Occlumency question...

[skriftlig.livejournal.com]

Hi! I have a question about how MAGIC works in Harry Potter's our world.

Specifically, do you need a wand for Occlumency? I know this sort of thing has probably been discussed a lot, but I haven't seen this specific case mentioned before.

The whole idea of wandless magic suggests a wand isn't always necessary for talented witches or wizards (or goblins, house elves etc..), but it also suggests that this is very rare and hard to do. I'm discounting accidental under-age magic, like when Harry blew up Marge.

I can't remember whether Harry uses a wand in his lessons with Snape and I don't have the books to hand to check. I've made a quick poll below; please vote if you are so inclined so we can see if there is a majority one way or the other.

Thanks for reading. Any comments, opinions and votes would be great! ♥

[Poll #1759338]

Comments

[jakuako.livejournal.com]

(ETA: I guess I had a lot to say on the matter, so I hope you don't mind rambling. XD)

Well, first off, what Voldemort was doing to Harry in the fifth book wasn't exactly Ligilimency. He was using the connection forged between them when Harry was a baby. This is why he was able to do it from such a distance and without the incantation "Ligilimens". To fend from this attack, Harry only needed to clear his mind so Voldemort wouldn't find anything useful.

Regarding the lessons with Snape, Harry did have his wand out and he did use it to stop Snape using offensive spells, though he never used any sort of Occlumency spell, per se. I think what he did with Snape is a lot like what he did with Mad Eye Moody in the fourth book. Harry was able to overcome the Imperius curse using only will power, which is basically all he used to overcome Snape. He didn't want Snape to see certain memories, so he willed the intrusion to stop. Having a wand just helped the process along because he was able to break Snape's focus.

Still, I think there is more hidden beneath the surface that prooves that practicing Occlumency doesn't require a wand. Take Snape, for example. He is a superb Occlumens; he would have to be to lie to Voldemort. But I can't see him whipping out a wand and shouting "Occlumens!" every time he's in Voldemort's presense. That might be a bit too obvious. XD And yet, I don't think Occlumency is a wandless magic either. I don't think it's a lot of magic at all. It's more about the mind. Ligilimency only requires magic to gain access to someone else's mind, and then from there it's a mind trick too.

But that's just my personal head canon -- hope it helps! XD

[skriftlig.livejournal.com]

Rambling is good! So is personal head-canon! And you make some excellent points. Perhaps the wand Harry used when Snape was teaching him was only for defending himself against Snape's verbal spells and perhaps casting his own to stop Snape entering his mind. Very interesting! And I completely agree about Snape hiding his thoughts in front of Voldemort- he would have to do it wandlessly to be subtle!

Very interesting! Thanks so much for replying.

[vaysh]

I don't think it's a lot of magic at all. It's more about the mind.
That's a fascinating statement. Don't you think that magic is in fact about the mind?

*is curious*

[jakuako.livejournal.com]

True, magic does take a certain amount of brain power, I'm sure, but I meant that I think Occlumency is more mind work (the meditation sort) and less magic. xD

[vaysh]

I think that meditation techniques are pretty close to magic. All we hear in the books about how magic works - clear your mind; determination, destination, deliberation; wand use for focus and not as a tool that has its own magic etc. - can be seen as descriptions of meditation. The difference is that being Muggles, we cannot read other people's thoughts, no matter how much we clear our minds, whereas the innate magic of wizards and witches allows them to do just that. And perhaps even some real life Muggles can achieve "magic" through meditation. ;) What I am saying is, the way Rowling describes how magic works is basically how meditation works in the real world.