ORLANDO \u2014 Lee Hillman\u2019s nightstand contains a copy of Sir James George\u00a0Frazer\u2019s classic \u201cThe Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a condensed version, not the two-volume 1890 epic or the12-volume\u00a0monument from the following decades. The single volume contains more than\u00a0enough magical minutia for ordinary readers. Six dense pages will usually\u00a0put Hillman to sleep.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the practicing pagan keeps reading. It has helped give\u00a0perspective on her other passion \u2014 reading and writing about a certain\u00a0young wizard in England.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no relationship set up in the Harry Potter books between magic\u00a0and religion,\u201d said Hillman during Nimbus 2003, the first global convention\u00a0dissecting the 2,715 pages published so far in the series. \u201cThis had to be\u00a0a deliberate decision by J.K. Rowling. \u2026 She is using literary conceits\u00a0drawn from throughout Western culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
She scanned the crowd at a panel discussion last weekend entitled \u201cHarry\u00a0Potter: Witchcraft? Pagan Perspectives.\u201d Then she said the same thing\u00a0again, as a Wiccan believer and another miscellaneous pagan nodded in\u00a0agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing in these books that relates magic to any particular\u00a0religion,\u201d said Hillman. \u201cThere is no connection. None. None. Zero. \u2026 They\u00a0are not really about witchcraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t misunderstand. Hillman still loves the Potter books.\u00a0That\u2019s why she was wearing a spectacular witch\u2019s hat and robe, a flash of\u00a0purple that even stood out among the 600 other colorful fans at Disney\u2019s\u00a0Swan Hotel. Among online Potter devotees, the 31-year-old secretary from\u00a0Rochester, N.Y., is known as \u201cGwendolyn Grace, Minister of Magic\u201d and she\u00a0was the driving force behind the gathering.<\/p>\n
Nimbus 2003 sprouted out of the Internet, where the \u201cHarry Potter For\u00a0Grownups\u201d email list has 10,000 members and a \u201cFiction Alley\u201d list\u00a0dedicated to stories written by fans for other fans has 30,000 members.<\/p>\n
With this kind of reach, organizers attracted participants \u2014 about 90\u00a0percent female \u2014 from across the United States, as well as from England\u00a0and Australia.<\/p>\n
In hotel hallways, witch wannabes raised their expensive, professionally\u00a0carved wands and fought imaginary duels with tickling spells and other\u00a0incantations. In the lecture halls, others heard papers on everything from\u00a0Harry Potter and the First Amendment to \u201cGreenhouses are for Girls, Beasts\u00a0are for Boys? Gender Characterizations in Harry Potter.\u201d There were packed\u00a0sessions on so-called \u201cslash\u201d fiction in which online scribes write gay and\u00a0lesbian themes into new Potter stories.<\/p>\n
Organizers also dedicated an entire track of lectures and panels to\u00a0spiritual issues, addressing topics such as \u201cSeven Deadly Sins, Seven\u00a0Heavenly Virtues: Moral Development in Harry Potter\u201d and \u201cCan Any Wisdom\u00a0Come From Wizardry?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hillman and other pagan panelists were convinced that Rowling \u2014 who has\u00a0said she attends the Church of Scotland and does not believe in magic \u2014 is\u00a0a wonderful writer for children, but is clearly not interested in\u00a0witchcraft. This is not the magic in which they believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a cause-and-effect relationship to everything in these books,\u201d\u00a0said Hillman. \u201cYou say the spell, you see the effect. \u2026 It\u2019s like turning\u00a0on a light. You flip the switch and the magic is there. That just isn\u2019t how\u00a0things work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, evangelical writer Connie Neal enthusiastically found echoes of\u00a0biblical stories and parables in the Potter canon. Her book \u201cThe Gospel\u00a0According to Harry Potter\u201d has been banned in many Christian stores, but\u00a0\u201cthis only seems to have made the secular stores more interested,\u201d she\u00a0said. She keeps challenging people to set up evangelistic reading groups\u00a0that mix Bible study and Harry Potter discussions.<\/p>\n
A Jewish cantor found echoes of the Talmud. A Mormon speaker found strong\u00a0family values. And classics teacher John Granger aired the thesis of his\u00a0book \u201cThe Hidden Key to Harry Potter,\u201d arguing that Rowling has soaked her\u00a0work in centuries of Christian symbolism and spiritual alchemy themes\u00a0shared with Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, C.S. Lewis and countless others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe human person was designed for resurrection, in love. That is what we\u00a0yearn for because that is how we were created,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is what\u00a0these books are about. We respond to them because we are human. Rowling is\u00a0using symbols and themes that have worked for centuries. And you know what?\u00a0They still work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ORLANDO \u2014 Lee Hillman\u2019s nightstand contains a copy of Sir James George\u00a0Frazer\u2019s classic \u201cThe Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion.\u201d It\u2019s a condensed version, not the two-volume 1890 epic or the12-volume\u00a0monument from the following decades. The single volume contains more than\u00a0enough magical minutia for ordinary readers. Six dense pages will usually\u00a0put Hillman to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[187,416,757,926,928],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian-bookstores","tag-harry-potter","tag-rowling","tag-wicca","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\n