Divinations || 2nd Years

Airiana climbed the staircase up to the Divination Classroom, finding it empty just as Transfigurations had been. Well that was cool, she guessed. Two in a row wasn't too bad. Her eyes traveled around the room. It was her first time being in there and it was actually... really normal looking. She sat down in a seat carefully, looking at the desk top nervously as she waited for someone to show up.

Sophia made her way into the classroom, once again.

"Right," she declared, being uncharacteristically assertive (or, uncharacteristic for her younger self, anyhow). "I'm Professor Wy-Wy... Well, apparently, I'm married, but I dunnae exactly remember that or anethin' from the past several years, owin' tae th' fact I took a righ' nasty tumble down a staircase, so jist 'Professor' will do.

"Now, accordin' tae th' lesson plan, we're supposed tae discuss mandalas. Would ye be knowin' anethin' about this subject?"

Airiana looked up at the professor curiously and cocked her head to the side a bit. Oh, yes, it was this teacher. Her brother had told her about the woman that taught divination, it was his favorite class after all. For whatever reason, she hadn't shown up last lesson and had come back without knowledge of who exactly she'd become.

"It's used in Buddhism and Hinduism religions," she said slowly, blue eyes flicking up to her professor. "It's a concentric diagram of spiritual importance and it represents wholeness, the infinite circle of life, and the balance of nature. Uhm, right?"

Sophia gave an approving nod. "Correct," she confirmed. "Now, mandalas can be said tae describe both material an' non-material reality, an' are thought tae be seen in all aspects of life. The sun, Earth, an' moon, fer instance, or more conceptual circles, such as friends or family.

"In several spiritual traditions, mandalas are use as spiritual teachin' tools - a mean fer establishin' a sort of sacred space, if ye will." The woman paused, seeming momentarily lost once she had stopped speaking, as though she wasn't entirely certain what to do with herself if she wasn't talking about Divination. Giving herself a small shake, Sophia promptly turned to the chalkboard and drew a large circle, placing a six-pointed star at its center.

"Mandalas are also used tae aid in meditation an' trance induction. What do ye suppose th' reasonin' behind that might be?" Sophia asked, turning back to the girl.

Airiana frowned and nodded slowly, trying to think of a reason. Of course when her brother was telling her about this, she must have zoned out. Why should she have cared about it then? Now she regretted it and leaned forward, "It might be that they use to see themselves? Get to know themselves just a bit better, perhaps?"

She was kidding herself, she didn't know crap when it came to anything more than the basics on Divination. Aragorn was the wiz-kid with this class, not her.

"Aye," Sophia confirmed, drawing a few smaller rings withing the larger circle as she continued. "Th' symbolic nature of th' mandala helps a person tae focus inward, accessing deeper levels of consciousness an' find a unity between oneself an' th' cosmos itself."

She set the chalk down and brushed her hands together to get rid of the dust that lingered on her fingers. "Now, th' concept is that one focuses on the image of th' mandala, tae internal it tae th' minutest detail so that can call it tae mind clearly.

"Naturally, th' exact significance of a mandala depends on the religion, whether it be Hinduism or one of th' several branches of Buddhism, but it is generally always part of some meditative ritual," Sophia explain. "In fact, they really dunnae have a direct correlation with divination, at all. How then, do ye think, they might relate to this class?"