Welcome to Weekly Portents, your one and only source for all things prophetic!
In Weekly Portents I, the one and only Riven Redwhisper, will be giving a special reading to let you know what to expect at Hogwarts in the coming days, weeks, months, and beyond! But that’s not all, dear reader! The cards tell me you should expect much much more in the future including personal readings to answer questions you’ve submitted, tips and tricks to improve your own Divinations game, and I even have an interview lined up with a real live seer! Yes, I know it’s been months since I first promised all these things but rest assured, they WILL happen! Eventually!
What are the Sooths saying? What are the Oracles orating? What are the augers articulating? Check in each week to find out!
19/5/2029
Welcome to the latest instalment of the okayest article in the owl post. It’s been a bloody month and a half but I’m back and we’re taking a deep dive into the murky waters of our future or through the fog of our future or whatever overplayed metaphor you want to use.
Before we do that, though, I really need to talk about my last article.
If you recall, the last Portents was published just days before we all left for Easter break and I wrote some nonsense about how spring was coming and how bloody awesome and fun break was going to be. Turns out that I was a bit incorrect about the latter half of that but this only goes to show that even the best (and most humble) practitioners of Divinations such as myself can be wrong sometimes.
This is an important lesson we should all remember. Think it was Professor Gallo who once told me there’s loads of moving parts between now and the future and nothing is written in stone until it’s happened. Something like that, anyway. Just means that no matter how sure you think you are or how perfectly right your prediction feels, you can always be wrong. You might be misinterpreting the signals the universe is throwing at your face but even the universe gets it wrong and throws us the wrong signals sometimes. Then again, sometimes the bloody universe is being cheeky and throws you the wrong info on purpose because that’s what you supposedly “need” or whatever. Bloody sneaky universe, fates, gods, divines, or whatever you want to call it.
Anyway, sorry if I led you astray and I hope the weeks since have fared better for the lot of you.
For today’s reading I’ve decided to go back to an old faithful method of scrying. Interesting thing about scrying is there’s so many ways you can do it. Tarot is tarot, runes are runes, and they each have their own spreads which change things but they’re fundamentally runes or tarot. With scrying, you can use any number of different ‘mediums’ to channel your reading.
Think I’ve already done the scrying pool, crystal ball, and scrying mirror for Portents but this time I’m going with something a little more energetic. FIRE!!! I’ve done some other fire stuff in this article before and those of you who’ve showed up to class might remember we used fire for scrying in Fujioka’s Divs class over the winter but I’m changing it up a little.
Just like that class I’m sitting out by the big firepit island thing but this time I’ve written my question on a sheet of scrap paper. My plan is to toss the paper into the fire and look out for my signs as the paper burns. Perhaps you’re wondering, dear reader, where I picked up this little technique and it may surprise you that it didn’t come from a book or anything like that. Just sort of popped into my mind as I was sitting here.
Or wait, hold on. Was that exactly how we did it in Fujioka’s class!? That was bloody ages ago and I can’t remember.
Well regardless of how much of a hack I may or may not be… I’m full of bloody lessons today so I did it this way to make a point! Just like everything else in magic, intent is the most important part. As long as our intent is clear from the start the actual methods don’t matter quite as much. Would be nice if normal spellwork was like this so I could just light people on fire if I wanted to badly enough without having to flail my wand around but such is life.
Anyway, I’ve tossed my ball of paper into the fire. What question was on it!? Sorry mate, it’s a secret and heard it’s seven years or so of bad luck if I tell you.
As the paper curls away into ash, I’m leaning in and staring into the flames. I can feel the heat on my nose and I’m hoping my eyebrows are still there when I’m done. For a long time there’s just the dancing flames but after I blink something happens. A bit of wood shifted and sent cinders up into the air but they’re not really cinders, are they? They’re alive and fluttering about like excited little insects or something. Then I realise… they’re like little fairy spirits dancing around the fire and I can almost hear the haunting and hypnotic fairy music as I watch.
I start to feel strange and uncomfortable as they dance more and more. Feels like I’m some invader watching something I shouldn’t and I’m about to look away when I see one big spark, much larger than all the rest, break free from the dancing crowd and flutter up and up and away from the flickering fire. I suddenly feel the cold awful loneliness of the thing being so far and away from its warm and comforting home and the others. The spark begins to fade away against the cold black night sky but then something changes. A little gust of wind slowly pushes it back toward its toasty warm home and just as it’s about snuffed out, the spark reaches its home and glimmers brighter than ever, dancing about with its comrades once more.
I blink again, for the first time in what feels like an eternity, and they’re gone. It’s just the flames and smoke and occasional popping of cinders and ash from the large fire but no life and no dancing.
For several minutes I’ve been leaning against the log and thinking about this curious sight. I struggled a bit with what to make of it but think I’m starting to understand. I think the answer might be quite simple, actually. Adventure, explore, go crazy and do all that sort of stuff but don’t be afraid to seek the warmth and comfort of home. We all need that comfort sometimes but it’s easy to forget when you’re so busy with this or that. Then again, it could also be warning us about straying away from that life-giving heat of home at all since our sparky friend started dying when he was too far away. Bit hard to say for certain.
Do you have another interpretation? If so, I’m curious to hear it. Feel free to throw me an owl (( https://forms.gle/ocpV9iu7C3Axp4kE9 )) and you could be featured in next week’s issue! Sorry but I can’t actually pay you for your contributions to the article but I’m sure all that fame and glory will make a fine reward of its own
That’s all for this week’s issue. Hope you have a lovely rest of your week and I’ll see you again at some point or other. Perhaps in the future!? Who knows!
If you’d like a reading by our very exclusive team of expert or if you just have questions about the art of Divinations itself, please send an owl to the one and only Riven Redwhisper and all your questions shall be answered! (( https://forms.gle/ocpV9iu7C3Axp4kE9 )) Please note that your questions will be published in the article but your identity will remain a secret unless you request otherwise. My mailbox is also always open to fan-mail, feedback, admiration, awards, gifts, or anything else you’d like to send!
