by Elizabeth Mann
Every Harry Potter fan knows the controversy that surrounds the series. Debates over its suitability for children, it’s darkness, its moral values and its portrayal of witchcraft have caused the book to be banned in many places. The American Library Association lists J.K. Rowling as the fourth most challenged author between 1990 and 2004. But it is the portrayal of witchcraft that has caused the greatest concern.
There are many accusations that have been made on the subject. For example, some believe that the books teach witchcraft to children, with many calling them instructional. Jeremiah Films, who made a video aimed at Christians called, “Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged”, claimed that the books are “accurate in their representation of witchcraft.” Other people have said that, whether the books are accurate or fantastical, they could still encourage children to take up witchcraft or the occult themselves. Again, “Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged” presented this view by saying, “By disassociating magic and supernatural evil, it becomes possible to portray occult practices as good and healthy, contrary to the declaration that such practices are detestable to the Lord. This, in turn, opens the door for less-discerning individuals – including but not limited to children – to become confused about supernatural matters.” And then there are other people who believe that the very presence of witchcraft in literature is wrong, and that reading books that contain witchcraft is sinful.
The aim of this presentation is not to argue with the last point, which doesn’t leave much room for discussion anyway. Nor, really, is it’s aim to argue whether witchcraft and the occult is harmless or evil. The aim of this presentation is to address the issue of whether the books’ representation of the occult and witchcraft really is ‘accurate’ as Jeremiah Films believes, and whether the magic of the books is likely to draw children over to those things.
In order to answer these questions, we must first establish what witchcraft actually is. Many in the modern age believe that it doesn’t exist at all. This is probably because they are thinking of fairy tale witchcraft where people wave a wand, click their heals together or wiggle their nose in order to conjure something out of thin air or change one object into another. This kind of magic doesn’t exist, nor do the people who call themselves witches claim to be able to do these things. That image of magic came from a mixture of superstition, fear and facts that have been twisted. For example, the image of witches riding broomsticks came from a Pagan fertility ritual where a lady would sit on the handle – brush at the front, not the back – and jump up and down in the fields. It was said that the higher she could jump the higher the crops would grow. But no Pagan actually thought they could fly on it.
So what is a witch really? There are actually at least eighteen different definitions of the word – sorcerers, hags, seductive women, nasty women, a woman who is not submissive to her husband and many inter-cultural meanings. The reason why these definitions are largely to do with women is that most of them are the result of medieval superstition, a time when women were thought to be more susceptible to evil than men, and also feared for the seemingly ‘supernatural’ things they could do – such as create life in their bodies and bleed without injury.
But the types of witches that I am going to concentrate on those who practice the religions of Witchcraft and Wicca, and also Satanism. Many people, not just conservative Christians, believe that these are the same thing, but they are actually separate religions. I am also going to talk about the occult in general, and comparing all of these things to the magic of Harry Potter.
The true definition of witchcraft is the using of magick (spelt with a k), especially magick utilizing personal power with the energies within stones, herbs, colours and other natural objects. Wicca is a religion of which witchcraft is often a part, but not always. Many Wiccans pick and choose which parts of the religion to follow, and often combine them with bits of other Pagan and Neo-pagan religions, according to what feels right for them. So not all Wiccans use magick, or if they do they may not put much emphasis on it. But many Wiccans who do use it prefer to call themselves witches, and the word is fairly common within the religion.
Wicca is part of the Neo-pagan group of religion, which is basically those that are earth-based and shamanistic, including Buddhism, Druidism, Hinduism and Native American spirituality. Wicca itself is earth-based. It is both one of the oldest and one of the newest religions in history, since traditional Wicca was founded by a British Civil Servant named Gerald Gardner in the 1940s, but it was based on some of the pre-Christian Celtic religions of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Wiccans worship a single power called ‘The All’, which is made up of all things in existence, and which has been personified into the Goddess and God, representing male and female aspects of ‘The All’. The Wiccan Rede, their main philosophy, is “An it harm none, do as ye will.” In other words, do whatever you like so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Wiccans do not believe in Satan, as Satan is a Christian icon and Wicca has nothing to do with Christianity.
Many of the classic images of witches, and so some aspects of the magic in Harry Potter, are part of Wicca – for example, wearing black robes, casting spells and making potions. However, the magick of Witchcraft and Wicca is not pointing a wand at something and making it levitate. The spells that they cast are rituals to direct psychic energy in order to accomplish or influence something. It is a lot like prayer or a good luck ritual. And potions are a lot like herbal remedies. They do not cast curses, jinxes or hexes, because it would go against the Wiccan Rede. Also, while the wizards in Harry Potter have their own society and culture, they do not have their own religion, and the magic they practice is more of a talent and a way of life than something that they use as part of worship. They do not perform rituals or, as far as we’ve heard, hold public ceremonies of their own. In fact, Harry has been baptised. Nor is the magic of Harry Potter based around nature. Therefore, apart from basic concepts and terminology, there isn’t really any similarities between the magic of Harry Potter and the magic of real life Witchcraft and Wicca. Even if a child were to think they were the same, Wiccans do not dedicate, teach or initiate potential converts until they are eighteen, and the child would probably find any book he bought on the subject very boring, especially in comparison to the fantasy.
Satanism is very different from Wicca. There are two main faiths of Satanism with many smaller groups. The first faith is the Church of Satan, which is the largest organisation of religious Satanists. They do not view Satan as a living entity, but as a symbol of pleasure, strength and virility, which they believe pre-dates Christianity. They conduct rituals both by themselves and/or together in grottos. The second faith is the Temple of Set, who worship Satan in the form of the Egyptian God called Set. They generally meet in together temples.
The main philosophy of both forms of Satanism is, again, very different from Wicca – “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Satanists give themselves great freedom of action. Some Satanists do use black magic in rituals in order to get revenge on someone who has hurt them. While some Satanists do call themselves witches, it is a much less common term than in Wicca.
There is also another form of Satanism called Gothic Satanism. These are the women who sell their soul to the Devil and devote their lives to harming others. They kidnap babies, fly through the air, engage in cannibalism and sexual orgies, and cause male impotence and infertility. They were generally known as witches. These are the Satanists who were sought out and burned at the stake during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. There is no solid evidence to them ever actually existing. In fact, most of the characteristics of Gothic Satanism can be traced back to a book written circa 1486 called, in English, The Witches’ Hammer, written by two Dominican priests. No record of Gothic Satanism has been found which pre-dates this. And apart from one other book, the only evidence of its existence since then are the confessions of people who were tortured into admitting that they were witches. The widespread belief in Gothic Satanists was caused largely by superstition, fear of women and fear of sex.
So how much does the magic of Harry Potter resemble any of the forms of Satanism? Apart from the fact that Voldemort and the other villains use Dark magic, and the fact that the wizards ride through the air on broomsticks, again, there is no resemblance at all. As said before, the magic of Harry Potter is not a religion. They do not worship Satan, perform rituals or believe that you can do whatever you want regardless of anyone. In fact, the books present a very different moral message. They do not engage in cannibalism, kidnap babies or do any of the other terrible things that witches were believed to do. As far as we know, not even Voldemort does those things.
The other word that is often used in criticisms of Harry Potter is ‘occult’. The word is derived from the Latin Occultus, meaning ‘hidden’, and thus the perceived definition of the word is anything that is restricted to an initiated few and not the general public, anything that uses talents beyond the five senses, and anything to do with the supernatural.
There are faults with this definition. For example, the occult no longer is restricted to an initiated few since you can walk into just about any major bookstore and buy books on spells, divination and other occult subjects, and horoscopes are printed in the daily newspapers. And even some Christian rituals are beyond the five senses, such as during mass when the Roman Catholic priest is supposed to literally turn wafer and water into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. However, since this is likely the definition of the word ‘occult’ that the critics of Harry Potter have in mind, it is the one that I am going to talk about.
Many of Harry Potter’s supporters have described the magic in the books as mechanical rather than supernatural. Critics have disagreed. But when you look think about it, if wizards were tapping into a supernatural force in the world, then surely anybody who was interested could learn to use magic? Instead, magic can only be done by a certain few, which suggests that the magic comes from within themselves in the form of an ability. They were born with it, given the ability by nature while in the womb. And there is no Star Wars type mention in the books of the characters tapping into a force and feeling it flowing through them. Perhaps magic talent is the same as singing talent, or acting talent, or the ability to do the splits. It’s simply something that some people can do and others can’t. So in this way, the magic of Harry Potter is different to the occult.
However, it does comply with other parts of the definition. For example, the magic in the books is only taught to a few people and not available to the general public, even if, as previously explained, this is because not everyone has the ability to do it. And the students at Hogwarts do study divination, which is definitely an occult practice in real life, though again, in the books, the ability to do it could be natural as opposed to supernatural because you have to be born with the ability. So perhaps in some ways the magic of J.K. Rowling’s wizards is occult. However, are children likely to be drawn to using divination when it is a subject that Harry and his friends find very boring, which is presented as being inaccurate and ‘out-there’ most of the time, and which is taught by a teacher who most children will find extremely weird? Probably not. But even if your child does show an interest, that doesn’t mean you have to let them practice it.
The other charge that was levelled at the Harry Potter series is that it is anti-Christian. This could have been intended to mean one of three things – either that it is against Christianity and portrays it in a negative light, or that it is to do with a religion other than Christianity, or that it is not to do with Christianity at all.
The question of whether or not the books portray a non-Christian religion has already been addressed in this presentation. As to whether it is against Christianity, there are several pieces of evidence to suggest that this is not the case. First of all, Harry has been baptised and has a godfather. Second, the books focus heavily on the existence of a soul. Dementors suck a person’s soul out through their mouth, ghosts are the souls of people that have remained behind after death and Voldemort has split his soul into seven parts. And third, J.K. Rowling has said that she herself is a Christian, but can’t talk in too much detail about her beliefs since fans would then be able to guess what is going to happen at the end of the series. So the books cannot be said to be opposed to Christianity, nor can it be said that Christianity has nothing to do with the series at all.
So, in conclusion, the magic of the Harry Potter books bares only a passing resemblance to real life witchcraft, in the manner of concepts, names and words. Jeremiah Films’ assessment of the books as being, “accurate in their representation of witchcraft”, is completely wrong. As to whether children and teenagers are likely to be drawn in to real witchcraft because of these books, it is very unlikely that they would find real witchcraft nearly as exciting or interesting as the fantasy. If they expect them to be the same they will be sorely disappointed.
If a parent who believes that the occult and witchcraft is evil is worried that their child is showing an interest in practicing it, or doesn’t understand the difference between the reality and the fantasy, there is no need to keep them from reading the book. A simple discussion is all that is needed to set them straight.
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