Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 49 – Harry Receives the Invisibility Cloak (HP Chapter 12)
Harry wasn’t expecting the five gifts he found at the foot of his bed when he woke up on Christmas morning. The first present he opened was from Hagrid. It was a roughly cut wooden flute that sounded like an owl when Harry blew into it. The Dursleys had sent him a 50-pence piece, which Harry gave to Ron because he was fascinated with it. A 50-pence piece is 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. It is shaped like a heptagon with seven sides. When Jo wrote the Harry Potter series, it was worth about a dollar.
Mrs. Weasley gave him a homemade emerald green sweater she had knitted and a large box of homemade fudge because Ron had informed her that Harry didn’t expect to receive any Christmas presents. Since she knitted sweaters for all of her children, the sweater symbolized that Mrs. Weasley had adopted Harry into the family.
Emerald green calls to mind the Emerald Tablet, a cryptic text known as the Secret of Hermes. Green was also the color of the needles of a Christmas tree. Green comes from the energy of the sun and symbolizes awakening and newness of life. The appearance of green amid white snow also suggests that this was an unusual time of growth.
In addition, ancient Alchemists often saw the living Spirit or secret fire within the color green. This made green a fire element. John Dee associated the color green with copper, Venus, and Level 6 of the Alchemical process.
Now, the Green Lion (a green Griffindore) symbolized VITRIOL, an oily substance used by Alchemists to purify metals. Many interpretations of Harry Potter apply VITRIOL to Snape due to his greasy hair and caustic manner, but its letters stand for: “Visit the interior of the earth and rectifying (purifying) you will find the hidden stone.”
The Philosopher’s Stone isn’t something we find outside of ourselves. It is within our hearts. Harry’s green sweater tells us that the stone was actually internal (Harry himself, which also infers that Harry had already accomplished the Red Stone), and therefore love in its complete, naked purity. Hermione also gave Harry a large box of chocolate frogs. Frogs symbolize man’s deceived condition on the physical plane.
If we look at the gifts Harry just opened in reverse, we actually see the path that we must follow to reach the mid-point of our journey.
Hermione gave Harry frogs – our blind condition on the physical plane. Mrs. Weasley gave him a green sweater – an invitation to go within to find the Stone. Vernon and Petunia gave him a 50-pence piece – with seven sides, it shows us the number of pairs of opposites we must resolve before we can orient ourselves to God. And Hagrid gave him a wooden flute that sounded “like” an owl – Fawkes’ song during the fight in the graveyard.
Mrs. Weasley had also made Ron a sweater. She knitted him a new one every year for Christmas. This cautions us that going the path isn’t quick. Ron had been receiving the same color sweater for years. Although Harry’s sweater was green, the color of Venus and the heart chakra, Ron’s sweaters were always maroon.
Maroon is a deep color of red. Its shade sits halfway between red and rose. Ron’s self-doubts and insecurities are really holding him back from everything he could be. He is actually at a higher level of progression than he appears though. Red is associated with the Mars Initiation and the root chakra, the material world. That makes it an earth element, but John Dee associated red with Level 5 in the Alchemical process.
Ron gets the same maroon sweater every year, which he was tired of receiving. That’s a sign that he’s ready to move forward even though he hasn’t done it yet.
Harry’s fifth present was a piece of shining, silvery cloth that felt strange to the touch, as if water was interwoven into the material. Ron was so shocked at seeing it, he dropped his box of Every Flavor Beans that Hermione had given him. “It’s an invisibility cloak,” he said.
Ron dropping the candy insinuated that letting go of everything in our lives, every flavor bean we have (including ourselves) was the price for an invisibility cloak. Biblical scripture advises us to go and sell everything that we have. Ron stared at the cloak with reverence because an invisibility cloak was very rare. Few initiates ever make it to the very end of the path, but Ron would really like to have one. Desire in and of itself isn’t bad. Going the path requires us to ignite the desire to do so. “I’m sure it is – try it on.”
Harry threw the cloak over himself and checked out his reflection in the mirror. Everything the cloak covered had disappeared. All Harry could see in the mirror’s reflection was his head suspended in midair. His body was invisible. We are not the mortal body. Our mortal body is simply a tool. When Harry pulled the cloak over his head, his head also disappeared. To me, this infers that the mind (Hermione) is the last thing to be purified. Although early on we surrender ourselves to the New Soul growing within, eventually our mind must become pure enough to unite with the mind of God.
In addition, Harry’s complete disappearance also showed us how the inner spark lays hidden and buried within our hearts. The invisibility cloak was gift number five. It goes back to the very beginning. When we are living our lives in ignorance, we do not know the inner spark of God is there until we turn within and look for it. Up until then, it remains invisible.
A note fell out of the cloak as Harry pulled it over his head, so Harry pulled the cloak back off again and looked at the letter. This movement paralleled Harry’s decision later on to return from the spiritual world (the invisible world) to the mortal plane. The note told Harry that his father left the cloak in the giver’s possession before he died. The giver felt it was time to return the cloak to its rightful owner: Harry. The note cautioned Harry to use the invisibility cloak well. The note wasn’t signed. It just wished Harry a Merry Christmas.
This note made a good case for Dumbledore being the Holy Spirit. He was communicating with Harry without name, and gave Harry exactly what he needed to take his next step.
Harry was staring at the note, but Ron was still staring at the cloak. The pair approached situations and events from different angles of perception. Harry was attracted to communication with the Holy Spirit, and Ron was attracted to the physical cloak itself. “I’d give anything to have one of those,” Ron said.
Ron felt the call from the Father. He desired to have the rewards one received from completing the path, but didn’t understand the purpose of physical manifestation. He still believed the physical world was all there was. His poor upbringing had created within him a desire for physical things that he had not let go of yet.
Harry was more concerned with the note, than the cloak. He wondered who gave him the note. Plus, he’d like to know if it really did once belong to his father. That would place a sentimental aspect upon the cloak. It would bind him to his earthly father in a real way