Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 77 – The Power of Astral Light (HP Chapter 16)
With Hermione and Ron on each side of him, Harry seemed to represent the Middle Path. Once Hermione landed, the plant began wrapping its tendrils around her ankles, like a chain. This mimics our enslaved condition. Tendrils don’t grow that quickly, but if you ignore them, they will tightly wrap around whatever is close to them, making it impossible to loosen their hold.
The boys had experienced the same thing, but they were not aware enough to notice. Their legs were already tightly bound. Legs symbolize motion, so our current beliefs can be confining. Liberation from our entrapment and Salvation from our fallen nature involves periods of personal observation. Those experiences are less than pleasant, but we can become trapped if we don’t stay aware.
The boys had never paid attention to how nature worked. They allowed the plant’s tendrils to capture and enslave them. This deliberate unawareness can be quite dangerous. Since Hermione was more aware, she was able to leap up and struggle toward a damp wall, freeing herself before the plant got a tight grip on her. This indicates our sensitive, emotional nature is what created our conditioning, not logic.
Even though Voldemort has us severely imprisoned, others who have already freed themselves from his grasp can help us get free in return. That includes helping Harry. We are also being cautioned about the consequences for not believing that Astral energy is real.
Hermione stood on the sideline watching the boys struggle. She was horrified. The boys had only come to their senses because Hermione had seen the danger first, but she felt helpless. The more the boys strained against their chains, the tighter and faster the plant enfolded them. This was similar to Harry’s dream when he attempted to remove the turban. There are laws connected with nature the kids were not using.
Most people who function at the Etheric or Astral level believe the goal in life is to get rid of opposition. They struggle against their supposed enemies, and try to eliminate them, not understanding the role of darkness or nature in the process of transformation. The more you fight against your perceived enemies, the more enslaved and trapped you become.
Hermione ordered the boys to stop moving. Their physical struggle for freedom from the turmoil was working against them. The plant was called Devil’s Snare because it tricks us into fighting everything we think is wrong with our world. It convinces us that we need to seek after pleasure and avoid discomfort and pain on all levels.
Devil’s Snare likes dampness and darkness. It hides within. But instead of surrendering to nature’s laws and using those laws to find a solution, the boys insisted on clinging to distorted reality. They had spun themselves a web of illusion, like a spider spins a web, and they were losing ground because their mental images about what was happening – not achieving their ideal of freedom – was frightening, rather than transcending.
Ron turned sarcastic as the tendrils curled themselves around his neck. That symbolized a beheading. Our emotions need to die. That will enable us to receive a new mind. A new mind involves giving up our false beliefs. In Book 3, we saw this when Harry and Hermione bend time. In that book, Harry found a new belief in his Self. In this Initiation, however, we are just introduced to the idea that nature has laws we can use if we become aware of them.
However, the Key to freedom seems to be the communication between Harry and Hermione. That infers our work of letting go is at the intellectual level.
Harry was having trouble breathing because the tendrils wrapped themselves around his chest. That reflects having his heart broken, which would then need to be replaced with a new one, but that doesn’t generally happen at the Astral level. There’s a bit of overlapping going on here. In Book 3, Harry gained a family similar to receiving a new heart, but he didn’t lose Sirius until Book 5.
Harry suggested that if Devil’s Snare enjoyed wet, dark places, Hermione needed to simply Light a fire. The idea was that our True Self, the Divine Soul, needed to be put back in an authoritative position. Hermione was in no frame of mind to think clearly. She was stressed and in a panic, which leads to emotional issues, but she could only think literally. There was no wood to create a fire. That’s how the left side of the brain thinks.
Ron, however, symbolizes our creative side, so he become furious. “HAVE YOU GONE MAD?” he screamed. Was she a witch, or not?
Hermione wasn’t using the full power of her mind. Like us, she had been living in a world that was backward to reality. Our world focuses on organization and logical thought. Reason and intellectual ability is highly prized. Our right brain, our creative flow and imagination, is often ignored or capped off.
Many people believe using imagination and mental imagery is childish and immature. That’s why Hermione is paralyzed by her logical, literal view. Although pinpoint sharp, she’s unbalanced. Using the mind’s full power, rather than either extreme, gives us the ability to use our imagination to improve our current situation.
Imagination is needed to envision and create the type of future we want. In this case, Hermione needed to use her imagination, so the tendrils of the Devil’s Snare would release the boys before something tragic happened. However, reason and literalness won’t save them. Hermione needs to use both sides of her brain at the same time. She needs to awaken the powers of her subconscious mind that were currently dormant – powers she didn’t remember she had.
Hermione hadn’t thought about using magic or spells to get them out of their tight spot. Although she didn’t freeze like she did when they came up against the troll in the bathroom, her knowledge can’t save them if she doesn’t know how to use what she’s learned. Knowledge needs to be placed into a useful, daily practice of observing the self or the entire Alchemical process will fail. Although Faith was needed to move the kids into Level Three, it is Works that will move them forward into Level Four.
Now that Ron had suggested she use magic, Hermione was able to envision what she needed to do. By combining her literal mind with Ron’s reminder that she had the power to create, she whipped out her wand and put imagery to work. She sent a jet of blue flames at the plant – the same type of flames she had used to set Snape on fire at Harry’s first Quidditch Game. Fire symbolizes the Holy Spirit and spiritual cleansing, but so does the color blue.
What we’re experiencing along with the kids is how Wisdom manifests. They are working in combination with each other. Harry suggested using fire to discourage the plant from attacking them. The power Hermione called down and used was Astral Light, sometimes referred to as Sunlight. In Christianity, it’s often just called Light. Ron reminded Hermione that she had the spiritual power to save them, and Hermione performed the action.
In my own spiritual tradition, this step is described as reaching out and grabbing onto an iron rod. One then uses the Christ force to move them forward.
Ron and Harry survived only because Hermione listened to Harry and Ron, and then followed their instructions. One of the major problems with current Christian tradition is their dependency upon the written Word rather than the Divine Power that lives within. The written Word requires accurate interpretation, while the Living Word works more as a personal Guide.
The process worked. The plant recoiled from the Light and warmth of the Fire, removing itself from the boys’ bodies and setting the boys free. Darkness finds love extremely uncomfortable and painful. Darkness doesn’t hang around places that are full of Light and Fire. This lesson will come back into play when Harry uses the Astral power against Quirrell at the end of the book, and again against the Dementors in Book 3.
The Middle Path is actually found by embracing the Light of Christ within ourselves. We have the controlling power of the universe already. It is in all things, and throughout all things. In Book 3, Harry knew he could defeat the Dementors the second time around because he had already done so. Like Harry, we just have to look inside of ourselves for that power.
Harry was grateful that Hermione paid attention in Herbology, but Ron was grateful that Harry didn’t lose his head during a crisis. This was the second time that a beheading was spoken of, but in an inverted fashion this time. It isn’t Harry’s mindset that needed to change – it’s ours.
A majority of fallen man has placed God on a mythical throne that’s located somewhere in the sky. He lives in a magical heaven that many of us are trying to earn enough Brownie Points or Scout Badges to get into. Instead, God actually lives at the very center point of our current existence, not our future selves. That places him right inside of our hearts. He is our True Self. He is already with us right now. He has been with us for a very long time. That knowledge is the Truth that will set us free.
Once free, Harry joined Hermione, wiping the sweat off his face. He had found the peace within. It was a peace that surpassed all Understanding. We know that because Harry was able to easily ignore Ron’s sarcasm and judgment against Hermione, what Harry couldn’t do with his Aunt at the beginning of Book 3. Harry pointed down a stone passageway. It was the only way forward for the trio. “This way,” he said, once again leading the way forward