk about how to make your own runes in Lesson Three. Because of the culture and time from which this divinatory practice emerged, it has a strong connection with the Earth. The core of runecasting revolves around twenty five runes that are associated with an assortment of meanings. Each of these meanings have their own nuances, similar to tarot cards, and it is up to you to decipher which meaning is the correct one, using your intuition and Inner Eye. Similar to last year, we will be covering spreads and meanings. However, because the origins of the runes are more certain and play a large role in their use, we will also be talking about the culture and history of the early Norse people with respect to how their culture influenced their divinatory magic.

Afterwards, the rest of Year Three will focus on astrology. Perhaps the only form of divination to give tarot a run for its money in terms of popularity, astrology is well-known across the world. Astrology has even filtered into Muggle culture due to the ease of performing a reading (though, as with the tarot, you need the Inner Eye to give readings that are more than good, educated guesses). Astrology, like many other forms of divination, relies on a certain event to occur, with all readings performed based upon that event. In astrology, that event is the birth of a person, as the date of birth determines what astrological star sign the person will receive. Will will also be looking at the meanings of certain planets with relation to divination, as well as certain celestial events, like the appearance of comets, eclipses, or syzygies, the latter of which you will have covered last year in Astronomy.

At this point, some of you may be wondering about other forms of divination that seem to be connected to nature. You may have heard of haruspicy, the inspection of entrails, from conversations between myself and your Ancient Studies professor. Or perhaps you have heard of xylomancy, the practice of reading signs via burning wood, from a book in the library. However, these -- and many others -- are not included in this year’s curriculum for a many reasons. First of all, we simply wouldn’t have the time! Second, and more importantly, these other forms of divination are actually more about the interpretation of omens in various forms than they are about actually using nature to divine the future. Since we will be covering omens in Year Six, there will be plenty of time for omen-based natural divination.

Closing
For now we must end. Next lesson, we will start our discussion of runecasting in earnest and get a peek into how it works. For assignments this week, you have a short quiz, nothing more! Next week, we’re going to have an unseasonably warm day, and I would like to take the class out on the balcony in honor of the fading summer, so dress appropriately.

Original lesson written by Professor Venita Wessex
Image credits here