Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Six

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, October 9, First Period

Since it would be the first sign of the apocalypse if there wasn't a table laden with breakfast pastries and tea...there is indeed a table laden with breakfast pastries and tea. There is also a pile of review handouts for the students to pick up on their way in.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you all had an enjoyable time at the Homecoming festivities. Before we begin, I'd like to remind Miss Halliwell to please turn in your take-home test from the Lab." He smiled at Phoebe.

"Today we're going to have a review of the material we've covered in the first five weeks of class, followed by a test on that material. Your handouts should help you in reviewing, and this is the time to ask any questions you might have."

REVIEW:
Review of Class One: Definitions, categories of divination, prophecy in daily life
Review of Class Two: major historical figures
Review of Class Three: prophecy in legend and folklore
Review of Class Four: interpreting prophecy
Review of Class Five: dream symbolism

TEST: Test can be found in the OCD threads, handwavey or real answers as you like.

HOMEWORK:
"Your homework assignment is to consider how you would react to the following scenario: You have an acquaintance who is the subject of a personal prophecy. They are aware of this prophecy, and are unhappy with the predicted outcome. What sort of advice would you offer them, and how would you support them in their decision to either accept or reject their role in the prophecy? This assignment is only for personal contemplation, you are not required to submit any sort of written answers."

Syllabus
Class Roster
Classes Linkdrop

[ooc: Please wait for OCD threads are up and ready to be tagged!]

Comments

Re: Test!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

It occurred to Dawn that if she had remembered there had been a test, she would have actually spent last night studying for it. Oops.

SHORT ANSWER
1. Define prophecy.

Information about the future, or a possible future, obtained through mystical means.

2. What was the Delphic Sibyl?

The Delphic Sibyl was a legendary figure who gave prophecies in the sacred precinct of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. According to a late source, her mother was Lamia, daughter of Poseidon. One of the legends surrounding her says that her last prophecy heralded the birth of Jesus Christ.

3. Describe one work of written literature that contains prophetic work.

An ancient Sanskrit text called the Bhavishya Purana contains predictions of important world events. It uses past tense which is a huge pain to translate, thanks in the language of the book as Hindu philosophy maintains that the past will recur in the future and the future has happened. It is regarded as 'the Book of Prophecies'.

4. There are six dream types that nearly everyone experiences at some point. One of these is Flying. What are the other five?

Naked, Chase but not naked Cordelia Chase unless you're Xander or maybe Willow later, Teeth, Falling, and Exam.

SHORT ESSAY
5. Explain three of the eleven Principles of Interpreting Prophecy that were discussed in class.

a) Understand What the Words Mean.

Each word has a very definite and precise meaning, not just in general, but inside that prophecy. If you have the wrong meaning, it can throw your entire interpretation out of whack.

b) Consider the historical, cultural, social, political, moral and religious context.

First, this tells you whether the prophecy has already come to pass. Second, you have to use all these contextual clues to give you a true interpretation (or find out if someone just wrote a prophecy so they could pay for groceries for the month).

c) Determine whether the prophecy has already been fulfilled.

Because if it's already happened, you don't need to worry about it. Duh. Although, just to make things more complicated, sometimes they can be set to happen twice or in more than one way.



6. Michel de Nostradamus never accepted the title of Prophet, and was considered by many of his peers to be incompetent in the field of astrology. His written prophecies are filled with references to earlier literary works. In fact, the work that he is most famous for is titled The Prophecies by M. Michel Nostradamus, not The Prophecies of M. Michel Nostradamus. Despite all of this, he continues to be revered as one of the foremost prophetic figures in Earth history. In your opinion, should Nostradamus be considered a seer, a charlatan, or something in between. Explain.

The associations made between world events and Nostradamus' quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Moreover, none of the sources listed offers any evidence that anyone has ever succeeded in interpreting any of Nostradamus' quatrains specifically enough to allow a clear identification of any event in advance. That being said, however, there is just enough accuracy in the quatrains to make his prophecies totally discountable. They should just be taken with a very large grain of salt. And maybe some alcohol.


7. BONUS: Do you feel that the subject of a prophecy should be informed of what that prophecy says? Why or why not?

No. If a prophecy is going to come true, it will come true whether the subject is told or not. Telling them ahead of time will do nothing but scare them and maybe help to bring it about.

Yes. People have a right to know and control their own destinies.

...It depends on what the prophecy says.