Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 44 – Harry’s First Quidditch Game Begins (HP Chapter 11)
The next morning, the students were excited about the Quidditch match. Hermione was back to her old self, trying to mother Harry into eating something, but Harry wasn’t hungry. Seamus Finnigan thought he was helping Hermione by reminding Harry that he needed his strength, because seekers are the ones who end up clobbered. Hermione and Seamus focused on the physical benefits of eating, as if eating would save Harry from what was to come, but Harry hdld his ground. He was more concerned about the game, than eating.
The bleacher seats towered high into the air, but many students brought binoculars to help their vision. It was often difficult to see what was going on in the game. The seating inferred that Quidditch was played from a higher reality, so many of the students found it difficult to see. Ron and Hermione joined Seamus, Neville, and Dean Thomas who were sitting on the top row. They were essentially sitting on the cusp between the physical world and the spiritual world.
The kids had made a banner out of an old sheet that Ron’s pet rat had ruined. In the center was a Gryffindore lion that Dean had drawn. In addition, Hermione had cast a charm on it, so the words “Harry for President” flashed in a multitude of colors.
The colors reflect the stage of alchemy known as the peacock’s tail, or the rainbow. Although some Alchemists place it after the Albedo whitening and the Green Lion, most place it before the whitening begins. The peacock is a collection of all the colors involved in the Great Work, so it has two meanings.
Since black is an absence of color, not a color itself, the peacock or rainbow can signify that a candidate was on the right path. When that’s the case, this colorful display eventually turned white when the candidate found the purest part within himself. But the peacock’s appearance can also represent the total failure of the Alchemical process. For that reason, many consider the peacock a neutral sign because interpreting its meaning wasn’t possible until later on.
In the locker room, Harry and the others changed into their scarlet robes. Jo told us that the Slytherins were playing in green. The color green has many applications but often referred to as the Green Lion. Physically, the Green Lion stands for VITRIOL, a sharp and penetrating sulfuric acid that creates major chemical changes in many metals, such as iron and copper. The Green Lion can also represent the raw energy of nature, so typical in a Slytherin.
After Wood gave his memorized pre-game speech, which the twins poked fun at, Harry followed Fred and George out of the locker room. Madam Hooch was referee and stood in the center of the field. She wanted a nice, fair game but directed her remarks toward the Slytherin captain, who made Harry feel uneasy. He looked like he had some troll blood in him. Many of our fears are a remembrance of past experiences or emotions that are attached to those experiences.
Harry was feeling inadequate and a bit helpless, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the banner his friends had made for him. It was flashing “Potter for President” over the heads of the crowd in a rainbow of color. The kids had obviously chosen Harry as their leader, but the flashing sign made Harry feel supported, and therefore braver.
As Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle, the teams rose up high into the air. The 15 players now entered a higher state of reality, and the game began. The whistle was silver, a sign of the whitening process. There are many different ways to play with numbers. One way is to look at each individual number, and see what that number represents on the Tree of Life.
The number one represents Keter, the superconscious or crown we are striving to obtain. That would be catching the Golden Snitch, the actual point of the game. But Keter has three heads that mirror the three-headed dog. The other two heads represent an unknowing mind (having perfect faith or understanding that God is everything) and the supernal power of His will. Achieving the crown gives us ultimate power and control over everything, but that achievement is only possible for those who do not desire to use that power and control for themselves.
Number five represents Gevurah, the left hand of God that incorporates strength, judgment, and power. In essence, it is letter-of-the law strictness, the rules of the game, but it also includes accountability. This was why Snape subtracted five points from Griffindore when he confiscated Hermione’s book from Harry. This Sephira teaches us that God measures our worthiness to receive. Those judged unworthy are those who misuse their power. Worthiness is not attached to our programmed behavior, our lower ourselves that we cannot control (our sins). It is attached to how we use the light we have so far received.
Those traveling the Middle Path, the balance between strictness and kindness, restrain from bestowing good things upon everyone because of what the recipient might do with that blessing. We see the danger in the way Voldemort uses his power of eternal life. We also see through Nagini what he does with the power of his love for her. He uses both eternal life and love to destroy.
So, now I understand why Hagrid reacted to the Dursleys in the shack the way that he did. The Dursleys have not proven themselves capable of change. They are extremely self-centered in their desire to interfere with Harry’s destiny and purpose for being. And they abused the power that Dumbledore gave them over Harry. If Harry had been a typical child, they might have literally destroyed him. This is why Hagrid turned his back on them despite their awful situation and focused all of his attention on Harry.
The quaffle shifted back and forth between the two teams, like an interplay between opposites, with a player on each side getting wacked by a bludger before Gryffindore made the first goal. Trials and tribulations occur within each opposing polarity because to find resolution we must experience both. However, this back-and-forth interplay also resembles the way our fractured awareness operates.
Hagrid suddenly appeared, so Hermione and Ron made room for him by squeezing themselves together, but he didn’t come to Ron and Hermione until after Gryffindore made their first goal. The inference here is that we have some type of preliminary work we must do (that first goal) before a Master of Compassion reaches out to help us.
Some interpretations of Alchemy believe that preliminary work is manifesting or practicing most of the 12 Spiritual Disciplines. Making room for Hagrid in their hearts (love and compassion) will bring Ron and Hermione closer together.
Hagrid had been watching the game from his hut, but said it wasn’t the same as being at the game. He was using binoculars to keep an eye on Harry, who was only a speck in the sky. This seems to be telling us that sometimes Masters of Compassion do watch the game of life from a distance, but it’s not as satisfying for them as being a part of the game. Although Hagrid’s major role was to introduce Harry to the spiritual world, he continued to keep an eye on him as well as interact with Ron and Hermione