| Chizpurfle
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: EST (GMT -5)
Posts: 10,679
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Finnlay 'Finn' Cameron Muir
Fifth Year  x5
|  Ravenpuff | Cap'n Crunch | Bedtime Queen | O Minion, My Minion
Text Cut: Replies Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera  A cushion, he had a cushion. Yep. And so with that he found himself a patch of floor to occupy, offering his peers greetings and nods as they too arrived to the lesson.
He was reminded of Professor Myers' meditation sessions, but was very conscious of the fact that this was not that, and so he was curious.
With the lesson underway, Zeke listened as Professor Tanner alluded to what they would be studying today. Chinese fortune sticks? Or something of the sort. He didn't have much faith in Divination, and so he hoped there would be some sense to be made of what they were practicing today, but as for the initial question... he didn't know much.
Hand raised, he offered all that he could. "Aren't there characters with meanings on these sticks? And so people derive meaning from those." Interpretation, everything was always open to interpretation. Just like their onions. Well, it seemed that actually quite a few students either knew something about this or could make educated guesses. First up was Zeke Ro- Browne, rather. "Indeed, the characters do hold meaning." Then again, there were very few characters that were drawn that did not hold some sort of meaning. Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 First up to join him was the boyfriend. Adi grinned broadly as the Lion took up a seat beside him. "Heya, dragon! Thought you would have fallen asleep before this class.'' He was half serious, half teasing. So much studying had to be done and it was draining. Adi patiently watched the others trickle in. He waved happily to Janelle then greeted Polly right back. Awesomeee! She was sitting with him and Benny! The more the merrier!
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Ahh, if only they could have gone on a real field trip! One to Asia wouldn't be so bad. China would have been a fascinating place to see. Anyway, the Hufflepuff zoned in on the sticks before scurrying to make some notes on the topic. Surely this would be helpful for NEWTs. But he did know a little about this form of Divination solely from reading.
Up went his left hand. "Sometimes if more than one stick falls from the container after being shaken, they are replaced and the process redone until one stick falls.'' Here was a comment without context. Some of the other students would have no idea what Aditya was talking about, but she did. "That is correct. Never fear, class, all will be made clear in time." Quote:
Originally Posted by Squishy Chinese Arithmancy.
That went a great way in explaining why the classroom was set up so strangely. Paulina wished that they could REALLY go to China, because she liked it there. Living in Japan, it wasn't too far from home - all things considered.
At the question, she raised her hand. "The predictions formed by this practice of divination tell a person about opportunities in life as well as future prospects. They are considered to be precise and accurate." There was more to it obviously, but Paulina didn't want to hog the answer from other people. So this Hufflepuff considered this practice to be divination, and it was an understandable opinion. "As is the purpose of most forms of divination or arithmancy, yes. And as for accuracy, certainly more accurate than other forms of fortune-telling practiced by muggles." That was all she was going to say on that topic. Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry174 Angel smiled at the professor and said she was, then it was time for a question and even though she wasn't sure of the answer, she raised her hand. "Professor, is it something to do with finding out about your future using pictures?" Angel thought the question merited a guess. Hmm, she hadn't considered that angle. "Not pictures, no, but I can see why you may think so." The symbols adorning the case were certainly beautiful. Quote:
Originally Posted by Daydreamer11 It was time for the mystery to be solved. Class was beginning and Janelle listened as Professor Tanner explained the topic for the day. Interesting. Janelle didn't know anything about Chinese Fortune sticks , but she decided to take a guess about them anyway.
Raising her hand, Janelle buried her comment in a question. "I'm not sure, but does each stick mean something specific? Like every tarot card means something different and you put them all together to interpret their meaning." Since this was Arithmancy, she figured they were related to numbers in some way. "Maybe each stick represents a number and each number represents.......something.". Well duh. Obviously they represented something. Way to make sense Janelle. Tiara nodded her head as Janelle spoke. "That is correct. But unlike with tarot, this method does only use numbers, as you mentioned at the end." This was arithmancy and not divination, after all. Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising Listening to Flamsteed's choice of words? What now? Oh, right cause she had said stellar, which was really just her trying to be unique in what she said as opposed to always using the same word such as great or superb.
Then Tanner jumped right into the topic of the day, which it seemed appropriate to the setup as intriguing hat it been had they been transported to Asia, it was not practical. Chien Tung. Chinese fortune sticks. Yes she knew a bit about that topic. Raising her hand after deliberating what to say about it, Tia spoke, "The sticks in that cup, there could be either 78 or 100 different sticks, depending on which version you have. The American version has a condensed version of only 78 sticks." Americans . . . always shortening everything. The professor listened as another student brought up more information they knew. "Indeed, the method has become somewhat commercialized in America. But we will cover all that in a moment." Quote:
Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl Davie liked the set-up here. It was refreshing to get out of the classroom, at least in a magical way, once in a while, and Arithmancy was a subject which was hard to imagine outside of the classroom.
But not today! Davie leaned forward on his cushion to get a peek at the cylinder thing. Oh! So that's what that was. No, he had no background relating to this type of divination, but he'd seen a picture of that cylinder before, and he knew there were numbers on the sticks.
"Are we going to use Arithmancy to interpret the numbers on the sticks that fall out of the container?" Davie raised his hand to ask curiously. Cool concept, if so. She was pleased that a first year would be willing to take a crack at it. "That is exactly it, Mister Truebridge," she said, her face beaming to give him confidence. "So what many of your classmates referenced is actually correct." Tiara was proud that her students knew so much. It just proved that the school was fostering imaginative minds that wanted to learn. "The method of Kau Cim is, in a nutshell, exactly what maybe Mister Truebridge hypothesized: whichever stick falls out determines the number to interpret. Kau Cim always starts with a question asked by the supplicant. It should be something succinct and asked with conviction." Waffling back and forth in your mind would certainly not be helpful.
"So now, please take a few moments. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and relax your body." This really felt like that yoga stuff she had heard that Romanos was a big fan of. "I want you to think about the future, whether this coming week or something more far off. Each of us has something we are wondering about, something we would like a sign about." Tiara's was about her future at Hogwarts, but she needn't burden the students with that information.
"I will give you a few minutes to decide which question you would like to focus on for today's Kau Cim reading. Remain calm, quiet, and open-minded."
Adjusting her position slightly on the cushion, Tiara closed her eyes and attempted to calm her mind, even as she was asking the students to do.
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