Trelawney

[Carol]

danielle dassero wrote:
>
> I was listening to GOF and it was the 1st divination lesson of the
year. And while listening I had a thought. Trelawney thought Harry was
born midwinter, we all know he wasn't, but we know who was. Tom Riddle
was born in midwinter.  I wonder if everytime Trelawney was reading
Harry she was actually reading voldie's soul.
> Well it was just a thought lol

Carol responds:
Well, technically December 31 isn't midwinter (winter begins December
21), but I think you're right. Saturn is the ruling planet for
Capricorn (December 22 to January 19).  The diminutive stature and
dark hair fit Harry himself, as does the misfortune early in life, but
the birth date fits Tom Riddle, who also has dark hair and misfortune
early in life.

Interestingly, the description also fits the young Severus Snape, who
was born January 9 (again, not midwinter but fitting the dates for
Capricorn), had dark hair, was small and scrawny as a boy, and had
misfortune early in life (not being orphaned like the other two but
living in relative poverty with an abusive father).

So, I agree, sort of. Trelawney often "sees" things but misinterprets
them. In this case, however, she was applying her knowledge of
astrology to Harry and getting it wrong. It wasn't that she was seeing
the Voldie soul bit, just that what she knew of Harry seemed to fit
with Capricorn, not with Leo.

I don't know much about astrology, but it would be interesting to see
how having Saturn as a ruling planet might (theoretically) have
affected the lives of Severus and Tom. (There's a superstition about
being born on December 31 being associated with bad luck or evil,
IIRC--no offense to anyone with that birth date!) If anyone wants to
follow up on this topic, I'd be interested--not that I believe in
astrology, but I think that JKR may have researched it, along with
alchemy and Tarot, for the HBP books.

Carol, who has yet to figure out why people refer to Christmas and New
Year's as occurring in midwinter when winter has barely begun