Divination

Divination
Cordelia Goode using divination to find the location of Mimi DeLongpre's antique broach
Description	Divination; the ability to magically receive knowledge.
Known users	Witches and Warlocks Voodooist The Anti-Christ The Old Gods

“	You can sense things that are dangerous, and that is not a terrible place to start.	”
	— Cordelia Goode[src]

Divination is the ability to obtain direct (intuition) or indirect (using a tool) knowledge about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the user's physical senses. It is one of the Seven Wonders featured in Coven and Apocalypse.

Depending on the purpose, Divination is distinguished in specific branches such as the Sight, Scrying, Detection of Danger in all its possible forms (ie. Gluten and calories detection in food) and sensing particular disruptions in the environment such as the presence of evil, the life force, the use of magic, etc.

Certain methods require performing rituals to obtain the precise knowledge.

Use

Divination is an old and well-known craft. Witches and warlocks use it to see into the future, using many different means.

In a flashback to 1919, Millie, a witch, uses tarot cards as the Axeman walks in on her, preparing to kill her. As he raises his ax, she flips over the card, which is 'death'. It then turns out to be the Axeman's death as all the witches suddenly stab him.

Zoe Benson was also shown to have this power. She gained it whilst the girls were trying to find a spell to banish the Axeman. Zoe closed her eyes and was able to pick out the book from the shelf that held the exact spell they needed. Later, when Fiona and Marie Laveau murder Nan by drowning her in the bathtub, Zoe performs a Scrying Spelll to find out how she died. She chanted an incantation, and Fiona and Marie's faces appeared in the reflection of the bathtub water.

Nan showed this ability during Zoe's first dinner at the Academy when she told Zoe about her future romance with Kyle; "And you will find love again, a strange and unexpected love." She also sensed that Madison's heart murmur had been cured. 

Myrtle Snow was also shown to have this power. In a flashback, she mentioned that as a Guardian of Veracity in the Vernacular, she could detect lies.

Misty Day has displayed this power when she sensed Kyle's resurrection and located Myrtle's body.

The Trial of Divination was shown during the Test of the Seven Wonders. Myrtle Snow had hidden various objects from former Supremes around the house, and the two remaining participates, Cordelia and Madison, were meant to guess them by interpreting the jeweled stones that Myrtle had scattered on the table. Cordelia used the position of the stones to guess Mimi DeLongpre's broach, in a drawer upstairs, though Madison had no idea how to interpret the stones. She guessed the locations such as the vase on the fireplace and the piano, both of which were wrong, leading Madison to be disqualified.

The young candidate for Supreme during the Seven Wonders skit was able to divine what object another witch had behind her back and drew a bird just using the intuition.

The Warlock Council at the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men assesses if its students have reached level one status by administering a test of Divination known as Scrying, the ability to receive visions, messages and prophecies from reflective surfaces, like mirrors. Like the Trial of Divination, the student must locate the location of a hidden object. The Warlock Council tested Michael Langdon's powers after a month of attending the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men and Michael performed Scrying to find a particular book. To the amazement of the council, Michael not only found the book but reached into the mirror and produced it.

John Henry Moore could perceive the true demonic face of Michael Langdon, behind his young appearance.

Behold Chablis sensed the strong psychic energy of the "Murder House", and really bad vibes present there. He also got a bad gut feeling about the true nature of Michael Langdon.

Known Users

• Witches and Warlocks / Voodooists
  • Nan
  • Fiona Goode
  • Misty Day
  • Councilor Elsa
  • Councilor Lanchester
  • Councilor Bartholomew
  • Anna Leigh Leighton
  • Mimi DeLongpre
  • Marianne Wharton
  • Prudence Mather
  • Myrtle Snow
  • Millie
  • Zoe Benson
  • Queenie
  • Cordelia Goode
  • Scáthach
  • Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt
  • John Henry Moore
  • Behold Chablis
  • Mallory
  • Anastasia Romanov
  • Marie Laveau

• Ghosts (occasionally)
  • Edward Mordrake

• The Anti-Christ
  • Michael Langdon

• Deities
  • The Old Gods

Notes

• Divination is featured in two seasons of American Horror Story: Coven and Apocalypse. 
• Divination is a more passive ability that is not (or can not be) used offensively, unlike telekinesis. Thereby, it is able to operate even in locations where magic is supressed, such as the Hotel Cortez and the Murder House.  Misty Day seems to have retained Divination in Hell, as she revealed had sensed evil speaking with Michael Langdon in Underworld, and how she perceived his "perfume of death".
• It is unknown if all witches who use the intuition to guess, can also interpret tools to obtain more complete and precise information.
• Divination in the real world is strictly defined as attempting to interpret the future or gain knowledge of the unknown, not the usage of extrasensory perception (which is known as "clairvoyance").

Gallery

Scrying

Threat Detection

Calorie Detection