DATE OF PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 2002

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Dangers of Witchcraft #1

THE DARK WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!

Over 40 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been printed. You will find them in over 40 languages, in 130 countries. Over a million audio versions have been sold. Scholastic, the U.S. publisher of the books, has netted $200 million in profits from their sale, The author, J. K. Rowling, is now the richest woman In Britain and the first billionaire In history who obtained it by writing books.

The four books released so far are;

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1999)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)

A total of seven are planned because Rowling says seven is a magic number. (All references to these books in this study are to the original books, not the lower-cost paper-backs.)

It is as if a magical spell has been cast over the world, and everyone must buy and love those books and everything associated with them. All types of children's toys, figures, trading cards, roll-playing games (similar to Dungeons & Dragons), costume clothes, computer games, book bags, and candies are being marketed. Warner Bros, has signed a contract to produce a full-length motion picture to match each of the seven Potter books.

"The Harry Potter phenomenon is unprecedented in children's literature,"-Diane Roback, children’s book editor. Publisher's Weekly, quoted in USA Today, December 2, 1999.

"It's mind-boggling It would be easy to attribute Harry Potter's success to some form of magical Intervention.” Joan Feiwel, Scholastic representative, quoted in Los Angels Times, October 22. 1999.

Study books and classroom study guides, have been prepared, so schoolteachers can lead their students through the "the origins and mysteries of Harry's world," including its occult rituals (see "Harry Potter Can Help Parents and Teachers Educate Kids, Children's Book Expert Says." PR. Newsletter, August 17, 2000).

Beacham Publications has released the teacher's sourcebook, Exploring Harry Potter, with all kinds of teacher’s aids, which include "witches. Druids, goddess worshippers and other pagans in America today.”

A recent Gallup poll found that almost one-third of all parents with kids under eighteen have children who have read a Harry Potter book (Breakpoint, July 14, 2000). "I get letters from children addressed to Professor Dumbledore, and it’s not a joke, begging to be let Into Hogwarts, and some of them are really sad, Because they want It to be true so badly they’ve convinced themselves It’s true,"-Rowling, Newsweek, July 1, 2000. J.K. Rowling claims that the Idea for the Harry Potter books suddenly came to her one day in 1990 while riding on a train. So she just started writing and everything came to mind as she wrote. At least, that is what she says.

"The character of Harry Just strolled into my mind. . . I really did feel he was someone who walked up and introduced himself to my mind's eye."--Rowling, quoted In Reuters. July 17, 2000.

Believing her, readers think everything in the books, just popped into her Imagination. But, as we will discover, the; reality is far different.

If Rowling is not a practicing witch, she has studied deeply into the blackest of witchcraft training manuals. And she is pouring it into her seven books. The Harry Potter books teach every lurid aspect of witchcraft! Nothing is omitted!

Joanne Kathleen Rowling grew up In Scotland. What she doesn't tell you is that, since childhood, she has tried to learn everything she can about witchcraft.

According to Ian Potter (a childhood friend, whose last name she used In her book title), Rowling used to dress up as a witch all the time. Ian's younger sister, Vikki, also remembers those days when they were growing up together.

"Our favorite thing was to dress up as witches. We used to dress up and play Witch all the time. My brother would dress up as a wizard. Joanne was always reading witchcraft stories to us. . We would make secret potions for her. She would always send us off to get twigs for the potions.” -Ian Potter and Vikki Potter, quoted in Danielle Demetriou, "Harry Potter and the Source of Inspiration." Electronic Telegraph, July 1, 2000.

Trying to hide her years of witchcraft involvement, Rowling claims that she knows little about witchcraft and really has no Interest in it.

"I truly am bemused that anyone who has read the books, would think that I am a proponent of the occult in any serious way. I don’t believe In witchcraft, in the sense that they're talking about, at all . . I don't believe In magic In the way I describe it in my books."-“Success Stuns Harry Potter Author”, Associated Press, July 6, 2000,

But, during a 1999 interview, Rowling admitted that, in the process of writing the books, she had studied mythology, witchcraft, and the exact words used in witches spells.­

"I do a certain amount of research and folklore is quite important in books. So where I'm mentioning a creature or a spell, that people used to believe genuinely would work—of course, it didn't. . Then, I will find out exactly what the words were, and will find out exactly what the characteristics of that creature or ghost were supposed to be . . [Much of sorcery material in the books] are things that people genuinely used to believe in Britain." J.K.R. interview on National Public Radio. October 20, 1999.

Rowling plays down the fact that witches still use the spells she is now teaching. When we dabble with Satanism, demons begin affecting our minds.

During one call in interview, a wizard excitedly asked Rowling if she was a member of the "Craft" (Wicca, the organization witches belong to). When she answered, no, he was shocked and replied, "Well, you've done your homework quite well!" He went on to say that he loved the Potter books because they were full of the same occult formulas he regularly used.

The secular media has gone wild over Harry Potter. It is as if a single spirit is controlling their thinking on this matter. Ominously enough, a majority of the Christian media is also very much in favor of this outstanding opportunity for little children to learn how to delve into the deep things of witchcraft.

"The literary witchcraft of the Harry Potter Series has almost no resemblance to the I-am-god Mumbo jumbo of Wiccan circles. —"Why we like Harry Potter," Christianity today, January 10, 2000.

"Wicca" Is the name given to the official religion of Witchcraft, founded in the twentieth century by Gerald Gardner (1884-1964). In an article for the Roman Catholic journal, First Things, Allan Jacobs of Wheaton College described the novels as "a great deal of fun," their magic as “charming”, and added, "There Is In books like this the possibility for serious moral reflection" (First Things, January 2000).

Chuck Colson, the man who says he has been "born again," said on his Breakpoint broadcast that fantasy tales are harmless and Rowling's book characters demonstrate courage, loyalty, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another; not bad lessons In a self-centered world" (Chuck Colson, Breakpoint, November 1, 1999).

America’s leading Christian magazine says this:

“Rowllng's series is a Book of Virtues with a preadolescent funny bone. Amid the laugh out-loud scenes are wonderful examples of compassion, loyalty, courage, friendship, and even self-sacrifice. No wonder young readers want to be like these believable charac­ters, That is a Christmas present we can be grateful for" (Christianity Today. "Why We like Harry Potter”, January 10, 2000).

But not everyone is fooled.

"There is a general nastiness underneath the mantle of cuteness. The kids lie, they steal, they take revenge, This Is a disturbing moral world, and it conflicts with what I am trying to teach my children."-Ken McCormick quoted in Baptist Press, July 13. 2000.

That is putting it mildly! You are about to obtain a glimpse of a chamber of horrors, known as the “Harry Potter books.”

By 1999, more efforts were made to ban the Potter books from U.S. public schools than any other book or set of books. By the next year, over 400 lawsuits had been filed to stop the use of those books in our public schools.

Rowling laughs at the complaints, declaring:

"I am not trying to Influence anyone into black magic. That's the very last thing I'd want to do; . . My wizarding world is a world of the imagination. I think it's a moral world, " - Rowling, quoted in USA Week, and Online, November 14, 1999.

Rowling says that it really does not matter what books children look at. Let them read anything they want is her position.

"When I was quite young, my parents never said books were of limits . . as a child, I read a lot of adult books. I don't think you should censor kids' reading material, it’s important just to Jet them go do what they need to do."-NPR Interview, October 20, 1999.

 It is of interest that 43 percent or the Potter books are sold to readers older than fourteen and 29 percent are sold to people over thirty-five.

What do the Harry Potter books teach?

People who are not involved in witchcraft are considered to be inferior, less Intelligent, and slow to catch on to truth, They are "muggles"; but, as Rowling said in an Interview, they are "not completely stupid" (Associated Press, July 6. 2000).

People who do right are portrayed as a nuisance. Only one person seems to have any moral qualities, Hermione, a girl student. But each time she pleads with Harry to obey the rules, he always ridicules and speaks mean to her. As part of the narrative, Rowling adds that Hermione is a "bossy, know-it-all" and "bad-tempered."

Parents are something to be avoided, not obeyed, and escaped from. The family caring for Harry In the summers occupies themselves with keeping him locked up in a room, (Chamber of Secrets, 21-22). In Harry's world, this is what parents are like:

"Laughing like a maniac, he dragged Harry back upstairs. . . The following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on Harry’s window. . They let Harry out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise he was locked in his room around the clock. "--Chamber of Secrets, 21-22.

Fortunately, two boys help Harry run away from home, where he is rewarded with a nice home to stay in, Judith Krug, of the Chicago -based American Library Association, explains it this way:

"The storyline is excellent . . . There’s no one always telling him (Harry) what to do, and what young person hasn’t said, “Oh, if they’d only leave me alone!” or “I wish I didn’t have parents!” They don’t mean this in a mean way, It's just that parents get in the way."­ Judith Krug, quoted In Harry Potter Books: Craze & Controversy.

Bad conduct is rewarded. Harry and his friends are repeatedly praised and rewarded by teachers or other students, when they do bad things. Harry is constantly breaking the rules and doing bad things, without receiving any pun­ishment. Instead his actions are said to be clever, exciting, and the way to have more adventure.

As Starhawk, founder of Covenant of the Goddess, explains It: "In witchcraft, we do not fight self-interest, we follow it" (Starhawk, the Spiral Dance. 76). In the Potter books, rules are made to be broken, and lying is an effective way to achieve a desired end. Students and adults lie constantly to one another, then laugh about it afterward. Harry's best friend, Ilagrid, continually gets drunk as a way to make his life happier (five times In Book 3 alone). He never suffers for doing so.

"I think they’re very moral books."-Rowling, SSC interview, October 17, 1999,

"Each book takes a theme. . with the idea of making choices In your life, and builds on them to give the child a sense of what it is to be a good human being."-Linda Goettina, psychoanalyst, interview, Nightline, ABC, July 7, 2000.

Swear words are used. In these supposedly “sweet little books for children” In Chamber of Secrets, boys swear (253, 259). In Prisoner of Azkaban, specific words are In­cluded In swearing: "damn" (23), "bitch," referring to Harry's mother (25). “B" for "bastard" (310), and God's name Is used a swear word (113). Book 4 (Goblet of fire) has more: "Damn" (43, 62, 127, 232, 344, 561, 470). "Hell" (626), and mare. Every book in the series increases in the number of swear words.

Acts of hatred and revenge repeatedly occur. Power and force are the goals to be sought, not truth and honesty. The child grows accustomed to finding excitement in meanness, selfishness, and scenes of horror.

Harry discovers a list of “curses and counter-curses" to use to "bewitch your friends and befuddle your enemies with the latest revenges" (Sorcerer's Stone, 80).

Scenes are presented to the susceptible mind of the child which are more horrible than the most terrible nightmare, The attention is so riveted by these shocking things that the mind is more susceptible to ideas and practices which are extremely evil, Here is just one example:

"Out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast . . The cloaked figure reached the unicorn lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side and began to drink its blood."-Sorcerer's Stone, 256,

Believe me: I could give you quotation after quotation that is far more horrible than this!

Spirits take control of people. Voldemort has no body, so he takes control of the body of Professor Quirrell. This is what your child reads;

"Where there should have been a back to QuirreI's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake. . 'See what I have become?' the face said, 'Mere shadow and vapor. . Once I have the elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own.' "-Sorcerer's Stone, 293-294.

Murder occurs repeatedly. The face then tells Harry that he killed Harry’s father and mother. Then the face com­mands Quirrell to kill Harry. "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" (IbId; full caps hers)! A "death spell" is then cast on Harry.

Actual murders of people and animals occur over and over again. In Goblet of fire alone, muggles are "tortured" (589), and their killings are "done for fun" (143). Three wizards are killed (531, 589), and a man and his wife are tortured to the point of insanity (595, 603). Cedric is murdered in front of Harry (638). A child, after killing his father, turns the body into a bone and buries it (690). Each book gets worse than the one before it.

"Parents expecting a respite from the violence In popular culture will be surprised by the amount of violence that Rowling introduces into her tales, I can­not think of any classic children's story that has as much of it!"-Lee Stegel, interviewer, The New Republic, November 4, 1999.

Life after death and reincarnation is taught. Death is something to be desired as the entrance to a new, more fascinating afterlife.

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."-Sorcerer’s Stone, 297.

Harry finds the mirror of Erised ("desire": witches like to play with mysterious, backward spelling), which shows: him movie-like Images of his dead parents smiling and waving back at him.

The reader becomes accustomed to gruesome creatures and disembodied spirits. A room-sized, three-headed "hellhound" lives under a trapdoor beneath the student's dormitory. "Nearly headless Nick" lives at the school, whose head falls almost all the way off whenever someone pulls on his ear, (Sorcerer's Stone, 124), "Moaning Myrtle," a previously murdered student who, on various pages, repeatedly cries out in the night while the students make fun of the noise. Headless horsemen play hockey with the head of one of the ghosts who lives there (Chamber of Secrets, 136­,137).

All the symbols and objects used by witchcraft are found in these books. This includes spells, spell-books, curse and bewitchment formulas, magic words, exorcism, wands, robes, cauldrons, flying brooms, and all the rest.

All the animals and creatures, such as elves, goats, banshees, owls, dragons,

Here is one example, which Rowling takes directly from witchcraft books: The “hand of glory" In occult teaching is the "right hand of a murderer severed after death." In Chamber of Secrets (Book 2), Harry finds a hand of glory, "a withered hand on a cushion,” - for sale in a wizard shopping store. Draco wants his father to buy it for him, The shopkeeper explains how it can help its owner steal things: "Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir:" (Chamber of Secrets, 51-52).

Famous spiritualists and gods of earlier centuries are mentioned as names of characters In the books. This helps the child become acquainted with leading pagans and gods, so he will later feel at home with professional witchcraft writings. Here are a few of the prominent ones mentioned as students, teachers, etc, in these books, Adalbert (who, in A.D. 745, was condemned to prison for sorcery), Vablatsky (Helena Blavatsky Is the most famous spiritualist woman writer of the twentieth century).

Important pagan deities include Minerva (a Roman god­dess), Argus (giant in Greek myth), Cerce (a witch In Homer’s Iliad). Merlin (King Arthur's wizard), Morrighan (an ancient Celtic goddess of death). Cliodna (pagan goddess of Ireland, and a banshee). Draco (Greek serpent god). Sibyll (Greek divination goddess).

Many more could be mentioned.

There was no need for Rowling to go to such lengths to so heavily saturate the books with spiritist lore. The only reason I can think of as to why she would do this is because she has made a contract with the devil. Rowling has done her part and Satan is doing his part,—and an avalanche of book sales have made her the richest author In the world,

Magical ability is portrayed as a special empower­ment, which we should seek after. This leads the reader to begin craving this witching ability.

Hundreds of children have written letters to the publishing houses asking where Hogworts School is so they can leave home and attend it. They want to become witches and wizards!

"It is important to remember that we all have magic inside us,"-Rowling, in a prepared video released by Sholastic.

That echoes the words of the spiritualists:

"The powers of witchcraft, magic, shamanism, or whatever one likes to call it, are latent in everyone," ­Doreen Valiente. The Rebirth of Witchcraft, p. 92.

The “funny stories" are extremely horrible. The secular and Christian presses speak glowingly about how delightful and funny the Harry Potter books are. Here are two examples, from among many having this strange humor:

The boys laugh with delight upon learning that it is witchcraft teaching that mandrake roots are shriveled up live babies. Killing them Is a running joke throughout Book 2. The children at the school wear earmuffs when pulling them out of the ground, because the screams are so loud "before cutting them up and stewing them" (Chamber of Secrets, 264).

“ A small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale, green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs . . They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and gnashed their teeth: Harry spent ten whole minutes trying to squish a particularly fat one into a pot.” -Chamber of Secrets, 92-94.

Here Is another example of Rowling's "funny stories," Can you Imagine children reading this? Moaning Myrtle is the spirit of it dead girl, earlier murdered at the school, who wants to commit suicide and can’t::

" 'My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death. . I came in here [to the girl's bathroom] and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm—I'm—' 'Already dead,' said Ron helpfully. Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived into the toilet. . Hermione shrugged wearily and said, 'Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle,' "-Chamber of Secrets, 156.

"Lighten up, the magic Is so tongue-in-cheek," says Pastor Rachel Berry Kraps of a Methodist church In California, "It’s just wonderful fun!" Her husband, Pastor John Kraps agree: "We love Harry Potter, and our whole family is outraged by the opposition by the Christian right" (quoted in San Jose Mercury News, November 13, 1999).

Fortune-telling, crystal-ball gazing, and hypnotic activity are emphasized as a marvelous new way to achieve higher knowledge and state of being.

" 'Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art.' she [Sibyll, the divination teacher] tells them, 'We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes, so as to clear the Inner Eye and the superconscious,' "-Prisoner of Azkaban, 297.

That is exactly what scryers (crystal-ball gazers) do to enter a trance! Many children reading this will start practicing it. The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology says crystal gazing Is a form of self-induced hypnosis to free one’s telepathic power.” (Vol. J, 280).

In the Potter books, Sibyll (the name comes from an ancient prophetic goddess)  also teaches Harry and his friends magical potions from herbs, astral projection, (out-of-body visitations), palmistry, arithmancy, numerology, charms (incantations used to endow amulets or talisman with magical powers), and runes (magic markings).

In Goblet of Fire, Harry becomes a full-blown clairvoyant (able to predict the future). This, of course, encourages the reader to want to do it also.

"Harry Potter gives children an appetite for the occult.” -Robert Knight, Family Research Council, in Tulsa World, June 20, 2000.

Each additional book in the series intensifies the amount of mischief and horror. (Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire are the worst), On one hand, the reader becomes so blunted to bloodshed, that it keeps requiring more to maintain his interest. On the other, Rowling is leading them toward a predetermined, sinister objective; to give the children the fullest, possible education In witchcraft.

"I can tell you, that the books are getting darker. Harry's going to have quite a bit to deal with as he gets older,"-Rowling, Conline interview, September 25. I999.

"Each new book seems a bit darker and more morbidly tragic than the one preceding," Steve Bonta, The New American, August 28, 2000.

"Death and bereavement and what death means, I would say, are one of the central themes in all seven books, "-Rowling, in Ibid.

Harry Potter started school when he was eleven; he will be seventeen when he starts the last year. Rowling warns us that, in audition to all his other areas of rebellion against law and order, soon he will start doing things with girls.

"Harry's going to have quite a bit to deal with as he gets older, . "Harry and his friends will be discovering their hormones, as they grow older. "—Rowling, Conline interview, September 25,  1999.

She hints at what is coming in Book 4. Harry sees a number of sensual, erotic: ghost-women, "the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen" (Goblet of Fire. 103),

We invite you to view our other website that has many more articles on this subject for both Children and Adults -

http://www.harrypottermagic.org