[Oe List ...] Starhawk on Harry Potter

[LAURELCG@aol.com]

Forwarded by Jann McGuire
Why I Like Harry Potter
 by Starhawk
 December 2001
 I admit it: I've read all the books and seen the movie twice, once with my 
Goddess daughters, and once with my partner who usually only wants to see 
depressing films with subtitles, preferably made in Poland or Romania under 
the 
occupation of the former Soviet Union. When he developed an inexplicable 
desire 
to see Harry Potter, I felt I should encourage him. Further confession: I 
like 
Harry Potter. In contrast to much of the Pagan discussion I've seen, I think 
the books and movie do teach some of our basic Wiccan values in a subtle and 
entertaining way, and that's part of their appeal.

Courage, empathy, ingenuity and generosity are some of our core values, found 
in the heros and heras of thousands of fairy tales. Harry and his friends 
exemplify them all. They contend with the values of his loathesome relations 
who 
represent utter conventionality (the adults) and utter selfishness and 
bullying (his cousin Dudley). One of the first things we see Harry do is to 
talk to a 
snake with empathy. He stands up for his friend Ron against the snobbery of 
some of the other Hogwarts students. He and Ron risk their own lives to 
defend 
the annoying Hermione from a troll. Ultimately, he, Ron and Hermione all use 
their special gifts and strengths to defeat the forces of evil.

Magic in the Harry Potter books is a somewhat neutral force, a technology and 
a talent rather than an ethos. There are good wizards and some very bad 
wizards. Part of the genius of the books is that the shadow side of life is 
dramatized so vividly. Childhood is full of intense passions and contests of 
power. 
Witness a pair of five-year-olds playing together, and you'll see anguish, 
outrage, affection, hurt, jealousy and selflessness succeed each other like 
rapid 
changes in the weather. Children's lives are determined by powerful figures 
who set the ground rules, provide or don't provide love, nurturing, 
nourishment, 
pleasure and privileges.

The psychologist Bruno Bettleheim, in his classic discussion of why children 
need fairy tales, pointed out how important it is for children to see both 
their positive and negative impulses mirrored, to know that greed and envy 
and 
rage are part of the common human condition. Only then can they eventually 
develop the maturity to grow beyond greed and hate. Hogwarts includes four 
Houses, 
one of which, Slytherin, is known for producing the wizards who go wrong. The 
shadow side is not disavowed, it's acknowledged and recognized. Slytherin is 
clearly a negative and undesireable force: "Anything but Slytherin!" Harry 
murmurs to the Sorting Hat which will determine which house he'll be in. But 
Slytherin also has its place. It's not disavowed: it's part of the school.

Children are certainly influenced by the values in the books they read, but 
often in ways that are more oblique and paradoxical than we think. As a 
child, 
I read books about magic voraciously. I so desperately wanted magic to be 
real. My very favorites were C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. On perhaps my tenth 
rereading of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I realized it was a 
Christian 
allegory. I came from a strong Jewish home, in which we never allowed a 
Christmas 
tree. In school, I remained silent when we sang Christmas Carols, and always 
felt uncomfortable when Christianity was assumed to be our common belief 
system. But I was able to set my discomfort aside, and still enjoy the magic. 
At 
the same time, the books introduced me to what is deep, true and universal in 
Christianity: the willingness to sacrifice, the concept of a deity who 
represents powerful, unconditional love, in a way I could understand and 
accept.

I identified with Lewis's characters, even though their class, religion, 
background and life experiences were very different from mine. Today, I see 
my 
African-American Goddess daughters identifying with the Harry Potter books. I 
suppose it's a lot to ask of stories set in an upper class English boarding 
school, but I wish that at least in the movies there were more strong 
characters of 
color, not just token extras.

I know that C.S. Lewis's English stiff upper lip stoicism, his view of what 
was honorable behavior affected me deeply, even though his standards were 
very 
different from my family's values. In his books, brave children don't cry. In 
my family of Jewish immigrants and psychotherapists, yelling, screaming, 
shouting, weeping and whining were simply how we expressed ourselves.

Today, rereading the books, it's not Lewis's Christianity that disturbs me 
but his misogyny, the way evil stems from women and beneficent power is male. 
He 
does have heroines as well as heroes in his world. Young girls can be strong, 
courageous agents, but grown up, sexual women are suspect. The Witch in his 
stories is clearly negative, and yet my love of the magic world he created is 
undoubtedly one of the reasons I became a Witch.

The magic in Harry Potter takes us back into an animate universe, where hats 
talk, pictures move, and snakes hold conversations. This world lies just on 
the other side of ordinary reality, behind a door or through a seemingly 
solid 
wall. In that world, consciousness is not limited to human beings. Animals, 
plants, and objects all carry their own awareness and can be communicated 
with.

Isn't that the essence of the Pagan worldview: that the earth is alive, that 
all being has consciousness, and that we can learn to communicate with that 
consciousness if we are sensitive and empathetic. Real magic is the process 
of 
learning to hear and speak in multidimensional ways. In time, I think we'll 
reap a crop of future Witches and Pagans from the Harry Potter books. I don't 
worry that their Harry Potter version of magic will prevent them from 
discovering 
the true depths of our spirituality. As they mature, their understanding will 
grow. It's the responsibility of those of us who practice real magic and 
Witchcraft as the spirituality of nature and the Goddess to convey their 
depths 
and teach their true disciplines.

In a global culture increasingly devitalized, corporatized, logoized and 
shopping malled, where everything is reduced to a commodity that can be 
bought and 
sold, I find it cheering that kids still yearn for magic. I hope their love 
of Harry's magic will inspire them to cherish and defend the natural world 
upon 
which real magic is based.