The Mysteries of Occlumency - High and Low -Snape

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 148489


> bboyminn:
> 
> Some additional thoughts on Snape and Occlumency. 
> Voldemort being the dictator that he is, can completely 
> block his mind. Snape however does not have that luxury. 
> If his mind was completely inaccessable to Voldemort, 
> Voldemort would wonder what he was hiding and would never 
> trust him. So, Snape has a far more complex Occlumency 
> task, he must allow his mind to be open to Voldemorts 
> Legilimency, but he must also compartmentalize his mind.

houyhnhnm:

A real person, not an Occlumens, merely an accomplished Muggle liar,
told me once that the way to tell a successful lie is to forget
everything that contradicts the lie.  This is how I think of
Occlumency working.  I guess that is compartmentalization.

Additionally, the way I imagine it, though there is no canon support,
is that an extremely skilled Occlumens, like Snape, can control
thoughts at a much subtler level of consciousness than either Harry or
Draco could do--that is, be aware of the dangerous thought and
suppress it long before it reaches the most external layer of the mind.

Snape also takes care to arrange his life so that memories
contradicting the lie are never formed in the first place. He doesn't
have to conceal a regard for Harry because he has cultivated Harry's
hatred from day one. He doesn't appear to have any convivial social
relationships at Hogwarts.  He never breaks bread with the other
members of the Order. (Well that's the way I see it because I am
DDM!Snape.  If he were ESE, wouldn't he be schmoozing all over the place?)

As for Voldemort, does he practice Occlumency?  What does he have to
conceal and from whom?  His mouth seems to be pretty much in a
one-to-one ratio with his mind.  Although, as young Tom Riddle, he
must have done so.