Phoenix fire?

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 154180

Tonks:

> When I think of Slytherin I think of shrewdness, cleverness, 
> cunning. (DD had some of that. And so does Harry. Remember he 
> reconized "a master at work" when he was watching Tom in the 
> pensive.) So yes, Slytherin's are out for themselves, but I 
> thing the key to Slytherin house is more along the line of 
> being "wise as serpents".

houyhnhnm:

First I want to digress a bit.  While belief that there are 
only four elements (one of which is not even a *state* of 
matter) or that human physiology is controlled by four 
corresponding humours, may seem quaint to us today, I think 
the ancient Greeks really did recognize a valid pattern in 
nature when they came up with the belief that the manifest 
universe was made up of fire, air, earth, and water.  What 
they were recognizing was the four states of matter (gas, 
solid, and liquid) plus energy.

And while the idea that the position of the planets determines 
a person's nature may be an antiquated superstitious notion, 
the idea of four basic personality types is not.  just google 
"Myers-Briggs".

We have a more sophisticated understanding of the workings 
of the natural world today.  But the mythic truth embodied 
in these ancient beliefs still holds true--that "it takes 
all kinds".

I take Rowling at her word when she says, "Harmony is the 
word."  And I take her at her word when she says, "Gryffindor 
is fire, Ravenclaw is air, Hufflepuff is earth, and Slytherin is 
water."

The question then for me is, since she has said straight 
out (black letter cannon) that the four houses correspond 
to fire, earth, air, and water, and since she has given us 
respresentations of three of the houses that tally so well 
with the traditional meanings associated with those elements, 
why is it that the fourth house doesn't fit?

I, too, think of shrewdness, cleverness, cunning, and being 
out for themselves when I think of Slytherins.  That is all 
we have seen of them so far.  But that is not the whole 
picture if you are talking about the characteristics of 
water. Where is the sensitivity?  Where is the emotional 
depth that is also supposed to be associated with water?  
Did Rowling just get tired of the conceit when it came to 
delineating the qualities of Slytherin House, or did she 
leave those positive traits out on purpose?

Perhaps it is that Slytherin House is the most alienated, 
the most dis-eased of the four houses because Slytherin was 
the one who broke away from the other three founders.  
Perhaps only in uniting with the other three houses will 
Slytherin again become whole and able to express the positive 
side of its nature.

That's why I have been wondering if part of Fawkes' purpose 
in the story is to show what Slytherin is capapble of if 
only it can become healed and whole again.  I am hoping that 
this is what we will see in book 7 (although I think we have 
seen a little of the positive side of Slytherin--protectiveness 
and healing--in Snape, already).

Tonks:

> I am not an alchemist, maybe the alchemist among us can 
> help with this one. What would you get if you mixed these 
> four elements together?
 
> And what would you get if you mixed water, earth, air, 
> fire, and a Lion, Eagle, Badger, and Snake??  Or the colors 
> of these.  Do the colors correspond to anything in chemistry 
> or alchemy?
   
> What would a Lion, an Eagle, a Badger, and a Snape be able 
> to DO if  they were an army working together??  How would 
> that look?

houyhnhnm:

Well, I believe that this is really the opposite direction 
to the way I was thinking.  It is not the symbols that are 
important, but what they stand for.  Not what would happen 
if you combined fire, earth, air, and water, but what would 
happen if you combined courage with discetion, intrepidity with 
sensitivity, idealism with practicality.