Since this blog is just sort of a ranting post, I thought I would share with you a teensy observation I have made about the Harry Potter series, which I adore. Because most of you may not realize this, one of the "scaffoldings" upon which the narrative of the Potter series is designed is called "Literary Alchemy." Rowling employs symbols and allegory relating to the ancient alchemical Magnum Opus in order to underscore her protagonist's quasi-apotheosis in Deathly Hallows. We are probably not all acquainted with the finer points of alchemy, but this is of little importance. What I wanted to point out was how Quidditch, the main sport of the wizarding world and an event important to 6 out of 7 of Rowling's books, reinforces the alchemical references. In particular, I wanted to talk about the Golden Snitch.
In her Potter-supplementary work Quidditch Through the Ages, Rowling describes in detail the history and origins of the Golden Snitch. In Ages, she reveals that, during an early Quidditch match, a wizard by the name of Barberus Bragge released a Golden Snidget – then a bird common in Britain – onto the pitch, offering 150 Galleons to the wizard or witch who could catch it. Bragge’s actions saw an evolution in the game as, ever since, wizards and witches taking to the air on their broomsticks release a ball called the Golden Snitch. 150 points is awarded to the team of the wizard who can catch the Snitch. The origins of the idea for the Golden Snitch as it occurred to Rowling are no less magically-based than the fable of Bragge and the Golden Snidget.
Tracing back the origins of the Snitch as Potter fans recognize it today take us back to Ancient Egypt and the worship of the deity Kneph. Kneph was not a humanoid god like the later Egyptian pantheon, but, like many of the early Greek deities, was rather a personification of an abstract idea. In this case, Kneph was the deity which represented the “life-force,” the substance that brought both the gods and men to life. In modern English, Kneph translates to “soul-breath,” and has been identified as a parallel to the Greek diety pneuma, or “breath.” The Egyptians used the symbol to the right to represent Kneph. Notice the similarities to Rowling’s Golden Snitch: the main body is small and spherical, with wings spreading from either side. As Egyptian religion matured, Kneph became identified in his own right as a creator god and eventually assimilated into the more historically-important deity Amun.
Once the Egyptian civilization spread and its influence and theology found roots in other geographic areas, kneph (hereafter referred to the kneph to dissuade confusion with the god) lost the identity as a proper deity, but continued to exist through its connotations with the life force, and one of the important arenas in which the kneph found usage was in the esoteric symbology of alchemy.
The focus of alchemy as it was practiced in Europe during the Middle Ages and beyond was to complete the Magnum Opus, or “the Great Work.” This was the process where, by completing a series of complex stages through a mixture of pseudo-chemistry and magic, the alchemist would succeed in the production of the philosopher’s stone: an artifact that could, among other things, transform base metals into the purest gold. The alchemist believed that within all matter there existed the potential to become gold, but that that potential had to be extracted and purified. However, this end was so desirable that something akin to alchemical espionage arose. Afraid to lose all of their secrets to another, less talented man, the alchemist was forced to adopt a system of symbology to encrypt his research. One of the symbols of this system was taken straight from Egyptian mythology: the kneph.
In alchemy, the kneph represented Mercury, which the alchemist identified with the state of volatility inherent in matter. When the stages of the Magnum Opus were adopted in later centuries by scholars who saw in it a convenient parallel to man’s quest for spiritual fulfillment, the kneph came to represent the Holy Spirit, or the communion between matter and a higher existence. Note the figure at the very top of this post. In the esoteric symbology of Freemasonry, which adopted its symbols from alchemy and other hermetic systems, the kneph was known as “the cosmic egg,” or the state of potentiality.
In all of its incarnations, interpretations of the kneph seem to follow a common theme: the kneph always represents a force within matter by which that matter can transcend the normal confines of its baseness and become something more. Thus, tracing Rowling’s inspirations for the Snitch to one of these usages of the kneph is almost useless as, more or less, every culture and system has seen the kneph in the same way. However, as we must always see a symbol in context of its surroundings, we must look at the Golden Snitch itself as part of the larger work of the Harry Potter series. In an interview concerning the series, Rowling stated that she undertook research into the methods of alchemy in order to build a comprehensible logic on which the magic used in her world would be based. This alchemical basis for the works then spread into every facet of the work, including, clearly, Quidditch. Armed with that knowledge, we must then pay closer attention to the alchemical usage of the kneph symbol to get an absolutely clear picture of where the Golden Snitch actually came from.
If we look at the game of Quidditch in terms of paralleling the alchemical Magnum Opus, then the Golden Snitch takes on a new meaning altogether. The purpose of the Magnum Opus, as stated above, was to turn base metals into gold, which has become itself allegorical for man’s quest for spiritual fulfillment – i.e. his quest for God or communion with God. So the Snitch, through it’s symbolic identification with the kneph, represents the force through which a person can transcend their base materials and achieve this communion: it is the Egyptian “soul-breath,” the alchemical state of volatility, and the symbol for the fluidity of Mercury. It is apt then, when considering the role that the Snitch has in the game of Quidditch, that the game should end when the Snitch is caught, for when the Mercury in an object is activated in the final stage of the Magnum Opus, the process has been completed. It is also apt that Rowling should have chosen to name the player who catches the Snitch “the Seeker,” which has strong connotations to a religious seeker, or a seeker of God.
(Images: [Top] The Masonic Egg [Bottom] Potter's Golden Snitch)
I claim no rights to the images and what not.
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