#divination class

They have no idea what they're doing.

Professor: You can tell a lot about a person from the position they sleep in.  

Remus: I can believe that. Sirius sleeps like a damsel in distress.

This may sound like a silly question, but it is one I get asked constantly in private. I think the reason is that, especially at the beginning, we are very unsure of how to go about the reading and we are afraid we may get it wrong on technical grounds even before the interpretation starts.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this. I know of old-time diviners who shuffle the deck for a fixed (usually odd) number of times, like seven, nine or thirteen. I have never been able to get behind this way of doing things. It is, however, a traditional approach, so I thought it better to mention it.

I distinguish between when I'm reading for myself, or even for someone else, but who isn't there; and when the person is with me, even just on the phone or on skype (I used to do skype readings for friends all the time when I was in college).

The second case is the easiest, so I'll talk about it first: when I'm reading for someone and I am directly in contact with them, I simply ask them to think about the question and to give me a stop when they are ready. Meanwhile, I decide which spread to use, then I relax and I take on an attitude of calm focus, without strain.

The person may have me shuffle for two minutes, or they may tell me to stop after two shuffles. After the stop, if the person is physically there, I also let them cut the deck, otherwise I do it for them after knocking three times on its back (that's my little ritual). As weird as it sounds, the cards always seem to fall into place very well regardless of how long it took to shuffle them.

I believe this is because, in a reading, there is more at play than just two eccentrics' focus on a topic. We may like to concoct philosophies that give us ultimate power over external reality, but the fact remain that we live at the intersection of cosmic, personal and interpersonal currents, a number of which are beyond our control. Our focus may catalyze these forces, but they are more ingenious than our conscious awareness could be.

In the first case, i.e., when I'm reading for myself or for someone who isn't there, I need to be especially at peace with myself. If I'm distracted, depressed, in a heightened mood or very sick, the reading won't go well. Even when I am at peace, there is always a question mark at the end of my readings, like they are never as crisp as when I'm reading for someone else who is there with me.

So, how long do I shuffle in this case? The answer may be disheartening for some, but it's: as long as I feel I need to. This is hard to explain, but one soon learns to recognize the feeling of a well-shuffled deck. Some may feel the deck becomes heavier, others seem to just get an undefined feeling.

For my part, I usually feel a sensation akin to being full after eating a hearty portion and being unable to take another bite, while at the same time the deck itself seems to oppose resistance to being shuffled as the cards lock into the right place. Your experience may vary.

MQS

"After you Megan"

"No, no Sebastian, I insist. After YOU" 😌🥴

It would be great if they offered an actual divination class. One that didn’t require “the inner eye”. Nor did it make fun or open itself to being made fun of but treated as an actual class. With a  teacher who wanted the students to experience and learn all types of divination. Even if they only spend a class period on it for some. But basically, just for “here are the different types and tools and how to use them.”

Like having a bigger book list, including the I Ching (I Ching readings being some of the oldest ever).

 Have the kids use magic, maybe a certain spell, or they are simply to focus their magic into a deck of plain cards as they do their wand, and the cards are specially treated and form the child’s specific tarot deck. You know..magic.

Rune Divination

Have the class make their own rune stones, maybe with the ancient runes teacher coming in to do a quick talk on the subject. They get offered various raw stones and wood and even bone and are to “feel” with their magic, much like getting their wand, to find the right medium for the runes.

Again the children must choose, via MAGIC, which chain, weight, and shape suits them.

This could probably be a single class, or maybe two, having each child attempt it. 

Psychometry could be a single class, where they simply touch different objects provided by the teacher or brought in by classmates and have to write down what they feel or if they feel nothing, then see if anyone got it “right”. 

Capnomancy - could include lots of different choices of fire to provide the smike to see which works best.

Tea Leaf Readings (they did some, but maybe with a teacher not dedicated to seeing only the worst.)

Crystal Ball

Aleuromancy - (teacher may have to stop flour fights...)

Apantomancy - asks the students to bring their familiars/pets in for this class

Anthropomancy - the teacher admits that this lesson will be theory only as the board of governors just won’t let them disembowel anyone for educational purposes. 

Arithomancy - again having the actual teacher come in a do a short lecture.

Astragalomancy - do the kids make their own dice? Do they go on an excursion to the owlery to collect bones from the owls hunting? 

Ornithomancy - outdoor lesson

Aura Reading - meditation to try to see each others aura’s

Axinomancy - using an axe, hatchet, or (rarely) a saw. Most of the methods involve throwing an axe into the ground, or swinging it into a tree, and interpreting the direction of the handle or the quivering of the blade, heating an axe-head in a fire until it glows, and then interpreting the colors and shapes, balance a spherical piece of agate on the edge of the axe (held sharp edge up) The direction in which the agate rolls can be interpreted as needed.

Belomancy -  The arrows were typically marked with symbols and had to have feathers for every method. In one method, different possible answers to a given question were written and tied to each arrow. For example, three arrows would be marked with the phrases, Yes, No, and the third would be blank. The arrow that flew the furthest indicated the answer. Another method involves the arrows shuffled in the quiver, worn preferably on the back, and the first arrow to be drawn indicated the answer. If a blank arrow was drawn, they would redraw.

Botanomancy - down to the green houses. or just around the grounds