Tammy’s Reviews > Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader > Status Update

Harry will integrate opposites of male and female energies. He will not follow the literal steps. In HP5, nigredo was the blistering hot drought. In HP7, the hot dry may be about the golden dawn and promise of a new day. It will also be the red-hot action of battle with Voldemort. He gives a long list of images. Granger thinks it will be red king, red lion, orphan, Phoenix, and quintessence.

Alchemy is not perfection of the soul. It is a return to Eden so that the Spirit can manifest God's peace, stillness, and love. Harry must resolve contraries and manifest love in the face of Voldemort's hate. White turns silver in the lunar stage and turns red in producing hold. Change that has been ongoing unseen will be revealed like Aslan's deeper magic. Harry will cross boundaries and bridge groups.

After a brief summary of literary alchemy and HP5 (black, death of Sirius Black) and HP6 (white, death of Dumbledore), he lists three characteristics of the red (HP7, possibly Rubeus Hagrid's book): contraries revealed and resolved, chemical wedding, and philosopher's stone made. He quotes Burckhardt. Literary alchemy depicts the Spirit's movement down from God, toward God. and expansion.

Harry paired against Snape like the pairing with his dad. This disharmony will have to be resolved. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejuduce is a huge influence. Harry has been prejudiced against Slytherin since day one. He is also proud of being Gryffindor. For peace to happen, we must drop judgment and practice discernment with love. Austen was reacting to David Hume.

The fountain shows disordered relationships between wizards/witches and elves, goblins, and centaurs. Dumbledore destroys it in battling Voldemort, a step in restoring harmony. The centaurs' tribute at his funeral are a hopeful sign. On to twins, Tom's first name means twin! Genius! Not only are their pairs, but they are in opposition to each other and must be resolved.

Dumbledore pleads to Draco, and I wonder if he did the same thing with Snape. He passes the baton to Harry to find the four horcruxes and may make him the quintessence to unite the four houses. He is the one uniquely qualified to do so. He has had seven cycles of purification. He is the heir of Gryffindor, and the scar makes him the heir of Slytherin. He must unite the four brethren.

There is a trio of fours (houses, magical brethren, horcruxes). Harry reads "Quintessence: A Quest" for his charms class in HP6. The tension between Mrs. Weasley and Fleur (Phlegm) is a classic pairing of contraries. JKR confirms my chart (yeah). She goes back to discord versus harmony between the houses. Dumbledore as headmaster is the image of this. The sorting hat's song in HP5 illustrates the need for harmony.

The process of separation and union or distillation and conversion over several cycles transforms the square into a circle (fifth element, ether). It was thought of as a turning wheel. In story (Stan Lee's Fantastic Four), the villain sows discord and lack of harmony is disastrous. Resolving conflict between the opposition allows them to triumph over the villians.

Now for Harry Potter, Slytherin and Gryffindor are contrary to one another which explains the animosity between the two. It is why Snape being who he is and Harry being who he is so important to the overall story over seven books. The quintessence is the fifth element, ether, which is the element that heaven is made of. It is a spiritual element as opposed to the four material elements.