Tammy’s Reviews > The Horse and His Boy > Status Update

There are twice as many flies. Where do flies fly? In the air! He hears a horn (hunting) and the sound of a horn travels in the hair and he hears a merry call. More air. He sees King Lune who thinks he is Corin. Shasta pants (for air) as he shares the news. King Lune sees truth in his face and Lord Darrin sees noble blood in the boy (Perdita vibes). Ahhh. “the air in his face was delicious.” He got back his breath!

Aravis is forced to be prostrate on a low bed, a posture of humility and worship. She has ten scratches (oooo). Separation is air and, at the end of the chapter, the hermit, who reminds me of Gandalf, but wearing Radagast’s clothes, predicts clouds and thick fogs (AIR). Bree and Aravis have a pity party, but the hermit gives them both sound advice.

Ch. 12 Shasta is running so he’s using up a lot of AIR.

If HP is a ring cycle following literary alchemy logic, then could it be HP1 red/fire/calcination, HP2 white/water/dissolution, HP3 black/air/separation. Is HP4 gold (all elements) followed by HP5 black, HP6 white, HP7 red?

Since the horses are winded and Aravis wounded, Shasta must be Pheidippides. This reminds me of Gimli/Aragorn/Legolas running in T2T. He has to show more courage in his flight.

Separation is the pure essence being extracted from the solution. What is the pure essence for Shasta? I think it is courage. Every step of the way this untrained slave showed courage beyond what those who are trained could do. A lot of his thinking is fear-based. What is the pure essence for Aravis? Beneath her pride is compassion. She showed concern for others, regardless of their status.

Aravis is proud. No doubt about it. At first she wouldn’t even talk to Shasta. She looks down on him and even though they are always quarreling because she thinks she is better than he is. I can imagine the lion scene could be a turning point for her, too. The whole journey has reveal how lacking she is while she sees Shasta rise above what is expected of a slave.

Shasta is always afraid and he doesn’t trust people. He doesn’t like being the butt of jokes but he stays quiet. He couldn’t tell the Narnians that he was not Corin because he was afraid of getting killed. He doesn’t like telling Bree to push hard because he has his slave mentality. The first time where he really does something out of his characteristic desire to play it safe is when he stands up to the lion.

Working through the HP webinar. Calcination goes with fire--the burning hot desert would be it because fire is hot/dry. Dissolution goes with water and that’s probably crossing the Winding Arrow River. Separation is air. I’m still thinking through that. This is where the pure thing is extracted from the water. Spiritually that is when the person learns to separate from emotional triggers or habitual thinking.

On dissolution, there’s three important moments with water so far. The horses swim to escape the lion which forces them to meet. They are sustained by water at the lowest moment in the gorge when they have driven themselves to the point of exhaustion and there is nothing left. They have to cross water to reach Archenland. That is when they have put the ashes of their lives behind them completely.

Calcination is a complete break from one’s identity. Shasta and Aravis were beat up by the world BUT alchemy cannot begin until they break away from their past. The old identity has to be burnt to ashes. And after that they have to learn a greater goal. It turns out they need to save Archenland in order to save Narnia. Aravis gives up a lot because of her status and material wealth. Shasts puts his life on the line.

Archenland is pronounced Arkenland on the audio recording. Noah (whose name means rest) built the ark. The hermit has an art of knowing things and healing and he is wearing autum colors. He fits into the wild man image, and because he is in tune with nature (like St. Francis of Assissi), he can be trusted. BUT then I thought this sounds a lot like the Wood between the Worlds. That’s when my head exploded.