Hogwarts and Dante’s Nine Spheres of Paradiso

This is my latest art project and it is still work in process. For it I was inspired by Dante’s Paradise in his Divine Comedy and JKR’s Hogwarts from her Harry Potter series.

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 Ascent to Paradise

Beatrice had fixed her eyes

upon the eternal wheels and I now fixed

my sight on her, withdrawing it from above.

as I gazed on her, I was changed within,

as Glaucus was on tasting of the grass

that made him consort of the gods in the sea.

To soar beyond the human cannot be described

in words. Let the example be enough to one

for whom grace holds this experience in store.

Dante Alighieri: Divine Comedy (Paradiso 1.64 – 72)

 

Dante and his guide Beatrice start their journey through Paradise in the terrestrial Paradise atop the mountain of Purgatory. They fly upwards as Dante stares into Beatrice’s eyes, which in turn gaze at the sun.

 

The word Paradise derives from the Old Persian phrase pairi-daeza and means a place that is “around-walled”. J. Gallagher states in his commentary A Modern Readers Guide to the Divine Comedy: “In Dante’s usage, it is a divine or heavenly place that is fortified on all sides against the invasion of evil or unhappiness.”

 

What better image for such a “walled-around” place could be found than a medieval castle with its thick walls, high watchtowers and that is also known as a ‘stronghold of ancient magic’? What better picture can be made up than a building that can only be seen by those few with the ability to do magic and that would never have come into existence without the same talent? What better place is where than JK Rowling’s Hogwarts? Hogwarts and Dante’s Paradiso have many similarities.

 

And so it is not astonishing, that eyes are prominent in both works. While Dante travels to paradise while looking into the eyes of his first and deepest love, a love he was never to live, Harry is recognised by his eyes that are so similar to that of his mother, who died because she loved him dearly.

 

Harry’s/ Lily’s eyes accompany us on our trip to Hogwarts/ Paradise. And still, the eye shines in the picture rather like a black sun. It reminds us that Paradise is fragile and nobody living there is a one-dimensional, all-good, all-saint creature – the world isn’t split in good people and Death Eaters. We all have our Shadow that escorts us like an uninvited guest who came to stay. He escorts us even to Paradise.

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The Moon Sphere

The eternal pearl received us in itself,

as water does a ray of light

and yet remains unsundered and serene.

Paradiso, Canto II Lines 34 – 36

 

“Quickly as a bolt strikes, flies and releases from its catch” Dante enters the celestial kingdom with Beatrice. The poet is in lose of words to describe this experience. He retreats into the mythical realm when he compares his transformation during his ascent with that of the fisherman Glaucus who turns unexpectedly into a god by eating some weed he found at the shore. Plus, he invents the word ‘trasumanar’ – to transhumanize, to pass beyond the human.

 

‘To pass beyond the human’ means for Dante to get closer to the divine. In terms of Jung, Dante speaks of an ongoing process of individuation. The step from profane ego-orientated life to a more spiritual, immortal reality cannot be taken without the conquest of the instinctual side for the conscious. For a moment the seeker can’t clutch to outworn ideas and conventional patterns anymore. He looses contact with every aspect of the human self and sinks down to the level of the animal kingdom.

 

My transformations in those days were — were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

 

Remus Lupin experiences the ‘loss of soul’, as primitive cultures call it, every full moon. Painfully, he turns into a monster without any trace of human awareness. For the year he worked at Hogwarts the Wolfsbane Potion, Professor Snape prepared for him, controlled the worst effects and made him keep his mind.

 

Yet, individuation is a very personal process and can’t be spurred on from outside. The monster that devours the conscious and holds it captive must be overcome. And traditionally, it can’t be killed. The seeker must find over ways to integrate his instinctual side. Hence, Remus Lupin had still a distance to travel for success. So, it was only consequent that his Boggart remained the Moon.

 

However, the Moon – first of the planets Dante visits in Paradise – can also be Lupin’s rescue.

 

‘I shall now reshape your intellect,

thus deprived, with a light so vibrant

that your mind will quiver at the sight.

Paradiso, Canto II lines 109 – 111

 

In the darkness of the soul’s night one’s intellect, the male Logos is no use. Or, echoing Aristotle Beatrice explains Dante that experience and man-made categories are perfect for human science, yet it needs another approach to understand what God and man is. 

 

Moon represents Nature. And with its inconsistent appearance it seems to be chaotic. Yet it has its own kind of order. Once our eyes grow accustomed to the Moon’s pale glow, the usual boundaries become blurred and we discover a new world with our instinctual side.

 

Remus Lupin’s new world answers to the name of Nymphadora Tonks. Her appearance is as changeable as the Moon’s shape. More often than not however, she glows with bubblegum pink hair and in a punky-funky outfit. As the Moon’s essence is reflection, she reflects Lupin’s mischief maker side he lived with the Marauders.

 

With that she stands in one row with his friends James, Sirius and Peter. If it was not for a woman’s secret power and her magic, Lupin’s life might have gone on like. Yet, Tonks became – what the full moon symbolises – a mother.

 

Male logic told Lupin to flee:

 

‘I – I made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgement and I have regretted it very much ever since.’

 

‘I see,’ said Harry, ‘so you’re just going to dump her and the kid and run off with us?’

 

Lupin sprang to his feet: his chair toppled over backwards, and he glared at them so fiercely that Harry saw, for the first time ever, the shadow of the wolf upon his human face.

 

‘Don’t you understand what I’ve done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I’ve made her an outcast!’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 11: The Bribe

 

Had he done so, he had broken a vow – his marriage vow. Done for a greater good he would have been the perfect Moon dweller as the Moon is for those of the saints who failed to keep a vow. They were in their life as inconstant as the light o the Moon so to say.

 

‘You want to know if a vow left unfulfilled

may be redeemed by some exchange

that then secures the soul from challenge.’

Paradiso, Canto 5 Lines 13 – 15

 

Dante’s question doesn’t stay unanswered. Beatrice explains that God’s greatest gift to mankind is a free will. A vow is a sacrifice of this freedom in benefit of somebody else’s good or the greater good. If one doesn’t keep to one’s word, one takes the freedom back and is therefore possessing an ill-gotten gift. That means one has to remain faithful to one’s vows unless it was a sinful vow from the beginning. Hence, a vow stays a vow. Yet, the substance of a vow can be changed if a greater sacrifice replaces the earlier one.

 

Lupin, of course, offered a greater sacrifice, he thought:

 

‘I thought you’d say that,’ said Lupin, looking disappointed. ‘But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to.’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 11: The Bribe

 

He offered in the consequence his life for the protection of the only hope of wizardkind and therefore for the greater good. Yet, his offer to vow himself to Harry was declined by him. What he took first not very good to say the least, was his rescue. He didn’t need to break his marriage vow and still was rescued by the Moon:

 

‘Yes, yes, she’s had the baby!’ shouted Lupin. All around the table came cries of delight, sighs of relief: Hermione and Fleur both squealed, ‘Congratulations!’ and Ron said, ‘Blimey, a baby!’ as if he had never heard of such a thing before.

 

‘Yes – yes – a boy,’ said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness. He strode round the table and hugged Harry; the scene in the basement of Grimmauld Place might never have happened.

 

‘You’ll be godfather?’ he said, as he released Harry.

 

‘M – me?’ stammered Harry.

 

‘You, yes, of course – Dora quite agrees, no one better –‘

 

‘I – yeah – blimey –‘

 

Harry felt overwhelmed, astonished, delighted: now Bill was hurrying to fetch wine and Fleur was persuading Lupin to join them for a drink.

 

‘I can’t stay long, I must get back,’ said Lupin, beaming around at them all: he looked years younger than Harry had ever seen him. ‘Thank you, thank you, Bill.’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 25: Shell Cottage

 

In the end, when Lupin had accepted with Tonks’ help that the basic stability behind all life and his inner indestructible essence has to be given to the next generation, his days became brighter. I bet his Boggart changed too and he was able to say as Picarda said in Paradiso, Canto 3 Lines 64 – 72:

 

‘But tell me, do you, who are here content,

desire to achieve a higher place, where you

might see still more and make yourselves more dear?’

Along with the other shades, she smiled,

then answered me with so much gladness

she seemed alight with love’s first fire:

‘Brother, the power of love subdues our will

so that we long for only what we have

and thirst for nothing else.

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The Mercury Sphere

‘This little star is ornamented

with righteous spirits, whose those deeds were done

for the honor and the glory that would follow.

When such errant desires arise down there,

then the rays of the one true love

must rise with less intensity.

‘But noting how our merit equals our reward

Is part of our happiness,

Because we see them neither less nor more.

‘So much does living justice sweeten our affection

we cannot ever then take on

the wrap of wickedness.

Paradiso, Canto 6 Lines 112 – 123

 

On the smallest planet of our solar system that is often obscured by the sun Dante meets Justinian. Born a peasant and adopted by his uncle Justin, who was imperial guard by this time, he later rose to became Eastern Roman Emperor and one of the most important figures of late antiquity. In his lifetime he thought he was inspired by God to undertake a “high task”, the monumental codification of Roman Law (Corpus Iuris Civilis).

 

His spirit explains to Dante that all the souls on Mercury – and here he includes himself explicitly – were spurred on by hunger for earthly honor and fame when performing their virtuous deeds. Yet, the lucky fate of association with this small and often outshone planet gave them insight and allows them to rejoice in this inferior level of Paradiso.

 

In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met Fred, George and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on ‘Dr Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks’, and in a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, wonky brass scales and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.

 

‘A study of Hogwarts Prefects and their later careers,’ Ron read aloud off the back cover. ‘That sounds fascinating …’

 

‘Go away,’ Percy snapped.

 

‘Course, he’s very ambitious, Percy, he’s got it all planned out … he wants to be Minister of Magic …’ Ron told Harry and Hermione in an undertone, as they left Percy to it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts

 

I am not sure if we can speak of virtuous deeds when it comes to Percy. We can perhaps count his 12 OWLs and becoming Head Boy. But in his following career he rather became a political football of higher powers until his glorious moment of return for the final battle at Hogwarts.

 

And still, Percy like Justinian is very ambitious as his brother Ron puts it. This makes Percy the candidate for Mercury of course. In this essay I will explore where to find the roots for Percy’s hunger for fame.

 

Percy is not alone driven by the wish not to drown in the stream of faceless mass but to stand out and be recognized. And here I am not looking very far but stay in the family:

 

Bill, constantly unconventionally dressed in ponytail and snake-tooth-earring for his job with a bank, was once attracted by this job description:

 

Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? When consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad…

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 29: Careers Advice

 

Charlie was Quidditch captain and legendary seeker of the Gryffindors before Harry. After school he decided to make his name in the dangerous dragon breeding business as Dragon Keeper.

 

Fred and George?

 

At the front on the group stood Mr and Mrs Weasley , dressed in their Muggle best, and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand new jackets in some lurid green, scaly material.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 38: The Second War Begins

 

You bet they too are out for fame and singularity. With a funny remark on their lips they feel best when all eyes are on them. Their need to be the center of attention is obvious.

 

Ron gave himself away when he looked into the Mirror of Erised in his first year at Hogwarts already.

 

‘Can you see all your family standing around you?’

 

‘No – I’m alone – but I’m different – I look older – and I’m Head Boy!’

 

‘What?’

‘I am – I am wearing the badge like Bill used to – and I’m holding the House Cup and Quidditch Cup – I’m Quidditch Captain too!’

 

<snip>

 

‘It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them.’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised

 

And little Ginny choose unerringly the most popular and most well-known person in the wizarding world of all England for her future ‘significant other’.

 

Looking at this list we can retain that all the Weasley children have the same urge to the limelight in them, it just shows differently. Therefore, this behavior must root in their upbringing. That makes me think of anxiety in terms of attachment theory.

 

By focusing on effects of the familial environment during one’s formative years, attachment theory provides a descriptive and explanatory framework for discussion of interpersonal relationships between human beings. Research, pioneered by John Bowlby and continued by of Mary Ainsworth and many others, shows that:

-         different people develop different attachment styles

-         we distinguish four attachment styles, namely secure, anxious, avoidant and disorganized/ disorientated

-         the attitude to attachment of the prime caregiver(s) mainly influences the attachment style of the child

-         the framework of ideas and feelings that establish the individual’s expectations about relationships, the behavior toward oneself, and the behavior appropriate for one to show others (internal working model) continues to develop and become more complex with age, yet basically the primary relationship determines the social behavior in adulthood.

 

Children are attributed an anxious attachment style once they show signs of stress already before the attachment figure leaves them. They fear an unknown situation even before it arises. They react like that because their caregiver is inconsistent in his/her care-giving. The constant change between supporting, sensitive, loving care and repellent, absent, distracted or simply unobserving behavior leads to a constant alert of the child.

 

I don’t want to deny Molly or Arthur their love for every single one of their children. They care for and guard them at least as good as the mother dragons guarded their golden eggs in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. However, they are challenged with their seven kids, something even 11-year-old Ron notices:

 

‘You don’t want this, it’s all dry,’ said Ron. ‘She hasn’t got much time,’ he added quickly, ‘you know, with the five of us.’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 6: The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

 

Arthur spends every moment of spare time with his family. But these times are rare as he is the one who needs to bring home the money to feed all nine. Plus, he lives in the constant dilemma that his job is it to prevent wizards from enchanting Muggle things what he loves to do himself.

 

Molly is occupied running the house (with next to no money) and keeping all her kids healthy and unhurt. Later on she even takes over the task of running the Headquarter of the Order. So, it happens that she prepares lunch packs for all but forgets that Ron doesn’t eat Corned Beef or that she knits them Christmas sweaters and buys new clothes but forgets that Ron hates Maroon.

 

Their children can be sure of their attention once they try to excel on their tasks and duties. Percy gets Hermes and a new set of robes for becoming Prefect. For the same thing Ron is awarded a new broomstick and a party. It’s nice for the moment but it doesn’t speak for quality time spent with the children and it puts all children under pressure to perform. Again, this is something eleven-year-old Ron already realizes:

‘Five,’ said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. ‘I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I’ve got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was Captain of Quidditch. Now Percy’s a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they’re really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first.’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 6: The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

 

In the long run, due to this lack of security in attachment and the lack of quality time, an anxious attachment style results in a child with low self esteem, a constant fear of rejection and an extreme need for closeness. But the central trait of such a person is a need for attention and a jealous tendency. And here we are: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred & George, Ron and Ginny – textbook examples of anxious individuals on their unique paths to fame, honor and attention. But Percy and all, I am so with you. If I am ever granted access to Paradise – and I much doubt it – I will join you on Mercury.

 

Apropos Mercury, Justinian said that his existence on this planet has taught him if nothing else so one thing – that fame isn’t everything. Now I showed all along how similar the Weasley kids are in their desire. Yet, one thing made Percy of all the Weasleys so fit for the Mercury picture. It is not that he was involved in law and codifying like Justitian (alone). Percy gave up his high ranking position in the establishment in the end:

 

‘Hello, Minister!’ bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand  and crawled at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. ‘Did I mention I’m resigning?’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts

 

for something higher – his family, friends and the love of them. That sounds much like the message Justinian and the other spirits of Mercury have learnt too.

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Venus Sphere

To its own cost, there was a time the world believed

that the fair Cyprian beamed rays of maddened love,

revolving in the wheel of the third epicycle,

Paradiso, Canto 8 lines 1 – 3

 

Venus, or in the Greek mythology equivalent Aphrodite, is the classical goddess of love, lust, beauty and sexual reproduction. In reference to her place of birth she is also called the Cyprian. She is directly mentioned in the opening words of the 8^th Canto of Paradise. These lines allude to the many stories that entwine around Venus’s entanglements with Paris, Eros and Adonis. They are the basis for the popular believe that the star named after her radiates insane love.

 

Was it this insane love that animated Professor Severus Snape? This riddle stays to be solved – perhaps – in the following. Yet, it is clear from our perspective now that Snape’s love for Harry Potter’s mother Lily became the driving force in his life.

 

‘But this is touching, Severus,’ said Dumbledore seriously. ‘Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?’

 

‘For him?’ shouted Snape. ‘Expecto patronum!’

 

From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: she landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.

 

‘After all this time?’

 

‘Always,’ said Snape.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,  Chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale

 

After reading this I don’t think I exaggerate once I say whatever good Snape did in his life he did it out of love. This puts him in one row with the other inhabitants of Dante’s Venus Sphere who exist there for all eternity because they did good out of love.

 

But let’s return to the question of rays radiated by Venus onto the Potion Master. How did he become the one who did everything out of love?

 

One of the earliest memories we ever get to see of the young Professor Snape is that of a devastated child watching his abusive father terrorizing his helpless mother. Even a child in his situation has to forge close links with his parents. Yet, such a child can’t develop consistent attachment strategies to find comfort and protection – the father is trigger of the fear and creates thereby a dilemma without back door for the boy, the mother transfuses her anxiety.

 

The child experiences the world therefore as a constant lieu of threat; the horror of it mirrored in the attachment figures. (disorganised/ disorientated attachment style). For a child like that it is hard to develop an identity of one own as his focus is not on his emotions and motivations but he has constantly to judge the emotional state of the parents/ mother. It has been shown that these children become adults who overvalue relationships but are burdened with an insecure attachment style. This is proven right for Snape by this scene:

 

Snape staggered – his wand flew upwards, away from Harry – and suddenly Harry’s mind was teeming with memories that were not his: a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner … a greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wands at the ceiling, shooting down flies … a girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick –

 

‘ENOUGH!’

 

Harry felt as through he had been pushed hard in the chest; he staggered several steps backwards, hit some of the shelves covering Snape’s walls and heard something crack. Snape was shaking slightly, and was very white in the face.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 26: Seen and Unforseen

 

It seems even as an adult Snape is flashingly flooded by dark memories of the childhood. Why else would Harry have access to these memories first when he breaks surprisingly into Snape’s brain? And Snape’s vegetative reactions show that the memories are still a permanent strain for him. From that we can conclude that he hasn’t coped with problems and difficulties arising of his shaken relationship with his attachment figures. That means he is still in a state of dependency to his parents/ mother (mother because she is usually the first and foremost attachment figure).

 

Yet, from all we can read we can conduct that his mother isn’t and wasn’t available for him. So, if he is still entangled with her he is rather entangled with the archetype of the mother. The archetype of the mother is a rather abstract principle that is usually projected on a certain person. If no real character is available we tend to transform it into a mythological ‘fairy tale character’. Jung is of the opinion that a person who’s mother can’t live up to the expectations, often spends his life finding comfort by identifying with the motherland, the church or other abstract entities.

 

And here Lily and his engagement with Voldemort and his Death Eaters come into play.

 

‘You are,’ said Snape to Lily. ‘You are a witch. I’ve been watching you for a while. But there’s nothing wrong with that. My mum’s one, and I’m a wizard.’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale

 

First, Snape develops an interest into Lily, the only other witch available in his surrounding. He even compares her with his mother. Yet soon, it becomes clear that young Lily rather represents another archetypal image, that of the Anima. And Snape withdraws for the mother archetype to the lap of the Death Eaters (with maybe Narcissa Malfoy as the most real mother figure he ever experienced).

 

And here we have set up the traditional triangle of man (Snape), mother (Death Eater Circle) and anima (Lily). The Death Eaters have a hold on him, they are restrictive and demanding like an excessively overprotective mother. And like any such a mother they offer him insufficient room to grow and expand.

 

Lily on the other hand is his soul image – I am a wizard and you are a witch, so we are basically similar. Just that she represents his female side. By exploring her he could be lifted to the greatest heights. However, the anima principle is hidden deeply in the psyche. If one sees the psyche as a big cauldron and the body as the fire beneath it, the anima is very close to the residuum, the unconscious, that shouldn’t be touched.

 

Snape needed ultimately to come to terms with both archetypes on his way to individualisation. When he just leaves one or both of them behind they will follow him all his life, at least psychologically and he will not be able to establish other healthy relationships.

 

Did he come to terms with the Death Eater organisation? Even though his surrounding might not have believed it, internally he had closed that chapter of his life after he had been personally confronted with the dear consequences of his actions. Even though he had to go back and had to deal with the Circle, he did so without the emotional ties he once was entangled in.

 

Did he come to terms with Lily? No. He was never given a chance to speak to her again after the ‘Mudblood’ incident. And then she was suddenly dead, killed under circumstances that were beyond his control in the end. Nevertheless, he mourned her loss for years and years and sailed straight into an obsessive depression. Instead of burning away the illusions and the goddess image he built her a pedestal and made her to his lone light in his darkness.

 

So, the love of Snape for Lily was not insane love radiated from Venus. It was unhealthy in the end as the goddess image he became to love belonged to some spiritual realm. It hindered him to move on in his individualisation, in his alchemical way to wholeness. Yet, I want to believe that with Harry – who made Lily not just a woman but a mother – something in Snape started to move into place. Consciously, he still fought this realisation as the ‘mothers’ in his life were always full of flaws. But unconsciously, the son enabled Snape to move on and still do everything out of love – for Lily and Harry.

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Sun Sphere

I saw many living lights of blinding brightness

make of us a center and of themselves a crown,

their voices sweeter than the radiance of their faces.

 

 

 

Paradiso, Canto 10, Lines 64- 66

 

Namaste – the Indian greeting contains a whole philosophical universe in just one word:

 

Namaste! – I honor the place in you where the universe resides. I honor the place of light, of love, of truth, of peace, and of wisdom in you. I honor the place in you, where, when you are there and I am there, we are but one.

Mahatma Gandhi explaining Albert Einstein the meaning of the greeting Namaste

 

When I read the Cantos of Paradiso dealing with the Sun Sphere I couldn’t but imagine the lights in the circles folding their hands in front of their heart and bowing their head in respect for each other. That might be because the Sun Sphere takes up themes of wisdom and prudence, harmony and reconciliation.

 

Like hours of a clock the lights dance in two circles around Dante and Beatrice. They all have been the greatest teachers of their time. It’s easy to imagine Professor Minerva McGonagall dance with them like she danced with Professor Dumbledore at the Yule Ball.

 

Her dancing partners are an illuster bunch. Amongst others we meet the Dominican philosopher Thomas Aquinas who praises Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order. Francis of Assisi is not quite as McGonagall who can transfigure into her animal shape of a cat. But there are many accounts of Francis interacting with animals like him preaching a sermon to birds and working out a peace treaty between a wolf and the town of Gubbio.

 

To stick with the theme of harmony the Franciscan friar Bonaventura eulogises the founder of the Dominican Order Dominic of Spain. And Bonaventura names not just himself but also his companions in the second circle. Of all those named the biblical prophet Nathan caught my eye most.

 

He showed a lot of backbone when he rebuked King David for his actions, when he told him that it will not be his right to build the temple, and when he made him fulfil his promise of having Salomon take the crown as next king. This is the kind of courage one wants to see in a Gryffindor and one can find in McGonagall when she faced up to Professor Umbridge squarely.

 

Stay on your bench now, reader,

thinking of the joy you have but tasted,

if, well before you tire, you would be happy.

I have set your table. From here on feed yourself,

for my attention now resides

in that matter of which I have become the scribe.

Paradiso, Canto 10, Lines 22 – 27

 

The wisdom of Nathan was legendary. It’s not only that Dante mentions him. G.E. Lessing named the hero in his dramatic poem Nathan, the Wise. Even though this serious comedy is set in the time of a cease fire in 12^th century Jerusalem the parallels in the characters of the prophet Nathan and Lessing’s Nathan are obvious. Both find the courage to speak the truth to the rulers of their time and thereby become their friends.

 

Lessing made Nathan the Wise and Saladin meet over a chess board. It was considerable smaller than McGonagall’s chess-board that protects the Philosopher’s Stone in book one of the Harry Potter series. But the question Sultan Saladin asks to test Nathan’s wisdom is a huge one: Which of the three religions is the true religion?

 

Nathan’s wraps his answer in a fairy tale as he realizes the trap in this question. He tells the Sultan the story of the three rings:

 

One family owns a ring as a family heirloom. The ring has the ability to make the bearer ‘pleasant’ for all people and God when worn in this confidence. The ring is handed down and determines always the best loved son as the next ruler.

 

Now, one father has three sons and he loves all the same. He doesn’t want to single out one as the most loved. Hence, he decides to make two identical copies of the ring. After his death the three sons represented with the three identical rings argue over the succession. The argument is brought before a judge to decide.

 

The judge can’t make out any difference between the rings as they were all perfect copies. But seeing the three brothers and how they argue he speculates that the true ring must have been lost as none of them is very pleasant to be around right in this moment, he suggests that the three brothers should each live in the believe that their ring is the true one and strive to win the love of the people. Whoever will be successful will be the true ring bearer.

 

This parable reminds me not only of the fairy tale of the three Deathly Hallows, it also brings us back to the theme of harmony and humanity prevalent in Dante’s Sun Sphere.

 

‘What have we got today?’ Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.

 

‘Double Potions with the Slytherins,’ said Ron. ‘Snape’s Head of Slytherin house. They say he always favours them – we’ll be able to see if it’s true.’

 

‘Wish McGonagall favoured us,’ said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor house, but it hadn’t stopped her giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 8: The Potion Master

 

No, Harry you wouldn’t wish for that. If she did (and this does not imply that I believe that Snape favours anyone) she wouldn’t be such a good teacher. She tries to teach you something – the value of harmony, knowledge and of a backbone, the values Dante cherishes in the Sun Sphere.  

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Mars Sphere

‘Mars is bright tonight,’ Ronan repeated while Hagrid watched him impatiently. ‘Unusual bright.’

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 15 The Forbidden Forest

 

The word Mars is most likely the Latinised form of the Etruscan god Maris. And until the Roman Empire began to expand aggressively, he was associated with fertility and vegetation, a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries. It is the same mindset that produced the belief that Mars is the legendary father of Rom’s not less legendary founder, Romulus, and therefore is the ancestor of Romans.

 

This theme of ancestry is picked up by Dante by having Cacciaguida speaking to his descendant. And only after Dante asks him for his name he reveals his identity:

 

 O leaf of mine, in whom I pleasure took

 E’en while awaiting, I was thine own root!

 

  Paradiso, Canto 15, Line 88-89

 

Yet, Mars – son of Juno and Jupiter, husband of Bellona and lover of Venus – is mostly known to us today as the Roman warrior god who was worshipped by the Roman legions. Words like ‘martial’ derive from his name as he was said to have not distinguished between camps and his primary interest was in battle and victory.

 

This vision of Mars is not lost in Paradiso. The Mars Sphere is inhabited by those who fought for Christianity, like Cacciaguida. He reports his own death with the words:

 

 There by that execrable race was I

 Released from bonds of the fallacious world,

 The love of which defileth many souls,

 And came from martyrdom unto this peace.

 

  Paradiso, Canto 15 Lines 145 – 148

 

In the Harry Potter series too the third floor of Hogwarts, what would be equivalent to the fifth sphere in Dante’s Paradiso, is packed with attributes of war and competition. Just think of the Trophy Room.

 

Here Ron has to polish Tom Riddle’s medal for Merits for the School in detention in HP and the Chamber of Secrets. It was awarded to Tom, the later Voldemort, for rescuing Hogwarts from Slytherin’s monster. For the same deed Harry and Ron got the same medal after killing the memory of Tom Riddle. You can’t give any better example of blindness of Mars for the camps as long as where is battle and heroism.

 

It is no wonder that the Armour Gallery as well is located on this level. Once, right in the beginning of the school career of Harry’s generation, Neville got so frightened he toppled into Mars’ monuments. (HP and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 9 The Midnight Duel) So to say, he toppled into his role of his life in a time of battle and fear. And in the same way he stumbled into my art series. The Mars Sphere is Neville’s picture.

 

Yet, only in the last volume of the Harry Potter series Neville is able to fulfil his place as a warrior. Before that he had to fulfil another role (and perhaps or most likely he is even in the last book) – that of the Fool.

 

And here I am not playing on Neville’s clumsiness. In HP and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 37 The Lost Prophesy Dumbledore speaks to Harry about the prophesy. And when Harry jumps to the conclusion that the prophesy speaks about him, Dumbledore corrects him:

 

‘The odd thing, Harry,’ he said softly, ‘is that it may not have meant you at all. Sybill’s prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom.’

 

This similarities make him nearly to Harry’s, the hero’s twin. And that is what a courtly fool or jester was believed to be – the king’s twin or alta ego.

 

The jester was the one person at the court who could hold the mirror in front of the king’s face without further punishment. He could speak frankly on controversial issues and voiced words of common sense and honesty. Hence, he is a character of insight and advice to the monarch who is ready to listen.

 

It is exactly that what Neville does. His actions might seem foolish and like that of a coward. Yet, what Harry can learn from Neville:

 

Thou shalt have proof how savoureth of salt

The bread of others, and how hard a road

The going down and up another’s stairs.

 

Paradiso, Canto 17 Lines 58 – 60

 

The other could have easily been you, Harry. Even though you might not want to know it or see it, this clumsy boy – like Shakespeare’s Fool in King Lear – personifies the central core of your psyche, the guiding force that Jung has called the self. Neville helps Harry thereby in his process of individualisation.

 

Neville brings a toad to school. According to Hagrid toads went out of fashion years ago and appearing with one, the others would have made fun of Harry. (HP and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 5 Diagon Alley) We can conclude from that that the toad makes Neville a real fool in the eyes of his classmates. So, it’s not too much of a surprise to learn that the Latin word for toad ‘bufo’ is the root of another name of the fool – Buffoon.

 

What might surprise however is the fact that a toad is one of the symbols used by the alchemists for the Prima Materia. The Prima Materia is the feedstock from that gold is obtained. And one of the principles of the alchemists reads: To obtain gold you need to own gold. Therefore Neville, owner of the toad and a toad himself, has all opportunities to grow to a complete man.

 

And as we started with the armour gallery and it shows up prominently in the picture as well, we shall end with some ideas to armour. Armour was used by men to protect the body that were otherwise exposed to the elements and the weapons of enemies. In that it was useful to those who went out to the battlefield.

 

Yet, the armour like the rules of knighthood restricted the knight in his field of movement and vision. Both are made for one purpose and one purpose only – that of aggressively maintaining power/ the situation as shows itself at this moment in time. As that it is also habitual armour that resists and prevents change.

 

The sets of armour in the Armour Gallery of Hogwarts are empty. They were left behind by those who once inhabited them. They were cast off as cumbersome encasements by students of the castle during the centuries while gaining knowledge and insight. And so they appear in the colours of the Fool’s garment of Tarot in my picture.

 

They might roam the castle to find others willing to submit to their enticement of feigned security in stock phrases. However, they remain empty throughout all the time Hogwarts is open for teaching. And in the end even the stupid stock phrases – that means the enchanted armours – are use in the fight against the enemies of the stronghold of education.

———————————————————————————————————-

Jupiter Sphere

They then displayed themselves in five times seven

consonants and vowels, and I saw these letters

singly, and in the order they were traced.

DILIGITE IUSTITIAM — these letters,

placed together, verb and noun, came first,

QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM, last.
Paradiso, Canto 18, Lines 88 – 93

 

Diligite Iustitiam Qui Iudicatis Terram – Love justice, you that are the judges of the Earth. These are the opening words of the biblical book of Wisdom. It is also the request of the soul sparks on the sixth sphere of Jupiter.

 

Jupiter is located in Dante’s heavenly order between the hot passionate planet Mars and Saturn, that is usually described as cold star (you will see in the next picture that Dante was of another opinion when it came to Saturn). Jupiter, temperate and pale, balances the two. For the poet it is like a blush of modesty.

A blush of modesty that passes from the face of the heavenly, jovial father – as this is what Jupiter means. The word derives from archaic Latin ‘Iovis’ or Latin ‘(D)is’ = God and Latin ‘pater’ = father. As ‘Heavenly Father’ Jupiter was the king of Roman Gods, ruler of cosmic justice and father of many.

 

Like a careful knitter he loved knitting patterns. He placed and knotted his threads with deliberation in ever new ways. Occupied with the moment, as the father and ruler of them all he had to consider the overall picture to do justice to all in his rulings, so that his creation became not unbalanced, one sided, unjust – in one word: ruined.

 

Knitting is a recurrent theme in the Harry Potter series as well. Hagrid knits what appears to be a canary-yellow circus tent in the train to London when he takes Harry for his first trip to Diagon Alley (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 5: Diagon Alley). Dumbledore admits freely to loving knitting patterns when he takes Harry to Horace Slughorn to use the Boy-who-lived as a bait the to-become potion teacher swallows unchewed (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 4: Horace Slughorn).

 

However, most prominently tied to the subject of knitting is the mother of all – Molly Weasley.

 

‘I think I know who that one’s from,’ said Ron, going a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. ‘My mum. I told her you didn’t expect any presents and – oh, no,’ he groaned, ‘she’s made you a Weasley jumper.’

 

Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of home-made fudge.

 

‘Every year she makes us a jumper,’ said Ron, unwrapping his own, ‘and mine’s always maroon.’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised

 

She even adorns her sweaters with single letters like the ones spelled out by Jupiter’s sparks.

 

In that torch of Jupiter I watched

the sparkling of the love resplendent there

make signs, before my eyes, of our speech.

And as birds risen from the river’s edge,

seeming to celebrate their pleasure in their food,

form now a rounded arc, and now another shape,

so, radiant within their lights, the holy creatures

sang as they flew and shaped themselves

in figures, now D, now I, now L.

Paradiso, Canto 18 Lines 70 – 78

 

The last letter that Dante sees on Jupiter is the ‘M’ of terram. Together with the lily that wraps itself around the lines of the M and the eagle flying high above it, the M marks Jupiter as the planet of monarchy and just rulers.

 

Yet the M can be read also as a symbol for matriarchy, especially as it is the last M of the word terram. The earth is usually seen as an archetypical symbol for the mother. Seen upside down it can also be the first letter ‘W’ of the name Weasley – Molly Weasley.

 

In the Harry Potter series Molly Weasley is not Jupiter but Jumiter. She represents the ups and downs of the archetype. She is the birth-giving, protecting woman who tries to make the Burrow and later Grimmauld Place #4 as well the most cosy place on earth against all odds. She is the personified fertility and literally the magical authority at her place. In all the poverty the Weasleys live she provides plenty not only to her children but also to everyone she can pull under her wings.

 

Yet, as already hinted at in the Mercury essay, she represents also the destroying, devouring mother. Like a Norn she is inescapable. Her voice echoes even in the halls of Hogwarts, it is repeated however reluctant by Sirius in the fireplace and follows Percy to London. The image of Percy all tied up in a Weasley sweater unable to move (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised) symbols best the way Molly almost suffocates her loved ones with her caring while not considering their needs and wishes.

 

One could say, her knitting has some flaws. Yet, in the end, when you put everything on a scale, the positive aspects outweigh anything negative – symbolized by Percy’s return. And the motherly dragon spreads its wings one more time to destroy its black aspect – the power hungry femme fatale Belatrix LeStrange.

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Saturn Sphere

OK, let’s see what where is to say about Saturn:

 

In mythology, Saturn is the Roman god of agriculture and harvest. He is identified with the Greek deity Cronus.  His rise to power is overshadowed by castrating and overthrowing his father. And he is mostly known for eating his own children as a prophesy said one of his offsprings would overthrow his rule.

 

In astrology, it is the black side of Saturn that mainly colored its aspects. Saturn is all about restriction and limitations. It constricts by reminding us of our boundaries, our responsibilities, and our commitments. But that ensures structure and meaning in our world and so Saturn helps us to grow.

 

In art Saturn gave its name to a school of thought that celebrated melancholy – the Children of Saturn. Again, the dark side of the god/ planet came to the forefront. This current was closely connected with the Dog Star Sirius as the heliacal rising of the star marked next to other things the ‘Dog Days’ of summer in Ancient Greece, the hottest days of the year.

 

For Dante however, Saturn is not the cold star (frigida stella). But for him it was the star of the god who was leader of the Golden Age, an age of justice and fairness on earth, because humans were without malice. His sign was Jacob’s ladder. And so in Paradiso, Saturn is the sphere of the contemplatives who embody temperance, like monks.

 

Well, after all I said I could have gone the easy road and stop when I read about Sirius. But 1) Sirius never really led a monk-like and contemplative life and 2) he doesn’t fit my own rules for this art series .

 

The monks rather reminded me of the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest in how they live a rather remote life in a kind of self-chosen ivory tower. They gather knowledge for the knowledge sake and guard it by all means. And once one of them chose to get active and stand up for his opinion – Firenze – he becomes an outcast of their society.

 

Firenze, or Florence in English, is also the hometown of Dante. And just like Firenze, Dante became an outcast. Dante, like most Florentines of his days, was embroiled in the Guelph – Ghibelline conflict. He even became a pharmacist to further his political career (I like this part enough to mention it because it reminded me of our beloved Potion Master Snape). And he was on the winning side of the Guelphs – first. Yet, the Guelphs split up again and got in a fight and it ended in the dead of many and the exile of Dante. It was in that time when Dante started to sketch out his Divine Comedy.  

 

So, Firenze became the subject of Saturn. As the figures Dante sees on these levels of Paradise have lost their human shapes, an idea of Firenze had to suffice for my picture. Firenze became the city of Florence and the river Arno meanders from top to bottom and splits the opposing shores.

 

Firenze knew that only team work, cooperation and the implementation of knowledge could rescue his world – the world of centaurs – as well as the rest of the magic world. Hence, Firenze threw contemplation over board and he rather faced exile than to stay immobile like the other centaurs. He laid one cornerstone for one bridge of mutual understanding.

 

Today, several bridges cross the waters. They connect what once seemed invincible. And Firenze can step up on them, now shaping a Jacob’s Ladder, to the next level of Fixed Stars.

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Fixed Stars

„This is the beginning, this ist he living spark

that swells into a living flame

and shines within me like a star in heaven.”

Paradiso, Canto 24 lines 145 – 147

 

When Dante enters the sphere of the Fixed Stars the apostles Peter, James and John approach him. They test him one after the other on the three theological virtues faith, hope and love.

 

It is Peter who appears first. He could be called a coward as he denied knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. And act of hacking off an ear of a High Priest’s servant speaks of quite a temper. Yet, despite all these flaws he is entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

 

Keeper of Keys – this sounds familiar:

 

Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, ‘Whoare you?’

 

The giant chuckled.

 

‘True, I haven’t introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Chapter 4 The Keeper of the Keys

 

Hagrid is in many ways like Peter. His reputation isn’t the best in the beginning:

 

‘Hagrid’s bringing him.’

 

‘You think it – wise – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?’

 

‘I would trust Hagrid with my life,’ said Dumbledore.

 

‘I’m not saying his heart isn’t in the right place,’ said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, ‘but you can’t pretend he’s not careless. He does tend to – what was that?’

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 1 The Boy Who Lived

 

And in times of trouble even his friends think first of him when a secret has slipped:

 

‘Yes, and zat eez all very good,’ snapped Fleur, ‘but still eet does not explain ‘ow zey knew we were moving ‘Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must ‘ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. Eet eez ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze ‘ole plan.’

 

She glared around at them all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccoughing from behind his handkerchief. Harry glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save Harry’s – Hagrid, whom he loved, whom he trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon’s egg…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 5 Fallen Warrior

 

Yet, he is the most faithful of all and always remains like Peter (Peter/ Petrus derives from petra = rock) the rock in troubled water for all and especially for Harry. He is trusted with the keys of Hogwarts, with baby Harry and with the Philosopher’s Stone. Therefore, this picture of the Fixed Stars is dedicated to Hagrid.

 

Dante enters the Fixed Stars in the constellation of Gemini, under which he was born. The twins naming Gemini (Gemini = twins) are Castor and Polux, twin sons of Leda and Jupiter. When Castor died, Polux asked their father to grant his brother the gift of immortality, he already owned. Jupiter obliged by placing both of them into the nightly sky. As brightest stars of the constellation Gemini they became protectors and guiding stars of sailors.

 

Up to the point Harry meets Hagrid, he was an orphan without roots. He did know next to nothing about his family and what he knew were lies. More so, the Dursleys forbad him to ask questions. And they hated it even more when Harry used his imagination to explain things. Their life was ruled by intellect and they wanted Harry’s to be ruled by it as well.

 

Hagrid opened up a whole new dimension of understanding for Harry. He not just literally destroyed the door of the little hut on the rock in the sea, he also blew up the narrow-framed apertures of Privet Drive #4. With his name he gave Harry the family he later sees in the Mirror of Erised around him. He gave him more than lasting pictures in a photo album.

 

‘You are so near the final blessedness,’

Beatrice then began,

‘your eyes from now on shall be clear and keen.

‘Thus, before you become more one with it,

look down once more and see how many heavens

I have already set beneath your feet,

’so that your heart, filled with joy,

may greet the triumphant throng that comes

in gladness to this aethereal sphere.’

Paradiso, Canto 22 Lines 124 – 132

 

When looking back Dante identifies the 7 planets by their mythological parentage. A myth goes that all souls upon birth descend through these planetary spheres. While travelling down they pick up the qualities belonging to the various planets. They borrow illumination, energy and talents from the stars. When we die the downward movement is reversed, so that the qualities are returned replenished, enhanced or perhaps tainted to their respective planets to be used by the next generation of newborn souls.

 

It’s a circular rhythm that implies a connection between the heavenly bodies and whatever is taking place below.

 

Heavens above

Heavens below

Stars above

Stars below

All that is above

Also is below.

Gasp this

And rejoice!

Alchemical Text

 

We all are linked to the generations and times before us. Like the stars, the generations before us shed their light, that started its journey perhaps millenniums ago, on us today. By opening the door to his family and his ‘kind’, Hagrid gave Harry a glimpse of eternity and the part he plays in it. By allowing him the right to ask and to use his imagination he opened him the door to the world – the world outside like Diagon Alley, Platform 9 ¾ and Hogwarts and the world inside his head.

 

‘Tell me one last thing,’ said Harry. ‘Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?’

 

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

 

‘Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is nor real?’

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 35 King’s Cross

 

Hagrid is Harry’s guiding star, fixed in the sky of Hogwarts during his night sea journey. King’s Cross and the generations that have travelled through it became real for Harry because he was around.

———————————————————————————————————-

Empyrean Heaven

With the voice and bearing of a guide

who has discharged his duty, she began: ‘We have issued

from the largest body to the Heaven of pure light,

‘light intellectual, full of love,

love of true good, full of joy,

joy that surpasses every sweetness.

Paradiso, Canto 30, lines 37 – 42

 

In our little excursion through centuries spanning medieval classic to contemporary literature we come now to an end that is really the beginning. Piccarda explained as early as Canto 4 of Paradiso that everywhere in Paradise is Paradise. Yet as a concession to the limited human understanding Dante is introduced to a split up version where the blessed are categorized like in a lexicon.

 

One could also say the blessed were planted like lovely flowers into different beds of the same garden. The original Hebrew version of the Bible speaks of the Paradise as ‘gan’ what means garden. Only when translated into Greek gan became paradeisos. And as already stated in the very beginning the Greek word paradeisos deceives from a Persian word meaning ‘walled-around place’.

 

So, the question remains: Is Hogwarts just another ‘walled around place’? Or is Hogwarts Paradise?

 

‘You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago – by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them: Goderic Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.’

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall

 

The information ‘over one thousand years ago’ places Hogwarts early years right into the deepest darkness of the medieval, a time not really connected with light, love and joy. Yet it was a time when alchemy was seriously considered by many smart men. And it was also around this time when Dante was allowed his glimpse of Paradiso.

 

Hogwarts was erected as a school, a place to learn the basics of witchcraft and wizardry. The students allowed are unique in their inborn ability to do magic. As imaginative as the subjects taught sound however, the teachers are no forerunners in the field of modern teaching. It is not only the ghost, Professor Binns, who sticks strictly to the facts and who requests of his students pure memorization of facts.

 

Memorization is the basic method of teaching at Hogwarts and it is what is asked for in the exams as well. None of the teacher ever asks the students to research the origins of the magic ability or the foundation of spells and hexes. But this would be the basis for creativity, research and development

 

The closest we get to discover the basis of magic is when Professor Snape teaches the properties of herbs and fungi and how to mix them for a potion. Yet, as his stay lone efforts it is no wonder that most of the students fail completely when Slughorn introduces Galpalot’s Law.

 

When we then realize that the house system adds tremendous tension to the daily atmosphere at school, Hogwarts is far from a paradisiacal place. However, Hogwarts isn’t what it seems at the first view.

 

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn’t open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren’t really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was so very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other and Harry was sure the coats of armour could walk.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 8: The Potion Master

 

The school alone tickles curiosity. It holds legendary chambers, hidden pathways to the outside and a Room of Requirement that is where for you in times of need equipped with everything you lack. And it is home to many very curious folk: speaking and meandering portraits, walking armours, ghosts, house elves, other students and teachers, who all have their own stories to discover.

 

If that isn’t enough the library is filled with thousands of books that contain the knowledge of millennia. If you want to discover and research, as a student of Hogwarts you have your space to move. Other as with the Dursleys, where questions and imagination were forbidden, explorative behaviour isn’t discouraged at Hogwarts. In the case of Harry with his invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map it is even actively encouraged.

 

Furthermore, the castle is thoroughly protected against invasion by ancient magic and every spell available. A constant and direct threat from the outside that could realize every second would be too much as opposites clash constantly in the inside due to the house system. Walled up, hidden and protected as it is, Hogwarts establishes a temenos – a place where individuation can take place.

 

What Jung called individuation, the miracle of self-realisation, is called in alchemy ‘the squaring of the circle’ – the mysterious is ‘squared’ with physical reality.

 

Physical reality? Since Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle we know that subatomic particles can’t be accurately defined in time and space. They have, as physicists call it, only a tendency to exist. Hence, as everything existing is build up of subatomic particles, our physical reality and ultimately we humans as well have only a tendency to exist. The physical reality is therefore understood as a constant evolving process and each little thing is a whole world itself. And so the whole universe is in each of us.

 

The experience of the Self brings a feeling of standing on solid ground inside oneself, on a patch of inner eternity which even physical death cannot touch.

Mary-Louise von Franz, C.G. Jung, his Myth in our Time

 

Hogwarts is the solid ground that gives the students a home in the outside world as well as in their mind. Only if the students lower their protection and that of the school, Voldemort and the ideas he stand for have a chance to cling to the minds. Otherwise, Hogwarts and his inhabitants are a patch of outer and inner eternity, a temenos, a gan, a paradeisos, the same place Dante saw on Good Friday 1300. Was Dante perhaps truly magical?