Tuesday, September 11, Second Period

Just as last week, today there was a table set in the middle of the room with lots of breakfast goodies, coffee, and tea. Along with the usual circle of armchairs, there were also a number of large cushions stacked against the walls, and a large wicker basket holding a variety of small handwavy items. Aziraphale was sitting in his chair, reading, but he set the book aside once the class was assembled.

"First of all, my apologies for not holding office hours yesterday. To make up for it, I'll be in my office today after class, if anyone needs to see me. Please be sure to turn in your homework from last week before you leave at the end of class."

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then began the lecture.

"Now, today we'll be discussing meditation. Not so much the types that you find in yoga classes, or religious enclaves. But the sort that will help you focus your mind and aid you in obtaining and translating predictions."

Aziraphale gave a brief lecture on meditation, the four basic elements, and some simple techniques.

"Now I'm going to put you into pairs, and I'd like you to try your hand at a meditative exercise. It's not important that every one of you do this the same way, so long as you work in the four basic elements: a quiet place, comfortable posture, an object to focus on, and a passive attitude. You may pull your chairs into the corners, or use some of the cushions I've provided." He waved his hand toward the cushions, and then indicated the basket of handwavy items. "In the basket you'll find a collection of things you might find useful as a focus object. Please choose one, unless you have something on your own person that you prefer to use, such as a piece of jewelry.

"For this exercise, you and your partner will find yourselves a place to sit apart from the other students, and one at time take your turn in attempting a meditative state. Once you've reached a point where you would consider yourself relaxed and focused, tell your partner what images, sounds, or scents come to mind."

As promised, he broke the students into pairs, noting that one would have to work with him, since there was an uneven number in the class.

Anathema Device & Eve Levine
Annette Hargrove & Chris Halliwell
Wyatt Halliwell & Savannah Levine
Neil Perry & Andrew Wells
Andros & Aziraphale Lana Lang

"Your homework assignment for next week is to write a brief essay on the following:

Where do predictions come from? If you were to use one of the methods of fortune-telling that will be discussed in this class to generate a prophecy, where do you think the information would come to you from?

[ooc: There is a description of the classroom here, as it's not arranged in the typical classroom style. The only requirement is that you tag the Sign In thread, but interacting with the other students in discussions and exercises is strongly encouraged. It'll be much more fun that way! Please wait for the OCD is up, but I am off to bed and will catch tags in the morning.

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