13 things in the wizarding world of Harry Potter that are actually real.
1. Ghosts
In the Rowling universe, Moaning Myrtle is a ghost of a female student in the Harry Potter novels who is found crying in girls’ lavatories. She has a habit of throwing tantrums and flooding the toilet. Then there’s Nearly Headless Nick — my favorite name ever, for a ghost!
In our world, ghosts are earthbound spirits who were once living humans- so yes, very much like Myrtle in that respect. But ghosts in our world are sort of caught in a loop; they tend to stay in one place and do the same thing or say the same thing over and over again; they’re stuck. They don’t seem to be conscious; they seem to be a shadow of their former selves… a ghost of their former selves, I guess! Myrtle and Nick behave much more like spirit people — they have full personalities. I think this is what makes ghost stories so scary — we can’t reason with them or have conversations with them. Often, when people use the word, ghost, they really mean spirit person.
2. Legilimency
American witch Queenie Goldstein is a major character in the Fantastic Beasts series, which is a prequel to the Harry Potter franchise. She describes legilimency as “mind reading”. She reads her beau, Jacob’s, mind and finds out his experiences in World War I. She is able to detect that Tina and Newt are about to be executed by Percival Graves. She frees Jacob by peering into the mind of the obliviator and blackmailing him with the information she gets.
In today’s world, we would call this being psychic. This is exactly what I do for clients (except the blackmailing part!). The mechanics are different, though. It’s not mind reading. I don’t go into people’s minds and grab their thoughts; I enter into a state of quantum phase entanglement with my client and with other entities; I adjust my frequency to match my client’s and take a trip along the waves. Maybe someone who knows more about quantum physics can explain better!
3. Wands.
In the Rowling canon, most human magic is done using a wand. The wand serves as a tool to focus and control the magical energy of the spell. It is possible to cast spells without using a wand, but for most wizards, the results are unfocused.
In our world, wands are generally seen in stage magic as a prop to distract the audiences eyes from the sleight of hand. They were introduced into Western occult practice via the 1200s Latin grimoire The Oathbound Book of Honorius and later, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn incorporated them into their magic rituals. I know several witches (adherents of Wicca) who use wands occasionally to direct energy, but they tell me these days they more often use an athame, which is a blade.
My shaman partner makes his own wands. They aren’t carved from beautiful wood with a unicorn hair like in Rowling’s world — they are made from things he has lying around, like electrical tape and pen nibs, or perhaps a stick the likes. He uses his wands to heal, mostly; for example, he can do a few flicks and taps on my neck and back and have my muscles relaxed instantly. The way he describes it — he can see the electromagnetic impulses darting here and there, in the muscles and skin, and he kinda catches them and redirects them or discharges them. Yay quantum physics.
4. Witches and Wizards
According to Rowling, a witch is a female who is born magical and a wizard is a male who is born magical.
In our world, the Wiccan tradition uses these terms. And, as far as I know, for them, a witch is someone who practices witchcraft. This can be anyone, and it doesn’t call for a natural or inborn ability. This title is for both male and female practitioners of Wicca. A wizard is a wise witch, male or female, who has extraordinary talents and is well respected (like Merlin). I am not sure when these terms came into use in Wicca. Some people call King Solomon (the prophet to Muslims and Christians) a wizard. He ruled over Israel in the 10th century BCE. It is said he had power over animals and demons and that his tool was his ring — the ‘Seal of Solomon.’ He was also popular as an exorcist.
The term witch is also used to describe those (mostly) women who were accused of evil magic and hung for it, back in the dark ages. This concept of the evil witch with a broomstick and cauldron and warts on her nose and a black robe is known all over the western world. This concept took hold in the late 1400s , when, on the request of German inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, Innocent VIII issued the papal bull known as Summis desiderantes, which supported Kramer’s investigations against diabolical magicians and witches. Kramer then wrote a tome called Malleus Maleficarum. Things snowballed, and we ended up with witch trials all over Europe and then America Salem; a great way to get rid of the rising oppressed.
5. Merlin.
In the Harry Potter canon, Merlin is a Charms specialist sometimes known as “The Prince of Enchanters,” and is the most famous wizard of all time.
In our world, Merlin is most memorably featured in Arthurian legend medievel Welsh poetry. Stories can be found of Merlin for centuries before that, too, implying that he may have incarnated over and over again.
Today, those of us who communicate with him, experience him as one of the ascended Masters. I myself do not, but I know of two people, personally, who do — one of whom channels him. Merlin, the ascended master, has fun with the iconography of wizardry and magic; he appears to people in the wizard garb and long beard that the storytellers imagined for him. He teaches what all the great spiritual teachers do — how to cultivate knowledge of oneself as connected to infinite intelligence and an embodiment of Love.
6. The Dark Arts
In the Harry Potter canon, an intention to do harm places a spell into the realm of the Dark Arts. For example, “Being a Parselmouth and speaking snake language is connected to Dark Magic but that alone didn’t make Tom Riddle dark.”
In our world, the same is true. It’s all about motivation.
7. Healing.
In the Harry Potter canon, healing or “medical magic” is a common form of magic used by parents to heal a child’s minor injuries and by trained Healers at St Mungo’s hospital.
Healing is most definitely real in our world! There are a lot of charlatans, of course, just like there are unethical people in all professions.
8. Fairies
Ms. Rowling’s version of fairies is quite different from the type in our folklore — more like insects than intelligent nature spirits, even though she describes them as tiny creatures that look like perfectly formed humans with insect wings.
In the world of European folklore, faeries are usually depicted as small ethereal beings who live out of sight of humans, often in woodlands with magical powers to fly, cast spells, and predict the future. They can be friendly but are sometimes depicted as mischievous or even malevolent.
I have not met a fairy myself, but I have seen photographs of them, taken by people I trust. I’ve also heard them described by several people I trust, one of whom described them as living in the 4th dimension, and therefore able to create and destroy without consequence.
9, 10, and 11.
In the Harry Potter cannon, there are three types of divination
9. Fortune telling.
This is what Professor Trelawney teaches at Hogwarts. This involves such methods as tea leaf reading, gazing into crystal balls, and so on.
Yep, this sure does exist in our world. My grandmother could read tea leaves, I read tarot cards (I think only regular playing cards show up in Rowling’s works), and I am thinking of getting a crystal ball for fun. Then there are runes, and sticks, and all those fun things.
The main thing to remember is that in reality, these tools don’t have any real power unto themselves; they’re useful in that the analytical part of our thinking has something to look at so that it doesn’t distract us and we can connect intuitively with infinite intelligence for information.
10. Centaur divination.
Centaur methods involve the burning of herbs and meditation to focus one’s thoughts. Centaur divination places importance on observation of the stars and planets.
In today’s world, we would call this intuitive astrology; it doesn’t require burning of herbs, but meditation would certainly help — as it helps to focus one’s thoughts and clear one’s mind for all situations.
Note — I don’t personally know any centaurs, or any humans who learned from centaurs.
11. Seeing.
A Seer, a person who possesses the Inner Eye, doesn’t seem to have control over “Seeing” in the Harry Potter cannon…Professor Trelawney goes into trance and speaks in a completely different voice and makes a prediction about future events. This is what Rowling depicts as ‘Seeing”. Both times, after speaking the prophecy, she doesn’t remember a thing about it.
In todays’ world, this is known as trance channeling. A trance channeler ideally does have complete control over when, where, and which spirit entities borrow their body for a while. A conscious channel will remember everything, but a trance channel may not.
Note: Channeling is not to be confused with mediumship. Mediumship is communicating with a spirit entity, and passing that message on. Channeling is allowing an entity access to one’s body and allowing them to talk to the audience directly.
12. Time travel
This is an extremely dangerous magical effect which allows a person to travel back in time. Because of the potential for catastrophe should history be altered, time travel is all but forbidden in Rowling’s wizarding society. Certain magical devices can be used for time travel, but access to them is strictly controlled. There are a couple of variations that Rowling imagines for us: Hermione once used a Time-Turner to repeat hours of the day and take more classes than would otherwise have been possible. Tom Riddle’s diary allowed a form of time travel wherein the person traveling was only an observer, unseen and unheard. This form of time travel might be better termed “memory travel.”
In our world, similar things are possible. Memory travel is really common. If you go to a properly trained specialty hypnotist you can experience your past lives, for example. I’ve done this, and many people I trust to tell me the truth have described their own experiences with this.
As for the kind of time travel where a person might use a device and create more hours in the day, yes, there are techniques that can have the effect of lengthening or shortening time. It’s all quantum physics again. Time is an illusion, after all; it’s relative, like Einstein said. Time isn’t a thing that exists in and of itself. So, with training and focus, a person can slow “time” down. I’ve done it with a psychic medium friend, and ensured that we were not late to an appointment. I know of others much more adept than me doing something similar, and shortening a long drive by a few hours. It’s hard to get our heads around because we are so used to time feeling fixed.
13. Ancient Magic.
JK Rowling, through her characters, explains that ancient magic happens independently of efforts by wizards. It is part of the “magical-ness” of the universe. Examples include the bond of love which happens when someone sacrifices themselves for another and the inherent magic resistance in the skin of dragons and giants.
In our world, it is known as ‘Spirit” or “True Love’ or “natural law’, or ‘physics’, or “God”. We also come across this notion as ‘the Force’ in the Star Wars canon. We are all in contact with Spirit all the time — sometimes consciously and sometimes not. It’s the stuff of the universe.
