Posted on 01/18/2006 4:07:44 PM PST by wagglebee
EDMONTON, January 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It would seem there is truth to the warnings against the Harry Potter series if the opening of an honest-to-goodness witchcraft school in Canada is any indication of increased interest in the occult that has resulted from the books.
The new school, Northern Star College of Mystical Studies, is compared to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter books by a CanWest News Service report. The school offers diploma and two-year certificate programs, open to adults only. The school teaches potions, astrology, tarot, hypnotherapy, divination, magic and other occult practices, among other subjects.
“Harry Potter starts to get everybody curious about the mystic inside of them,” admitted Catherine Potter, a hypnotherapist and professional astrologer who teaches at the school. She is a fan of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series. “I think it stirs a yearning in people to know more than just the five senses.”
Despite naysayers, Potter’s own admission that Harry Potter spurned her interest in the occult confirms warnings like those from Pope Benedict XVI, Gabriele Kuby, Catholic artist and author Michael D. O’Brien, Father Alfonso Aguilar, and even Rome’s official exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, who said, “Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil.”
In a letter dated March 7, 2003 Pope Benedict XVI – then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – thanked his friend Gabriele Kuby for her “instructive” book about Harry Potter – gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which Kuby says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.
“It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly,” the Pope wrote.
Both O’Brien and Father Alfonso Aguilar meanwhile condemn the books for their similarities with an early anti-Christian cult known as Gnosticism. “The wizard world is about the pursuit of power and esoteric knowledge, and in this sense it is a modern representation of a branch of ancient Gnosticism, the cult that came close to undermining Christianity at its birth,” O’Brien explained in his essay, Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture, available here: http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/obrienpotter.ht....
“The so-called ‘Christian Gnostics’ of the 2nd century were in no way Christian, for they attempted to neutralize the meaning of the Incarnation and to distort the concept of salvation along traditional Gnostic lines: man saves himself by obtaining secret knowledge and power,” O’Brien wrote.
Defending his criticism of Rowling’s work as compared to JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, who some argue also portrays magic, O’Brien added: “Rowling portrays Harry’s victory as the fruit of esoteric knowledge and power. This is Gnosticism. Tolkien portrays Frodo’s victory as the fruit of humility, obedience, and courage in a state of radical suffering. This is Christianity.”
View the roster of eyebrow-raising courses such as Plant Spirit Integration, Sacred Circle, Oracle Exploration, Exploring the Concept of Reincarnation, Earth Medicine, and Crystal and Stone Helpers, at the school’s web site:
http://www.centercollege-wholistic.ca/home.html
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels - Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html
Ten Arguments Against Harry Potter - By Woman Who Corresponded with Cardinal Ratzinger
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071508.html
Rome’s Chief Exorcist Warns Parents against Harry Potter
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jan/02010202.html
Why should we be surprised, when there's already Klingon Kamp?
They've gotten one to work, Accio, moron's money. That being said, the article isn't particularly accurate on Rowling. She stated specifically that she uses no actual spells in her books. In the series, the capability to perform magic is inborn into the individual, they either have it or they don't. The potions all require dragon's claws or lacewing flies, or some other item that an individual wouldn't be able to actually obtain. OTOH, actual "magical" spells, (yes, I've researched them) use things like beeswax candles, and other things readily available.
I've also seen Pope Benedict's letter about Harry Potter. If I recall correctly, he commends the writer for their concern about influences on young people, but never actually addresses Harry Potter directly. It looks very similar to form letters I've received from time to time from my elected representatives. In short, it was a polite response to someone who wrote to him, but was in no way any form of statement of his or official church policy on Harry Potter.
That being said, I've read all the Harry Potter books, and went to the midnight parties at the bookstores for the last two. However, on this last one, I'm going to wait to purchase it to find out if Harry gets killed. If he does, I'm not buying it.
If JK Rowling kills off Harry, it would be a major bummer.
Sorry amigo, but some of those kids who went into the "100 acre wood" unsupervised never came out the same...
It just goes to show that for every beloved story or childhood memory, there's a group of sick twisted freaks who want to pervert it into something else entirely.
Pingao Martin! I figured this would be good for a laugh.
Wish this was around when I was a kid, I would have loved to play Quidditch on my Nimbus 1976 Broom. B-)
C'mon, man! If I had a school full of naughty girls who worship me, do you think I'd be hanging around here? >; )>~
“Harry Potter starts to get everybody curious about the mystic inside of them,” admitted Catherine Potter, a hypnotherapist and professional astrologer who teaches at the school. She is a fan of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series. “I think it stirs a yearning in people to know more than just the five senses.”
There are two dangers in HP, the normalization of the occult and the presentation of the notion of "good" witchcraft. The result is the above.
After watching the American Idol the last few evenings, I am certain classes will fill up quickly.
Why, what happened on American Idol?
Just damn.
I can't get too worked up over the Harry Potter series.I saw one of the movies;Read none of the books.
Thought the movie was a dud.
I've heard people bemoan Pokemon a charming cartoon that lauds loyalty,courage,honesty etc. Some parents forbid their kids to watch it.This is a nonissue for me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.