Harry Potter's Invitation to the World

by Vickie Ewell

 

Chapter 37 – Harry Checks Out the Quidditch Field
(HP Chapter 9)

Harry was enjoying the look of horror on Draco’s face. Professor Flitwick didn’t care that he had a broom. “And it’s really thanks to Malfoy here that I’ve got it,” he said. Harry was seeing and understanding the situation clearly. He was not attached to physical possessions or rules. Perhaps that was why the incident with the three-headed dog didn’t disturb him as much as it did Hermione and Neville.

Harry was perceiving the larger picture, while Ron, Hermione, and Neville were still caught within the chains of the material world of rules and possessions. “Well, it’s true,” he told Ron as they reached the top of the staircase, “If I hadn’t stolen Neville’s Remembrall, I wouldn’t be on the team….”

That was an interesting choice of words. Harry confessed to Ron that he had “stolen” Neville’s Remembrall, rather than retrieved it from Draco for him. This makes me wonder if the inference here is that Neville was supposed to be The One the prophesy spoke of, but Harry was thrown into that role because Voldemort picked him over Neville. Harry appeared to Voldemort to be the greater threat.

In addition, Harry chose to accept that role by going after the Remembrall, thus becoming a Seeker and overshadowing Neville. Course, Harry’s perspective was as faulty as Ron’s, and since we’re looking at the story from a mostly narrative vantage point, both Harry and Neville have their own Voldemorts to contend with.

Hermione interrupted Harry. She was angry and disapproving of him. “So I suppose you think that’s a reward for breaking the rules?” she said, as she stomped up the stairs. She wasn’t impressed that Professor McGonagall had made Harry a Seeker.

Even at a higher level of ground, Hermione was still attached to physical rules. She couldn’t see the larger picture, nor did she understand the degree to which she was trapped within her dominating, controlling nature. Much of her frustration and anger came from Harry’s refusal to allow her to subjugate him.

At the physical level, the opposites that hold us trapped are dominance versus subjugation. The physical plane is one of the most difficult levels to overcome. That’s why we stay stuck in that pit for hundreds, if not thousands, of incarnations. Fallen man’s tendency to dominate and control others is as strong as Voldemort’s domination and control over us. It is the one thing that blocks our entrance into all of the higher levels of existence.

While it’s hard to let go of our desire for material things, when we’ve had enough of what this world has to offer us, we all eventually want out. But it’s even more difficult, if not impossible, to let go of our desire to control how others should be. When Hermione realized she was not going to get her way with Harry, she marched away with her nose stuck up in the air. We think we know. We think what we believe and do is what’s best for everyone else, but that reasoning only keeps us stuck within the chains of vanity and pride.

Harry had difficulty keeping his mind on his school lessons. His mind kept traveling up the stairs to his broom tucked under the bed, or it ran off to the Quidditch field where he was to learn about Quidditch later that evening. Harry had strong powers of visualization and could shut out his current environment when interested in mentally traveling elsewhere, but the broom under the bed suggested that Harry was hiding things about himself. Both the broom and Quidditch had given Harry hope.

Harry didn’t know anything about brooms, but his was sleek and shiny with a mohogany handle. It looked nice. Mohogany was the type of wand that Harry’s father, James, preferred. Mohogany was rare, a symbol of strength, but it also had protective qualities similar to Harry’s need to save others. This sacrificial characteristic was essential to the work Harry still needed to do. Mohogany is also known for its ability to withstand lightning strikes the way Harry did when he first faced Voldemort, and the way he will again when Voldemort attempts to eliminate him from the game at the end.

The broom also had a long tail of neat, straight twigs with the name of the broom, Nimbus Two Thousand, written in gold near the top. The long tail was representative of Harry’s past lives. They have been a straight course that has brought him to this point. A straight course symbolizes the Middle Path between the seven pairs of opposites. The name written in gold assures us that Harry will continue to grow and move forward. He will one day accomplish his goal of liberation, but the gold name was placed near the top of the broom.

If we consider the broom to represent Harry himself, and the golden name was near the top, then that placement shows us that Harry has already ascended to the top of the mountain (the middle section of Alchemy) in a previous lifetime. What he has left to do is orient himself to God by resolving the three pillars on The Tree of Life that has grown within his heart.

To do that, Harry needed to meet Oliver Wood at 7:00 pm, with seven o’clock also suggesting that Harry had completed the seven levels previously. Harry had never been inside the Quidditch stadium, so he had never tried to resolve the three pillars before. The stands around the field held hundreds of spectator seats. This reflects how many people sit back and watch those on the Path without participating themselves. There are many individuals called to return home, but few actually choose to do so.

At both ends of the field, there were three 50-foot golden poles with attached hoops. These poles represent the three pillars on the Tree of Life that must be resolved at the end of the Great Work. They are the last step of the journey. They function within the principle of male and female polarity, but the opposites work together in conjunction.

The three kings in The Alchemical Wedding also represent these pillars. On one extreme, we have Severity and Knowledge (the Black King). On the other extreme, we have Mercy and Love (the Gray King). The Middle Path is Grace and Sacrificial Action, the greatest of the three.

The poles stand 50 feet high. Their height represents the fifth level of Alchemy. Though somewhat dark, this portion of the journey is particularly important. This place is called The Dark Night of the Soul. Here, Harry will meet the first pillar, Severity, in its true form. He also will learn to resolve the opposites of life versus death. For Harry, he will struggle through Book 5 dealing with Cedric’s death. For Snape, he will struggle throughout his entire lifetime dealing with, and atoning for, his role in Lily’s death.

Many believe that the first time an individual experiences The Dark Night of the Soul, they can only accomplish the completion of that level through suffering physical death. That is why the pillars on the Quidditch field stop at 50 feet. No one gets out of the fifth level alive. If that’s true, then Harry has previously accomplished that level of being, but not Snape. Ultimately, the pure love of Christ is balanced by Severity through the act of Sacrifice.

Oliver Wood had not yet arrived. Harry had reached this point of the journey before him. Harry was eager to fly again, so he hopped onto his broom, swooped in and out of both goal posts, and flew back and forth across the playing field. His broom went wherever he wanted it to go by using a light touch. However, this back-and-forth motion is similar to the way we attempt to balance the opposites in our own lives. Like a giant pendulum, we swing back and forth between the two extremes searching for that sweet spot that brings balance.

Currently, the two extremes in Harry’s life were domination versus subjugation, so we see those roles and struggles among the other characters in the book. People are either controlling others or being controlled by them. They act or react. In addition, to fly on a broom, Harry must control or dominate the broom. That doesn’t have to be done in a negative way. Harry demonstrated that for us by using a light touch, but he did have to reveal his Will to the broom. The broom, in turn, must subjugate itself to Harry in order for Harry to fly.

One of the reasons I believe Harry enjoys flying is because he can experience the opposite of what fallen man has subjugated himself to on the physical plane. In the air, Harry was in control. For him, flying brings a reversal of circumstances