The Alchemy of JK Rowling

Chapter 24 - Pettigrew

Who is the main character in Harry Potter?

Is this not an idiotic question?

Isn’t it Harry? No, dear reader, the main character in Harry Potter is never mentioned. Because it’s YOU! The next most important character is Harry.

Harry Potter is a road map to the path of alchemical liberation, written for you and me. Every character, event and magic object or power is a force or influence that we will encounter if we go this path in actual practice. When we go the Path we must have Lily in the heart and James must be driving us to seek for liberation. These are the requirements, and if we allow James to woo Lily and marry her, a most amazing and powerful influence will begin to steer our life in a new direction; in the opposite direction in fact.

This new influence is a new soul that will grow within us and spread its influence throughout our four bodies. However, as we know, there are also influences within us which resist the new soul. Harry has powerful enemies! The most powerful one of all is Voldemort, the microcosmic (or ‘higher’) self. He personifies the power of our past incarnations and especially the fallen state of our microcosm. He is situated around our aura and we don’t feel his influence until Harry is born in God’s little valley, the heart.

There is another influence that initially co-operates with Lily and James, but is actually a close ally of Voldemort.

When the microcosm is preparing for a new incarnation it seeks a foetus that is karmically suited for the new personality. As I’ve described previously, the microcosmic self pours its energy into the foetus to enable it to carry on where the previous tenant of the microcosm left off because of death. One of the most important aspects that the microcosmic self bestows on the new personality is the ego. The ego is vitally necessary for the new personality, because it is the force which gives the personality the instinct to survive.

I’m sure you will all be aware of your ego. Just observe yourself when somebody insults you. Did you feel that spasm in the solar plexus? Or when you’re sitting on a plane and it gives a very hard, unexpected lurch. Ouch! Panic in the solar plexus (sometimes known as ‘the pit of your stomach’). What happens when somebody treats you unjustly? The boxer in your belly comes out, fists ready. And who takes over your life when you’re faced with a do or die situation? For example when an enemy invades your country and threatens the health and well-being of you and your children? The naked ape appears with the club, ready to defend at all costs. Or if you’re in a dance hall and the place catches fire? Who’s there to scream in panic and trample others to death in a blind panic to get out?

May I present to you: Peter Pettigrew! The dirty rat!

It is astounding to see the accuracy and the intelligence with which J.K. Rowling has created a coherent and gripping story out of the facts surrounding the Path of Liberation.

Ron symbolises the old personality, the mortal soul. Of course Peter, otherwise known as Scabbers, sits snuggled up against Ron’s body! That’s where he belongs. That’s his home.

In his youth he was a friend of Sirius, James and Remus John. They are all aspects of the seeker before he finds the Path. Until the seeker’s heart is opened to Tao, and Harry is born, everybody is quite happy to be nice and friendly. Remus John personifies the ‘good’ in the person. James is the seeking influence who flirts with Lily. And Peter is the ego that protects the interests of the personality. Sirius is the mental image of the perfect divine child of God. Snape is their enemy because he personifies the ‘black’ side of the personality. But watch out when Harry is born! Peter and Voldemort are tarred with the same brush when it comes to liberation. If Voldemort’s existence is threatened, so is Peter’s. For when the new soul is born in the seeker, both the microcosmic self and the personal self have to die! When an ordinary earthly person lives life in this vale of tears, he needs an ego in order to survive. But when the soul is born, the seeker has to hand over the reins of his life to Him, to Harry. When a seeker has a new soul, he shall want for nothing. Friends, if we could only have an inkling of the intensity with which God loves his Son, we could stop worrying about anything for ever. Harry has enough gold to last for the rest of his life. And do you remember the room of requirement? ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom and its righteousness and all these other things will be yours also.’ But there is one condition: the ego has to go. Sorry about that, Scabbers; there’s no choice. And Peter knows that. He may not be as clever as James, Sirius and Remus John, but he is extremely cunning. What does he do when Voldemort and he are in danger of being vanquished one day by Harry? Simple! Pretend to be on the good side. Pretend to go along with the seeker.

What really happens to the seeker is that the ego starts to play along with the activities of the seeker. It begins to surround the mental image of the Eternal Son of God with delusions, with unfounded speculations, with absolute lies. Prometheus is put in chains. The image of the Imperishable One is isolated, or linked to occultism or religious movements which reinforce the ego. In other words: Sirius is imprisoned!

This may be hard to understand. However what this simply means is that before a person can go the Path of Liberation, his ego will urge him to go into directions which seemingly lead to the truth but in fact imprison the seeker in occult practices, or at any rate practices which boost the ego. Just ask yourself if you’re a seeker: would you rather listen to a movement that promises you all sorts of wonderful things for yourself, or to a movement that says, ‘give up your selfinterest if you want to be liberated?’ or ‘He who gives up his life for My sake shall find It?’ What about this simple but true example from a magazine advertisement: ‘Thoughts can influence others’? Or would you choose, ‘Purify your thoughts of self-interest?’. It is a fact that every seeker has to go through the occult or ego-religious phase before he can find the true Path. That’s why J.K. Rowling makes such a point of it. She’s written a whole book about it! So there we are. Sirius is in prison. James and Lily are dead, but they both live on in Harry. Snape hates Harry because Harry is the Light while Snape is the black aspect of the seeker’s past. Remus John looks upon Harry almost as a son because Remus is good, and knows Harry is absolute goodness. Peter can now rest easily as Scabbers (the dirty little scab) on Ron’s body.

However Harry grows older. He is no longer an infant but can act independently. He has defeated Voldemort several times. And a strange event takes place. Ron and Scabbers go to Egypt. Sirius sees a photo of the two of them in front of a pyramid. While the star Sirius, the Bright Morning Star of Egypt, looks upon Ron, the other Sirius, the chained Prometheus, is in prison looking at Ron and Scabbers in front of a pyramid in Egypt. What a coincidence! (No it isn’t.)

Sirius escapes and goes after Scabbers. Of course we all think right to the end that Sirius is after Harry. But Sirius loves Harry. He wants only to help Harry, to be his God-Father, to show him WHAT TO DO. He’s Harry’s future.

What does this mean to the alchemist? It means that when he abandons all attempts to go the path of the liberation of the ego, the mental image of the Son of Eternal Fullness is liberated! If a pupil gives up hope of finding salvation for his ego, which is just a temporary survival mechanism for life in this world, the mental image in the aura will begin to radiate intense light, and will illuminate the Path the seeker needs to go. Sirius will guide his footsteps towards the dawn, the East.

And Sirius will come and drive Scabbers away from Ron. What does this mean in practical terms? The mental image of the inner God will move down from its place in the aura and drive the ego out of the solar plexus! There is a phase in the Alchemical Path of Liberation when the mental image of Liberation becomes so powerful and intense that it literally comes down into the body and drives the ego out. It is no longer needed! And what takes its place? Harry’s Patronus, the stag, the longing for liberation.

To someone to whom the Path of Liberation is new, this may sound like a crazy fairy tale. But Harry Potter tells us that when the new soul has become a conscious, rational being, and its radiant Mental Plan has become powerful enough, there is no further need for an ego. It’s not all that crazy when you think about it. Didn’t people like Jesus, Gautama the Buddha, Lao Tzu and people like that show total selflessness? They had no ego! When the alchemist surrenders the control of his life to the God within, He will take care of everything. ‘Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest’, He says to the seeker, ‘My yoke is easy, my burden is light’. When the alchemist surrenders his life to the Inner Christ a Power of unimaginable beauty and splendour takes over his life. He can let go of all worries and cares, for not a hair on his head can be harmed without permission from the Potter of the Universe.

And what happens to poor old Scabbers? He escapes into the aura! In other words he goes back to Voldemort who’s his creator and snuggles up there.