Happy Harry Potter day, dear readers! On this day in 1998, the Battle of Hogwarts was won by Harry Potter and company as they vanquished the Dark Lord Voldemort and preserved the integrity of the Wizarding world for the coming generations.

The Mirror of Erised

We will skip ahead far into the film with the scene containing the Mirror of Erised. Harry Potter discovers it accidentally when hiding from Filch for being in the restricted section past curfew. He removes his invisibility cloak which can be looked at as symbolism for making himself seen and vulnerable. Then he stands in front of a mirror that reflects back to him the “deepest and most desperate desires of his heart.” This is what Dumbledore tells Harry later after Harry repeatedly comes back. Understandably, Harry misses the family he never had. His alternate family is cruel and unloving and he craves the love of his parents. This is intensified further because Harry is left to the idealization of his parents. He never knew them and so he can imagine they are amazing, almost perfect.

When he brings Ron to show him, he is disheartened to find that Ron does not see the same thing. The mirror is not fixed. It is ever changing, reflective of your current state. This is both good and bad. Some desires are worthy of pursuit (in their proper place) while others are detrimental to the mind and soul. Harry’s desire to have a loving family is natural and normal. Ron’s is rather superficial, being consumed with ideas of glory and victory through Quidditch.

Harry begins to find himself in a persistent state of need and desire. This is where living in a “state of Erised” is dangerous and harmful. Dumbledore warns him of this when he finds him there.

“This mirror gives us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad…it does not do to dwell on dreams Harry, and forget to live.” – Headmaster Dumbledore

This is a brilliant illustration of how a constant state of need creates lack. In fact, this can be tied into Voldemort’s entire fall into a state of villainhood. He is always seeking something outside of him. Power, control, revenge, eventually to separate himself into pieces to preserve his form. We will go back to this later.

Harry learns a valuable lesson from his experience in front of the mirror: being in a state of lack, cripples the ability to receive. Many of us break the mirrors that reveal to us reflections we do not wish to see. This means you must live a life without reflection, without inner consultation. The mirror is a gift, not a curse. It shows the one on the other side the path out of need and fantasy. Harry could have gone mad living in a fantasy state. Wishing he was not lacking his parents. He could have lost himself in the idea. Imagine for a moment what he would have lost that he found in the rest of the series: friendship, familial love in Sirius as a living person, mentorship, knowledge, wisdom, accomplishment, romantic love with Ginny, and conquering his fear of death.

Slaying of Purity in the Unicorn

In the Sorcerer’s Stone, the Unicorn symbolizes purity and innocence. For this reason, it’s blood can sustain, but only a broken form. The price for slaying something so pure is to live “a half life, a cursed life.” Harry is perplexed by who would choose such a life. Voldemort does. Why? Because he is in a constant state of lack and need. He would rather live a life of suffering, a life in a state of constant fear and desperation than relinquish his form. Because he believes his form is all there is of him. Of course, he is creating this reality for himself but that is not his experience. Voldemort believes he has to sustain his form and he goes to great lengths. Splitting his soul, slaying the unicorn to cling to life, merging with Professor Quirrell, and endlessly seeking the stone of immortality: the Sorcerer’s Stone. Like the unicorn, Harry Potter also represents the slaying of the pure when Voldemort’s curse rebounded. After his failed attempt to kill Harry, Voldemort lost a great deal of his powers.

Ensnared by Something You Don’t Want

When Hermione, Ron, and Harry narrowly escape the jaws of Fluffy the three-headed dog, they land on Devil’s Snare. This plant’s vines and tendrils grip the trio unrelentingly. Ron and Harry begin to panic while Hermione does something very wise: she surrenders. Lacking need, you will receive is not just wishing to acquire something you desire, it is also releasing the need to get away from something you do not desire as well. The principle works both ways. As Hermione relaxes, Devil’s Snare releases her. This is also a great visual for anxiety. Resisting feelings, emotions, and trying to make them go away only strengthen their presence. Hermione is the first to escape, or rather, be let go by Devil’s Snare. Harry is second. Ron needs to be rescued. Often this is the case when someone gets too far deep into the fear or another lower level of consciousness state. Something or someone else needs to pull them out of it, or the energy needs to run its course. Like a runaway freight train, it has too much momentum. The key is catching it before it gets to that level of intensity.

Symbolism of the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry and his friends spend a great deal of the film trying to find the Sorcerer’s Stone. All the while, it was right under their feet. This is a rather obvious lesson of life: what you need is always much closer than you think.

In its raw power, the Sorcerer’s Stone has the ability to make one immortal. This is Voldemort’s most desperate desire. Through Quirrell and the return of the Mirror of Erised, we see this.

“I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone. But how do I get it?” – Professor Quirrell / Lord Voldemort

Since Quirrell made himself a willing host for Voldemort to prey upon, he inhabits Voldemort’s desires. Dumbledore told Harry the mirror would be moved to a new home. This was why. Dumbledore knew Voldemort’s own unyielding desires would blind him to the very thing he needed most: to acquire the stone. This is a great lesson in life. Need creates lack. Lack creates continuous suffering. Continuous suffering leaves you in constant need.

You only lack what you think you need. Everything you need you already possess.

Sit with that for a moment. It’s important.

Harry never wanted the stone for power, corruption, control, or anything egoic. Partially this is due to his innocence. He battles with these temptations as he ages in the series. The stone presents itself to him because Dumbledore created those rules of protection. For purposes of understanding the symbolism, Dumbledore can be looked at as a figure of ultimate wisdom. He anticipated Voldemort’s desires well ahead and trapped him in them.

“Only a person who wanted to find the stone, find it but not use it, would be able to get it.” – Headmaster Dumbledore

Life tends to provide us with what we need when we do not reside in a state of need.

Sit with that one too. It’s equally important.

Why did Harry physically possess the Sorcerer’s Stone? The mirror is bewitched to show you that which you feel you need but not physically give it to you. However, Harry arrives in the depths of the castle without need. He possesses only bravery, curiosity, and a hope to protect the stone from misuse. He is not in a need state. Therefore, when he stands in front of the mirror he receives the Sorcerer’s Stone. The Mirror of Erised is also a profoundly wise prop of storytelling for the reason that it only shows each individual their true reflection. Quirrell could not see Harry’s reflective state. Ron could not see Harry’s. No one can see anyone else’s. Sometimes, often times, even we have significant trouble seeing our own. Further, with all the filters, obstacles, traumas, and stories clouding our vision of ourselves, imagine how much chaos it would create to project our own state onto someone else’s reflection. It would be impossible to sort out the projections from the reflections.

I think it can be interpreted that Harry received protection when Quirrell/Voldemort attacked him at the end through the magic of love because his intentions were grounded in bravery, courage, and the preservation of a higher state of consciousness. Sometimes noble intentions like this are not enough to protect us in form, but we are thankful when they are.

Hence absent need, you will receive.

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