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

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, October 23, First Period

The classroom doesn't look much different than it did during Parents Weekend, except for the addition of a large tropical fish aquarium against one wall. In it are swimming five very content looking fish. If it doesn't seem to have any significance to the topic of Prophecy, that's because...well, it doesn't. Aziraphale just likes the fish.

"Today we're going to cover several somewhat lesser utilized methods of divination. Specifically, we'll be talking about elemental methods and handful of what you could call the most common of the less common -- including my personal favorite, the reading of tea leaves. There's even a form of divination using specially designed computer programs, although that one is somewhat under dispute."

LECTURE:
Geomancy (earth)
Pyromancy (fire)
Hydromancy (water)
Aeromancy (atmopheric conditions)
Tasseography/Tasseomancy (tea)
Numerology (numbers)
Bibliomancy (books)
Cybermancy (computer programs)

Class Participation:
"In honor of our recent Parents Weekend experience, I'd like each of you to share one thing about the past three days that you wish you'd read a prophecy about beforehand."

Homework:
"To prepare for next week's class, I want you to write briefly about a historical personage associated with prophecy, telling whether you'd like to change places with that person, and why or why not."


Syllabus
Class Roster
Classes Linkdrop

[ooc: As always, please wait for OCD is up! Go!.]

Comments

Re: Talk to the Professor

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"Do you know," Aziraphale agreed, "I don't believe I've ever seen a single prophecy related to Fandom. It might be an interesting thing to find out. Perhaps I'll have to see if the library will let me into their Special Collection."

Re: Talk to the Professor

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Aw, Special Collections. I haven't been in there since I the time I got myself wedged into a shelf, way back during Zombie Weekend, and I wasn't exactly in the condition to look at the books at the time." Anders shook his head, a wistful smile quirking the corners of his mouth. "Gods. I've changed so much since then. It feels like a fr -- a lifetime ago. Which . . . I don't think I would have wanted to know about."

Re: Talk to the Professor

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"I think we've all changed a great deal in the past year. But I think it's been good change for the most part, for myself at least." Aziraphale nodded at the little smile, knowing exactly what Anders meant. "Despite that I'm teaching a class on prophecy, I frankly think knowing the future is overrated. Not to mention dangerous, but I think the biggest danger is that if you know about it, how can you enjoy the novelty and surprise of what happens to you? You're always sure to be disappointed, because it can never live up to the image you paint in your mind. Prophecies in general are interesting, as long as they're about someone else, I think."