Divination
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future."
-- Sibyll Trelawney
divination techniques
palmistry (PA6, PA12)
bird entrails (PA4)
reading tea leaves (PA6)
playing cards (PA6)
crystal ball (PA6, 15, 16)
fire omens (PA6)
astrology (GF13)
tea leaf symbols
from Unfogging the Future,
pages
cross - a symbol which warns of
“trials and suffering" in tea leaf reading
club - a symbol which warns of "an
attack" in tea leaf reading
the
"real thing"
While most
of what Trelawney
teaches seems to be just "lucky guesswork and a spooky manner," as Harry
thinks (GF13), there are instances of actual prescience and prediction
in the books.
- Harry's dreams
- Trelawney's two correct predictions, according to Dumbledore - we know the second one, but the first is still unrevealed
- possibly the Centaurs' comments in the forest ("Mars is bright tonight!")
- Is this the real thing? Trelawney starts out the first class with a series of predictions. Did they come true? Here's the list:
- (to Neville) "Is your grandmother well?...I wouldn't be so sure."
- (to Parvati) "Beware a red-haired man."
- "Classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice."
- "Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever."
- (to Lavender) "That thing you are dreading--it will happen on Friday, the sixteenth of October."
- (to Neville) "After you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones?"
- (to Neville) "You'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."
Broken Balls: When Fortunes Turn Foul (PA4)
Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming (PA4)
Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks (PA4)
Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky (PA, GF14)
