Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 80 – Preparing to Play Real Wizard’s Chess (HP Chapter 16)
As the kids stepped through the large wooden door, there was only blackness. At first, they couldn’t see anything at all. That’s how Harry’s summer was just before he entered his Fifth year at Hogwarts.
Voldemort had returned, but nothing was happening. Then suddenly, a strange type of darkness fell upon Harry and Dudley in the park just before the Dementors attacked them. It was so dark, they couldn’t see the stars. The darkness reminds us that the kids haven’t left the Black Stage yet. But as they move forward into the next room, they are suddenly flooded with light. With the Key they caught in the prior room, they have arrived at a point where Light can be cast upon their inner self.
That Light revealed a chessboard with black stone chessmen standing in front of them. Level Five deals with moving from the Black Phase of Alchemy – what some people call the Black Stone – to the Albedo stage, becoming the White Stone. But it is also known as the Dark Night of the Soul because we come to see our self for what it is.
The white chess pieces were facing the kids. This introduced them to duality, our inner conditioning that sees our world in terms of black and white, but Jo hasn’t presented the polarity they expect to see. It’s reversed. The kids are the black chessmen and those opposing them are white.
Typically, we see ourselves as good, and our enemies as bad. That’s how Harry viewed the Dursleys. He saw himself as a victim of their cruelty. He didn’t know about Dumbledore’s protective spell or the reasons for his presence in the Dursleys’ life. That caused Harry to see the Dursleys and other opposing forces such as Draco and Professor Snape as enemies – those who interfered with Harry’s purpose in life of seeking pleasure and avoiding discomfort.
Most of our beliefs come from fear and insecurity. It’s fear and self-doubt that causes us to believe and label other people, powers, and forces as enemies set up to prevent us from achieving our desires. Jo presents these fears to us when the kids discover that the white chess players don’t have faces. It’s spooky. There’s nothing scary about chess pieces, but these pieces are hiding their true identity. That makes the kids feel uncomfortable.
When we first plea for further light and knowledge, what we begin to receive is knowledge about our self. This self happens to be something that we have identified with, and believed is us, but it actually consists of a number of imposters. Jo portrays them as white chest pieces because they pretend to be on our side. They pretend they are helping us.
Most people see everything as a chess game. What we don’t understand we label a threat. Everything in our lives is right or wrong, good or evil. That comes from our fractured, conditioned mind, which split into two opposing forces shortly after we were born.
The white players reminded me of the scriptural reference to Satan having the ability to appear as an angel of light. That symbolism is typically used to demonstrate the potential for deception. One of Jo’s major themes in the series is how appearances can be deceiving. People wear masks. They present an image that’s contrary to who they are. In addition, they mirror the impure things within ourselves we cannot see.
When we perceive the world in terms of black and white, good guys versus bad guys, right and wrong, we miss the whole point for our existence. It isn’t about destroying the evil and leaving the world with nothing but goodness. When the Dementors appear in the beginning of Book 5, the confrontation of Dudley against Harry quickly rearranges itself to Dudley and Harry against the Dementors. That gives us the opportunity to see Harry’s heart.
Although Harry first perceived Dudley to be his enemy, he saved him from the Dementors. If Dudley or any another enemy didn’t exist, there would be no way to test Harry’s heart, and no way for us to see our self clearly. Seeing our self for what it is, honestly, with no paint to cover up the ugliness, is the only way to make it across the room.
Harry had no idea what they were supposed to do. Like many of us, he couldn’t see the door that stood behind the white chess players, but Ron could. Playing chess was Ron’s talent. It represented what he was good at: fighting against his perceived enemies. That’s what we do when we don’t know or understand what’s going on. It’s what Vernon does.
In addition, Ron was only one who was able to envision a positive outcome. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Ron said. “We’ve got to play our way across the room.”
Many people believe they have no choice but to play the Game. Not participating in what society believes they should think and do isn’t an option for them yet. In Ron’s perspective, he saw no other alternative, so he walked up to a Knight and touched the Knight’s horse. We are in the subconscious realm, so the black stone instantly came to life. “Do we have to join you to get across?” Ron asked. The Black Knight nodded. This infers that playing the Game is a part of the Plan.
Our subconscious mind contains more than just our own creations. Many believe it functions as a portal or gateway to the subconscious minds of others, including the Collective Unconscious. What we envision or express verbally with feeling can be picked up by the subconscious minds of others who then work to create our desires for us. That’s how the Law of Attraction works. In a very real way, we are all literally connected to each other through our subconscious mind.
Level Five is a fairly competitive level of being. We come to see polarity more clearly. At the same time, we also see life as a Game between Light and Darkness and often spend large amounts of time fighting against perceived injustice and things we believe are evil. Many people at this level also possess a strong desire to see those they have judged to be wicked – suffer or destroyed. Harry didn’t. However, the polarities we learn about are life versus death, so this chess game isn’t just a game. It’s real. Our emotions can cause serious physical damage.
The Dementors that Harry and Dudley experienced in Book 5 were not just manifestations of their fears and inner demons. Someone else had sent them, and the creatures had the power to hurt and destroy at the physical level. This can be taken as a warning that what happens within the subconscious mind can manifest on the physical plane. This is why Enlightenment is reserved for those who are strong enough to handle the opposition and deceptions that suddenly appear at this level of being.
Harry experienced a lot of abuse from Professor Umbridge. While Hermione’s impulse was to run to someone she perceived to be an authority, and “tell,” Harry reminded us that sorting out the issues involved in suffering and reacting appropriately was more complex than just telling. Observing the false aspects of our self and coming to accept reality is only the beginning of our Work. Harry recognized the absolute power that the Ministry held over the school, while Hermione’s focus was on the immediate problem and how to stop the pain and suffering.
Since they knew very little about Wizard’s Chess, Ron took over. Harry recognized his weakness and gladly submitted to Ron’s knowledge. Although Ron struggled with personal insecurities and destructive emotions, he had full confidence in his Wizard-Chess abilities. He assigned Harry to be a Bishop (spiritual counselor) and Hermione to be a Castle (the body or Microcosm). Hermione didn’t argue. She simply did as she was told. This reflects the conditions set up in the Garden of Eden where we were instructed that the body (Eve) was to be obedient to Adam (the mind).
Ron had chosen to make himself a Knight. This was another strong Alchemical reference. It reminded me of King Arthur and the Knights of his Round Table.
Level Five is also where we are introduced to our anima. At first introduction, the anima is a bit fuzzy due to experiences with our physical mother, but eventually we begin to see her more clearly and experience feelings, intuition, an attraction to nature, being receptive to irrational things, and Love. Putting Hermione in the role of Castle (Eve) and himself as a Knight (Adam) indicated that Ron and Hermione would eventually come together.
Just as the subconscious mind of others can hear us, the chessmen had been listening to the kids, so one of the Bishops, Castles, and Knights turned their back on the white pieces and walked off the board. This seemed to indicate that duality needed to be transcended. Since there were two Bishops, Castles, and Knights on the board, it also hinted that these particular chess pieces had chosen not to participate in the Game. Once we come to our senses, we can choose the same