The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter (25 page)

Hundreds of systems of divination have been devised over the centuries. Here are a few of our favorites.

AEROMANCY
:
Rather than forecasting the weather, in this ancient system of divination the weather
is
the forecaster. Believers saw omens of the future revealed in atmospheric conditions such as thunder, lightning, the shapes of clouds, the direction and strength of the wind, and the presence of halos around the sun or moon. Aeromancy was practiced by the priests of Babylonia and is one of the oldest divinatory systems.

ALECTROMANCY
:
A rooster (
alektor
in Greek) was the key to this ancient form of divination. The letters of the alphabet were drawn within a large circle and grains of wheat placed on each letter. The order in which the rooster ate the grains spelled out a message. If the words made no sense the diviner interpreted them. Grains were immediately replaced as they were consumed so that any given letter could appear as many times as the message required.

ALOMANCY
:
In many parts of the world, salt was once believed to have magical properties. In this system of divination, the practitioner would toss a handful of salt onto a surface and then interpret the patterns that appeared. This ancient practice may be related to the superstitions that spilling salt is unlucky, or that tossing it over one’s shoulder, usually the left shoulder, brings good luck or deters bad.

APANTOMANCY
:
Chance encounters with animals were once believed to be full of meaning. In medieval Europe, accidentally meeting up with a goat or a hare foretold imminent good luck, especially if the hare was escaping from hounds. Seeing a bat, a raven, or an ass foretold ill. Interpretations of the same encounter vary among cultures. In the United States, a black cat crossing one’s path is often considered a sign of bad luck, while in Britain it can have the opposite meaning.

ASTRAGALOMANCY
:
Divination by throwing dice dates back to ancient Egypt, and many systems have been passed down through the centuries. (In case you’re wondering where it got its name, it’s from the Greek word
astragalos
, which refers to the knucklebone or vertebra of an animal, the original material from which dice were made.) A simple system, explained in a medieval booklet, involved three dice. Tossing three sixes meant your wishes would come true. Two sixes and a two indicated success, but with hardship. A six and two fours meant forget it—what you wished for was a bad idea and should be abandoned.

BIBLIOMANCY
:
All you need is a book. The diviner poses a question, opens a book at random, and, with eyes closed, points to a spot on the page. The sentence or paragraph where the finger rests is then taken as an answer—or at least a commentary on the question. The Bible was the book of choice for centuries, but later the classics—Homer, Virgil, and Shakespeare—became more popular. Most any book is worth a try—even this one.

CEROMANCY
:
This ancient and widely practiced system relies on wax melted in a brass bowl. The hot wax was slowly poured into another bowl filled with cold water. As the wax hit the water it congealed into various shapes that were interpreted by the seer. Standard interpretations were compiled over the centuries, resulting in a system anyone could learn. The same interpretations were later applied to tasseomancy, the reading of tea leaves.

GEOMANCY
:
A handful of loose dirt is cupped between the palms and gently tossed to the ground. The seer interprets the patterns it forms. In a later version, called paper geomancy, the diviner poses a question and, with eyes closed, taps the point of a pencil onto a sheet of paper, making random marks. After whatever feels like the appropriate amount of time, the procedure is ended and the patterns are interpreted.

HYDROMANCY
:
Water was an important element in several forms of divination. In one method, practiced in ancient Greece, three stones were dropped one at a time into a pool of still water. The first stone was round, the second triangular, and the third square. The diviner studied the patterns of concentric ripples and looked for images or reflections that could be interpreted.

MYOMANCY
:
Divination based on the appearance, color, and sounds of mice. A wide variety of predictions, from wars to famines, were based on the direct observation of mice and sometimes rats, as well as on the telltale signs of their presence, such as footprints or teeth marks. The Roman historian Herodotus reported the defeat of an army following an infestation of rats. This seems to have been more a practical matter than a prediction, however, since the rats ate through the quivers and bows of the soldiers, leaving them virtually weaponless.

PADOMANCY
:
Similar to palmistry, except that it is the soles of the feet that are interpreted. This system of divination was widely used in ancient China.

XYLOMANCY
:
Patterns made by fallen tree limbs, branches, twigs, or other pieces of wood lying on the ground were studied and interpreted by the seers of biblical times. At first, only branches that had fallen naturally were used. In a later system, branches were stripped of half of their bark and tossed to the ground, forming a random pattern. Those that fell bare wood up were interpreted.

Although the striking appearance and mysterious images of tarot cards might make you think they were made for telling fortunes, they were originally just a pretty deck of playing cards. Created in the fifteenth century, they were used to play a popular game called
tarrochi
(thus the name
tarot
), a distant relative of the modern game of bridge. The cards’ colorful depictions of such varied characters and scenes as the Hermit, the Juggler, the Hanged Man, the Chariot, the Priestess, and the Castle suggest that they may also have been used to tell stories.

Tarot cards first became associated with fortune telling in the 1770s, after a Frenchman named Antoine Court de Gebelin came up with a very elaborate and completely mistaken theory about their origin and meaning. De Gebelin believed tarot cards had been created in ancient Egypt and were a source of secret wisdom. Although any connection to Egypt was later disproved, this fanciful theory brought new attention to the tarot. In 1785, a professional card reader named Jean-Baptiste Alliette published the first complete system for telling fortunes using tarot cards. He also produced an original deck of his own design and assigned specific meanings to each of the cards. Alliette taught his method to more than 150 students and helped to launch the tarot on its way to becoming one of the best-known systems of divination in the world.

Swiss tarot cards from about 1800: the Chariot, the Tower, and the Hanged Man
. (
photo credit 19.4
)

he heroes of Western legend have faced a vast assortment of fiends and monsters, but only a select few have dared challenge the mightiest of them all—the enormous fire-breathing dragon. More than just another conquest, in many tales the dragon represents the ultimate step in a hero’s quest for greatness. Facing the temperamental Hungarian Horntail is thus a truly fitting challenge for Harry in his pursuit of the Triwizard Championship.