Michael B writes that Ms Rowling is discussing her use of alchemical symbolism at her PotterMore web site:
In the [PotterMore] section The Campsite, Jo has written some new information on colors. The first part talks about the importance of purple and green in the Wizarding World, then there’s more on the association of the house colors and their respective elements. Then, she talks about Alchemy!
The passage on alchemy specifically reads:
Colours also played their part in the naming of Hagrid and Dumbledore, whose first names are Rubeus (red) and Albus (white) respectively. The choice was a nod to alchemy, which is so important in the first Harry Potter book, where ‘the red’ and ‘the white’ are essential mystical components of the process. The symbolism of the colours in this context has mystic meaning, representing different stages of the alchemic process (which many people associate with a spiritual transformation). Where my two characters were concerned, I named them for the alchemical colours to convey their opposing but complementary natures: red meaning passion (or emotion); white for asceticism; Hagrid being the earthy, warm, physical man, lord of the forest; Dumbledore the spiritual theoretician, brilliant, idealized and somewhat detached. Each is a necessary counterpoint to the other as Harry seeks father figures in his new world.
Michael then asks me, “ Has she ever confirmed anything like this before? I was under the impression that the alchemy theory was always well informed speculation. All the best, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this reveal.”
Thank you, Michael, for sharing this news. To answer your questions, yes, Ms. Rowling has admitted that her understanding of alchemy played a large part in how she set “the magical parameters” and “internal logic” of the Hogwarts Saga, and, my response to her comments here is something like bemusem*nt.
Her only previous comments about alchemy, made in an interview with Anne Simpson of The Herald in 1998, were in answer to the question, “Did you ever want to be a witch?” She responded:
I’ve never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that’s a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I’ll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories’ internal logic.
Ms Rowling made those comments in 1998 (the picture above is from that same period, before her own cosmetic transfiguration) but the interview was not known to fandom and serious readers until February, 2007. I’d been writing about the alchemical symbolism of the series for more than five years at that point (and been told I was a code-breaking loon more than once because of it). Here is a discussion of the names and their links to the alchemical stages that I wrote for a talk I gave at Nimbus 2003 and which was published in Touchstone as ‘The Alchemist’s Tale‘:
The first stage of the alchemical work is dissolution, usually called the nigredo or the black stage. In this black, initial stage, “the body of the impure metal, the matter for the Stone, or the old, outmoded state of being is killed, putrefied, and dissolved into the original substance of creation, the prima materia, in order that it may be renovated and reborn in a new form.” Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, is named for this stage of the work.
The second stage is purification, usually called the albedo or white work. It follows the ablution or washing of the prima materia, which causes it to turn a brilliant white. “When the matter reaches the albedo, it has become pure and spotless.” Albus Dumbledore (albus is Latin for “white, resplendent”) is named for this stage of the work. Frequently used symbols of the albedo stage of the work in pictorial representations and descriptions of it are the moon (Luna in Latin), the name of one of Harry’s friends in the fifth book, and a lily, the name of his mother, who gave her life to save his.
The third and last stage of the chemical work is recongealing or the perfection, usually called the rubedo or the red stage. The purified matter is now
ready to be reunited with the spirit (or the already united spirit and soul). With the fixation, crystallization or embodiment of the eternal spirit, form is bestowed upon the pure, but as yet formless matter of the Stone. At this union, the supreme chemical wedding, the body is resurrected into eternal life. As the heat of the fire is increased, the divine red tincture flushes the white stone with its rich, red colour.... The reddening of the white matter is also frequently likened to staining with blood.
Rubeus Hagrid (rubeus is Latin for red) is named for this stage. A common symbol of the red work and the Philosopher’s Stone is the red lion.
Each book thus far is a trip through these stages. The black work or dissolution is the work done on Harry at Privet Drive by the Dursleys and in the classroom at Hogwarts by a teacher, Snape, who hates him. The white work or purification is Harry’s year at Hogwarts under the watchful eye of the white alchemist, Albus Dumbledore, in combination with painful separation from Ron, Hermione, or both. The red work or rubedo is the climactic crucible scene, so far always underground or in a graveyard, in which Harry always dies a figurative death and is saved by love in the presence of a Christological symbol.
The resurrection at story’s end each year is the culmination of that year’s cycle and transformation. The cycle then closes with congratulations and explanations from the master alchemist and a return to the Dursleys for another trip through the cycle.
See the original Touchstone article for references and sources.
This argument, that the characters are named for the alchemical colors, has become something of a ‘given’ or set of premises from which the larger discussion of Ms Rowling’s alchemical artistry in her Hogwarts books has taken shape. The sequence and character of these stages, for example, is the heart of the debate about whether the seven books are a ring of repeating cycles, once backwards, then forwards. See William Sprague’s thoughts on that subject.
That being the case, it is nice, I suppose, to have it from the author herself explicitly — rather than just (?) implicitly in the composition of her stories — that Rubeus and Albus were named for the red and white stages of the alchemical process, respectively. I don’t think we have learned anything we haven’t known for a decade but surely this will help some readers who only accept interpretations of an author’s work if those conjectures are confirmed by that author.
Of course, there are at least as many readers of this kind who believe once a writer has spoken on a subject of interpretation, be it theme, symbolism, or story scaffolding, that the subject is closed. I offer as evidence all those who believe Ms Rowling’s answers about the “meaning of Harry’s name” are conclusive, namely (sic), that she liked ‘Harry’ as a first name and there was a Potter family on the street where she grew up. Both ‘answers’ tell us exactly nothing other than that the author isn’t going to answer this question.
I think Ms Rowling’s alchemical observations here are something like that. She allows that “some believe” alchemy is a spiritual exercise and that at least two of her characters are named for the three stages. That opens up the conversation about alchemy in the Saga. Then she discusses Rubeus and Albus and rather makes a muck of the relation of the rubedo and albedo stages (the former is the revelation of the latter in crisis, which, if you like a stretch, can be seen in Rubeus as the ‘exterior’ outdoorsy type and Albus as the secretive man…). I’m afraid this sounds like the final word and end of a discussion.
I said I was “bemused” by the PotterMore comments and that deserves at least a short explanation. Let me say some more about her ‘closing thoughts.’
Ms Rowling’s comments about the Red and White stages of alchemy being “opposing but complementary” are curious, to say the least:
Where my two characters were concerned, I named them for the alchemical colours to convey their opposing but complementary natures: red meaning passion (or emotion); white for asceticism; Hagrid being the earthy, warm, physical man, lord of the forest; Dumbledore the spiritual theoretician, brilliant, idealized and somewhat detached. Each is a necessary counterpoint to the other as Harry seeks father figures in his new world.
When asked what question(s) I would ask Ms Rowling if we ever met, my stock response has been that I’d just like to see her bookshelves, especially the alchemy section. I’ve more or less convinced myself that Titus Burckhardt’s Alchemy is on one of those shelves — most obviously because Rubeus Hagrid seems to be pictured on the front cover astride a Golden Snitch and dragon — but this PotterMore comment, more conversant in the psychological aspects than the spiritual (and, forgive me, blather with respect to the metallurgical and literary traditions), makes me suspect that Carl Jung’s humanist perspective on the Great Work is represented in her library as well.
Thank you, Michael B, for the news that Ms Rowling is writing about alchemy at her web site. Thank you all, gentle readers, in advance for sharing your thoughts on Ms Rowling’s comments.
