Oneiromancy

• Definition: The magical art of dream interpretation.
• Purpose: To divine the future or gain hidden knowledge through the analysis of dreams.
• Type: A branch of Divination.

Oneiromancy is an established part of the formal Divination curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, forming a component of the Ordinary Wizarding Level examination in the subject. During his Divination O.W.L. in 1996, Harry Potter was explicitly asked about oneiromancy by his examiner, Griselda Marchbanks. Having never heard the term before, Harry was given the definition of “dream interpretation” by the other examiner, Professor Tofty. He was then prompted to provide an example of a prophetic dream he had recently experienced. Ironically, Harry Potter was experiencing genuinely prophetic dreams throughout his fifth year due to his unique mental connection with Lord Voldemort. These visions, a powerful if uncontrolled form of oneiromancy, included:

• A clear vision of Arthur Weasley being attacked by Nagini in the Department of Mysteries, which allowed for his timely rescue.
• Recurring dreams of a corridor leading to the Hall of Prophecy, which Voldemort was actively planting in his mind.
• A false vision, engineered by Voldemort, of his godfather Sirius Black being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. This vision ultimately lured Harry and his friends into a trap.

Fearing the implications of revealing these true visions to the examiners, Harry instead invented a mundane dream involving Cho Chang to satisfy their questions.

Oneiromancy is taught to students of Divination at Hogwarts. The practice involves recalling dreams and interpreting their symbolic or literal content to foresee future events. Practitioners must distinguish between ordinary, meaningless dreams and those that carry prophetic weight. Despite it being on the O.W.L. syllabus, the term “oneiromancy” was not familiar to Harry Potter. This suggests that Professor Sybill Trelawney may have focused more on other methods of fortune-telling, such as tasseomancy (tea-leaf reading) and crystallomancy (crystal gazing), in her classes, or that Harry simply failed to pay attention to the more academic terminology.

The term “oneiromancy” is derived from two Ancient Greek words:

• Oneiros (ὄνειρος), meaning “dream.”
• Manteia (μαντεία), meaning “divination” or “prophecy.”

Combined, the word literally means “divination by dreams.”

Oneiromancy is a real-world term for the art of dream interpretation, which has been practised in various cultures since antiquity. Its inclusion in the wizarding world grounds this branch of Divination in historical occult practices. Although the specific term is used only once in the entire series, the concept of prophetic dreams is a crucial plot device, particularly in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where Harry's connection to Voldemort manifests as visions and dreams that drive the central conflict of the book.