The Alchemy of JK Rowling

Chapter 20 - Harry 15

I feel a detailed explanation is nowneeded, as the symbolism in Harry Potter becomes increasingly abstract as we go through each part. Parts 5, 6 and 7 deal with planes of life which are extremely subtle and in fact almost completely unknown to us ordinary mortals. The only way we can really get a clue to what the symbolism is saying is to compare the symbolism in Harry Potter with that in The Chymical Wedding published in German in 1616. There are many similarities between the two stories and in addition there is an author who has provided us with an amazingly clear and inspiring explanation of the symbolism in The Chymical Wedding. This is Jan van Rijckenborgh, author of The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross published in Dutch in 1969.

As indicated in Chapters 5-18, each part of the Septology of Harry Potter deals with the liberation of the New Soul on a plane of life, starting with the densest. Hence Part 1, Philosopher’s Stone, deals with the physical plane, the one which we can perceive through our five senses. Each successive part of the Septology rises up to the plane which is next in subtlety and tenuousness. To recapitulate the information in Chapters 5-18:

The Philosopher’s Stone the physical plane The Chamber of Secrets the etheric plane The Prisoner of Azkaban the astral plane The Goblet of Fire the mental plane.

Thanks to Jan van Rijckenborgh we can work out the next three planes in which our lives operate, even though we have no knowledge or perception of them. Together the seven planes form our total universe, our total sphere of operation. All our different incarnations in the past have taken place there, and unless a New Soul is born in our heart, we are imprisoned for ever in the seven planes of this dualistic universe.

On page 167 of volume 2 of the English version of The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross there is a table of the seven human vehicles as they operate on the seven planes of this dualistic universe.

1. the material body 2. the etheric body 3. the astral body 4. the mental body 5. the ego of the mind 6. the ego of the emotions 7. the ego of the consciousness

For the sake of brevity and ease I will henceforth refer to the last three levels as: ‘the mental I’, ‘the emotional I’, and ‘the consciousness-I’. If my theory is correct, this means that: Order of the Phoenix deals with the liberation of the mental I, Half-Blood Prince with that of the emotional I, and Deathly Hallows with that of the consciousness-I. To help us in making some sort of mental image of these three aspects of the human consciousness I will make an analogy. Imagine that the human being is a country ruled by three ministers. There is a Prime Minister and two ministers to advise him and help him make decisions. However the Prime Minister has all the power and what advice he takes is his choice.

The Prime Minister is the consciousness-I, situated in the head, just above and behind the eyes. This is the part of us that calls itself ‘I’. The two other ministers are the voice of the head and the voice of the heart. Everyone is familiar with these two voices, which are often in conflict. The heart or the emotional voice is telling us one thing, but the head is telling us it’s not logical and sensible, and so we should be doing something else. These two voices come from the consciousness centres in the mind and the head, and are known respectively as the mental I and the emotional I. I suppose we could call these ministers the Minister of Cranial Affairs and the Minister of Cordial Affairs.

Obviously the mental I works closely with the mentality in the brain. I guess we could say the Minister of Cranial Affairs is the head of the Department, while the Department itself is the actual workings of the mind, operating on the mental plane and expressing itself in the physical brain.

Similarly the Minister ofCordialAffairs is the head ofthe department of everything that happens on the emotional, i.e. astral plane.

By extrapolation we can work out that the Prime Minister’s department is also in charge of Etheric Affairs. To put it simply: The mental I governs the mental body, the emotional I governs the astral body, the consciousness-I governs the etheric body (as well as being in charge of the other two ministers).

I hope this somewhat banal comparison helps you understand how the very top of the human organism works. In the next three chapters I will deal with the liberation of these three centres of consciousness, as symbolised in the last three parts of the Septology.

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