Alchemy Notes

[mongo62aa]

No: HPFGUIDX 31666

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "heathernmoore" <heathernmoore at y...> wrote:

'This is a very disorganized series of notes I've been taking on 
alchemy as it relates to the Harry Potter series. I am coming to 
suspect that alchemy is actually the heart of the whole conflict.'

I think that you are onto something here. I've spent the past short 
time doing websearches on alchemy, and it is absolutely clear that 
the Harry Potter series is FULL of alchemical references. Here is an 
extract from a typical webpage, 

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/animal.html

'The tinctures in alchemy relate also to the substances of the Mass, 
the red wine, the blood, and the white wafer, the body of Christ. 
Administration of the Sacraments was seen as spiritualising the souls 
of the partakers. In alchemical terms these white and red stones or 
tinctures served much the same purpose, though the alchemists 
achieved this, not through the intermediacy of a priest but by their 
own inner work of transmutation. Here alchemy links directly with the 
Grail stories which use similar parallels between the Grail and the 
Sacraments. The red tincture was occasionally symbolised by a stag 
bearing antlers. The stag being seen as a noble masculine animal. 
This links in with the Unicorn as a symbol of the white or feminine 
tincture. In some alchemical illustrations, such as that of the late 
16th century Book of Lambspring, the Stag and Unicorn meet in the 
forest of the soul as part of the process of inner transformation.'

This passage also shows a glimpse of the close relationship between 
the Philosopher's Stone and alchemy, and the Holy Grail and Grail 
romances, especially the Arthurian cycle.