Divination
From Harry Potter Wiki
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- "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field..."
- —Sybill Trelawney talking to the class about Divination[src]
Divination is a subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It teaches methods of divining the future, or gathering insights into future events, through various rituals and tools. The magic taught in this class, as well as the ability to say prophetic things is a branch of magic referred to as "divination."
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has originally thought that this course was not even supposed to be continued, being considered obscure and inaccurate to most. However, seeing the applicant for the teaching post was the famous great-great-grand-daughter of a celebrated seer, Dumbledore decided to give her a chance. When she made a Prophecy that impressed Dumbledore, she was granted the position.
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[edit] Class Information
- "Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!"
- —Sybill Trelawney to a Divination class[src]
Divination is an elective subject available beginning in a student's third year. Students study a myriad of ways to scry information about the future, including tea dregs, crystal balls, visions and Astrology and horoscope charts. Other methods of divining the future include smoke patterns, dreams, tarot cards and the interpretation of prophecies, though the latter is quite rare. Guides and textbooks allow students of Divination to discern or translate what observed symbols intend to mean.
Students of this class convene in one of two places: Professor Sybill Trelawney's office in the North Tower, or the Divination Classroom which is on the ground floor of the castle.
Because the subtle science of Divination is not exact, and "wooly," Hermione Granger had great difficulty with, and disdain for, it. After consulting with Professor Minerva McGonagall, who shared Hermione's skepticism for Divination, Hermione dropped out of the class altogether to concentrate on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.
Some students, such as Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, also couldn't achieve any success in this course, and regretted ever taking it. In order to scrape a pass in the course, they merely make up plenty of things when it comes to predicting the future, not taking the work seriously. They usually add plenty of tragedies, so Professor Trelawney would be satisfied, despite the false predictions could be far-fetched.
[edit] Professor Trelawney
- Trelawney: "The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice."
- Hermione: "Well honestly...'the fates have informed her'... Who sets the exam? She does!"
- — Professor Trelawney and Hermione Granger in Divination[src]
Sybill Trelawney began teaching Divination circa 1979, and was still teaching through 1998. Her beginner's class relied heavily on the art of scrying; however, Trelawney's teaching style did not go over well with most students. Only students Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil seemed to really take to the subject. Others fell asleep in her heavily-incensed and stifling classroom or considered the class to be a joke.
While her lessons were relatively safe, Professor Trelawney was renowned for predicting the death of a student each year. These prophecies never came true, although Lavender Brown's pet rabbit did die on the pre-determined date Professor Trelawney dictated on her first day of class.
[edit] Professor Firenze
Starting in 1995, Firenze began teaching Divination after Professor Trelawney was viciously fired by High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge. Firenze's lessons took place in Classroom Eleven, on the ground floor, because he is a centaur and could not climb stairs. His classes focused mainly on Astrology. He continued to teach the subject in 1998.
[edit] Textbooks
- The Dream Oracle
- Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky
- Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming
- Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself against Shocks and Broken Balls: When Fortune Turns Foul
