Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 42 – Hermione Kindles an Inner Fire (HP Chapter 11)
November brought cold, icy weather to Hogwarts, but Saturday was the first Quidditch game: Gryffindore against Slytherin. If they won, Gryffindore would move into second place for the house championship.
Gryffindore stood as a polar opposite to Slytherin – courage versus family relationships and bloodlines – but the divided mindset of the characters kept each house locked into an opposing role. Polarity doesn’t have to be opposing. Harry had characteristics of both houses, but his Slytherin characteristics manifested from the perspective of love, rather than hate.
Oliver Wood decided to keep Harry’s placement as Seeker a secret, so it would give them an edge, but somehow the news leaked out. Harry had to face the various opinions and actions of his peers regarding that information.
Fallen man likes to keep secrets when they work to his advantage. He schemes and manipulates events to get what he wants. But this also shows how revealing sacred things to others who are not ready to receive them creates ample opportunity for unbelief. Belief, or at least acceptance, generally results in encouragement and support, while disbelief always results in the opposite.
Harry now saw the benefit of having Hermione for a friend. She had been helping him with his homework and lent him a book, “Quidditch Through the Ages,” which he found interesting. Harry had learned that there were 700 ways of committing a foul during the game, and in 1473, all of them were committed at the same World Cup match.
The number seven within Alchemy is as prevalent as the number three. There are seven glands associated with the seven chakras, seven metals, seven planets, seven words in VITRIOL, seven steps of Alchemy that lead us up the mountain, seven pairs of opposites that must be resolved before we can come to know God.
A foul during any game results when a player doesn’t play by the rules, but stoops to an inappropriate action towards others. There are certainly more than 700 ways that we could actually commit a foul against our fellowman in a single lifetime. We are constantly living and acting unlawfully.
In 1473, the Quidditch players made every single foul possible. When we commit that many inappropriate behaviors, we obviously are lacking in understanding and love. Subjective, judgmental consciousness perceives through the senses. It doesn’t see reality because our senses deceive us.
This observation hit me particularly hard since I have Sensory Processing Disorder. Being deceived by the senses is magnified for me because my brain doesn’t interpret nor act upon sensory information accurately. For years, I’ve been trying to figure out what this sensory malfunction was attempting to teach me. Apparently, the false aspects of our self perform these fouls, in the name of our true Self, and the misreporting of what’s really going on results in our dysfunctional behaviors.
In the book of Genesis, the Lord created through the method of polarity for six days. On the seventh day, the Sabbath, the polarity was reconciled, and the Lord rested from his labors. Until we reach our own Sabbath, we are likely to commit fouls. However, anything short of full reconciliation of all opposites and achieving a well-organized mind is short of the goal.
The physical world can trip us up for many lifetimes and can cause us to create many fouls and injustices against our fellowman as well as ourselves – everything imaginable. In fact, the scriptures tell us that very few individuals are able to transcend their subjective consciousness, our infantile programming. Few of the rich (those who cling to their opinions, beliefs, ideals, and emotions) will ever enter heaven.
Harry has also learned that Seekers were generally the smallest and fastest players on the team, and that most of the accidents happen to them. Small infers humility, but also points to their nonvisability. As for fast, some spiritual traditions believe that humanity can evolve slowly without conscious awareness of the process due to mortal experience itself, but that is an extremely slow, circular path.
Lessons repeat until we “get” what we’re supposed to learn from our current situation. Only then can we move on to the next lesson. This is a line-upon-line approach, if it even happens at all. But when we pass through the gate that leads to Liberation and become consciously aware of what is going on, stop resisting life’s lessons, we can accomplish the process quicker. However, those who choose Life over Death are few.
Seekers also tend to suffer more accidents than any other player does. This brought to mind the warning that if we don’t protect our soul, it can be injured or destroyed. Entering the Path that leads to Liberation brings its own set of dangers. Jo will further emphasize this point when Harry has his near-death experience near the end of the Path and comes face-to-face with what’s left of Voldemort’s soul.
Although people rarely die playing Quidditch, the Game itself isn’t dangerous, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert. I’m wondering if this means that we can lose our Spiritual Guides and Helpmeets temporarily if we cast out a seed they have offered us. If we aren’t playing nice, or if we reject a spiritual truth, they might disappear for a while and let life beat up on us some more before they return to offer us the idea again.
Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking the rules. She had been nicer since their encounter with the mountain troll.
On Friday, the trio was outside of the school’s building. It was freezing, so Hermione had conjured up a small, bright blue fire to keep them warm. They were standing with their backs to the heat. Blue and red are often seen as opposites, with blue representing the female principle, or water. In addition, the fire that Hermione kindled was small enough to carry in a jam jar. A typical jam jar holds only about four to six ounces of jam, about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup.
External fire can reflect the inner fire that works on purifying our carnal nature. This inner burning also causes our awareness to shift from our external environment to the inner self. We begin to see things about our self that we never realized before. However, the kids have turned their backs to the fire.
When Snape crossed the yard, the trio moved closer together, trying to block his view. They didn’t want Snape to see what they were doing. This hinted to Hermione joining Harry and Ron to oppose Snape. In their conditioned, fractured mindset, there was “them” and there was “him.”