Having Class

Ok, We already know from John Granger's work that at least one of the classes at Hogwart's is heavily tied to the underlying alchemical structure/nature of the books - Transfiguration. That is what alchemy is all about, the changing of the soul. For those who would note that the class mainly deals with changing the form of a thing, it should also be noted that for one of two most influential philosophers ever, Aristotle, the soul was the "form" of the body, that which gives definition, meaning and movement to the body. But Pauli's post on Potions possibly being notable because it is a sort of wandless magic and my own comment on that post (that both potions masters we have met have been from Slytherin and that possibly this is a connection between Slytherin's symbolism of the water element and potions) have started me thinking. As I said, we already know that one class subject is highly symbolic - what about others? I think Potions and Divination both have special meaning for Rowling. Potions is especially meaningful because of Snape. I think it sort of defines him. If I am right about Potions being tied to the Slytherin/water element which is dangerous but can be transformed into something powerfully good, I think Snape will be even more central to the core action of the series than even we have guessed thus far. I don't know if my next comment will prove right under scrutiny, but I think it possible that there is a connection between four of the classes and the four houses. I already stated that the 2 potions masters were from Slytherin, but notably they were also both men. The other two that I know for sure is that Transfiguration and Herbology have consistently been the same woman professor. I think Herbology is symbolic/important as a general respect for the broad spectrum of life in the sense of "living things." I do not feel guilty if I accidentally kill a plant the way I do if I ran over a dog, and running over a dog is no comparison to accidentally causing the death of a human person ... but I also don't think it would be a psychological plus is I were going around doing it for kicks. In Medieval philosophy they spoke of 3 types of souls: the vegative soul as plants have, the sensate soul as animals have, and the intellectual soul as humans have. The fourth class would have to be a post held by a male to match the 2 men/2 women model of the houses. Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught by Umbridge in book 5 but she was the least "Dumbledore friendly" appointee ... there is a strong possibility that having her teach it was a "political" concession by Dumbledore. There is also Flitwick and Charms - like I said, I may be way off on this theory. Now ... Divination. I stated in a comment in response to Pauli's comment on my post on Wands and Lightsabers that in Rowling's having the Snape-Dumbledore action take place on top of the astronomy tower there is a lot wrapped up in Rowling's view of Divination. Note also that Trelawney predicts it with her cards, and Harry finds this out just before he and Dumbledore leave on the trip to the cave. Divination can be helpful, but it is also like knowledge simply for knowledge's sake. Just like desire does in the mirror of Erised, knowing the future can distract us from our responsibility to make the future. Obviously we are not gods and cannot "make" the future absolutely, but our choices and actions are the process of us becoming who we become and they can be very influential in whether those around us become who they should be - often our actions either hurt or help their efforts to become a better person.