Methods of Divination (Was:"Legilimens!" Spell & Gift)

[lorien_eve]

No: HPFGUIDX 72465

Wow, Wendy! You've really done your homework here! Thanks for all 
the info. I hadn't heard of a lot of these, so I thought it was all 
very interesting. I wonder if any of these fields of study will be 
offered at Hogwarts in the future?

Lorien_Eve

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Wendy St John" 
<hebrideanblack at e...> wrote:
> The Sergeant Majorette wrote:
> 
> "Which brings me to something that distracted me at first, and I 
still 
> have to explain it to myself every time I think of it. I was 
working 
> under the assumption that everything one studied at Hogwarts was 
some 
> kind of -mancy, suffix meaning magic (as in Arithmancy);"
> 
> Now me (Wendy):
> 
> Just a quick correction: the suffix "mancy" does not mean "magic" -
 it
> means "divination." So "Arithmancy" is divination using numbers. 
Many of
> the other things the students are taught (or *not* <g>) in 
Trelawny's class
> also have names using the suffix "mancy" (although we don't learn 
them in
> canon) :
> 
> Chiromancy - Palm reading
> Cartomancy - Card reading, which can refer to the use of playing 
cards, as
> in HP, or tarot, or presumably any other sort of card reading.
> Tasseomancy - reading tea leaves
> Crystallomancy - crystal ball reading
> 
> The next one is a bit trickier - reading bird entrails:  There is
> Ornithomancy, which usually refers to divination by studying the 
flight
> patterns of birds, but which might apply to this study as well. 
There is
> also Haruspication (not a "mancy," though), which is divination by 
animal
> entrails as practiced by the ancient Romans (doesn't specifically 
refer to
> birds, but also probably still applies). 
> 
> There are lots of terms for various forms of fire divination: 
> Pyromancy - a somewhat "generic" term for divination by fire or 
flame,
> often assisted by substances thrown onto the flames. 
> Capnomancy - divination by the study of smoke rising from a fire. 
> Tephramancy - divination by ashes obtained from the burning of 
tree bark. 
> Causimomancy - divination from behavior of objects placed in a 
fire.
> Lampadomancy - divination using lights or torches. 
> Xylomancy - is divination from pieces of wood, either from their 
shape when
> collected or their appearance while burning. 
> 
> There are some other forms of divination which I don't think we've 
seen
> studied in class yet, but which would seem potentially useful to 
Hogwarts
> students, and Harry in partcular: 
> 
> Oneiromancy - divination by examining the meaning of dreams
> Ophiomancy - divination from serpents
> Myomancy - divination by the behavior of rats and mice. (This 
might have
> been more useful prior to PoA. Or NOT <G>)
> Oculomancy - divination from a person's eye. (What with all the 
talk about
> Harry's/Lily's eyes)
> Rhabdomancy - divination using a stick or wand. These methods were
> forerunners of the divining rod, but perhaps would work with one of
> Olivander's? 
> 
> From what we know of the accurate predictions Trelawny has made, 
it seems
> she herself uses "Gastromancy," a form of ventriloquism in which 
prophetic
> utterances are delivered in a trance state (something I'd 
call "channeling"
> in current terminology). 
> 
> And finally, there is one form of divination which has been 
extensively
> used by members of this list, with some success so 
far: "Onomancy," which
> is divination using the study of names. <G> 
> 
> Cheers, 
> 
> Wendy
> (Who found many of these definitions at:
> "http://www.angelfire.com/tx/afaceinacrowd/glossdiv.html" - there 
are tons
> more forms of divination described there, for anyone who wants more
> information on this subject).