Magic in Harry Potter

Is the Magic of Harry Potter in any way «bad» or «dangerous»? A lot of people seem to believe that, but I don’t. To show why, let me ask two questions; (i) what kind of magic do we find in Harry Potter, and (ii) what (literary) purpose does it have?

Invocational and incantational magic. There is to kinds of magic, invocational magic, «sorcery,» and incantational magic, «fairy tale magic.» The first kind of magic is dangerous, it is about invoking spirits and demons (hence invocational). Scripture warns that summoning other spirits — which is a brake of the first commandment — is «dangerously stupid.» The other kind of magic is all about wands and incantations, and this word literally means to «sing along,» ie. it is about using a power that is in ourselves by «nature.» Let me call the first magic «sorcery,» the other «wizardry.»(1)

Magic and technology. The Magic of Harry Potter is a science, it is a craft that the witches and wizards must use with logic and reason. But we must understand that the magic is not the most important thing, it is below reason and morality.

Aristotle distinguished between three reasons for seeking knowledge; Truth, moral action and craft/power/technology. Readin this, we see that it is not how good we are at magic and school that counts (just see Harry and Ron!), but our moral backbone which is dependent on our insight intro truth.

And this is what it is all about. Just as X-Men, harry Potter is about using our skills in tune with reality, and not do as Dumbledore (and Magneto) — turning this upside down, subduing truth. As C.S. Lewis so brilliantly put it:

There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse… There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique. (Lewis 1947, p. 77)

Notes:

1. This is because the word wizard, which can mean «magician,» also means a wise man/woman.

Cited Works:

• Lewis, C.S. (1947). The Abolition of Man(Riddell Memorial Lectures). New York: HarperCollins (2001). ISBN: 0-06-065294-2