Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 69 – Harry Begins to Question Hagrid (HP Chapter 16)
When the ghost of Professor Binns told the kids to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry cheered along with the rest of the kids. Rolling up the parchment and laying down their pen (or works) signaled closure. We stop fighting the transformative process, but this also suggests that what the kids experience after going through the trapdoor was not a test. The testing for the year was finished.
Hermione couldn’t help but bring up information she didn’t need for the test: the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager. Since these topics will play a role in the kids’ lessons in future years, Hermione’s comment indicates that we can be introduced to, learn, adopt, or reject principles from several Alchemical levels at the same time, but we are only tested at our current level of being. For the kids, that’s the physical plane.
Although Hermione enjoyed going through the boys’ exams and correcting them, it always made Ron feel bad about his self. He didn’t like Hermione pointing out his mistakes. Neither did he want to worry about how badly he may have done on the tests. They were over and done with. He wanted to do something pleasurable. Results wouldn’t be announced for at least a week, so they went down to the lake to enjoy themselves instead.
Ron couldn’t understand why Harry wasn’t happy. They had just finished their finals and should be feeling relieved. He thought that Harry was worried about his test scores. Ron was looking at their outward environment for answers, but Harry was concerned about what was happening within. He rubbed his forehead. “I wish I knew what this means!” Harry said angrily. His scar had been hurting him more often lately.
On a physical level, the piece of Voldemort’s soul trapped inside of Harry had been trying to escape more often, but on a spiritual level, the emotional scars and negative karmic energy we accumulate from lifetime to lifetime gets continuously worse until we reach a point where we’re ready to leave this mortal world behind.
As always, Hermione thought Harry should go to an adult for answers. This time, Madame Pomfrey, but Harry wasn’t ill. “I think it’s a warning…,” Harry said. “It means danger’s coming…” That wasn’t correct, but it was the best guess Harry had from the information he’s experienced so far. Clogged spiritual energy is quite painful. We try to interpret what’s happening and why, but we are not always right.
Ron was too hot to care about the Stone, so he sided with Hermione. This was the second time Jo has mentioned heat. The kids were hot during finals, and they are still hot at the lake. Physical discomfort makes a great distraction, but the Alchemical process also requires heat. We often think of the heat of Hell as being a bad thing, but heat softens metal. When hot, it can be easily adjusted and molded into a particular shape. Heat represented the Alchemical fire of transformation and signaled that change and growth was beginning.
Despite Ron’s mechanical reaction, his arguments were valid. The Stone was safe as long as Dumbledore was around. They had no proof that Snape even knew how to get past Fluffy. Since the dog had bitten Snape before, it seemed unlikely that Snape would try that again anytime soon, and Hagrid would never let Dumbledore down by telling Snape how to go through the trapdoor.
Harry knew Ron was right, but he couldn’t shake off a feeling that he had forgotten to do something important. A nagging feeling is sometimes a nudge of spiritual communication that isn’t quite getting through. As Harry watched an owl fly through the bright blue sky with a note in its beak, he realized they needed to see Hagrid. Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore. He would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy, but…we know how easy Hagrid can be manipulated into revealing his secrets.
In this scene, we have the presence of the four earthly elements that became united and interconnected to produce Harry’s enlightenment. Harry was feeling physical pain and discomfort. He was experiencing heat (or Alchemical fire) that was being fed by the air (the Spirit). We have an owl flying by (a messenger) to help Harry remember what he was supposed to be doing, and Jo tells us the sky was blue, which is the color of water.
When it was just earth, fire, and air, Harry couldn’t move forward. Things were smoldering, but clogged. He needed to add a little water to the mixture to clear away the non-rational ashes that were interfering with his intuition and discernment. He did that by focusing on the owl. Meditation doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process. It’s simply the conscious mind letting go of your current situation or problem, so that the unconscious portions of yourself can help you see or receive a clearer picture or vision. Once Harry did that, he knew what his next step should be.
Taking matters into his own hands, Harry jumped to his feet and started walking quickly toward Hagrid’s shack. Despite their reluctance, Ron and Hermione quickly followed him. This seemed to infer that the Divine Spark or New Soul leads us into entering the Path, even if we don’t understand what he’s doing. As long as we follow along, we’ll end up in the right place. As the kids moved forward together, Harry filled them in on what he was thinking.
To Harry, it was odd. What Hagrid wanted more than anything else was a dragon, and a stranger suddenly turned up in Hagrid’s life with an illegal dragon egg in his pocket. Ron was still focused outwardly, so he didn’t understand what Harry was trying to say, but continued following him anyway. That’s what allowing events to unfold is all about.
When they arrived at Hagrid’s shack, Hagrid was sitting outside shelling peas. Peas are green, the color of the heart chakra. Green can represent a number of things, but peas ripen and are harvested in the late Spring, at the beginning of Summer. Unlike most vegetables, peas are actually seeds that come clustered inside a single pod.
Hagrid was breaking open the pod and allowing the peas (or the seeds) to escape. This inferred he would spill his secrets in the same way, but also pointed to the kids being released from their imprisonment.
Hagrid offered the kids a drink, but Harry felt rushed. He wanted to know what the stranger who gave Hagrid the dragon egg looked like. Hagrid didn’t know because the stranger wouldn’t take his cloak off. Obviously, that meant the stranger had something to hide.
Ron and Hermione suddenly realized where Harry was going with this. They stood there, stunned.
Hagrid didn’t see anything unusual in the stranger’s behavior. Strange folks were always coming into Hog’s Head. He didn’t see the stranger’s face simply because the stranger kept his hood up.
Harry sank down next to the bowl of shucked peas. That’s probably how he felt: as if the floor had just been yanked out from underneath him. Some of his self-created boxes were caving in around him. Up to that moment, he was probably hoping his fears were ungrounded, and that Hagrid would tell him it wasn’t Snape or Voldemort. The process of moving forward always requires us to let go of our current situation, beliefs, and attitudes before we can take the next step