So she was listening and nodding to the professor. Hold them to see what energy comes, that was interesting and Chloe looked at the runes. Now she said about Fehu so taking that Rune out she looked it over and felt it. Not really feeling anything that the professor was talking about she put it back and picked up the next one. Thank Merlin these things were labeled because she didn't think she'd figure it out if they weren't. Next, she picked up the Gebo, this one felt nice, holding it tight in her hand she decided she really did like this one. So she set it out on the table not to forget.

Looking for the next stone she searched her words, passionate, okay, that was easy with her love of plants and quidditch, but what word? Looking through the book and reading some of the things that went with the word she couldn't help but give out a young teenage giggle, but soon she was picking up the stones again. Finding another that felt nice, she put the Kenaz next to Gebo.

Her last was enthusiastic, looking through the book she found a few and went to her Runes to hold them just as the professor said. Finding the last one that felt like the first two she took out her quill to write them down.

Just as she finished up writing the professor began to talk again, but she wasn't fully sure of the answer so Chloe decided to just stay quiet and write down what she heard.

'Stay after class please, Miss Castillo.'

...... Nina felt her heart drop, though she simply gave her Professor a wide-eyed look and nodded her head obediently. She didn't want to stay after class! This was so unfair. She was being unjustly targeted. Why was Professor Beryl so interested in her methodology anyway? She had done the activity, even with enough time to consider other options and reconsider her work! It wasn't like she was slacking off or day dreaming or doing a myriad of other obnoxious things students at Hogwarts were known to do during class.

Nina Castillo was an excellent student (as far as her homework, worth ethic, and respectfulness was concerned). And despite knowing the reason why Professor Beryl was doing this, it was much easier to be upset.

It was also much easier to stay quiet rather than contribute an answer to the discussion. And so she kept her mouth shut, taking notes diligently and listening to her classmates share their thoughts instead. Tarot cards were a reasonable choice, despite being one of the least accessible methods, in Nina's opinion. Her answer would have been something more common place as the simple connections were often the most overlooked, whilst being the most useful. Nature, for example, reflected a lot of qualities which one could associate with Runes. Even more straight forward, perhaps, were the connections one could make with the four elements. Each had distinct qualities, much like the personality types of the mbti they had considered only moments ago. Surely the elements of the earth could provide a fruitful means of analysis.

But again, the aim was to look mildly disinterested.

Oh. He was supposed to explain?

Lucas was internally screaming. Already.

How was he supposed to explain something he barely understood?

"Uh, okay," he started, taking out his rune set and picking the first one he laid eyes on: Jera. "So this is Jera and it meaaaaaans......" His eyes scanned the list quickly while his mouth kept moving. Mostly because he had to LOOK like he wasn't forgetting. "Oh! It's about change. And I matched it with being flexible because, I guess, you can't be flexible if you don't accept change, right?" Right? Flexible was like the water and the water was always changing.

He had to admit: he didn't know how touching the runes could help figure out their meanings but he wasn't about to ask, not when the professor had moved on. So, he sat there, holding the rune for Jera in his hand and turning it over every now and then, wondering if he was supposed to be feeling....... something?

Lucas only grew more and more confused when the Professor started talking to the class again, this time about runecasting. There were a lot of words there and it was difficult to keep up, something that showed in the way the expression on his face was changing. Hey, maybe Jera was helping. He turned the rune over again in his hand as he squinted at the blackboard, trying to understand what Beryl was saying.

The main thing he understood? That runecasting was not divination, even though it sounded a lot like divination.

So what symbol = meaning systems has he come across? One that can be related to runes? This was a lot more difficult because he didn't think he'd come across anything that was linked to runes outside of the class. Maybe the answer was something that was always staring at him in the face but he didn't know WHAT that was so..... he was going for something he knew a lot about.

"Um, so, this isn't really related to runes," he started, his non-Jera hand up in the air, "But I guess people like to try and find meaning in stars? You know, if Mercury is in retrograde or...... or if Mars is shining bright. Just Astrology." Which was NOT the same as Astronomy, something he learnt from another teacher of his. "People like to find meaning in things like that and I guess it can be linked to runecasting? Somehow?"

Mr Flamsteed would be very disappointed right now.

Hmm..ok Professor Beryl was making a lot of sense. Jera was more her being lazy at the end and hoping to be done with it. But Uruz or Nauthiz makes sense. Well, guess she had to take them out since she was right here and all. She took both out and held them both in her hand not really feeling anything other than her desire to be done with this. But Nauthiz did sound better so let's go with that feeling or not.

Glad she got that sorted and done with. Ok, more and more stuff to add to her notes. Runecasting and underlining its not divination which is nice. She was making a lot of sense and that pause was greatly appreciated.

She thought tarot cards were more a divination thing than anything else same with Astrology. Seems weird that you say its not Divination and than answers that are strongly related to it.

Yeaaaahh she was just going to listen.

Perhaps Kaiser had let his mind wander a little too far, because he was starting to have trouble bringing his attention back to the lesson again. This was not a new problem for him; he had started going to school properly two years ago and had never quite got the hang of staying on task for a full lesson.

When the time came to start taking down notes, Kaiser held the quill ready, trying to be extra careful not to crush it with his grip the way he often did with quills, as this one didn't actually belong to him. And then... well... he just sort of... stared.

There were now a lot of words flying around that he was struggling with translating, and they were coming at him quickly enough that he couldn't really stop to dwell on them or work them out, and instead had to just let them wash over him. Perhaps if he saw them written down, he would have an easier time with them. Professor Beryl was writing her own version of the notes on the board, which meant that Kaiser could just copy all of that down and then figure out what it said, and what that meant, later. It was unlikely to ever actually happen but at least he had the option.

Once he had the words from the board copied down, Kaiser looked up again, and tried not to look as dazed as he felt. Thing was, it was almost impossible to stay engaged with what people were saying when he was struggling with the language, and soon Kaiser ended up more wrapped up in his thoughts than what was happening in the lesson, eyes fixed on a point straight ahead as he idly turned the quill over in his fingers.

He moved his journal out a bit so that she could take a proper look at the work. "I was just wondering If I did it right." Aaron liked feedback, because while this was definitely one of, if not his best, subject, he wasn't sure if he'd nailed what she'd been asking for. Every professor was different with their teaching styles. Also, he wasn't one to drop any eaves, but... he'd put Thurisaz for enthusiasm. And he immediately felt better about the decision.

Musing his hair a bit, the brunette quietly considered her next few questions. And the answers already being given. Sure, Aaron had a deck of tarot cards he used regularly. In fact, the Botros was DEEP in the tarot practice, and found it interesting that she was making a point to say 'Runecasting is not Divination'. As someone who enjoyed both practices, he had himself covered either way, but it could also be argued they were better used in companionship with one another. Like several areas of magic, some stuff just worked better together.

Jotting words down on his parchment pages, from the blackboard and her general lecturing, the Hufflepuff smiled. It took him a moment to catch up with what she was actually asking for, but after a moment he carefully wrote Norse gods and Deities on the bottom of the page. Tapping his chin, he carefully started flipping through one of the books he's selected at the beginning of class. "All runes have gods and deities that are attached to them, and their divided into the Aettir. So... I guess I'm saying that the Norse gods are symbols."

Tina was internally panicking when she saw Professor Beryl heading her way. Oh, no… what if all of her associations were wrong, and her mistakes got pointed out in front of everybody? She was prepared for harsh criticism, but that didn't happen. Quite the opposite! She beamed at the professor's praise, feeling pleased with herself that she'd been on the right track. Only one of her answers had been off, but she already expected as much. Not that she liked being wrong ever, but it wasn't so bad when she figured it out on her own. “Thank you, Professor,” she replied, returning the woman's smile with a small one of her own.

She had every intention of looking for a better rune to replace Isa on her list, but before she could get too absorbed in her work, Professor Beryl addressed the class again. Tina set the parchment she'd been working on aside to uncover her notebook and jotted down some careful notes, underlining the “runes is not divination” part. She'd never thought to look at symbolic correlations with runes before - she was more used to memorizing galdrs and practicing invoking various runes in class - but now that she had, her brain was buzzing with ideas. This concept was interesting and right up her alley too!

Tina was well-versed in methods of symbolism, having learned to use them to express herself through her art. Wait a minute… Art, that was it! The perfect idea for an answer occurred to her, and her hand shot into the air. When she was called on, she said, “What about colors, Professor? They hold symbolic meanings… For example, purple is said to represent honor and enlightenment; black is said to represent loss and mourning, and so on…” There may or may not have even been a symbolic reason Tina had chosen those particular colors as her examples. “Could that symbolism correlate to runes?”

Okay, so maybe her answer was a bit of a stretch, but it made perfect sense to her!

Archer had been so focused on (and growing slightly frustrated with) her work that she hadn't really noticed Professor Beryl walking around until she had spoken. "Oh, fine, fine," the Hufflepuff replied absently, finally finding the rune that fit (or so she thought) her final chosen trait. Jeez, that had been difficult...

______________________

And now they had moved on to other rune correlations. She really had no idea, aside from colors and the Norse gods (since some of the texts had some of them listed with the respective runes), which had both already been said. But she decided to guess another based on what she had glimpsed briefly in some of the provided books. "Some texts suggest a correlation between runes and different herbs." Seemed silly to her, but it was worth a shot.

When Eni saw the Professor back in the front of the class she sat up straighter, quill at the ready for note taking.



Eni had to think about this one. She felt like she'd come across so many, but none were coming to mind. Then someone mentioned the stars and it made things click for Eniola.

"Professor?" She raised her hand. "Isn't nature tied quite closely with runic symbols? Or correlated with it? Between the elements and any living plants I remember my father saying something similar, that runes have symbols for each. Is that true?"

Ah, so that was why Professor Beryl had them discover their MBTI at the beginning of class. It was an example of a rune correspondence system. Avalon jotted down a few more notes on her parchment, making sure to underline "runecasting is not divination" as her teacher had. Although it sure did seem a lot like divination. Her first inclination was to answer the professor's question with the example of astrology. After all, weren't zodiac signs associated with certain personality traits? But she wasn't quite sure if they could be tied directly to runes. And she certainly didn't want to give a stupid answer. She decided to keep quiet and listen to the other students' responses.

Analiese's hand shot into the air as soon as the question was asked. "Well, er... Professor, this isn't exactly related to runes, but... many people go towards arithmancy to interpret different people's personalities, such as a life path number." That was a completely stupid answer. She quickly lowered her head and jotted down what Professor Beryl had written on the blackboard.

"Tarot. Exactly so. Its a system that has symbols that are representative of meanings that are conceptually similar to how we can glean meaning from consulting the runes." Carmine said, writing that answer on the board.



The professor was happy to leave Miss McCarthy to herself while she continued through the activity, and given she was clearly paying attention and listening, Carmine had no concerns over the girl not providing an answer.




Hmmhmmm. Yes, she'd be having a chat to Miss Castillo. Not that she minded the lack of answer given the notetaking, but she would get to the bottom of this later.



"Some good reasoning, Mr Dakest." Carmine said, giving the boy a smile and then leaving him to his own devices to finish working through his task.

When she moved the lesson on and he put a hand up to answer she listened attentively. "Yes Mr Dakest, Astrological signs can be correlated to runic meanings. The link is not to the runecasting or the methodology however, just in looking between the different symbols and what concepts they represent." She clarified.



Another listener. That was perfectly acceptable. She shot the girl a smile, pleased that she was taking notes.



Mr Kaiser looked a little glazed over. It was hard enough with new information, let alone learning in a language that was not your first, she was well aware. Carmine made a mental note to check his notes later and provide some extras if he required it.



"Very much so, Mr Botros. Your insight and your application of that insight will set you in good stead in my lessons." Carmine said approvingly. She was more than willing to let her students know they were doing well or on the right track, and if they weren't, then gentle guidance to get them where they needed to be to continue their personal runes journey.

When the lesson moved on, she was pleased to see the prefect taking notes and when he provided his answer - "Lets remember to raise our hand when answering, Mr Botros, but yes, the associated Norse deities do correspond with each of the runes." She would always be one to remind the children of certain rules before being trigger happy with punishment.




When Miss Dantes raised her hand to answer, Carmine nodded along with her words. "Colour symbolism can absolutely correspond to the runes, good answer Miss Dantes."




Well it was good to see the prefect engrossed in her work, Carmine approved.

When the lesson moved on she nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, different herbs can correlate to rune meanings, good. Please remember to raise your hand before you answer, Miss Calrissian." She reminded, just as she had done with her male counterpart. It was lovely that the Hufflepuff prefects were engaged enough to be answering, but it was a rule after all.



"It is very useful to look for symbolism in nature." Professor Beryl agreed. "Herbs, as Miss Calrissian said, are one example, trees- particularly wand woods, and flowers, are more examples." Which all came under the living plants category, but were their own symbolic systems by right. "Elements also correlate to the runes, quite right."




Another quiet one. Carmine saw her taking notes and the girl seemed to possess a 'thinking face' that indicated she was listening and considering the question at hand. It was a pleasure to see the engagement, truly.



"Very true. Numbers have meanings which can be associated with runes." Carmine said.

-----------------------

She wrote up the answers said by the children -all of which were correct- upon the board and continued as she elaborated.

"That was a tough question, and I expect for some of you, a bit of a confusing one. It is important to understand that as human beings we look at the world around us and see meaning. Different things we come across become representative of different emotions or states of mind or behaviours because it is human nature to seek understanding and enlightenment. Consider colours, as Miss Dantes said: the colour red makes us feel certain things and there tends to be a common agreement on which feelings are evoked by red. Anger. Embarrassment. Passion. Love, and so forth." Professor Beryl said. "This is the nature of symbolism and it the way our minds relate to the external world." She made a few more notes on the board and looked out at the class.

"So if you have a bunch of different symbolic or interpretive systems, it stands to reason that you can draw correspondences between them. It is good practice to seek meaning and connections between those meanings to increase your understanding of the world around you. You can then apply this understanding to runecasting."



"The list on the board isn't exhaustive. Feel free to add any others you think of to your notes, either now or later when you are reflecting upon this for homework." Carmine said. "We will discuss some of these during our other general sessions this year. Now, I did underline that runecasting is not divination quite thoroughly, and some of you might have noticed that some of these listed symbolic and interpretive systems are divinatory in nature. Please don't be concerned by this- we are simply taking note of the meanings that can be associated. The methodology differs greatly, and so do the outcomes. We'll talk more about that in future lessons. For now though, before we return to working with the MBTI as a runic correlation system, I have another line of questioning for all of you to consider." She paused to allow them to finish what they were writing and give the questions their full attention.

"I want you to reflect for a moment and tell me what benefits you think there are to comparing rune meanings to the meanings found in other systems. What difficulties do you think you might come across in this process? What difficulties have you come across already? If you have questions of your own you may ask them too."

ooc: sorry for the delay! The second question is now. Your character can answer THIS question, and they can still 'catch up' to everything before this point until I make my next post. After that we'll be focusing specifically on the final activity. Your character can answer any or all of the questions posed above. It will be at least 24 hours until the next post (and up to 36) Thanks for sticking with us! As always, let me know if you need anything.

ALSO if your charrie's name isn't on the list in the first post, let me know! I probably overlooked a few people by accident!

Still mulling over Missa's interpretations, it was so much easier than doing his own, Eiji all but missed the next bit of Professor Beryl's lecture and had been tuning in and out of her phrasing while he continued to cross references rune descriptions with what was on their parchments that the question had almost been lost on him. Until, well, until that one Gryffindor boy mentioned astrology and then he made a proper connection. What other things did humanity unnecessarily assign meaning to. His answer came immediately, but it seemed as though they would maybe be moving on to something more practical so Eiji remained silent.

But....kanji. Each character had its own meaning and then within each kanji other radicals and such that had their own meaning. But, just like these interpretations, people could pick and choose which they felt most appropriate. His own name, Eiji, had several different meanings depending on character selection and then meaning of said character.

So...as more of a memo to himself than anything else, he scribbled down the kanji beside each run on his piece of parchment. For the personality trait since that was the...focus, as it were.

Quote:

Eiji Rasting
Slytherin ; 4th year

ISTJ
I = Introvert; S = Sensing; T = Thinking; J = Judging
Reserved, Realistic, Logical, Orderly, Controlled, Practical, Objective, Responsible, Self-motivated, Detail-Oriented, Pragmatic, Methodical, Deliberate, Traditional, Levelheaded, Hardworking.

• Hardworking (strength)

  Uruz 勤勉

• Realistic (strength)

  Eihwaz Tiwaz 現実的

• Judgmental (weakness)

  Laguz (merkstave) 審判

• Arrogant (weakness)

  Othala (merkstave) 傲慢

And honestly...this lecture was starting to push buttons that he did not want to be touched. This assigning of personal meaning to things was reminding him far too much of Spark and everything that Trinetta had done there. And the fact that the plushie dragon was now in Missa's possession. Tainted. Tainted childhood. Tainted memories. Happiness in merkstave. His entire posture took on a slightly agitated appearance as he scribbled down the occasional note here and there to try and make himself stay engaged in the lesson.

And he supposed that his slightly compromised state was precisely the sort of disadvantage she was referring to in her next question. It could be hard to keep a clear mind when working with things personal in nature. And then there was the matter of translation across other languages and platforms. It was obvious already in his own halfhearted attempts with his own personality traits to runes.

This was starting to remind him too much of the translation homework mum was always giving him and it caused him to be pulled even more out of the lesson in some aspects. Though, at the same time, his hand was raised to offer up...some sort of insight. Or opinion, as it work.

"Nuance become lost when you translate across languages and other platforms," he began while looking at the kanji written on his parchment, each's individual characteristics and just now unlike the runic counterpart was to the same English word. It was a mess, honestly. "We translate words more than we do ideas and the initial cultural references these runes originated with, applying them to our own understanding and not necessarily the same as the raw source."

As the lesson continued, Kaiser blinked and gave his head a little shake, to try and clear it and allow himself to re-engage. He knew from experience that the worst thing he could probably do in this situation was to zone out for too long, as it made trying to get his head back into the lesson all the more difficult, because then he would be trying to catch up as well as dealing with the whole language thing. Allowing his concentration to lapse for even a few moments was enough to completely throw him off.

One major positive of this class was that Professor Beryl continued to put her own notes on the board, so Kaiser could at least look busy and engaged by copying those down. By the time he was done, they were being presented with new questions.

Kaiser hesitated, and glanced around at the others in the classroom as though they were likely to provide him with an answer. Usually, he wasn't too concerned with staying quiet in lessons when he started to drift, but today he felt he owed the effort to Professor Beryl after she had helped him out that very morning. But also? He just wasn't an academic sort of person, nor was he the type to blurt out any old answer just for the sake of saying something. He did think about the question, as hard as he could, so that he started to give himself a headache, before raising his hand almost cautiously. "The meanings may not perfectly match?" It was more a question than an answer. "You have to be... creative, sometimes. So different people may find different, uh..." Uhhhhhh... what was the word? "... comparisons?" He wasn't sure if that was a benefit or a difficulty, but he was reasonably certain it was a thing.

... His mouth had moved before he'd even thought about raising a hand. Bad manners, but it happened more often then he'd like to admit. Therefore, Aaron smiled sheepishly, and mumbled a quiet, yet sincere, apology.

Back to the subject at hand, however... He understood what Professor Beryl was saying about colors. They were probably the most universally recognizable symbols that existed. The world was painted in them, more than flowers, trees, and the tarot. It reminded him of his own upbringing, as well. He'd been taught more than one language since birth, some of those systems containing symbols, if one were interested in a literal example. Rebecca's brother had an amazing answer, too, Aaron thought.

There was definitely a raised hand this time. "...I think it's beautiful that we manage to find ways to understand one another, even if there are language and cultural divides. It feels more inclusive that way, more accessible, even if there seems to be some overlap" There was a lot of quill!scratching going on as the Hufflepuff talked. "Difficulties... Probably committing the different correspondences to memory, and then applying the information." Like the Slytherin fellow had mentioned.

Nina tried to distract herself from the looming thought of having to stay behind after class to speak to her Professor. However, distracting one's mind often did not work as to distract, one had to think about why one wanted to distract in the first place. It made listening and processing through the lesson a difficult task. Nina hardly ever had trouble focusing, it was something that came naturally to her. Though the task was becoming increasingly difficult as time passed.

The question posed to the class was an interesting one to say the least. There were obviously many benefits to comparisons systems. Often, comparisons made concepts easy to understand. They provided a unique platform for which many languages could be used to get an idea across. However, often they fell short as a comparison could provide similarities without being holistic and accurate. Their MBTI results were living proof. Although some Runes fit the descriptions better than others, there wasn't a one size fit all answer. One could probably take two of the same Runes and assign them to a multitude of characteristics, as it really deepened on one's perspective of the matter. Words had different meanings to different people, which is why it wasn't a fail-safe system.

And while these ideas were all very thought-provoking, Nina kept going back to the fact that she didn't want to stay after class!!!

As Holly waited, she watched her classmates. She watched their faces, she watched them putting on the boot, watched them hop around and then watched them taking their seats… and all the while she wondered what the boot had said, what those four or five letters… meant. Did they actually know something about her? Just like Professor Sissay’s arithmancy? Did they know facts about her, traits and weaknesses that were imbedded in her very core? … It was both mildly worrying and slightly freeing. Guess she’d just need to be patient and wait and find out.

32 different personality types. Woah. … That’s crazy. She looked around the room, wondering if anyone else had gotten the same result as her - she could see a few other ISTJ’s so it looked like some of them were similar. Huh. Wonder what Alis and Jorgie would have gotten… Maybe she could ask them about it later.

Putting her hand into the air, she quickly caught the first handout, looking it over with wide eyes. She wants to argue that it didn’t state anything about being fun or physically flexible - but she knew that anyway. That wouldn’t sway her personality, and the description did… appear to be pretty accurate. Scary.

And then it was time to look inward and figure out what these… descriptive words meant. Meant to her, and what runes she could use as such. Okay.. She could do this. Getting up, first she snagged herself a copy of one of the extra text books, y’know, just to have… and then nibbling her lip she opened it to the right page so that she could … do this. Yes. Yes, that.





Holly had been so engrossed in reading about the runes themselves, and then her personality type that by the time she’d gotten around to matching them up for what she personally thought was her, she’d only managed to get four done… but she thought that was okay, ‘cause Professor Beryl said three to five… which meant four was okay. She hoped it was okay.

Scribbling more notes down on a blank piece of parchment so she could rewrite it neatly later with her personality runes, she underlined the statement ‘Runecasting is not divination’ twice when she wrote it down, followed by the tools and jobs statement. …. She was getting confused though, so she hoped she was paying enough attention to all of this when it … got where-ever it was going. Okay, correlations and connections and links. This was better, she could work with connections - meanings and interpretations were a bit harder to work with as there weren’t any true definitions or limitiations to work with… but she would be fine. Right?

As someone mentioned tarot, and someone else mentioned herbs and this and that - the third year bit on her lip trying to think of something different. Something that had meaning, that meant something about the person it related too. She was drawing a blank, until she looked at her rune list, saw Cameron’s name and grinned. Then her hand was in the air before she could think about it even being wrong. ”What about patronus’, Professor?” She asked when it was her turn. ”I’ve been told that they are a very unique and personal thing… that they always mean and represent the person that casts them.”



… Interpretation of the world around us leads to understanding which can be applied to runes…

That didn’t sound very solid or factual… It sounded a lot like her answer would be very different from whomever was sitting next to her depending on their point of view. She bit her lip, trying not to get too worried about that - it was just her lessons and this is what Professor Beryl wanted them to do. Right. She could do this… She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself doing it, but so she didn’t, she copied down the rest of the list from the board so that she had it for their homework. She’d need it then.

Her first answer was obvious, immediate and blaring in her head so she pressed her hand into the air. ”One difficulty could be that interpretation is so open… so easy to misuse or misjudge. Like how men and women can’t see the same shades of green and blue… It would give vastly different variants and could completely skew your data, no matter how consistent you try to be.” and that bugged her more than it should.

With her quill in hand, she continued to make more notes, noting down the suggestions of her classmates, and listening and anetating any further comments from Professor Beryl.

Good reasoning?

GOOD REASONING?

Lucas..... was surprised, to say the least, but those words were enough to bring a smile to his face. He glanced down at his hand again and opened his fist to look at the Jera rune. Maybe he should ask about the holding-a-rune process Beryl was talking about but, for now, he was accepting his answer as it was. Because it had a good reasoning. And no one could convince him otherwise.

Setting the rune down amongst the other, he looked up again as the Professor started speaking. So...... Astrology had no link to runecasting? Just to runic meanings? Which meaaaaaant that you could get meanings from them but you couldn't cast with them? Uh. Yeah, he was going to take her word for it.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as she moved on, a small frown forming on his face. It was a little difficult to keep up, especially when Beryl mentioned that some of the examples are divinatory but....... runecasting isn't the same as divination. That much he knew. And even if she said not to worry about it, he couldn't help but be hung up on it.

Shaking his head slightly, he forced his mind to move on to the good and the bad about all of....... this and he knew what he wanted to say. The problem? He didn't want to admit it. None of it.

Before he could stop himself, Lucas found himself raising his hand up in the air. "Uh, well, see, the thing is......" He cleared his throat. "We, uh, we like to look at the good? Sometimes. I mean, when it comes to these traits, you accept the good things but you don't really want to accept the bad things, even if they're true. Not...... easily....." His voice was starting to trail away slightly. "I guess that can be applied to runes too because you'll always want to twist the runes to mean a good thing when it's not very accurate, is it?"

Stop talking, Lucas.

Nettie was pretty confident in her answers when it came to their activity, so she stopped and listened to the professor as she went on and on about rune correspondence and different systems and blah blah blah. Truthfully, she was starting to zone out, staring at the head of Eloise's head, not really thinking anything other than the fact that she was still not ENTIRELY sure about this sorting thing. The Commander...it just sounded so...intimidating to her. Like she should be a lot more successful than she was.

Then again, she was only 15. So, how successful could one REALLY be at this age?

Lost in her thoughts, she completely missed out on answering the first question, but tuned in as soon as Eiji started going on about languages or something in regards to Beryl's second question. That was sort of where her brain had been going too, which for some reason made her blush even though she hadn't said or done anything. Coming back down to Earth, she blinked a few times and glanced at the board, listening to a few of her classmates finish up their explanations before raising her hand herself.

"Well, I think you run in to trouble trying to translate across mediums because there really is no direct translation for some things. For example, I got the Commander, and there IS no rune that translates exactly in to that. So I had to go with the next best thing, which might not apply entirely. Already, I had to select some runes that I didn't think fit my sorting ENTIRELY. I picked Jera because it represents pay off and success after patience - but on the flip side, it could also mean sudden setback, poverty, and conflict," she explained. "If I just gave someone my runes without explaining why I picked them, and asked them to interpret it, they could completely miss what I was going for because there are so many options it could be."

She hoped that made all made sense. For some reason, this professor intimidated her. Not that she thought she'd be MAD if she got an answer wrong but...she just REALLY wanted to get it right.

Avalon's quill raced across her parchment as she copied down some examples of interpretive systems. About halfway through the list, she figured that she had the hang of it, and she rested her quill in her ink pot to listen to the rest of Professor Beryl's lecture. She was still a bit confused about the "runecasting is not divination" idea, especially since (as the professor pointed out) so many of the interpretive systems were divinatory in nature. If you were connecting runes to astrology in order to "predict" personality traits of certain zodiac signs, wouldn't that be considered divination? She supposed Professor Beryl would go into this in more detail later on, but it piqued her curiosity nonetheless.

She listened as a few of her classmates gave answers to the professor's question before raising her hand herself. "I'd think that both a strength and a weakness of comparing rune meanings to other systems is the overall interpretive nature of runes. They could mean so many different things. So would a benefit would be getting some clarity and consistency on the rune meaning and making connections between it and the other system?" She paused for a minute, trying not to stumble over her own words. Her own answer was starting to confuse her. "But at the same time, it could cause trouble, because it could very well be that the rune meaning and the other system's meaning were not meant to indicate the same thing." Oh goodness. This was getting worse by the minute. She did not sound like she knew what she was talking about. "What I'm trying to say is that there could be some issues with overgeneralizing things. You could attribute a rune and a color to mean the same thing, generally, but there might be some significant differences between the two that you failed to account for." There. She'd better wrap it up before she continued to confuse herself and the rest of the class.

Ellie took notes as Professor Beryl lectured and summarized on the blackboard all the runic correlation systems she and her many peers had mentioned. Why hadn’t she thought of colours since colours could represent feelings just like runes did? Shaking her head at herself for not thinking of that she thought of the positive and kept listening. We look at the world around us to seek meaning and understanding, which was so true. Her dad tried to teach Ellie that actions has consequences and that there are reasons for why people do or saying certain things in different situations. Could that be connected to rune casting too?

Next moment those student’s around her started to raise their hands to give answer’s and she had been in her head and thus she had missed the question poised by the professor. Silently she listened to the answers given trying to understand. When she thought she had an idea Ellie raised her hand and answered. “I think one benefit could be that rune casters, tarot readers and astrologists if sat together can understand each other because say the rune thurisaz for example means justice to tarot readers and that makes astrologists think of the planet mars which stands for justice and war. The meanings across correlating systems are similar even if the words or symbols used might be different.”

Ellie paused to take a breath before she finished. “One issue could be comparing rune meanings with colours since we associate feelings to colours like blue could we associate with sea, calm and relaxation while there might not be a rune that really fits what we mean or think about.” Erm. She felt out of her depth but she had atleast tried.

Did Eiji know he was smart? Ofcourse he did. But before before she could make the corrections in her notes and feel stupidly proud that she had this little claim on him, the professor had approached them.

...

Something about professor Beryl made Missa sit up straighter, and triggered a need to impress the more the woman came closer - only she couldn't do it or even get herself to say anything, because suddenly she felt as if she had no voice and her stomach was doing a weird flip of sorts.

What in the world.

So, she simply smiled politely in agreement with Eiji when he spoke.

Thankfully though, professor Beryl soon walked away, and she felt her shoulders slacking in relief. Suffice to say, it all felt odd.

Relaxing a bit more, and shaking herself out of the weird moment, she listened as the lecture went on. Following Eiji, she corrected her notes, fixing the rune as per his suggestion and then choosing to add another weakness in as well, because that just added more character to her personality, didn't it?

- but all that went sideways, when she noticed Eiji's use of Kanji in his notes. Well then. It made her a little uncomfortable, and she couldn't help but frown to herself, when she realised she felt a little jealous, and maybe a little mad that she couldn't do something clever like that.

Ugh, what was wrong with her?

As her trail of thoughts spiralled a little more, she had to force herself to concentrate on taking notes instead. It was tiresome, really. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes fixed on the board - and totally acted like she was following everything in class.

Oh Nettie was speaking. Oh Eiji was speaking. Pretend. Pretend.

The first student to answer was Mr Rasting, which did not seem to be a shock. He was proving to be a very thoughtful young man, though he didn't precisely seem to be enjoying the lesson. No matter, she would keep coaxing him into it as it was clear he had great potential for such things.
"Very true. Sometimes the cultural meaning in a word or symbol is not so easily understood if one is not familiar with its origins. Good answer, Mr Rasting."



"Very true, Mr Kaiser." Professor Beryl agreed, pleased to see the boy doing his best to get engaged once more.



Carmine smiled kindly at the first part of the prefect's answer. "Keeping an open mind helps very much when seeking understanding across these divides, quite right, Mr Botros." She listened as he continued. "There is an awful lot to remember if you're intent on memorizing it all, quite right."



Carmine was half expecting to see Miss Castillo put her hand up to provide an answer, it certainly seemed she was thinking hard. However, she seemed to be intent on keeping her mouth shut. Interesting.



Miss Tamesis was another who had clearly been engaging with the lesson and working industriously so far. Carmine looked toward the girl as she spoke up to answer the next question.

"To a point most certainly. Thank you for your answer, Miss Tamesis." She said.



Mr Dakest's efforts this morning had not gone unnoticed. Professor Beryl called on him, seeing his hand, and listened to his answer. "A very important thing to keep in mind - objective balance when runecasting."



"Exactly why I suggested you all write out your own reasoning during the first activity so that when you refer back to it later you can follow your own thinking. The interpretation and explanation, and how you put together the meaning of the runes, are the most important element of the runecast, rather than the runes on their own. Quite an important consideration, Miss Gladin." Professor Beryl agreed.



She found it all the more impressive when the younger students spoke up and was pleased thusfar with their engagement in general. Carmine listened to the young Ravenclaw attentively.

"Its important to be aware of the limitations when considering rune correspondences, most certainly, Miss Sinclair."



"Some interesting thoughts, Miss Smethwyck." Though Carmine did not strictly agree with her, neither did she consider the girl wrong, and the entire point was to get them thinking. This was not so much a right or wrong question as an opportunity to consider why correlations might be useful. "I promise you there are runes for feelings, however." She said, with a slight wink.



Miss Renaldi seemed to be paying attention, even if she wasn't providing an answer herself. And taking notes, so that was fine. Carmine smiled encouragingly at the girl and then addressed the class as a whole.

_____________

As the children answered, Professor Beryl added their responses to the board, plus a few of her own.

SPOILER!!: Difficulties and Benefits when identifying Runic Correlations

difficulties:
-systems may not map over one another directly
- overgeneralizing between meaning systems
-nuance in meaning may be lost when comparing across languages or cultures
-having to memorize a wide range of meanings to be able to apply them
-the interpreters are not consistent, so their interpretations will also differ
-some people may want to twist the meanings to their benefit

benefits:
- helps to find ways to understand others and look for similarities across cultures
- can simplify understanding of difficult concepts
- encourages an open-mind
- with practice helps clarify and identify consistent meanings in the runes
- practice for applying intuition when runecasting

"So, you're all seeing that there are a variety of benefits as well as difficulties that you might come across when comparing rune meanings to the meanings found in other systems. Its important to be aware of these limitations and understand that a main purpose of finding these correlations is to stretch your intuitive muscles so to speak. The more you study runic correlations, the better equipped you will be to interpret how your runes fall when you are runecasting in a way that is not limited to only whichever meanings are listed in this or that text. You do not want to box yourself in. Keeping an open mind is key to developing your abilities." Professor Beryl said, looking around at their faces.

"Now, we're moving on to our main activity and the final portion of today's lesson." Professor Beryl said. "You've all considered runes that could be associated with your MBTI type, and we've touched on other Rune correspondences- some of which we will learn more about in other lessons before Christmas break." After which they'd move on to Runecasting.

"We're going to try and make a master list of correlations between the MBTI types and the Elder Futhark, and based on your work so far, we will discuss our choices together." Professor Beryl said. She tapped the board and a list of the 16 MBTI types appeared, ready for runes to be listed alongside them, and the traits from their handouts below as a reminder.

"Our 'rules' for this activity: Every rune must be used at least once, and lets say a maximum of four runes for any one type. There are sixteen types, and twenty-four runes, so naturally there won't be an exact mapping between the two systems." That was the point, in many ways.

When you provide answers, I'd like you to also look at other types aside from your own if you feel you can do so. Everyone is encouraged to discuss the runes and interpretations. This means if you agree or disagree, you can speak up and say so - but you should give reasons to support your interpretation." Professor Beryl said.

"We are doing this activity as a class, not in groups." She added. "So please continue to raise your hands before you speak, and listen politely to anyone else who is speaking up." Communication was important, wasn't it? And giving everyone the chance to feel equally heard.

"For anyone who prefers to work alone, you may make your own list on your handout if you like, but I do expect everyone to contribute to the class list in some way, please. Lets begin."

SPOILER!!: Runic Correlations: MBTI/Elder Futhark

ISTJ -
Reserved, Realistic, Logical, Orderly, Controlled, Practical, Objective, Responsible, Self-motivated, Detail-Oriented, Pragmatic, Methodical, Deliberate, Traditional, Levelheaded, Hardworking.

ISTP -
Independent, Realistic, Logical, Responsive, Self-reliant, Hands-on, Objective, Spontaneous, Reserved, Grounded, Unbiased, Flexible, Cool, Mechanical, Pragmatic, Active.

ISFJ -
Reserved, Practical, Devoted, Organized, Unassuming, Traditional, Caring, Methodical, Thoughtful, Observant, Kind, Dedicated, Calm, Factual, Principled, Persistent.

ISFP -
Quiet, Practical, Attentive, Flexible, Modest, Observant, Kind, Spontaneous, Calm, Hands-on, Sensitive, Easygoing, Gentle, Grounded, Accepting, Responsive.

INFJ -
Protector, Reserved, Practical, Devoted, Organized, Unassuming, Traditional, Caring, Methodical, Thoughtful, Observant, Kind, Dedicated, Calm, Factual, Principled, Persistent.

INFP -
Composed, Creative, Empathetic, Flexible, Self-reliant, Imaginative, Sensitive, Accepting, Reserved, Idealistic, Ethical, Tolerant, Thoughtful, Innovative, Authentic, Open-minded.

INTJ -
Thoughtful, Innovative, Analytical, Organized, Reserved, Forward-thinking, Objective, Determined, Independent, Imaginative, Rational, Dedicated, Focused, Theoretical, Tough-minded, Decisive.

INTP -
Independent, Innovative, Analytical, Tolerant, Cool, Unconventional, Objective, Open-minded, Thoughtful, Theoretical, Rational, Changeable, Self-reliant, Complex, Unsentimental, Unstructured.

ESTP -
Outgoing, Hands-on, Logical, Responsive, Friendly, Practical, Objective, Spontaneous, Engaging, Observant, Pragmatic, Adaptable, Energetic, Physical, Outspoken, Adventurous.

ESTJ -
Dominant, Practical, Logical, Organized, Outgoing, Hands-on, Objective, Structured, Straightforward, Conventional, Pragmatic, Decisive, Forceful, Detailed, Rational, Persistent.

ESFP -
Enthusiastic, Down-to-earth, Warm, Playful, Friendly, Practical, Expressive, Spontaneous, Lively, Observant, Expressive, Responsive, Vivacious, Sensual, Personable, Casual.

ESFJ -
Friendly, Grounded, Caring, Loyal, Outgoing, Hands-on, Generous, Organized, Expressive, Traditional, Sensitive, Conscientious, Communicative, Practical, Nurturing, Disciplined.

ENFP -
Enthusiastic, Creative, Passionate, Open-minded, Gregarious, Imaginative, Empathetic, Spontaneous, Sociable, Unconventional, Supportive, Adaptable, Expressive, Forward-thinking, Warm, Whimsical.

ENFJ -
Outgoing, Idealistic, Compassionate, Organized, Energetic, Imaginative, Sympathetic, Authoritative, Communicative, Forward-thinking, Ethical, Dedicated, Warm, Visionary, Humanitarian, Ambitious.

ENTP -
Lively, Inventive, Analytical, Open-minded, Energetic, Imaginative, Logical, Adaptable, Quick-witted, Entrepreneurial, Objective, Spontaneous, Clever, Futuristic, Unsentimental, Changeable.

ENTJ -
Dominant, Innovative, Analytical, Ambitious, Outgoing, Forward-thinking, Objective, Determined, Energetic, Visionary, Rational, Organized, Communicative, Bold, Blunt, Decisive.[/QUOTE]

ooc: Final stretch! This is the main activity now. To gain full participation points your character will need to do at least three of the following:

a. suggest runes for at least two MBTI types
b. agree with someone else's suggestion and justify why
c. disagree with someone else's suggestion and justify why
d. respond to any prompts/suggestions made by Professor Beryl

Your character can do a. three times, or maybe a., b., c., once each, or b twice and d once or whatever you like. Basically mix it up based on what your character is most likely to do. There is no minimum number of posts - you can break it up or do it all in one, whatever is best for you.

From this point on, catch up posts will not be allowed. If you are jumping in now, please simply work from the main activity (this one!). If you have any questions or are confused or need guidance, you can message me any time. You'll have at least 48 hours from the time of this post, and then we'll be wrapping up.

"Inguz could be used for the ENTP type," Archer spoke up, raising her hand first. Did she care that using her own type that she'd just done this type of thing for in the previous activity might be considered cheating? No, not really. The first time had been pretty taxing and she wasn't really wishing to go through and do and do it again. Once was enough, thanks. "And I guess Sowilo could be used for ENFJ....." And at this point, she was just pulling them out of thin air.

Could the professor tell she just really wasn't enjoying this lesson? Not that she was being hateful about it or anything. Just sort of half-trying...

Did one Eiji Rasting know he was smart? Why yes, yes he did and he really did not need anyone to fluff his intellectual ego any. Though would gladly accept any reminders should one be offering them. Thank you, Professor Beryl.

Though in the current moment he was more preoccupied with Missa's obvious shift in body language and that almost fearful look in her eyes. "...........what's wrong?" he asked under his breath while leaning over towards her. Which was why, once again, he was somewhat tuning in and out of the lecture. Figuring out Missa was the more interesting of puzzles to sort through. More so than matching runes to personality types anyway.

But this investigation of his was going to be all the more difficult seeing as they were not doing this in pairs...but as a class. Great.

Sighing and leaning back in his seat a bit, Eiji glanced over the list of personality types again and then referenced his own parchment of his interpretations to himself and then over at Missa's. So...he was meant to pick one rune out of these to best represent the personality type? Considering how different the options were based on the words alone...it seemed an even more subjective a task.

What had Missa's personality type been referred to as? Protagonist? That seemed more workable than looking at all these individual characteristics. And since there was this bloody expectation of ... contributing, he may as well get it out of the way before the professor called him out. "Tiwaz for ENFJ," he offered after raising his hand. Honestly, it seemed a rune that was very Missa in essence.