This is a very disorganized series of notes I’ve been taking on alchemy as it relates to the Harry Potter series. I am coming to suspect that alchemy is actually the heart of the whole conflict.
There are seven Operations in the Alchemical process, which may turn base metals to gold, but also, and more importantly, are an allegory for the perfection of the Soul and the final defeat of Death. Cf: seven books in the series.
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Calcination (solidifying the elemens of the story: it will be about the quest for the Stone. solidifying the relationships between the characters)
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Dissolution (the destruction of the basilisk)
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Separation : PoA – lots of parallels here! Separating out falsehoods from truths. Buckbeak is separted from Hagrid. Sirius is separated first from Azkaban, then again from Harry. Peter is separated from Ron. Hermione’s secret schedule separates her from the boys. Buckbeak is in danger of beheading. The Dementors separate soul from body.
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Conjunction: GoF – and might I point out that a goblet of fire is actually a crucible! The schools come together. The DEs come together. LV is reunited soul to body. LV conjoins Peter’s and Harry’s lifeblood within him. The old crowd is gathering together. Snape begins a conciliation with Sirius and Harry, and depending on his task, possibly with others.
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Fermentation
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Distillation (and purification)
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Coagulation, and the rise of the Phoenix / creation of the Stone
Harry is a Gryffindor (lion) with, significantly, green eyes. In alchemy, the green lion stands for iron sulphate. More importantly, the green lion symbolizes untransformed matter which is itself a transformative agent, with “the power to change a thousand times its own weight into pure gold.” The Green Lion is at times depicted in opposition to the Black Serpent, a volatile combination.
The three common animal symbolisms in alchemy are the serpent, lion, and eagle. (cf Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw) Any time two animals are shown in conjunction, it is a symbol of something fixed being transformed by something volatile.
The Basilisk is the combination of serpent and eagle. The Gryphon is the combination of eagle and lion. The combination of serpent and lion is apparently some great mystery, but it would seem to be the Chimera.
Although Peter was a lion in school, his behavior is far more that of Slytherin / Serpent. In taking in the blood of both Peter and Harry within himself, Voldemort has taken on the nature of the Chimera. (As we have speculated, he doesn’t realize that both of the bloods are tainted for his purposes.)
Presumably, the Stone must meld all of the elements.
“Psychologically, the Basilisk represents a melding of the higher and lower natures in Conjunction, a process that must be continued in the next three operations of Alchemy for the (GET THIS!!!) ‘Child of the Philosophers’ to be come the (AND THIS ONE!!!) Living Stone of the fully integrated self.”
“By virtue of this {living} Stone, the Phoenix is burned to ashes in which he is reborn.”
“The alchemist seeks to render the carbon cycle complete in one being (presumably to cheat death?) If he thus instead of exhaling carbon fixed it, we would ourselves physically be the Philosopher’s Stone.”
There’s a theory in here somewhere. Either Voldemort believes that Harry is the Living Stone which he needs to transmute himself into the immortal Phoenix, or he is trying in some manner to create a Living Stone.
There is apparently a piece of alchemical allegory in which the Lion of the Sun (I think this is the Green Lion) precedes (heralds? causes?) the desctruction of the Serpent - but I can’t make out whether this would be a necessary thing, or whether LV is trying to cheat that part of the process by destroying the Green Lion and utilizing its transformative properties for himself.
And I’ve convinced myself that the Order of the Phoenix is somehow connected with this not-quite-so-esoteric struggle to create the Living Stone.