The thunderbolt (vajra) is one of the major symbols in Buddhist iconography, signifying the spiritual power of Buddhahood… In the figures of the gods that have come down from ancient Mesopotamia…the thunderbolt, in the same form as the vajra, is a conspicuous element; from these it was inherited by Zeus.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p.87-88.
The iconic lightning-shaped scar between disheveled locks of black teenage hair, like the wings on the mercurial feet, the cross-inscribed halo around the head of Christ, the two-fingered gesture of peace from the Buddha, immediately identifies an image of Harry Potter, the great schoolboy magus.
If one takes a moment to wade through the abounding slush pile of fanart that overflows the Internet, finding its amateur inspiration from every major and minor character franchise ever backed by mass media, the likenesses of J.K. Rowling's characters can scarcely not be recognized, even through the lens of each aspiring artist's vision, style, and talent (or lack thereof). There is something about Mr. Potter and his world that resonates with many of us "Muggles," making the wizard-child a sort of modern mythic hero in world society.
American scholar Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) made his name in the academic world through the analysis of mythic forms and tales of heroes. His works The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Masks of God remain standards in the fields of comparative religion, literary analysis, anthropology, and even film studies.
Separation, Initiation, Return
Campbell adapted anthropologist Victor Turner's stages of ritual initiation (separation, initiation, return) to describe the phases of every hero's journey.
Separation: The Call
Like Jonah being called by God to Nineveh or Alice encountering the White Rabbit, there is a call that the hero must answer or refuse, a call that will open the doors to another world. The separation phase of the hero's journey is marked by the hero's departure from the ordinary world of mixed suffering and boredom into a world of magic and miracle, a place of spiritual truth in many cases.
It takes little imagination to see Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the magical place par excellence. Owls, creatures wearing both the connotations of the soaring soul by being birds and the darkness and mystery associated with animals of the night, are the first indication of the magical otherworld. They carry sealed messages to Harry, the neglected child, which are intercepted by the powers of the world (embodied in Uncle Vernon). Hagrid, the oafish psychopomp that usually carries first-year students Charon-like across the lake into Hogwarts, is made to come and deliver the message of summons, the magical call, personally.
Initiation: Taking in Magic
A new world, full of friends, unbelievable magical powers, and epic quests opens up before Harry, transforming him from abused and unhappy child, through the realization of his own nature and destiny, into leader and hero. This is the initiation, where the hero takes the magical power of the otherworld into himself.
Through Rowling's storytelling the reader also takes this magic into him/herself. The reader goes to classes with Harry, sneaks the halls under the Invisibility Cloak with Harry, comes to love Ron and Hermione as Harry does, summons the heart to fight Lord Voldemort with Harry.
Return: The Hero Comes into the Muggle World
The last phase is supposed to integrate the hero back into the world. He brings back the magic of the otherworld to re-enchant the mundane. This is trickier to identify with Harry Potter. The Deathly Hallows never breaks the veil keeping the magical world hidden from the non-magical when Harry's quest is done. However, if one considers that the real King's Cross Station apparently now has a sign denoting the fictional platform 9 ¾, as indicated by photographs circling the Internet, or that Harry Potter fan fiction has become a genre of communal literature unto itself, filling up the Internet from sources all over the world, it becomes apparent that Harry has brought magic into the Muggle world – our real Muggle world. This, Joseph Campbell would doubtlessly agree, is the truest sign of a cultural mythos.
SOURCES:
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Mythos Books. Princeton University Press (New Jersey: 1973).
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter Books 1-7. Scholastic.
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