Wizard Religion / Phoenix / Trelawney / The Prank / Salt Shakers

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 166478

Kim Jaudon wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166299>:

<< Except "Godfather" is a Christian designation. (snip) What is the
faith of the wizarding world? >>

Lily was Muggle born. If she believed in a religion by the time she
was eleven, it would be a Muggle religion. If she kept on believing in
it, she could insist on raising her child to believe in it, too.

A lot of people in the wizarding world have at least one Muggle
parent, so I expect that a great number of Muggle religions would be
found in the wizarding world, mostly in trace amounts. Some of them
might catch on and attract a lot of wizarding converts. In addition,
wizards are human and therefore probably have their own indigenous nut
cults.

The one Muggle religion that I am sure could not be believed by
wizards is Wicca (which happens to be my religion, so I am not pleased
that there is no place for it in my fanfic), because Wicca's
assertions about magic (a natural ability which all humans can do by
magnifying their spiritual perceptiveness and focussing the
concentration of their will) is just totally different from wizards'
knowledge of magic.

One axiom is that the wizarding world has been entwined with the
Muggle world for a very long time. Another axiom is that the wizards
are conservative -- for example, they still wear medieval robes. A
third axiom is that Muggle England has an established church, the
Anglican Church. Before the Anglican Church, it was the Roman Church.
Stirring up these axioms with a great deal of guesswork, I think the
British wizards have *two* established churches, one of which is kind
of Anglican (but uses a lot of Latin -- not a FOREIGN language to the
wizard-born).  My opinion is that few wizards were ever really *Roman*
Catholics in the first place, as they would not feel inclined to obey
any Muggle, not even a Pope. They probably had a Bishop of Wizards.
They probably still do.

The other wizarding religion, of which there is no evidence in canon,
is a stronger example of wizarding conservatism, mostly consisting of
mixed up pieces of Druidic and Roman and miscellaneous old religions,
detached from their Muggle context by a strong element of wizarding
supremacy -- for example, it probably teaches that the gods mean for
wizards to rule Muggles, which is why the gods gave wizards magic
powers that they didn't give (or took away from) Muggles. This would
be the religion of the old pureblood families, at least the ones most
into Dark Arts. Sirius would have rebelled against this religion as
part of his general rebellion, and I suppose he might have become a
Christian instead of an atheist in his rebellion...

I've already mentioned that I'm an adherent of a syncretic Pagan
religion, so really I am Not Thrilled that the Bad Guys are the ones
with a syncretic Pagan religion. But if Lucius Malfoy (and other Death
Eaters) were Christians, surely they'd at least honor the hypocrisy of
claiming that they only tortured Muggles for the Muggles' own good.

Shelley wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166306>:

<< One of the ghosts was the Fat Friar- meaning that it could even be
a profession for the Wizard >>

We have little evidence of wizarding painters, so it might be that all
the talking portraits magically appear at the moment of their
subject's death, rather than being painted in advance. It might be
that all the talking paintings are portraits, none of them simply
fictional scenes. If so, the drunken monks (mentioned by Carol) whose
Christmas party was attended by the Fat Lady were wizards. I am
curious whether they all died together or they gradually joined the
painting. I quite see why a monastery would want to get rid of those
unsuitable (and no longer punishable) examples, by giving the painting
to Hogwarts. However, that the monastery even knew of Hogwarts hints
that it was a wizarding monastery. 
 
Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166303>:

<< if Snape were a phoenix, his colors would be silver and green >>

Talisman calls him her Dark Phoenix, but I think that's metaphorical.
I think she's one of the faction that believes his Animagus form is a
Hebridean Black dragon.

I don't think a phoenix CAN be silver and green. Its species name
*means* purple-red (like the Phoenicians were named, by the Greeks,
after their 'Tyrian purple' dye). 

The phoenix started in Egypt, where it was called 'bennu', which means
'shining'. It had to perch on a special rock (which some claim was the
first solid thing to rise from the primordial ooze) in a temple in
Memphis (Men-nefer) in order to burst into flame and renew itself, and
that stone, named 'benben', is reported to have have been a purplish
red color. The bennu's cycle was 1461 365-days years = 1460 solar
years (365.2456whatsit-days), when the stars and seasons come around
to the right dates again.

houyhnhnm wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166326>:

<< The other thing that interests me is that Trelawney seems to be
remarkably up to date on Hogwarts scuttlebutt for someone who is so
reclusive and other-wordly. >>

She has Lavender and Parvati (and perhaps acolytes from other Houses)
lunching with her several times a week. No one would say "but Lavender
and Parvati would never gossip!"

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166354>:

<< I agree that James wasn't really at risk. What I don't understand
is *how* he saved Severus's life. He couldn't have cast any hexes or
jinxes on Remus that Severus couldn't also have cast (he's the kid who
knew more curses at eleven that most seventh-years). And he certainly
couldn't have transformed into a stag and, say, carried Severus off on
his antlers, because, as you say, there wasn't room to transform and
Severus would have informed Dumbledore. So exactly did he do that
Severus couldn't have done himself? Did he just warn him that Remus
was a werewolf and yell "Run?" >>

If James could get into the Shack before Severus did, he would have
room to transform and use his size, strength, and sanity to block the
trapdoor so the wolf couldn't go out through it to attack Severus. If
he got in front of Severus but was still in the tunnel when the wolf
succeeded in clawing open the trapdoor, he could have transformed into
a *stuck* stag. (Zara, to me, getting in front of Severus is why James
'pulled' Severus back.) 

The Stuck Stag could save Severus by blocking the wolf, but I think
that *would* have been James risking his own life -- I think a wolf
can take a Stuck Stag, and Remus would have gone through his
transformation without Animagi companions who kept his mind more
human, topped off with smelling humans in the tunnel for rather a
while, so he might not be thinking that this herbivorous obstacle was
his friend.

Part of James getting into the Shack would be he had to open the
trapdoor, go through it, and close it again before the wolf got out,
which would have been a perfect opportunity for Severus to see the
werewolf's silhouette in light from the Shack framed in the open
trapdoor before James pulled it back from the trapdoor.

<< Or Snape could be right that James was in on the so-called Prank
and got cold feet at the last minute. Makes sense to me, especially
given what we've seen of James's treatment of Severus and his nasty
sense of humor as a teenager. >>

That depends whether James was stupid/hasty enough to put Remus at
risk of being outed as a werewolf, with expulsion from Hogwarts the
smallest consequence, and being executed for having attacked a human
while in wolf form the biggest consequence.

Magpie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/166442>:

<< One could just as easily argue that Voldemort had a plan to loosen
the caps on every single salt shaker in Hogwarts. Only nobody noticed
because everyone was too distraught to use salt the next morning. >>

This is a forbidden 'LOL' post.