Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 45 – Someone Jinxes Harry’s Broom (HP Chapter 11)
Part of Wood’s game plan was for Harry to keep himself high and tucked out of site. That points to Harry being the point of the triangle that represents the Higher Self on the Tree of Life. It saved him from being attacked until he caught sight of the Snitch.
This also reflects how those passing through the black stage of the Alchemical process are virtually undetectable from others who have not yet entered the path. This helps to keep us safe until we are spiritually strong enough to handle the opposition. Dumbledore didn’t give Snape the teacher’s role he desired because Dumbledore felt he might be tempted to return to his old ways of being. He also placed Harry with the Dursleys because he thought that would be safer for him.
That doesn’t mean we just sit around doing nothing. We still have trials. Even though there was no sight of the Snitch, Harry still had to dodge a bludger while looking for the Snitch. When the Snitch appeared, it was just a streak of gold. You could easily miss it if you weren’t watching for it. Harry did see it though, and with a rush of excitement, he dived downward after the streak. That downward motion of descent placed Harry neck-and-neck with the Slytherin seeker.
Moving downward to catch the Snitch reflected Harry’s ultimate descent back to life at the very end of the path, but that re-decent didn’t remove physical danger for him. Just as Harry still had to go toe-to-toe with Voldemort once he returned to the mortal world, now he was neck-and-neck with his opponent. Even so, he was faster than his opponent was and could see the Snitch clearly.
Harry put out an extra burst of speed, but a Slytherin player suddenly appeared and purposely fouled against him. This foul caused Harry’s broom to spin off course, giving us the caution that there is never a time before we actually catch the Snitch that we should ever let our guard down.
Madam Hooch was angry at Flint, the Slytherin player who fouled Harry. She tried to right the wrong by giving the Gryffindore team a free shot at the goal post, which they make easily. In all of the confusion, however, the Snitch had disappeared again.
This foul and disappearance of the Golden Snitch made me think about how Voldemort attacked and killed Snape. Although Snape wasn’t completely caught off guard by what happened – Voldemort did have his companion in a cage for safety, which Dumbledore had warned Snape about – he was as trapped as Nagini was, and maliciously fouled against.
The inference here was that even though there are seven levels along the way, the Seeker’s path has two distinct phases. At the narrative level, that was why Snape needed to die. The foul and disappearance of the Snitch showed us that clear distinction.
As I mentioned earlier in these posts, some spiritual traditions believe that transcending the Fifth level of Alchemy, The Dark Night of the Soul, requires your physical death. Since Harry didn’t die when he passed through that phase of the path, it insinuates that Harry had already traveled Snape’s path (or something similar) in a previous lifetime.
Snape’s death wasn’t as tragic as it felt and appeared, because it served to Liberate him from Voldemort’s current control as well as his cage of severe karmic debt. When he incarnates again, the karma produced from serving Dumbledore and protecting Harry to the best of his current ability will place him in a position to learn about the other polarity to severity: mercy and love.
Dean, Ron and others began arguing about whether Flint should be tossed out of the game. Hagrid was on Dean’s side. Harry could have been killed. Here, we get another inside view into Hagrid’s perspective, as well as an explanation for why Voldemort had to be eliminated from the game once the Snitch was caught.
The physical Jesus Christ was portrayed in scripture as being exceptionally patient and forgiving of sinners, those who were enslaved to their carnal nature and vanities, but not so much when it came to the leaders of the people. Christ’s perspective was that if the Pharisees and Sadducees chose not to enter the Path of Liberation, that was fine, but they had no right to block another from entering therein.
Since Quidditch represents our attempt to reach divine perfection, there is no grace for those who purposely inflict fouls upon others when those fouls interfere with ascension or life. The penalty must be paid by those who make the choice to foul. This penalty is offered referred to as Karma.
As Harry moved to dodge another bludger, his broom suddenly lurched. He grabbed a hold of the rod with his hands and knees, so he wouldn’t fall, but it happened again. When the mists of darkness descend upon us and obscure our path, we should reach out and grab a hold of the rod (our inner Christ) the same as Harry did. Harry tells us it felt like the broom was trying to buck him off, but that was unheard of for a Nimbus Two Thousand.
Thinking to tell Wood he needed a time out, Harry tried to turn back toward the goal post, but discovered that his broom was completely out of his control. It wouldn’t turn. In fact, Harry can’t direct it at all. It zigzagged and made violent swishing movements that almost made him fall.
This reflects Snape also. He repented of the faith he had placed in Voldemort. He repented and made a vow to serve Dumbledore for the rest of his life. But his karmic debt continued to follow him. This resembled how the powers of darkness can rob us of our personal powers. It also symbolized the rough path that Harry will travel as he attempts to catch the Golden Snitch.
However, for many, experiences of helplessness and total lack of control over what is happening in our lives helps us let go of our need to control and brings us to the stature of our inner Christ.
No one noticed that Harry’s broom was acting strangely except Hagrid who was watching him with his binoculars. The broom carried Harry higher and higher, away from the game, away from the Path of Liberation. Harry jerked and twitched as he went. This resembled physical death in that we move away from our ability to travel the Path and ascend into one of the sections of the astral plane attached to this mortal universe.
Hagrid felt confused because it looked like Harry had lost control of the broom, but that didn’t make sense to him. What’s interesting is that Hagrid didn’t react to the situation, other than to comment. He appears to be a Watcher. He attempted to communicate the danger Harry was in to Hermione and Ron, but didn’t physically interfere himself.
At this point, several people in the stands noticed Harry and pointed toward him. The broom was rolling over and over, but Harry was barely holding on. This circular motion was similar to the way the mind spins inside the head during a Vertigo attack. In addition to the internal spinning, you also lose the sense of physical sight. The world either spins around you or tips sideways. You are helpless. You have absolutely no control over what is happening. If the mind believes what it sees, you fall.
In addition, this tumbling motion also reflected the way an egg moves down a fallopian tube toward the uterus and into a new incarnation and birth – further supporting the idea that physical death divides the two major phases of alchemy.
In the midst of the spinning, a wild jerk caused Harry to fall, but he managed to keep a hold of the broom (his inner Christ) with one hand. So, now he was dangling in the air and pretty much at the mercy of Christ.
Dean wondered if something happened to the broom during the foul, but Hagrid assured him that only powerful Dark Magic could affect that type of broom. A student couldn’t do that. When Hermione heard that, she grabbed Hagrid’s binoculars and scanned the crowd. “I knew it,” she said. “Snape – look.”
I found this a bit hard to believe. It was odd for Hermione to suspect Snape so quickly because she had been fighting against Harry’s opinion of Snape for quite some time now.
Ron took the binoculars and looked. Snape sat in the middle of the stand opposite to them. This placement resembled the scanty information given about the Black King in the Alchemical Wedding. The Black King was middle aged. Although he was sitting opposite to Hagrid and the kids, the three poles on the Tree of Life are polarities that work with each other. They don’t oppose each other. This inferred that the kids’ perspective of Snape is faulty.
Snape’s eyes were fixed on Harry, and he was muttering nonstop under his breath. Hermione believed Snape was jinxing the broom. Faulty understanding causes fallen man to judge others by what he sees even though our sense of sight is unreliable. Correct discrimination, such as that which Dumbledore displays, requires man to have all the facts, which he usually doesn’t. Jo shows that to us many times throughout the series. When Dumbledore is guessing, he tells us he’s guessing.
Before Ron could say a word, Hermione disappeared. She decided to react to her faulty vision without anyone else’s input