Leslie Barnhart
 John
Granger’s Basic Course
 Alchemy: Nowadays, History, and JK Rowling
 The HP alchemical triangles and other new
insights
 Christian Alchemy parallels, symbolism,
triangles
•
Three Parts to Alchemy:
–
–
–
•
Alchemical characters
–
–
–
•
•
•
Four physical elements: earth, water, air, fire
Three stages: nigredo, albedo, rubedo
Two forces: mercury and sulfur
Hermione = mercury; Ron = sulfur
Bill and Fleur – “red king” and “white queen”
Ted = alchemical orphan
Philosopher’s Stone – goal of alchemy
Alchemical numbers: 3, 7, 13
What else do you remember?
 Seven
stages of transformation, including
distillation, coagulation, separation, etc
 Elements of the moon and the sun, with their
“powers” – spiritual process is focus
 Actual kits: chemistry kits, formulas,
materials
 Scripts look like made-up symbols:
 Possibly
Chinese, definitely Egyptian roots
 Well-spread throughout Roman Empire

Colossians 2:8 – talks about the “philosophy of the day
concerning the four elements”
 Diocletian
– burned everything he could find
 Resurrected from Arabia/ Spain in 12th century
 People constantly focused on physical, not spiritual
practice, lots of problems

http://www.alchemylab.com/history_of_alchemy.htm
 Used
alchemy to highlight relationships
between characters
 Alchemical storyline: Harry is the lead –
transforms to gold by end of series (JG again)



Hermione and Ron
Black, White, Red stages
Mastery of four elements
 In
chemistry lab, sulfur is the antidote for
mercury spills
 Alchemy:
a “celestial trio”: sulfur, mercury, salt
 Three stages represented in many forms:

Gregory Goyle, Draco Malfoy, and Vincent Crabbe




Goyle: a golum/ gargoyle, black stage
Malfoy: white hair, etc, seeker, very intelligent
Crabbe: represents red, dies at the end of the red stage
Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, and Lord Voldemort



Snape: black eyes, turns away from everything
Dumbledore: blue eyes, knows everything
Voldemort: red eyes, purifying the race, battle
 Lord

Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry:
Represent the triptych of man:



Dumbledore: that which has always been (the old one)
Lord Voldemort: that which is now (the man in his prime)
Harry Potter: that which will be (forever and ever): the future
 Flesh,

Blood, and Bone
The bone of the father: the old man; flesh of the
servant: man now; blood of the enemy: future of
mankind
 Harry
= the Philosopher’s Stone in the Making
 Phineus Nigellus: Nigellus = Black, hence: Pb
= Lead!! – the beginning of the alchemy
process
 Sirius Black: initials: Sb = Antimony – the
fifth/ transitional stage of alchemy (death:
end of 5th stage), followers are all shiny
metals, has dog-like characteristics
 Sb transitions from Slytherin to Gryffindor,
adopts Harry, Harry inherits the path to Gold
 Gringotts: The Seat of All Alchemical Metals
 Micro
and Macro: within each book, within
the series
 Beginning of each stage DNE book beginnings
 In General, Order of the Phoenix = black
stage, Half-Blood Prince = white stage and
Deathly Hallows = red stage
 Elements of a stage change:



Significant death
Juxtaposition of Harry and Lord Voldemort
Elements of new stage set in immediately
 Nigredo



– begins at end of Goblet of Fire
Begins with death of Cedric Diggory
Harry and Lord Voldemort’s wands “connect”
Upon returning from the graveyard, Minister
denies Harry’s claim, begins renouncing Harry’s
credibility
 Albedo:
begins at the end of Order of the
Phoenix




Sirius BLACK dies (signals beginning of end of
Black stage)
Lord Voldemort possesses Harry – juxtaposition
of opposites
Cornelius Fudge suddenly understands: “He’s
back!”
Lord Voldemort is completely absent during this
stage from Harry’s mind
 Rubedo:

White stage ends with three significant deaths:





Albus Dumbledore’s death at end of Half-Blood Prince
Hedwig’s death
Mad-Eye Moody’s death
Harry and Lord Voldemort’s Wands connect in the
departure from Privet Drive
Once they find out about Moody’s death, Lord
Voldemort is back in Harry’s mind
 End

Three Significant deaths/ captures:





of Rubedo:
Crabbe in the fire in the Room of Requirement
Fred in the blast at Hogwarts
Rubeus Hagrid – captured in the forest
Harry and Lord Voldemort unite but are then
separated forever
Battle of Hogwarts is over
 Alchemy



is not palatable for most Christians:
Thought to be associated with witchcraft
Transformation seems like ancient “voo-doo”
science
Separated into science and spiritual discovery
after Galileo and Newton
 Alchemy
was banned by the church or ruling
body multiple times
 Rowling recombines spiritual alchemy with
Christianity, regenerates concept of
“Christian Alchemy”
 Philosopher’s
Stone: Harry masters earth (monster
of earth: troll, Quirreldemort)
 Chamber of Secrets: Harry masters water by
mastering elemental water(masters Parseltongue to
help conquer monster of water, the basilisk)
 Prisoner of Azkaban: Harry masters elemental air
through the Hebraic understanding: breath/ air,
spirit, and time: animagus, time-turners, dementors
and boggart (monsters of air), …
 Goblet of Fire: Harry masters fire by winning
tournament, defeats other monsters of fire: blastended screwts, conversing via fireplace
 Order


of the Phoenix:
masters the fifth element: the Astral Plane, where
angels and dreams live – has to conquer dreams vs
reality (symbolized by the veil)
dovetails with black stage (nigredo): dreams happen at
night, Harry’s exile from Dumbledore, renunciation,
occlumency…
 Half
Blood Prince: Illumination/ albedo (lots of
silver, the sixth metal of alchemy)
 Deathly Hallows: Battle, unification of Lord
Voldemort’s soul (eliminating pieces); unification of
the races against Lord Voldemort, union with the
Divine Mind
 Philosopher’s
Stone: Covenant of earth: God’s
covenant with Adam, his creation
 Chamber of Secrets: Covenant over water: God’s
covenant with Noah
 Prisoner of Azkaban: Covenant of air: God’s
covenant promising a future, etc with Abraham
 Goblet of Fire: covenant over fire: God’s covenant
with Moses through the burning bush
 Order
of the Phoenix: exile in Babylon,
feeling of separation from God
 Half-Blood Prince: Palm Sunday: begins with
the triumphant re-entry of Harry and
Dumbledore into society, ends with
Dumbledore’s death – the Passion Narrative
 Deathly Hallows: The joys of Easter: new
Christian faith, as Christ rose, we share in
the resurrection
 Ron
– Sulfur (two sides to sulfur); Hermione –
mercury: quiksilver; Harry – the “salt” of the
earth (Christian connection!!)
 Deathly Hallows: three men = Trinity




Elder Wand: the power of God
Resurrection Stone: the power of Christ’s
Resurrection
Invisibility Cloak: the power of the Holy Spirit
As the Trinity, Hallows versus Horcruxes
symbolizes differences between man’s plan for
saving his “life” and God’s plan for salvation
 Dumbledore’s
Death = Passion Narrative
 Three Points of View of the Passion:



Harry’s: St John – the only disciple to get into
the courtyard and witness Christ’s torture
Snape’s: St Peter – denial of Christ three times:
Snape denies Charity’s pleas three times before
her death; sectumsempra on George’s ear
Mundungus: Judas: deserts the disciples,
allowing the leader to die
 Fred
and George Weasley – represent the
Saints and Martyrs of the church:


Saint George, patron saint of England
Fred – murdered for his faith
 Oliver
Wood – the Olive Wood of the cross –
shows Harry the quest for truth
 Ollivander – the Olive Wand, again pointing
to Olive Wood as the Cross wood
 Peter Pettigrew / Wormtail: wormwood, the
substance that always kills 1/3 of the
community whenever it appears in Bible
 Albus
Dumbledore = Christ Figure: Anno
Domini (Year of our Lord) = Great Shepherd
 Brother and sister also have AD initials

Aberforth = reminder of sheep versus goats
 Predecessor,
Armando Dippet = AD too
 Hagrid – gatekeeper for the sheepfold


Goes to the ends of the earth to collect the lost
sheep
Believes in all creatures’ goodness
 Minerva



McGonagall and Molly Weasley
Martha and Mary
McGonagall = all work, duty over all else
Molly Weasley = focus on people, chores less
 Snape
= St. Peter: rock of Hogwarts when AD
leaves, cuts of ear, close friend of Dumbledore
 Harry = St. John: Beloved student, watches AD
Passion, in cave and in tower
 (Draco = Judas, reformed: given opportunity to
change mind, appeal to AD’s mercy)

Black: renouncing all evil


White: significant insights and learning


Early catecumenates would wear black robes during
this stage
At baptism, Christians would gain new white robe and
wear it for all special sacraments with God
(communion, confirmation, marriage, death, etc)
Red: Reunification between God and humanity
Historically, the reunification between Christ and man
on the cross
 After death – purgatory, “baptism” by fire
-- John Granger, The Five Keys to Unlocking Harry
Potter, 2005, USA.

 Deathly
Hallows concludes series through
baptisms in the four elements, solidifying
their Christian mastery of the physical
elements:





Baptism of earth: Trio rise out of the ministry
with the Locket Horcrux
Baptism of water: Harry is brought out of the
water by Ron, Sword destroys Locket
Baptism of air: Harry, Ron, and Hermione rise
out of Gringotts on the dragon with the Cup
Baptism of fire: Harry, Ron, and Hermione
emerge from Fiendfyre, Tiara is destroyed
Baptism of astral plane: Harry meets with
Dumbledore, returns with LV’s soul destroyed
 Understanding




the four elements exist in church:
Birth = creation of God, earth
Baptism = covenant with water
Confirmation = covenant with air
Death/ purgatory, etc = baptism by fire
 Philosopher’s
Stone = Christ, who gives us his body
and blood, the elixir of life = immortality
 Transformation is a Quest, not a Destination
 As
people are transformed, they transform
others as well:



Harry helps change Ron and Hermione, as they
change him
Harry transforms Draco with sectumsempra –
Draco never hurts anyone afterwards
Helps transform Neville through his example,
Neville then helps transform others
Christ is the ultimate Philosopher’s Stone – shows
his mastery of the four elements to become the
Stone, gave his body and blood for us
(communion/ Eucharist)
 Eucharist grants immortality
 Albus Dumbledore is the Philosopher’s Stone
 Others create or become Philosopher’s Stones
because of Albus Dumbledore

Helps Nicholas Flamel create stone (600 years ago?)
 Helps Harry understand his progression through his
mastery at every level – Harry becomes a “stone”

 Owls
– wisdom of God
 Raven – hidden knowledge
 Many others: see John Granger’s books for
list
 Four houses = four Songs of Isaiah that
foretell the coming of Christ:




the pure of heart that will shine as an example to the
world
The wise teacher that will instruct the world
The suffering servant
The conquering king
 What
do you take from this?
Leslie Barnhart, barnharts4@hotmail.com