Harry Potter's Invitation to the World
by Vickie Ewell
Chapter 9 – Hagrid Reveals Harry’s True Identity (HP Chapter 4)
Hagrid went to work immediately lighting a fire in the fireplace, the heart of the home, which filled Harry from head to toe with warmth. Many spiritual traditions believe that when the Masters of Compassion, angels, or higher vibrational beings, are around, those who are sensitive to spiritual things can actually feel the heat their vibration puts off.
Next, Hagrid began pulling six things out of the pockets of his overcoat: a copper kettle, six squished sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of amber liquid that he takes a drink from before he begins to make tea and cook the sausages over the fire.
I’m guessing that these six items directly coincide to levels two through seven on the Path of Liberation, in the order by which they were presented to us, and that by drinking the amber liquid, Hagrid is telling us that he is a Master of Compassion. He is someone who has already achieved level seven. He is both the white stone and the red one. We are, or become, what we eat and drink. That is the symbolism that sits at the heart of most spiritual sacraments.
Amber is a material that ranges in color from nearly yellow, when new, to orange or a reddish orange when older. Some have described it as being the color of honey in sunlight. Technically, it is 75 percent yellow and 25 percent red, but is often portrayed sitting in front of a gold background and a set of mirrors. It was used in fire worship (Zoroastrianism) and often symbolized spiritual energy. It was also called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Hagrid drinking this liquid made me think of the Polyjuice potion that the fake Moody used to keep himself alive in Book 4.
Uncle Vernon warned Dudley not to take anything from Hagrid, even though he was starving. Hagrid assured Mr. Dursley that Dudley didn’t need any more fattening up. While it looked like Hagrid was speaking negatively about Dudley’s physical weight problem, on a spiritual level, Dudley had been given everything he sought for in life whether it was appropriate for him or not. Harry had been given nothing but hand-me-downs – no love, and little food – so Dudley had been fattened up enough. Dudley was overflowing with his parents’ love.
Hagrid intended on changing Harry’s impoverished spiritual condition, so he gave all six sausages, somewhat burnt, to him. This is our first clue that Hagrid tends to go a bit overboard. Sausage is 50 percent fat, or more, is highly seasoned, and Hagrid had the fire raging so hotly that he burned them a bit.
Biblically, we are told that the Pharaoh who knew Joseph (of Egypt) assured Joseph than his family would eat the fat of the land for Joseph’s role in saving Egypt from death. The Pharaoh represented God on earth, the same as Hagrid. But Hagrid in his unfailing love and compassion eagerly gave Harry all six levels at once. In reality, that would have choked Harry to death, so Hagrid’s role was simply the Gatekeeper.
While there are seven levels or major steps we travel on the Path of Liberation, the first step of our Journey is the physical world. The physical world represents material possessions: food, stylish clothing, makeup, jewelry, fancy cars, tools, expensive housing – everything we are physically attached too – things we can’t live without. In Harry Potter, that is represented clearly by the Muggle World, but I would think that with Professor McGonagall’s attachment to rules, that it probably also includes the portion of the Wizarding World outside of Hogwarts.
Harry overcame that first step when he came to the realization in Dudley’s second bedroom that the letter of invitation was more important to him than food or material possessions. Discovering who was sending the letters and why was far more important than the Muggle World was. It was at that point that Hagrid, the Gatekeeper at Hogwarts, rushed in to rescue Harry from the Muggles and the physical world (level one).
Harry has just turned 11, and he physically qualifies to go to Hogwarts if he is a Wizard. If he has magical ability. The number 11, when you add the two numbers together, gives us the number two – the level of the spiritual world. So Hagrid has come to introduce Harry to level two, which the series calls the Wizarding World.
Harry was confused. He’s grateful for being fed, but he still doesn’t understand who Hagrid is nor what Hogwarts is. That news shocked Hagrid, and Harry quickly apologized for being ignorant. Hagrid stared at the Dursleys who retreated back into the shadows. Basically, their presence in Harry’s life was going to take a back seat to Hagrid’s.
We don’t know what Hagrid is actually thinking. We assume he was blaming the Dursleys for not teaching Harry properly because that is what we, in our conditioned state, would think. But he simply said that he knew Harry wasn’t getting the letters.
Hagrid assumed that Harry would already know about Hogwarts and magic and become angry when he learned that wasn’t true. We quickly see and learn that being a Master of Compassion here on earth doesn’t equate to the way perfection is defined by many of us in the man-made world. He doesn’t fit the ideal mold of what many individuals believe a Master would be like.
Hagrid’s anger was so strong it literally filled the entire shack. He growled at the Dursleys like a ferocious lion. He was furious that Harry didn’t know anything about whom or what Harry was. He’s outraged that the Dursleys have hid Harry’s background from him – his bloodline. He even screamed at Mr. Dursley.
In traditional biblical scripture, there was two things that angered Jesus Christ more than anything else: One was disrespecting his Father’s House by making it a den of thieves, and the other was blocking the way to the next level for those who desired to ascend. He showed love and total compassion for sinners, accepted those who desired not to ascend themselves, but had little tolerance for those who actively interfered with the choices of others. Hagrid had those same characteristics.
It’s interesting that Uncle Vernon had the courage to stand up to Hagrid: “I forbid you to tell the boy anything!” he said. It’s Vernon’s ignorance talking, of course, and his fear of what Harry might do if he were to be told that he was a Wizard. Hagrid tried to control himself and began to calmly discuss things with Mr. Dursley.
Hagrid cannot believe that Vernon never shared Dumbledore’s letter with Harry. The spiritual distance between Hagrid and Vernon was so wide, and Hagrid’s physical giant’s brain so limiting, that Hagrid was struggling to understand why Vernon would not treat Harry the way he, himself, would want to be treated – the way Hagrid would have treated Harry.
When Harry interrupted with, “Kept what from me?” Uncle Vernon panicked. “STOP! I FORBID YOU!” he yelled.
Aunt Petunia gasped, expecting Hagrid to physically retaliate against her husband, but Hagrid was above that sort of thing. Yes, he was angry that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had kept Harry’s real identity from him, for whatever reason, but his mission wasn’t to hurt the Dursleys. It wasn’t to get even. Hagrid was there to save Harry. So he went against Mr. Dursley’s commandment, and shoved them off by telling the Dursleys to go and boil their heads.
At first, this sounded like a smart aleck reply, but Hagrid doesn’t behave the way a Muggle would. He doesn’t think or behave as we would. He knew the Dursely’s brains were like ice. They were not behaving like a loving aunt and uncle would. They were thinking only of their selves. They were full of fear. So he simply told them that they needed to boil their heads. They needed to start a fire and boil some water to thaw out their unloving minds.
After that, Hagrid turned to Harry and revealed to him that he was a Wizard.