Comte Olivier d'Athos de la Fère (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thestormcomes) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entranceway2012-06-14 10:28 am
thestormcomes) wrote in entranceway2012-06-14 10:28 am
Entry tags:
Arithmancy -- Third Years and Up
[Newcomers to the subject will find Professor La Fère standing stoically at the front of the classroom, wand (pine, phoenix feather, 10", and unsurprisingly unyielding for those of you who care) on the desk beside him. An owl lurks in the corner of the room, still slightly ruffled from Professor Buckingham's charms.]
As you are all undoubtedly aware by now, Arithmancy is most often used to predict the future, but it should not be mistaken for anything remotely similar to the study of Divination. We work with numbers, we do not gaze senselessly into the crystal ball, and unless you were born a skilled Seer there is no point in attempting to scry the results of your O.W.L.s.
[He was a student once. He knows how it is.]
You will be working from three books this semester: L. Wakefield's Numerology, M. Carneiro's Grammatica, and Vector's New Theory of Numerology. Reading is required, not suggested. You will complete seven essays and take three tests including your O.W.L., which is cumulative. We build from the ground up, and the first chapters of each book are just as relevant and important as the last. For the time being, wands away.
[Because Olivier is feeling especially generous today (or rather, he's a bit worn out from wrestling his owl away from another professor), all levels of Arithmancy, from beginners to advanced, get to have a little more fun than usual.]
Today we will be using the Agrippan Method for calculating the value of one's name. Each of you has a chart on your table.
[He begins writing on the blackboard with his wand.]
Find each corresponding number for every letter in your name. Mine is provided above as an example.
O L I V I E R D E L A F E R E
6 3 9 4 9 5 9 4 5 3 1 6 5 9 5
You "reduce" your numbers by adding them together until you achieve a single digit, like so.
6 + 3 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 5 + 9 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 6 + 5 + 9 + 5 = 83
8 + 3 = 11
1 + 1 = 2
With your final number, you can refer to a rather amusing personality chart on the back of your copy of Agrippa's Method. The Chaldean Method is similar, as you can see in your textbooks on page two-hundred and fifty-seven, but the letters were based on the Hebrew alphabet, rather than the Latin one.
Please do not hesitate to ask questions should you have them.
[For students, professors, or ghosts who wish to interact with Olivier outside of lectures, he will most likely be in his office located in the largest tower beneath the Astronomy classrooms.]
As you are all undoubtedly aware by now, Arithmancy is most often used to predict the future, but it should not be mistaken for anything remotely similar to the study of Divination. We work with numbers, we do not gaze senselessly into the crystal ball, and unless you were born a skilled Seer there is no point in attempting to scry the results of your O.W.L.s.
[He was a student once. He knows how it is.]
You will be working from three books this semester: L. Wakefield's Numerology, M. Carneiro's Grammatica, and Vector's New Theory of Numerology. Reading is required, not suggested. You will complete seven essays and take three tests including your O.W.L., which is cumulative. We build from the ground up, and the first chapters of each book are just as relevant and important as the last. For the time being, wands away.
[Because Olivier is feeling especially generous today (or rather, he's a bit worn out from wrestling his owl away from another professor), all levels of Arithmancy, from beginners to advanced, get to have a little more fun than usual.]
Today we will be using the Agrippan Method for calculating the value of one's name. Each of you has a chart on your table.
[He begins writing on the blackboard with his wand.]
Find each corresponding number for every letter in your name. Mine is provided above as an example.
6 3 9 4 9 5 9 4 5 3 1 6 5 9 5
You "reduce" your numbers by adding them together until you achieve a single digit, like so.
8 + 3 = 11
1 + 1 = 2
With your final number, you can refer to a rather amusing personality chart on the back of your copy of Agrippa's Method. The Chaldean Method is similar, as you can see in your textbooks on page two-hundred and fifty-seven, but the letters were based on the Hebrew alphabet, rather than the Latin one.
Please do not hesitate to ask questions should you have them.
[For students, professors, or ghosts who wish to interact with Olivier outside of lectures, he will most likely be in his office located in the largest tower beneath the Astronomy classrooms.]
[Action]
the timbre of his voice, the sternness of his gaze, his handsome features, oh wait, she's still in class, woops, better wipe that dreamy look off of your face, girlProfessor La Fere's lecture. She quickly whips out her textbooks to find the charts.Maybe if she's lucky, their numbers will be compatible?]Let's see...2, 5, 1, 2, 9, 9, 3, 5, 7, 6, 3, 4, 1, 4, 9, 2, 8...add those together...80...so that would be 8...
[She flips to the personality chart.]
"Eight indicates the possibility of great success in business, finance, and politics. Eights are practical, ambitious, committed, and hard working. They can also be jealous, greedy, domineering, and power-hungry. Eight is said to be the most unpredictable of numbers and can indicate the pinnacle of success or the depths of failure; the potential to go either way is present from the beginning."
...Sounds more like my father than it does me...
[Her gaze flicks up to her Professor again, trying her best to mask her distaste for her results.]
Professore La Fere, will we receive extra points if we use the Chaldean Method as well?
[Action]
[Save for the "withdrawn, moody, self-conscious and indecisive" part. But she doesn't need to know that.]
As for the Chaldean Method, why don't you tell me what you know about it?
[Action]
[She is all-too eager to please.]
Like you said, Professor, the Chaldean method uses the Hebrew letters as the root, not Latin. You would think this would mean that "Chaldean" is a Jewish name, but that's not accurate. "Chaldean" is actually an old-fashioned name for the Aramaic language and its speakers - so technically, the Chaldean method is much older. The biggest difference between the two methods, though, is that the number 9 is not used in the Chaldean method.
If we were to use the Chaldean method instead of the Agrippan method, you would be...
[She pauses, doing some calculations in her head.]
...a 9. I find that to be a much more accurate description of your personage, if I may say so.
[She gives him a shy smile and hopes she hasn't said too much.]
[Action]
A nine?
[That...isn't exactly a compliment. Teacher may be accurate, determined, yes, but an inspiration to others? The poor girl doesn't know what she's stepped into.]
Do you find me arrogant and conceited when things do not "go my way," Miss Goldsmith?
[This is a test.]
[Action]
[And in this situation, she's obviously got her head so up in the clouds that she can only see his good qualities. Ah, young unrequited crushes can be so misleading.]
I have not had the opportunity to see if this is true or not, so I am unable to answer that question. But if I were to haphazard a guess, I would say that that would better describe one of your colleagues than a noble Wizard such as yourself.
[That totally wasn't a shot at Buckingham. Nope.]