The Alchemy of JK Rowling

Chapter 17 - Harry 13

The Prisoner of Azkaban (3)

Harry meets Buckbeak at the beginning of his third year at Hogwarts. Buckbeak is a Hippogriff, a creature that is half horse, half griffin. In my opinion the griffin gives us the clue to what Buckbeak symbolises. The griffin is an ancient mythical creature occurring in the tales of many nations. It is also mentioned in The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosycross. The front half is eagle and the back half lion. The lion symbolises divine love while the eagle symbolises the spirit. The mighty wings of the eagle symbolise the heights to which this mystery creature can rise, while the lion has its feet on the ground. Here we see a beautiful symbol of an animal that connects heaven and earth: the Christ!

When the sons and daughters of the Potter descended into matter millions of years ago they started a process of severance from the Original Spirit which lived as the king in the microcosm, next to the Soul as queen, with the personality as their precious child. The Original Spirit never forsakes His children, and so right from the beginning there was a plan to enable the human being to return the way he had come.

It is not possible just simply to open oneself to the Original Spirit again. The unimaginably high vibrations of the Spirit would destroy the human being instantly. There has to be an intermediary between the fallen human being and the Spirit. There has to be a guardian of God’s compassion who can descend to the earth, even to hell if necessary, to answer the cry of the seeker when he realises there is no point in life in the fallen universe and his heart longs for the return to the Spirit. This intermediary we call the Christ. His rays of hope and comfort can reach right down to us and give us the strength and desire to turn around and go the long, long way back to where we once came from. He will lift us up onto his back and carry us upwards, ever upwards towards the heights of the Spirit, for the reunion with the Father.

That is the griffin. In Harry Potter the Hippogriff rather than the griffin has been chosen as the symbol of Christ, but in my opinion this doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. The Griffin is, of course, the name of Harry’s House: Griffin d’or – Golden Griffin. Beware! The Hippogriff has very sharp claws! It is necessary to approach him with great respect and caution. The griffin is also the symbol of the protective power of the body of Christ.

The body of Christ is the Brotherhood of the Masters of Compassion. In the past millennia many people have successfully gone the path of liberation. These people do not forsake humanity but help to send the rays of hope and comfort down to earth. When Christian Rosycross was freed from the pit he helped to pull the next load of people up. Hagrid is the example the Septology gives us of a master of compassion. It was he who introduced Harry to the magical world. And so it is only natural that he works with the body of Christ. When Hagrid tells Harry to sit on the Hippogriff’s back, naturally the New Soul enters the body of Christ and this takes him upwards immediately. And Harry and Buckbeak become instant friends.

As an aside I must say I love this scene in the film. It has become my all-time favourite scene. The symbolism comes out so well! But then Draco Malfoy (‘Bad faith’) approaches Buckbeak. He represents the type of person who is on the path of liberation for the self rather than the new soul that needs to be born. It is not possible for the earthly self to be liberated as it is an integral part of this universe. It’s an emergency measure to enable the microcosm to express itself in this world. Without it the human being could never be liberated. The Spirit has left the microcosm many thousands of years ago and the Original Soul has died. The earthly human being has the task of restoring the microcosm to its former glory, but he can do so only if he is willing to sacrifice himself as Ron does in the chess game.

It is natural for the human being to seek liberation for the natural self, or the ‘Self of matter’ as The Voice of the Silence calls it. But that is impossible. Nevertheless many people do try. Draco in my opinion symbolises such a person. At Hogwarts he belongs to Slytherin, the House of Lucifer. He approaches the Body of Christ with irreverence and disdain. He says, I bet you’re not dangerous at all, are you? Are you, you great ugly brute? As we know, Malfoy gets slashed by the sharp claws. The body of Christ is a force-field of intensely high spiritual energy and beneficial only when it is approached by the immortal soul, but when the egocentric seeker for liberation for the self approaches it, he will be harmed. The high vibrations of the Christ Hierarchy will cause damage to the astral body of such a person. Draco goes to hospital and later he and his father organise the trial and fix the condemnation of Buckbeak.

Meanwhile Harry discovers that Sirius, his God-Father, is innocent and has spent 12 years in prison as a victim of Peter Pettigrew’s treachery. Chapter 20 explains exactly what force Sirius personifies. Just for now let’s just say he is the New Soul’s guardian and guide, a source of inspiration and spiritual power. He is in the microcosm, close to the new soul.

By means of a time-turner Harry and Hermione (note: Ron is absent) go back in time and save Buckbeak from the executioner. Then they fly up to the cell where Sirius is imprisoned and help him to escape. Sirius flies off on Buckbeak. Harry has saved two innocent lives.

Harry Potter is the story of a candidate for Liberation through alchemical transformation. All the characters are forces, influences or entities the alchemist meets along the way. Dementors are forces which try to rob the new soul of the candidate of its soulpower. Harry is able to drive these away through his mighty longing for liberation, as we saw in Chapter 16.

Buckbeak has been condemned to death. The influence of the Body of Christ, the Brotherhood of Compassion, is contrary to the purposes of the powers of darkness in and around the seeker. They want to get rid of this influence as soon as possible. Christ is dangerous! He upsets world order. Look at what he’s done to poor old Draco Malfoy! Exterminate!

The same with Sirius. He has been taken by Snape and locked up. Snape is our dark side, our shadow. He hates Sirius and Harry. He is the black king in The Chymical Wedding. Although Snape joins the Order of the Phoenix later, as we know, and sacrifices himself for Harry in the end, he is bound by his past to hate the Divine Light. However, Harry bows to the Hippogriff, and he and Hermione fly off to save Sirius.

The New Immortal Soul defies the powers of this world and enters the Body of Christ with great respect. He surrenders himself to it and the Christ-force lifts him up and enables him to liberate Sirius. Harry has completed another phase in the Divine Plan of Redemption. He has become free of the astral world. He has set free the Power of Christ within himself and has brought up into his firmament the new Bright Morning Star, Sirius.

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