Trelawney says to Harry: “I am not one to press my company upon those who do not value it. If Dumbledore chooses to ignore the warnings the cards show –”....Her bony hand closed suddenly around Harry’s wrist. “Again and again, no matter how I lay them out –” And she pulled a card dramatically from underneath her shawls. “– the lightning-struck tower,” she whispered. “Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time ...”(Scholastic 543)

Do you mean the tarot cards Professor Trelawney read at odd points in the HBP saga? Or do you mean the tarot cards you indicated as representative of the seven books?

4. The Devil, card #15 in your essay. This time it is for GOF and may represent BCJ, who, after all, was the Devil in the Detail. But when you posted this meaning for the card, you also indicated that the Devil card indicated this meaning:

The card of self-bondage to an idea or belief which is preventing us from growing […] Should the Devil represent a person, it will most likely be one of money and power, one who is persuasive, aggressive, and controlling […] In any case, it is most important that the Querent understands that the ties that bind are freely worn, and you are only enslaved if you allow the abuse to go on.17

I really like this observation. GOF is the book when we first learn about House Elf slavery and also about their choice to be so enslaved to Wizards. In HBP Dobby with a free choice and Kreacher by obligation of inheritance find themselves serving Harry with mixed results. Which elf was the more effective?

And in GOF and in all the series is it so difficult to find someone who is of money and power, one who is persuasive, aggressive and controlling? Am I the only one who thought lucius.gif ?

Could it also be that holding to prejudice is something else that is enslaving if people choose to adhere to those prejudices?

5. For OotP there is #13, the card of Death. As in the other books of the HP series, Chapter #13 is the chapter where the villain is unmasked. In HBP this is the chapter where Tom Riddle as a person, growing up in an orphanage is revealed. With his fear of death of course.


I think because this is the only method of Divination she hasn't mentioned so far, and although Sybil Trelawney might have been an old fraud, she might also have been telling the truth. Except that like the mythical Cassandra, her reputed ancestor, nobody is likely to believe her. When something about to happen, whether a stock market crash or an execution of terrorists, is said to be 'on the cards' it sometimes appears only too likely. Frankly, I don't think that this prophecy was her third true prediction exactly.

By the way, what is the difference between inverted cards and cards that are not inverted?

I really only used one card that Trelawney mentions in the saga - that of the Lightning-struck Tower. I didn't really examine any others so I have to say that I was meaning tarot cards as representing each of the books in my essay. I honestly have forgotten that other cards were specifically mentioned in the series. Do you have the quotes where they are mentioned at hand? I would love to take a look at those in relation to this tarot idea.

'Two of spades: conflict,' she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden. 'Seven of spades: an ill omen. Ten of spades: violence. Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner -'

She stopped dead, right on the other side of Harry's statue.

'Well, that can't be right, ' she said, annoyed, and Harry heard her reshuffling vigorously as she set off again.

This is the beauty of, and yet the problem with tarot - that the cards are so general that we can apply them to almost anyone. This is the very thing that gives Trelawney the 'fraud' reputation I think. Fortune telling in general operates on this principle: something is said that is a 'truth' for so many people in so many situations that it appears to be a real prophecy. Often people see the 'truth' in how it applies to their individual situations and in a sense they write their own prophecy by filling in the blanks.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on this point. It is so interesting how Rowling uses prejudice against Trelawney to diminish her predictions, because over and over Trelawney's predictions are quite correct. Think of the 'grim', and so forth. I have to admit that she does seem to predict a number of things that also turn out be false, but Dumbledore's assessment of her skill is a little negative and off the mark - to be quite honest. But in light of this, its also interesting that Dumbledore is the one 'struck down'.

Why wouldn't DD disbelieve Trelawney's predictions, however accurate, if they only reflect his plans for what will happen at the end of the book?

This tarot interpretation seems to have been done from an ordinary pack of cards. Does it make a difference if ordinary playing cards are used, rather than tarot? What are the equivalent cards in tarot? What do the cards Trelawney get signify in tarot? And who is the 'dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner'?

“Early European sources describe a deck with typically fifty-two cards, like a modern deck with no jokers. The seventy-eight-card tarot deck resulted from adding the twenty-two trump cards to an early fifty-six card variant (fourteen cards per suit).”

“No documented examples exist prior to the 18th century of the tarot being used for divination. However, divination using similar cards is in evidence as early as 1540; a book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli shows a simple method of divination using the coin suit of a regular playing card deck. Manuscripts from 1735 (The Square of Sevens) and 1750 (Pratesi Cartomancer) document rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot, as well as a system for laying out the cards. In 1765, Giacomo Casanova wrote in his diary that his Russian mistress frequently used a deck of playing cards for divination.”

*(p. 185, BE - House of Gaunt chapter)

Knave of Swords
“Confidence A surefooted person who succeeds without flash. One who does not second guess decisions. Decisive action and control of oneself.

**Inverted meaning** Fear causes plans to crumble. A person who is timid and cowardly. One who allows the opinions of others to interfere with their own ambition.”

Two of Swords
“This is a card of meditation, not of action. The crossed swords point to different possible directions, but for the moment the character is looking inward rather than outward and in the possession of an awesome power that protects her until she finds the direction to apply it.

Seven of Swords
“A hasty decision, greed and/or thoughtless behavior, the individual acts in an impulsive fashion. It represents secret plans, hidden dishonor, frustration and the possibility of failure.”

Ten of Swords
“The Ten of Swords is the most grim card in the deck, more destructive and reminiscent of death than the Death card itself. Again, the dark clouds depicted above the person signify despair and a terribly bleak situation. However, upon closer examination of the images in the card, any real death or destruction, like all things, may not be permanent. There is hope regardless of the situation: the golden sky in the distance suggests that this is the worst the querant's situation could possibly be, and that things will only improve.”

Why wouldn't DD disbelieve Trelawney's predictions, however accurate, if they only reflect his plans for what will happen at the end of the book?

My theory is that Rowling used that card to point something. Like in HBP Dumbledore's death from the tower (Lightning struck tower - is that right? ) , then Harry's scar which have a form of lightning and it's given after a very strong curse. So I think that Rowling used it a lot in the series not only in HBP to show the enormity of the disasters(after all harry's scar brought him a lot of troubles and disasters).

I agree with you wholeheartedly on this point. It is so interesting how Rowling uses prejudice against Trelawney to diminish her predictions, because over and over Trelawney's predictions are quite correct. Think of the 'grim', and so forth. I have to admit that she does seem to predict a number of things that also turn out be false, but Dumbledore's assessment of her skill is a little negative and off the mark - to be quite honest. But in light of this, its also interesting that Dumbledore is the one 'struck down'.

Ironically, Rowling creates a kind of hierarchy of magic skills. Magic in general (in our real world) is generally thought of as superstition and metaphysics at best, and this includes all forms of magic. Next to science, magic is viewed with the same suspicion as fortune telling is. In the wizarding world, magic is real and yet fortune telling is seen even there as a sort of sub-standard magic - a pseudo-magic. As you point out, Cassandra was not believed, but that was part the curse that allowed her the power to see into the future. Rowling uses this to great effect by making Trelawney (her descendant) a bit of a drama queen and having Dumbledore (who is on most points the most authoritative voice) question her skills. (If Cassandra is of interest, there is an excellent novel written about Cassandra by Christa Wolfe. It was originally written in German "Kassandra", but there is at least one translation in English "Cassandra". It is one of my favorite pieces of literature at present.)

But given this curse (of not being believed), Rowling seems to be saying that fortune telling in general - including tarot reading - is as real as the other forms of magic in the books, and that it has great influence over the plot in spite of the disbelief of the wizards. When you ask why Trelawnley's predictions have to be so pessimistic, it might just be because Trelawney uses the most dire predictions to get people to take notice of her and also because the fortunes of the wizarding world are indeed clouding over and becoming darker and darker in the series. The purpose of fortune telling is not only to predict the future, but to provide warnings about what is coming so that disaster can be avoided. So if we look at her negativity in this light, maybe it would seem more justified.

I think that this is very interesting because it seems that Dumbledore kept Trelawney "close" to diminish her influence. He could keep track of her comings and goings, because it would be dangerous if she went into "trance" and revealed something that could be compromising. She has no control over what she says during "trance" state, so if they could keep her well-liquored up, they could keep the idea going that it was the alcohol talking, and that her revelations are hallucinations caused by over-imbibing, and that she was "kept on" merely to honor her ancestry and that wizards take care of "their own".

This is important because many people who seek advice about the "future" have something in mind that they are looking for direction on. Things like tarot cards and ouija boards (is the "word" ouija a combination of two "yes" words, meaning yes/yes? ) are often helpful because they provide prompts for the person who is seeking the reason/solution, in examining their own personal circumstances and how they might be affecting the situation at hand. The "reader" uses the cards in part through using them as random questions which can be extremely revelatory - sort of like a word association game with pictures. Trelawney's predictions are pessimistic, because all around her is distrust and pessimism (including the accusations of fraud which constantly surround her), which colors the impressions which she gets when interacting with the students and other faculty members. When distrust is so thick as to become a palpable force , disaster is imminent.