Phi and the mechanics of possession

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 142505

(Reposted with typos corrected and unclear sentences reworded)

Valky wrote:
> As much as you'd probably like me to avoid it Carol, this might take
some Maths. <beg>
>
<Carol snips elaborate theories involving the Golden Mean, Phi, and
an endless knot (see, I did read it!)>

Carol responds:
Hi, Valky. I'm sure that you intended this explanation to be helpful,
but I'm afraid that my mind doesn't work in the same way as yours and
so it doesn't really help me to grasp the concept. I do think there's
a precedent in legend and mythology for physical possession and that
demons (the agents of possession) were perceived as physical beings,
and I can see Voldie in this light in both the MoM battle and the
Nagini sequences. (The "creature" metaphor seems to suggest an
affinity with Nagini, if not a shared nature; it's as if Harry is
possessed by Nagini!mort.) However, I'm inclined to think that Harry's
(hypothetical) possession of Voldemort in Book 7 would involve only
spirit (or consciousness, if you prefer), so that when he leaves the
Veiled archway using Sirius's body (as we've previously postulated),
he could reinhabit his own body (which he would have left behind when
he possessed Voldemort before entering the archway).

I think the key word in the possession scene in OoP is not "coil" but
"creature," the same word that Neri associates with Harry the Horcrux.
"In essence divided," as I said in another post, seems to refer to
Voldemort/Nagini rather than Voldemort. Or at least that's how I, in
my mathematically challenged way, read the scene.

Carol, who does at least see the parallels you've made with Orpheus
and the Labors of Hercules but doesn't require them for the sorts of
interpretation that she's most interested in