Divination

Divination is a branch of magic^[1] that involves attempting to foresee the future, or gather insights into past, present and future events, through various rituals and tools. It is described as an inexact science, which requires certain mind and concentration techniques to improve one's sensibility and logical thinking, and to gain insight into various events, appearances, details, emotions and thoughts. Therefore, Divination might be related to Legilimency and possibly some aspects of wandlore. Divination is a more practical way to analyse and interpret a wizard's surroundings by logical thinking and sensibility of mind and body in comparison to Arithmancy, which focuses on calculating probabilities, magnitude, strength and effectiveness of magical forces in general including properties of numbers and their application.

Human divination

Witches and wizards who are born with the rare natural gift for prophecy are known as Seers, who can foresee the future with their Inner Eye. Non-Seers can learn divination methods and develop and gain various insights with them, but their success varies. Divination is taught as an elective subject from the third year on at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.^[2]

Divination has been practised since ancient times. The earliest known method of human fortune-telling is the product known in the West as Chinese Fortune Sticks.^[3]

Learned wizards and witches seem to regard the practise of divination with scepticism. Hermione Granger once described it as "woolly" and "a lot of guesswork,"^[4] Minerva McGonagall thought it was "one of the most imprecise branches of magic,"^[1] and before he decided to take on Sybill Trelawney as Divination professor at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was inclined to scrap the subject altogether.^[5]

Silver lime wands had a reputation for performing best for Seers and those skilled in Legilimency.^[6]

Centaur divination

Centaurs have a way of practising divination distinct from that of humans, apparently mainly based around observing the movement of planets, moons, and stars, which they had been doing for centuries by 1996.^[7] It can take up to a decade for centaurs to understand what these celestial portents meant, and even then, the results were rarely precise.^[7] They may attempt to narrow their prediction of when an event will take place by burning certain herbs, such as sage and mallowsweet, and looking for various shapes and symbols in the fumes.^[7]

Centaurs seem to have had a low opinion of human methods of divination. Firenze, who taught Divination at Hogwarts, described what "humans call fortune-telling" as "self-flattering nonsense," and voiced the belief that humans obsess over mundane, day-to-day predictions because they are "blinkered and fettered by the limitations of [their] kind."^[7]

Known methods

Known texts

Xylomancy by Selina Sapworthy

Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky

The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago

Omens, Oracles & the Goat by Bathilda Bagshot

The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus

Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming

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Behind the scenes

• In real life, divination is the practise of communing with supernatural forces to determine the future. Though dismissed by modern science as superstition, many cultures worldwide have practised or do practise some form of divination. As magic consists of supernatural forces, true Divination actually can be learned and achieved like the other magical arts, whether or not a wizard possesses the Inner Eye.
• In film adaptation Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione Granger compares Divination to Ancient Runes, thinking the first a woolly subject and the second very fascinating, however in the novel she did the same but with Divination and Arithmancy.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned) (Mentioned as "fortune-telling")^[21]
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Wizarding World (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault(Mentioned only)

Notes and references

Divination
Professors: Sybill Trelawney · Firenze
Known Seers: Calchas · Cassandra Vablatsky · Cassandra Trelawney · Gellert Grindelwald · Inigo Imago · Johan Hoffman · Liz Tuttle's mother · Mopsus · Professor Mopsus · Susie Sooth · Tycho Dodonus · Unidentified Canadian Seer · Unidentified female Seer · Unidentified male Seer
Textbooks: The Dream Oracle · Unfogging the Future
Methods: Astrology · Cartomancy · Catoptromancy · Crystal-gazing · Crystal ball · Dream interpretation · Fire-omens · Heptomology · Ichthyomancy · Myomancy · Ornithomancy · Ovomancy · Palmistry · Scrying mirror · Tarot cards · Tessomancy · Xylomancy
Divination at Hogwarts: Divination (class) · Divination Classroom · Divination staircase · Sybill Trelawney's office · Classroom 11 · Xylomancy (class)