The Alchemy of JK Rowling

Chapter 13 - Harry 9

The Chamber of Secrets (1)

Harry’s second year illustrates the New Soul’s liberation from the etheric plane of the time-spatial universe.

The etheric plane is next to the physical plane, and is in a sense part of it, for it gives life to physical bodies. All living organisms have an etheric field or aura, and some people can see this. Our etheric body penetrates our physical body and is slightly larger. It regulates our health and facilitates things like metabolism, sexual reproduction, sensory perception, and the working of the nervous system and the brain. The etheric body is made up of etheric atoms which actually fit inside the physical atoms. It therefore follows our physical body wherever it goes, and is, in a sense, the ‘slave’ of the physical body.

There are many organisms which have an etheric body but not a physical body, and so are invisible to most people. However very young children and some animals can see them. Their existence was known long ago and many legends and myths name them. These include fairies, elves, gnomes, undines, salamanders, nymphs, sylphs etc. These creatures often work with nature in developing growth of trees etc. We are introduced to one of these creatures right at the beginning of Part 2. Dobby is a ‘house elf’ who warns Harry that someone is about to wreak havoc at his school. Whenever liberating stories contain mention of etheric creatures, the author is drawing our attention to the etheric plane. So right away we know Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets takes place on that plane. When Harry stays at the Weasleys’ house he meets another type of etheric creature – the garden gnome. Harry’s first lesson in Defence against the Dark Arts is to learn to control a group of etheric creatures called pixies. As we know Hermione is the one who is able to do this immediately.

Harry meets Dobby throughout the book and near the end learns that he is the slave of a servant of Voldemort, namely Lucius Malfoy. If we look at the symbolism as I have explained it so far, we know that Harry is the New Soul born in the seeker in whom the Lily and the Stag have united, while Voldemort is the microcosmic self. When the Soul is born, this microcosmic self is weakened considerably. Lucius Malfoy is a servant of Voldemort, and so we can deduce from this that Malfoy is a force within the human being which represents the microcosmic self. His wife is Narcissa. What better way to symbolise the physical body and its brain? In the discussion about the Malfoy family it will be explained how these together symbolise the body and its ‘brain-god.’

In my opinion Dobby personifies the etheric body of the alchemist who is undergoing the process of liberation. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but if we reverse the consonants in ‘Dobby’ we get ‘Bbody’. As stated above, the etheric body is the ‘slave’ of the physical body. It follows it wherever it goes, looks after it, and helps it in all its functions. This is exactly what Dobby does for Malfoy – until Harry changes things. By a brilliant act of quick witted intelligence and compassion for Dobby, Harry frees Dobby (how I love Harry). This is exactly what the new soul does for the etheric body at a certain stage of the alchemical transmutation. The New Soul actually lives in the etheric body and at a certain point the etheric body is freed from the physical body. It is no longer its ‘slave’ as it were, but can move independently. And just as Dobby does some very useful things in the later parts of the Septology, so the etheric body is extremely helpful to the New Soul.

You may have heard mention of wonderful robes worn by heroes in some fairy tales and legends. We hear about golden wedding vestures, and in The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosycross the candidates for the wedding are repeatedly putting on new clothes. These usually refer to the various invisible bodies. When the alchemist has a New Soul that has been able to take the Philosopher’s Stone out of the mirror, his etheric vesture or aura will begin to radiate a brilliant golden light – hence the term golden wedding vesture

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