Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Three (09/18)

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Tuesday, September 18, Second Period

The usual offerings of delicious breakfast treats, along with tea and coffee, were in place on the table in the center of the room. Aziraphale was kicked back in his chair, reading a novel.

No really, he was. It had a picture of a woman in a froofy old-fashioned dress on the cover, too. He stuck it under his chair once the class began to assemble, however.

"Good morning! Today's discussion will focus on the perceptions of prophets and fortune-tellers in popular culture. I'm sure all of you, whether you've had personal experience with prophecy or not, came to this class with a specific idea in mind of what constitutes the sort of person who makes predictions. Perhaps it was that of a traditional witch, or a gypsy reading tea leaves, or even the man who tells you what tomorrow's weather will be. Your experiences, and the society you're raised in, are going to color your ideas about people who predict the future. As well as the level of acceptance you're likely to feel toward what those people tell you.

"So your discussion topic today is this: In your own view, does the methodology a person uses affect the "validity" of his or her predictions? For example, is a prediction from a professional tarot reader more, less or as valid as a prediction from a religious seer? Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, but I would like to hear what each of you has to say on the subject, and I'd like to hear your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with your fellow students."

Once the discussion was over, Aziraphale indicated a large palmistry chart on the wall. "Today you'll be doing your first real hands-on exercise, if you'll excuse the pun. Chieromancy, or the practice of telling a person's future through the shape and coloring of their hands and the arrangement of lines on their palms, is perhaps one of the best-known methods of fortune-telling." He passed around some handouts, and gave a brief lecture on chieromancy.

"Now, I'd like you to choose up partners. For the remainder of class, I want you to practice reading one another's palms. Before you leave today, please remember to turn in your homework from last week. We'll be having a test next week, so your assignment is to study what we've discussed thus far."

[ooc: You get to choose your partners today, but the RNG will be making an appearance again in future, just to keep things interesting. Please wait for the OCD threads are up and class is in session.]

Class Roster
Syllabus
Class Requirements
Linkdrop for previous classes

Comments

Sign In

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Collaspey, please!

Re: Sign In

[misshargrove.livejournal.com]

Annette Hargrove

Re: Sign In

[iftheseshadows.livejournal.com]

Neil Perry

During the Lecture

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Talk, pass notes, what have you. Don't disrupt the class too much, though, unless you really really want detention.

Re: During the Lecture

[misshargrove.livejournal.com]

Laying her crutches aside, Annette listened and took very detailed notes.

Re: During the Lecture

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

Anathema took careful notes, with diagrams.

Re: During the Lecture

[neurotic-witch.livejournal.com]

Chris frowned, reminded of his conversation with Johnny yesterday.

Turn in Last Week's Homework

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Where do predictions come from? If you were to use one of the methods of fortune-telling that will be discussed in this class to generate a prophecy, where do you think the information would come to you from?

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[misshargrove.livejournal.com]

Annette turned in a handwavily done three page essay, very detailed pertaining to predictions, where she thought they came from, and what method of fortune telling she would use and just where that information might come from.

Her paper was neat, uniformed, and she was proud of it.

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew paper rambled on about nonlinear planes of existence and famous demonic fortune-tellers. It was lengthy, not concise, and contained a number of hand drawn pictures and diagrams.

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

Anathema turned in another neatly written essay carefully answering all parts of the question. Her spelling was still ... odd.

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana had written a very detailed and well thought out paper.

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[neurotic-witch.livejournal.com]

Chris's paper was about his family's heirloom book of magic.

Re: Turn in Last Week's Homework

[imcalledandros.livejournal.com]

Andros' paper was done slightly better than last week's one and he had made sure to answer each question carefully and in as much detail as he could.

Discussion

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

"In your own view, does the methodology a person uses affect the "validity" of his or her predictions? For example, is a prediction from a professional tarot reader more, less or as valid as a prediction from a religious seer?"

Chieromancy Exercise

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Pair up and read palms.

[ooc: Yes, this was always on the syllabus for today, Chris!mun. ;)]

Re: Chieromancy Exercise

[misshargrove.livejournal.com]

Annette was a little anxious to try this exercise. She wanted her palm read just as much as she wanted to try and read her partners.

Re: Chieromancy Exercise

[practicaldevice.livejournal.com]

Anathema walked over to the girl. "Anathema Device."

Re: Chieromancy Exercise

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana looked around for a partner.

Re: Chieromancy Exercise

[neurotic-witch.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Lana, you need a partner?" Chris asked.

Re: Chieromancy Exercise

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah was taking notes as she looked for a partner. She looked a little tired.

Talk to the TAs

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

After they ping in, please.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew was there!

Talk to Aziraphale

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Ask him questions during class, or catch him on your way out.

OOC

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

La.