It involves the zodiac? Like...one for each zodiac? That was sort of inferred with the one per each month bit. Kurumi glanced down at her textbook, searching for the answer there because really, she didn't know. Western notions of the zodiac were foreign to her after all. "So...12 slices for the 12 signs of the Western zodiac? What about the 12 celestial bodies we discussed? Are those included as well?"

"Well surely there are 12 slices because there are 12 signs of the zodiac, each coinciding with a constellation by it's same name." Carigan said. "Where each of the heavenly bodies are located in reference to these 12 constellations can determine parts of your personality. For example I am a Scorpio, meaning the sun was in Scorpio during the time of my birth." Carigan explained.

Tayla took her quill and started to draw a natal chart on a piece of parchment. As soon as she finished making twelve sections and numbering them, she raised her hand and answered. "I think it's because there are 12 Western Zodiac Signs. So the 12 slices in the chart would represent the 12 signs."

Vickers looked up from his parchment. Why 12 slices? The Ravenclaw paused for a moment before raising his hand "Professor, there are 12 slices to represent the 12 signs of the zodiac, with the Earth at the center of the slices. The 12 slices can also represent the 12 Houses-- or the 12 areas of one's life, it is the combination of these two sets that one's natal chart is created." Plus there are lots of other things, but those two forms the basic layout of a natal chart.

While the discussion of the reason for 12 slices continued, Kurumi returned her attention to her other piece of parchment and began her drawing. It was times like these that she disliked the wizarding world and its use of quills and ink. It made her parchment messy when she scratched things out and what not. Starting with the largest circle, Kurumi ran her hand over the parchment, drawing circles with the side of her hand but not yet having the quill touch down on the paper just yet. Once she felt she had the groove of circle drawing, she allowed the tip of the quill to touch the parchment and grit her teeth as she just let the ink flow.

Thankfully, she ended up with a half decent circle and she continued to draw the other three, each smaller than the one before, until she had drawn all four. Next up was dividing it into 12...equal...sections. Kurumi should be good at this, having sliced up pies and cakes for Gryffindors in the common room often enough.

Drawing each line using the side of her book to keep the lines straight, Kurumi easily finished up creating the basic form of her chart and then moved on to labels - namely the zodiac signs. Kurumi responded more to visual ques, so instead of writing things like LEO on her parchment, Kurumi drew the actual sign. Once all 12 of those were in, Kurumi set her quill down and made sure she had everything there that should be. Yep. Looked like the one in the textbook...minus the names of planets, but Kurumi didn't know how to apply those principles just yet.

Carigan, after having put in her two cents worth to answer the question, decided she had better start her drawing. She opened her silver ink well and dabbed her simple barn owl quill into the ink. She drew the four circles on the parchment, as instructed, and then began splitting it into twelve equal pieces. All the while she had her tongue sticking out in concentration.

Alyssa concentrated on drawing her natal chart. First she drew one big circle. Then she drew four more concentric circles inside the big circle. Once she was done. She divided the circle into 12 equal parts. 'Hah... My circle looks like a giant pie' Alyssa smiled to herself. She then wrote in the numbers 1-12 in the innermost ring. Once she had completed that she sat back and admired her work.

Sierra gave an inner sigh to herself as she began work on her natal chart. It seemed like a lousy idea to her, but then again, she hated Divination. She guessed a natal chart was really important to those who actually valued the subject. She peered up at Thereos for a split second before beginning. It still freaked her out the way he looked just like her father...

Looking back at her parchment, she began to draw the four concentric rings, followed by the sectioning off of the twelve pie sections. When she was done, she raised her hand. "The twelve slices represent the twelve zodiac signs, right?" she asked. After answering, she turned back to her drawing and added in the twelve numbers in the innermost ring.

Ella did as Thereos instructed and began working on her natal chart. She began by making the circles first, frowning at her work. Her circles had more of an oval look and she still didn't entirely understand the importance of the chart in the first place. One thing was for sure, Divination was hard. She dissected the circles as directed and looked down at her work. It wasn't exactly pretty but it was the best she could do. She numbered her drawing and waited to hear her classmates answers to the next question that was asked, unsure herself of the answer.

Just RP . . . no images needed. :)
 

"That is correct," Thereos replied in response to those who answered the question. "And I've noticed that several of you have placed these twelve signs on your charts. If you haven't done so, please take a moment to do so. Page 495 of your textbook can be used for reference."

He continued to walk around the classroom and observed the students at work."You may have noticed that there are four primary angles on your horoscope chart. These are the First House, the Tenth House, the Seventh House, and the Fourth House. I shall not tell you what these mean - definitions will be part of your homework. Your next step is to number the twelve houses. The houses of the horoscope represent different spheres of life, described in terms of physical surroundings as well as personal life experiences."

Nate opened his book to page 495, and started to mark down where the twleve zodiac signs were located. He made sure he had all of them marked. Sagitarius, aries, capricorn virgo, scorpio, leo, taurus, lebra, aquarius, gemini, pisces, and cancer. Now that he had them all marked down he ws ready for the teachers next step. To number the twelve houses. He marked down sagitarius as the ninth house. Aries as the first house. Capricorn as the tenth house. Virgo as the sixth house, scorpio as the eighth. Leo as the fifth house, aquarius as the eleventh. Gemini as the third, pisces as the twelfth. Taurus as the second, lebra as the seventh. Finally cancer as the fourth house. After that he awaited for further directions.

Kurumi blinked a few times. Yep. All this may as well have been Mermish to the Gryffindor. Houses? Kurumi's mind just could NOT separate that term from relating to Hogwarts, so now the zodiac animals were representing some celestial form of Hogwarts in the heavens were all good little stars had to were a stardusted Sorting Hat before they were sorted into their house.

"Thereos, does it matter where we number from as long as the numbers stay in order?" she asked. "Or...should we start with 1 being at Aries and work counterclockwise?" Since he had explained earlier that Aries was the beginning of the Western zodiac. The Gryffindor was a little TOO into the fine details than she really should be.

Thereos was trying to find a way to explain the concept without confusing the class.

"The First House, or ascendant, is located on the left side of your pie right about where 9 o'clock is on an old-fashioned clock face. The numbering then moves counter clockwise, thus the Second House is where you'd see 8 o'clock and so forth."

Ella opened her text book to the correct page and quickly labeled the twelve signs on her chart. She was a little confused by the next step, labeling the houses, but her confusion was cleared up when a classmate asked where to place each house on the outline. She did as Thereos instructed, labeling the first house at 9 o'clock and continuing counter clockwise as she worked on the rest of her chart. Hopefully she was on the right track.

Sorting begins at 9....that was how she was going to remember how to draw this chart. Actually, that wasn't such a bad idea. Thinking of this chart as some elaborate celestial sorting ceremony. Nodding, Kurumi picked her quill back up. "Thank you, sir," she said with a smile. "I understand now." And sorry for all the other questions that were probably going to come from the Gryffindor's mouth during the course of this chart drawing.

Kurumi's chart just happened to have Aries in the 9 o'clock position, so she supposed that made things easier in terms of conceptualizing the lecture to her drawing. So, 1 got assigned to Aries, and then 2 to Taurus, 3 to Gemini, 4 to Cancer, 5 to Leo, 6 to Virgo, 7 to Libra, 8 to Scorpio, 9 to Sagittarius, 10 Capricorn that was in the 12 o'clock spot, 11 to Aquarius, and finally 12 to Pisces. She glanced at her textbook to reference, something she probably should have done before asking Thereos for clarification since the answers were all right there...but she was a lion of instinct right now and was acting more on impulse these days than thought.

Finished with her numbering, Kurumi set her quill down and...pondered. Maybe looking up those definitions could be accomplished now while she waited. Hmm...

Continue to RP the steps . . . homework to be revealed soon!
 

"Very good," Thereos commented as he watched the students work. "Very good. Before you start placing vital information on your charts, I would like for you to take a few minutes to fill out this worksheet."

His hooves clattered loudly on the flagstones as he moved towards his unused desk. He gathered the stack of papers and began handing them out. "It's obvious that you must write your full name where it says 'Name.' I do hope that all of you know your own names."

He glanced at the paper. "Then you must write down your date of birth and the time you were born, as well as the exact geographic location of your birth. If you do not know these, then you will need to owl your parents and ask for the details which should be found on your birth certificates."

Thereos scratched his bearded chin. "For the geographic location, you need the coordinates in latitude and longitude, hence an atlas will be needed. But for now, please fill in what you know."

Ella accepted the paper and pulled out a quill. She definitely did not know the exact geographic location of her birth, so she made a mental note to owl her family later in the day. She filled out the other information easily enough and waited for further instructions.

Carigan took the paper and wrote down the important information.

She wondered what her sister was doing in class right now. Was she doing divination in Romania? Funny... her sister. Ten minutes younger than her but so much older in her mind.

Sophie was completely lost in this class. She didn't know anything at all about the stuff that was being discussed. When it was time for them to do the natal chart, she made sure to keep checking Tayla's chart over and over while drawing her own.

Hmm... now what? Sophie looked around and waited. She glanced at Tayla's work a few more times before looking at the professor.

Accepting the worksheet, Kurumi looked it over and had no idea on a few of the things. Not specifics anyway. She picked up her quill again and began to fill it out.

Kurumi then set her quill back down again. All she knew was that she had been born in the evening, but other than that the hour and minute was completely unknown. She probably should know this, her father chanted it every year on her birthday...which she tried to tune out because it was embarrassing.

Alyssa blinked a couple of times and then frowned. She had lost the Professor when he started talking about the Houses. So she quickly shook her head and turned to page 495 on her textbook for reference. As she read, she slowly understood what the Professor was explaining to the class.

So she first drew in the zodiac signs into her chart referring to her book to make sure that she drew in the symbols correctly. Then she began to number each of the Houses. The Professor had said the first House was at her 9 o'clock on the pie chart, so that would be Aries. If she was correct, 1 would be assigned to Aries, 2 to Taurus, 3 to Gemini, 4 to Cancer, 5 to Leo, 6 to Virgo, 7 to Libra, 8 to Scorpio, 9 to Sagittarius, 10 to Capricorn, 11 to Aquarius and 12 to Pisces. Now that her chart was done, she sat back as the Professor continued with his lecture.



Then she looked up as the Professor instructed what they needed to do. She filled out the worksheet with as much information that she had been told and could remember when her mother had shown her a birth certificate once.

Homework has been posted :)
 

As the students worked, Thereos found his gaze fixed once again on the heavens and he shook his head. The signs were not good. "It has been foreseen in the stars that I must conclude this lesson," he announced. "Your completed charts are part of the homework if you choose to do them. Class dismissed."