The theory of Harry Potter symbolising the Path of Alchemical Liberation.

[Hans Andréa]

No: HPFGUIDX 125555

I am replying to: 
Post 124795 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 From: "Geoff Bannister"
Post 124797 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 From: "cat_kind"
Post 124798 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 From: "Tonks"
Post 124813 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 From: "hogsheadbarmaid"

First of all my thanks to all four members for responding to my post 124786
Theory of Liberation (was: John the Baptist again)

I love hogsheadbarmaids post. Brilliant! Quite brilliant. Theres nothing
like a good sense of humour to put things back into perspective. Many thanks
for that.

Hogsheadbarmaid:
And frankly a knock-down-drag-out bar fight can be highly entertaining.  And
it can feel good to lay out your argument in absolute terms and let the
chips fall where they may!

Hans:
Sorry everyone, but I have no intention of engaging in a brawl. My only goal
here is to testify of my recognition of Harry Potter as being a new version
of the timeless Path of Liberation. Im not even going to debate in the
sense of wanting to prove Im right. Im just going to answer some questions
and correct some, what in my opinion are, misconceptions.

One of the most sacred characteristics of the Lohans, i.e. those who have
become liberated, is absolute non-violence in every possible way. I believe
I should honour and uphold their principle as much as possible. My job is
simply to show those who are interested the exactness with which Harry
Potter conforms to the teachings of liberation. I do not want to persuade
people who are committed to a particular religious philosophy that they
should leave their faith and turn to the Path of Liberation. In any case
this would be futile because this Path can be gone only by those who long
for liberation with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their
mind. This is so beautifully illustrated in Harry Potter by Harrys struggle
to master the Patronus. The stag symbolises a souls longing for liberation
and Harry has to work very hard for many months, as we all know. 

If someone pointed out to me the Path of the Sangha or the Taoist Path in
Harry Potter I would be very grateful. That wouldnt mean Id necessarily
agree with the teachings of that Path itself, but I would be most grateful
to KNOW that that particular Path is hidden in Harry Potter.

So to sum it up: Im just addressing myself to those people who have open
minds and are interested in the spiritual path Jo might be propounding in
Harry Potter. If people get upset at my comparisons may I invite them to
press delete whenever one of my emails arrives? 

The fact that some members keep saying Im propagating heretical teachings
proves to me they do not understand the point of these posts. I just want to
expose people to the truth: not the truth of the teachings themselves, but
the truth of whether Harry Potter is BASED on those teachings. Reject the
teachings of liberation by all means, call them heretical, satanic or occult
or whatever you like. Thats not the point. The point is: does Harry Potter
contain them or not? Quite simple.

Geoff:
In the 2nd century, Gnosticism was a heresy which taught that only people
with "special knowledge" who had gone through initiation into the cult could
approach God and they were considered to be special  a cut above the hoi
polloi.

Hans:
I am quite convinced Geoff really, genuinely believes this. However Im sure
99% of the members of this group know and understand that history is written
by the victors. Tom Harpur, an Anglican theologian and Professor of Greek
and New Testament studies, proves in his book, The Pagan Christ, that the
Gnostics were persecuted and suppressed by the early Christian Church in its
battle to gain supremacy over the wide range of religious communities that
populated the western world between 200 and 300 AD. Im not blaming modern
Christians for what the founding fathers of the church did 1700 years ago.
However in order to be honourable and honest I think modern Christians
should be able to face the fact that the early church stamped out many
groups and many teachings which it saw as dangerous to its rule. 

The teachings of the Gnostics were and are (Im a member of a modern Gnostic
group) the very teachings which Jo is using as the foundations to Harry
Potter. I can say here with deep certainty and sincerity: Harry Potter is
pure Gnostic literature.

Harry is in fact going through those very same initiations that Geoff
mentions. Please consider my essay part of this post. It can be found under
Harry Potter: Christian Rosycross in Jeans, in the essays in the group
files. Going through those initiations, i.e.. SELF-initiations, is extremely
hard work, as Jo shows in each part of Harry Potter. 

Snape thinks Harry considers himself a cut above the hoi polloi. However
we know Harry doesnt consider himself that at all. He is in fact very
modest and does what he has to, not because of arrogance but because his
conscience tells him to. 

The Gnostics do not consider themselves a cut above the hoi polloi either
but go the Path because their heart is filled with longing for God and
compassion for suffering humanity. This is exactly in accordance with what
Geoff says is the most important commandment. (Geoff: One day, Jesus was
asked which commandment was the greatest. His reply was to love God with all
your soul strength and mind and added that the second was to love your
neighbour (any person who needs your support or help) as you would love
yourself.)

As you may remember Ive often quoted Psalm 42 as typifying the thirst of
the Gnostic Christian for the Living Water from the River of God. 

The reason that self-initiation is such hard work is that humanity has sunk
so low after the fall from the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason the world is in
such a mess is because we human beings have lost touch with God. Our minds
do not understand what God wants. We are blind and deaf to the Divine Plan.
Voldemort lives in each one of us and wants to keep it that way. Harry is
the new soul that is born when we begin to long to return to God. In book 7
Harry will defeat Voldemort and so his consciousness will open once again to
the Divine Plan. This will not make him arrogant or superior but will fill
him with a tremendous feeling of humility and compassion. As Ive stated
several times, such a Gnostic Alchemist will then be faced with the choice
of staying behind to help his fellow human beings who are wandering around
in ignorance, or go on to ever greater intimacy with God. Im fairly sure
Harry will stay behind, and possibly take Hagrids job, but it could go
either way.

Being a Gnostic doesnt mean that only certain people can approach God. The
Path of Liberation is open to everyone who is willing to make the effort.
All it needs is a Lily and a Stag. The Lily is the spark which God Himself
has planted in the seekers heart, and the Stag is the longing to return to
God.

Indeed, as Geoff says, God so loved the world that he sent his only son so
that whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Each one of us has His only Son asleep in our heart. Harry Potter shows how
to awaken Him and bring us everlasting life with the Father of Lights.

Tonks:
You would not find one Biblical scholar in the world that would agree with
the statement that the Bible points to the same path as your theory of
liberation. It points to a path of liberation, yes. But the path is not the
same as you have suggested. 

Hans:
May I suggest you read Biblical scholar and (emeritus) Professor of New
Testament Tom Harpur? See www.tomharpur.com. Tom doesnt call it liberation
but his message is that of liberating the Inner Christ.

Tonks:
The New Testament is the Good News that the path is open to all who follow
Jesus. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6.) He did
not say that we can do it on our own without him. So I don't think that you
can use the New Testament as proof for a process that does not involve
Jesus, since He is what the New Testament is about.

Hans:
Youre absolutely right. Its impossible to go the Path of Liberation
without Jesus: the Inner Christ. Just like Harry Potter, the New Testament
was given to humanity by the Masters of Compassion to teach the Path of
Liberation. Jesus, or Harry, or Horus, or Briar Rose, is the way, the truth
and the life. Within the heart of every seeker is the Son of God without
whom it is impossible to have eternal life. 

Tonks:
You say that 99.9% of the people of the world would not agree with your
theory of liberation. I would have to guess that JKR is part of that
percentage. She is a Christian. Yes she mentions Alchemy, but not because
she holds to the Rosicrucian believes. She even said in an interview that
she was a Christian and if people knew what she believed they could figure
out what the books were about. 

Hans:
In the interview youre quoting she didnt say she was a Christian. She was
talking about if she believes in God, and she said she does. That could be
interpreted to mean shes a Moslem, a Jew, a Rosicrucian, a Gnostic, a
Manichaean, etc. This is the exact quote:
"Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I
do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I
have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I
think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's
coming in the books." JK Rowling

catkind:  
Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So Hans believes that lots of different
myths/religions contain analogies to a "Path of Liberation", and that the HP
books do too.  Possibly even that said myths/religions/ HP books are
inspired by this Path, whether at a subconscious level, or deliberately by
the authors, or by divine inspiration. Maybe I, for one, am getting confused
because Hans is at the same time explaining this Path with reference to the
other mythic/religious analogies and with respect to the Harry Potter story.


Hans - is there somewhere I can look up a description of this Path without
all the similes? It'd be particularly helpful to have a glossary of what if
anything you mean by things like alchemical, etheric, astral, microcosmic
etc., which you don't seem to be using in the traditional sense.

Hans:
I understand what youre saying. There are several ways you could
familiarise yourself with this Path. All my main posts to HPFGU since April
2003 are also in the message archive of the Yahoo group: Harry Potter for
Seekers:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrypotterforseekers/messages.
If you read my messages in chronological order you will see a gradual
development and you should be able to get it alright. The posts of the
group are open to the public. As its a very small group all my messages are
close together and easy to find.

See also
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/messages/15821

You could also visit http://www.harrypotterforseekers.com/ which has my
essay and some explanations.

Jan van Rijckenborgh is a person who has explained the Path in twentieth
century language. His book The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross
explains the Path very clearly. 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-titleid=396608&ve-field=none/qid=1109971036/sr=12-22/102-4509378-8022564.
If you search in Amazon for Rijckenborgh you will find all his books. My
essay also has references for further reading.

To understand what I mean by etheric, astral etc. read
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrypotterforseekers/messages/566
(The Structure of the Universe). This will explain a lot. I do use these
words in the traditional sense, as also used by the Theosophists, the
Anthroposophists etc. But feel free to ask. 

By alchemical I mean that our whole mortal being, consisting of flesh,
soul and spirit, is transmuted and transfigured into one of eternal
substance, eternal soul and eternal spirit. 

By microcosm I mean the whole human being, including the higher self, the
lower self, the physical body, the invisible bodies, the soul and the
spirit.

Catkind:
Or is this Path something that is only defined as an accumulation of all
these myths? I'd have thought it's not much use to have a John the
Baptist-parallel in HP if you don't already have a JtB-parallel in the Path
of Liberation. It would probably offend the Christians present less if we
skip the Christianity/Path analogies and go straight to the Path/HP ones. In
any case, if you want to show that HP is inspired by the Path and not by,
say, Christianity, you'd have to find places where the Path matches Harry
Potter /better/ than it matches Christianity or other traditions.  This is
never going to work if the parallels are drawn through Christianity.

Hans:
If I compared Harry Potter to the Path of Liberation without referring to
other parallels you wouldnt believe me. Youd say I was making it up as I
go along. Thats what I think youll say, anyway. It is precisely by
pointing out the Path as taught in other, well known literature, such as the
Bible, that I can prove Im not making it up as I go along. Im still making
discoveries every day and these are consistent with what Ive said before,
but also with the Bible etc.

Yes it would make it much simpler if I compared Harry Potter only to, say
The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross. However my point of view is
that Liberation is an alchemical process that takes place according to
natural laws which are just as universal and inexorable as, say, the law of
gravity or the law of the three states of matter. These laws are not written
laws but are inherent in the very atoms and forces God has created. As you
know, we can study these laws and write books about them, but they
themselves are not written. 

Just as scientists study natural laws by means of empirical science, so
people can study the spiritual laws by means of spiritual science. Tom
Harpur writes that God has planted the story of liberation as an archetype
in the subconscious mind of every human being. If anyone raises his/her mind
to great spiritual heights they can transfer this archetype to the conscious
mind and read it, so to speak. This is why the story of liberation can be
found in every nation in every age.

Throughout the millennia, or so I believe, people have studied the laws of
alchemical liberation and have taught them to others either orally or in
writing. It is essential, I believe, to point out to you that Harry Potter
is one of many attempts to teach liberation. I am trying to emphasise the
universality of Harry Potter. This is because I dont believe Jo is basing
Harry Potter on any particular book, but on the natural laws themselves,
while at the same time referring to the teachings of others. In my essay I
point out that I believe Harry potter is part of a movement leading towards
a universal world religion which teaches the birth of the inner Christ in
all seekers. I believe people like Tom Harpur are also helping this
movement. There are others as well, such as Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy.

Why use so many Christian analogies? I believe the Brotherhood of the
Masters of Compassion (my nomenclature) has given the Christian gospels to
humanity as a road-map to liberation. They were given to all of humanity and
do not belong to any particular group. The gospels are wonderful guide books
to the divine laws of alchemy if you dont take them literally. They were
always meant to be understood symbolically, as applying to the Inner Christ.
However in its bid for dominance the early church imposed a literal
interpretation on them. Instead of people being allowed to use them to give
birth to their inner Christ the church imposed the teachings of the birth of
Christ as a solely historical event. They nailed the teachings of liberation
to the calendar. The church said you had to belong to the only church of God
or your soul would be in jeopardy etc. The Inquisition wasnt called that
yet in those days.

Just a short quote from the back cover of Jesus and the Goddess by Freke
and Gandy:

Why were the secret teachings of the original Christians brutally
suppressed by the Roman Church?
[]
Because they show that the gospel story is a spiritual allegory encoding a
profound philosophy that leads to Gnosis  mystical enlightenment.

Because they undermine all external authority by directly revealing the
Christ within.

Because they have the power to turn the world inside-out and transform life
into an exploration of consciousness.

What Im saying is that the teachings in the gospels were in fact taken by
the early church and made out to be their sole property. I deny ownership of
the gospels and I feel I can and should compare Harry Potter to the gospels
as well as the Alchemical Wedding or whatever else I can see parallels with.

And Im saying the above three reasons could equally be applied to Harry
Potter. Take out the word they and substitute Harry Potter.

Why are many evangelical or fundamental Christians (Abanes etc.) so opposed
to Harry Potter? Because, to paraphrase Freke & Gandy: "Harry Potter
undermines all external authority by directly revealing the Christ within."
Why else do you think Jo makes Harry have such a tendency to break rules? 

Catkind:
Then another question:  Why get so excited about it all?  If as Hans says
the Path has analogies in all these many myths/ religions, and then
presumably in all the other stories which are inspired by said
myths/religions, then yet another series with the same analogies is hardly
something to write home about. New religions get started when there is a new
message, not when the same old message is repeated in a new medium.  

Hans:
Why get so excited? Because Liberation is the most wonderful, ecstatic and
rapturous thing there is. There is nothing more glorious, blissful or
heavenly than that. When Gods Son wakes up in your heart you have God
inside you! He (gradually) lifts you above all worries, all suffering, all
anguish. To have God wake up inside your heart is like having a spiritual
orgasm, so intense, so heart-warming, so pure, there are no words to
describe it. Every day you feel the Inner Christ growing in strength and
power, in beauty, in radiant spirituality. And every day you experience a
greater compassion for humanity, and for human beings who do not understand
they have a Lily in their heart which can give birth to Harry.

Why get so excited? I cant STOP myself getting more excited about Harry
Potter every day! The story of liberation is the most beautiful story there
is. Harry Potter tells this story; thats why so many millions of people
love it. They are subconsciously touched by its power. 

Harry Potter is both a new religion and an old one. Its old in the sense
that its the timeless teachings of liberation. Its new in the sense that
millions of people are absorbing it in a new way unconsciously. At some time
in the future, when the Path of Liberation is taught overtly, with less
symbolism, it will be a very short jump indeed for people to make the
connection from Harry Potter to liberation. 

Why get so excited? Are you kidding? The rapture that hits you when the
Inner God is born is so exciting, so wonderful and so loving that it just
wants to share itself with others. The Love of the God within is not for
keeping for oneself. Its essence, its purpose, is to give itself away. Read
1 Corinthians 13.

Why get so excited? In this prison of suffering, with hundreds of millions
of people living in grinding poverty, with all the terrorism, slaughter,
drug abuse, human slavery, hunger, cancer, child pornography, you name it,
there is a solution! That is the way hidden in Harry Potter, the way of
alchemical transformation leading to total liberation from all those things
and more.

Why get to excited? To paraphrase Freke and Gandy again: Because Harry
Potter has the power to turn the world inside-out and transform life into an
exploration of consciousness.

Why do I compare Harry Potter to the gospel so often? Freke and Gandy:
Because Harry Potter shows that the gospel story is a spiritual allegory
encoding a profound philosophy that leads to Gnosis  mystical
enlightenment.

-o0o-

I want to finish this post by going back to a post I made shortly after the
birth of David, Jos son. I said there that David is the Old Testament
version of Harry Potter and so it was a joke on Jos part to say David had
nothing to do with Harry Potter. Do you remember that? I quoted Revelation
22:16: I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.
I mentioned that this referred to Sirius. I was immediately howled down by
people who told me that Venus is the morning star. 

A strange coincidence happened a month or two ago when a friend gave me Tom
Harpurs book to look at. I opened it at random and this happened to be page
83. I couldnt believe my eyes. 

Like the star in the east of the gospels, Sirius, the morning star in
Egypt, heralded the birth of Horus.

That gave me goose bumps! When Harry was born, Sirius was made his
God-Father, a very crafty way of saying the same thing.

The next thing I saw on the same page was:

Horus was transfigured on a mountain; Jesus took Peter, James and John into
a high mountain and was transfigured before them.

Who were Sirius friends in Harry Potter? Peter Pettigrew, James Potter and
Remus JOHN Lupin. When I mentioned this to this group last time I was again
howled down by shouts of coincidence! I want to thank sincerely the member
of this group who first alerted us to this fact, as it wasnt I.

I thumbed randomly through The Pagan Christ again and saw this on page 69:

He (God) is the primeval Potter who turned men and gods into being out of
his hands.

There we have it. Horus Potter  the ancient Egyptian mythical hero who was
turned up again thousands of years later as Harry Potter. 

Thanks Jo.


"if I talk too freely about [if I believe in God] I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books." JK Rowling

_____________________________________

Hans Andra 
see you at Harry Potter for Seekers 
http://www.harrypotterforseekers.com


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