Sunday, April 02, 2006

Harry Potter & THE GODDESS

In the film “Inside Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Harry and his friends have become teens. They’re suddenly sexually aware, sexually potent, magically sexual beings. This latest movie focuses on a fabulous maturing of characters beloved by the world.

Why the magnificent popularity of Harry Potter? The answer is simple: Harry is a product of the Goddess world, a world of magic, mother love, sensuality and the honest, pure sexual attraction between people that is a gift from the Goddess and an integral part of human life -- despite the protests of the war-god* worshipers, who’ve been forcibly stripped of their very bodies and senses. The war-god peoples are terrified of anything smacking of the Goddess, beauty, and the body. Ergo, they condemn Harry and his films, skittering away from honest sensuality as if burned by fire.
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*The war gods are those who consistently and on a regular basis call their followers to problem-solve via full-scale warfare. They instruct worshipers not just to conquer others, but to utterly destroy them. They include Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Vishnu and other Hindu gods.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

so true
time to retire the wargods/skygods

Paxton said...

I like Harry Potter books (and the 3rd movie but not so much the other ones).

I read through them all at least once and I don't remember the sexuality being that integral to the characters or the storyline. In fact it seemed awkwardly tacked on (though I suppose it can seem awkwardly tacked on in real life, too =P).

In the latest book, kissing and such is a rather big deal, but only to those parts of the story that make a big deal about kissing. I think those parts could be easily removed without altering the core story.

I am not saying that the sensuality *should* be removed -- nor am I saying that it shouldn't. I just don't think that it is the reason for the popularity of the story (I think the popularity is due to good dialogue, exciting and surprising plot, great imagination, and an abuse of any syllable that sounds like Latin). In fact the sexuality *can't* be the reason for the series' popularity, or the first few books would not be popular. You said yourself they only have just become "magically sexual beings".

I heartily agree with you that many (most?) Christians are afraid of or ashamed of sex, and it's silly.

Anne Johnson said...

I think Harry Potter should be banned. The book shows a distinct lack of respect for the faerie faith. Also, have you seen Harry's wand? (the real thing, I'm not being raunchy here) You couldn't summon an ant out of the ground with that Wal-Mart blue light special.

Rowling's a sell-out. Where the heck is that wizard world? It has no religion, and the only use it puts faeries to is to light parties.

Now Philip Pullman, there's another story. Three cheers for HIS DARK MATERIALS! Meaty matters couched in exciting science fiction!

Paxton said...

His Dark Materials was a fantastic series =)

I was just disappointed by the surprise didactic ending (maybe I was just too thick or too reluctant to see it from the beginning). If you are going to write a book that enthusiastically aims to teach that God is dead, save yourselves, conspiracy, salvation-by-sex-and-science, only stupidity sustains religion -- then at least be upfront about it and teach it from the beginning of the series.

It wasn't even that the morality or immorality of it depressed me. I was just sad because here I have read through almost two books of highly imaginative and engaging adventure, and I find out that it is a platform for a particular ideology.

I enjoyed the books and they were even helpful spiritually (because I actively opposed the teaching as I read it).

But it is so disappointing when a book goes: "And there were such and such adventures, dangers, heroics, happiness and sadness and magical moments...and the moral is that Christianity is false." I got the impression that he was masking the didactic elements for most of the book because he did not want the reader to face those elements head on. It seemed like tricks and smoke and mirrors, to get you to accidentally accept things without thinking about them.

I would not be equally sad about a Christian book that did that -- but only because I am biased and happen to be Christian. I *ought* to be equally sad about it.

As a lover of stories I don't like inconsistent ones. The first two books in the series aimed for good storytelling, and the last book in the series was more of an attempt at debunking and destroying a particular belief set and raising up another one.

You describe it as "meaty matters couched in exciting science fiction" and I think that my objecting is just that there is so much "couching" going on =P

(I read the books a while ago, and I probably have an unfairly negative memory of them, but I will share my impression anyway =).

Anne Johnson said...

Yes, you're right. So very different from "Chronicles of Narnia," that spreads its Christian cards on the table from Page One.

Maybe I got tipped off to the fact that Pullman would be commenting on Christianity when, in Chapter 1, Vol. 1 of DARK MATERIALS, we meet a character named Lord Azrael.

:)

Sorry to gum up your site with arguments, Athana! I believe we were talking about Harry Potter. In Vol. 1 of that series, Harry goes to a store to buy his wand. SORRY, CHARLIE! You have to make your own wand by hand, or with the direct help of close friends. Otherwise you don't know who's been pawing that thing.

It's just one of the many disappointments in that series for me. Any author who knew diddly about wands would have made a nice plot line from Harry's creation of his own magic wand.

My own humble wand will have to serve as an example.

I chose a twig of oak, dead-fallen from a 150-year-old tree that is sacred to me. I blessed the twig in the Lord Fairfax Spring at Berkeley Springs. The crystal at the top was blessed in sea water during a Blue Moon by a friend I call "Mom." Another friend, Marian, helped me lace the crystal and some other soothing stones onto the twig. Later I got a faerie lure in Berkeley Springs and added it to my wand. A few months ago my sister sent me a vulture feather that I put on the wand.

Harry Potter uses his wand to burn things up, smash things, create snakes from thin air, and banish bad guys. I use mine to impart peace and to guide prayers.

Again I say, BAN HARRY POTTER!

Paxton said...

I don't know the significance of the name Azrael (oh, I just realized it sounds like Israel, but I don't know if that's what you were getting at).

I enjoyed HDM much better than Narnia, except for the shady reluctant-to-admit-it-too-soon treatment of the spiritual elements.

Anonymous said...

I have to say even though Harry Potter may not be "WitchPolitically Correct", I am glad to see it has gone mainstream.
As a Pagan Mother raising 5 children in the Goddess Traditions, the exposure it gives to other youth of today, besides our own Pagan children, makes our beliefs that much more acceptable to a new Generation rising. It does open their minds to other possibilities. My eldest daughter(11 yo) has read each novel at least 10X each. In 5th grade she reads now at the 10th grade level. Her vocabulary goes beyond even that. She pours over these books. It helps her to feel even more at ease and fear less the persecution of her peers and community. It gives her a commonality in "society" ,albeit on screen or page, to see children who cast spells and beleive in Magick. She know's the difference. She know's there is magick that is manifested from Nature herself but she also know's there are no things as real "wizards" ,She knows her Chocolate Frogs won't come to life. She knows her time changer can only send her back a notch in her imagination.
As much as we can edify the Goddess to our children, there will probably always be a Christian majority and
there will always be a discretion about sharing our "Faith" with those outside of our Circle. For Pagan youth there will probably always be an aire of secrecy or being on guard. Anything that will advance the acceptance of our religeon I see only as progress. Anyhow those are my ramblings regarding it.
A bit off topic, but wanted to say the sunset at the North Pole is absolutely breathtaking and I am thrilled to have found you.

Morgaine said...

I haven't read HP because I'm not into fiction or fantasy. I think it's probably just a story, like many other stories. If the words "Witch" or "Pagan" are misused, I'd want a disclaimer, but otherwise, it's probably harmless.

Not too crazy about Pagans using HP terms, though. It's "cowans", not "muggles."

Paxton - what do you think of the "Left Behind" series that has people panting to watch me die in flames as they ascend to heaven?

Fom Wikipedia:

Azrael (Arabic: عزرائیل) is typically known as one of the names of the angel of death, and is an English form of the Arabic name Izrail, the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in Islamic world although the name Malaikat Maut (which is a direct translation of angel of death) is usually used in in the Qur'an (see the [discussion]). It is also spelled Azrail, Ashriel, Azaril, and Azriel. The name literally means whom God helps.
He is generally depicted as an archangel under the command of God and usually not in a fashion similar to those associated with darker incarnations of Death personified. Depending on the outlook and precepts of various religions in which he is a figure, Azrael is portrayed as residing in the third Heaven. He has four faces and four thousand wings, and his whole body consists of eyes and tongues, the number of which corresponds to the number of people inhabiting the earth. He will be the last to die, recording and erasing constantly in a large book the names of men at birth and death, respectively. [Rf: Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics IV, 617]