Because many of the magical elements in the Harry potter series of books
were drawn from Christian and Celtic medieval Europe, we will compare the role of the
magician or wizard in European culture with the culture of the Fair Folk.
But first we must clear up some confusion about the supernatural world.
Because people know little of
the supernatural, there is a tendency to
jumble together many different sorts of worlds and traditions and make
them all the same.
Because they are all supernatural, then they must all be
identical.
Actually, different supernatural worlds are often very different from one
another. An American can say that he or she goes to Europe, and that all
European countries are the same. England is the same as France, which are
same as Germany and Italy. Perhaps they look identical from a distance,
but when you live in different countries, you discover that they are very
different. It is the same for supernatural worlds.
In the world of the Fair Folk, we have mages or magicians as our guides and teachers. Mages
are learned men and women who can see and sense things at a distance. They
can tell in advance when disaster comes, and can see the worlds on which
our world is built. Human worlds are built on physical matter, made of
atoms and energies. Our world is built on consciousness controlled by the
power of the mind. Our world exists through creative will, supportive
visualization, and group affirmation. Mages can understand how this
process works, and they strengthen both our culture and our environment.
Mages are wise counselors to our king Manannan, helping with problems and
advising on issues of war and peace.
Wizards, in your medieval world, were people who gained magical powers.
Wizards were male and witches were female. There were few stories of good
wizards. Merlin is an exception. But wizards were primarily evil seeking power at the expense of mortals,
and endangering their own mortal soul by misusing their powers. Such power
could be gained by a pact with Satan or some demonic entity, who would
give temporary magical abilities in exchange for an extended period of
servitude. It appears to be a bad deal all around, and it is a mystery why
anyone would want to participate in such a bad bargain.
Druids (the priestly class of the Celts) were quite different from these.
Druids were a religious order that worshiped nature spirits, had a
symbolic religious language, long periods of iniation, and a tradition
of revelation, law, nature worship, craft, and music. They did not worship
the gods of the fair folk and they did not worship demons. They sought
lives of ritual purity, celebration of the seasons, and had specializations
for law, poetry, music, and interactions with the Gods.
You now have a popularization of the idea of wizards
in the Harry Potter series. Our knowledge of the
books
is limited. However, they appear to emphasize the
schooling of wizards, but without any career
counseling - it is unclear what the students do with
such knowledge. Perhaps it is like religious
schooling where they will need supplementary
vocational education later for a career.
Yet if it is religious schooling, it lacks deities,
and seems a bit unclear on its sacred texts and
ethical rules. Indeed, the "wizard religion" seem to
consist entirely of ritual (i.e., spells) within
a closed social community. We cannot determine
a god or gods, the origin of the magical worlds and
their relationship to the human world. Even the
after-death world is unclear - evil magicians return
from death, taking on new bodies, while good ones
such as Harry's parents disappear perhaps going on to some unspecified
heaven world.
The Harry Potter brand of wizard is very different
from the wizards of the Fair Folk. In the world
of the Fair Folk, wizards or magicians support the
culture, emphasize goodness, beauty, and creativity,
and are concerned with religious issues. We do
not have evil magicians. It would be like talking
about evil bishops in the Catholic Church. It
is simply not in the literary tradition. The goal
of our wizards is to create a better world.
As we can see, the Harry Potter idea of wizards
lacks many elements which would allow it to fit
into the larger world. It is a fantasy that
creates a class of people with magical powers
but there seems to be little purpose or reason for
their existence. Harry is on an individual
quest to learn more about his parents and the reason
for their deaths, but the larger role of the magician
seems to have no purpose or goal that
is decernable from the books. But perhaps the
popularity of the series will inspire people
to look into the concept of the magician and
eventually understand it in greater depth.
