Cunning

A lot has been said recently by Pauli and myself about Potions as wandless magic and what this means about potions and I have noted that both potions masters we have met have been from house Slytherin. Rowling has been asked (or has at least addressed the hypothetical question) "why is there a Slytherin house at Hogwart's" and she has answered that it "sort of" represents what I will call "grey areas" in life. Sometimes they are foibles in otherwise noble people, sometimes they are particular traits in a person that are intrinsically "neutral" (or rather, less directly/ostensibly tied to vice and virtue) and could be used for great good but often get used for petty evil and, worse, sometimes get used for very great evils. The same question could be asked of Dumbledore concerning potions: why have it taught at Hogwart's? (I noted in one of my comments the example of Love Potions being "contra-natural" in that they bring about a "love" that involves neither knowledge nor a choice to love, neither intellect nor will, the two defining aspects of spirit). I do not know if what I have to say will "answer" those questions, but I thought that going into the tradition of the serpent might possibly illuminate the question a little (and if it does throw some light on the matter for you, I assure you it is the muse that has enlightened you and not myself). Cunning Nakedness One of the first mentions of a serpent ever is that of the serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 (I am making absolutely no claims here about dating and authorship etc - merely that this is "seminal" literature, as ancient as ancient gets and very influential on the thought of the Judeo-Christian tradition). There is a word-play between the last verse of Genesis 2 and the first verse of Genesis 3. The couple was "naked" and not ashamed and the serpent was the most "cunning " of all those in the garden. In the Hebrew forms of these words in the text there is a strong similarity, almost a pun. This shows a special significance to the two words. The thought is that the serpent's cunning represents something in nature, something like those "grey areas" I spoke of. In Christian Tradition it has always been that the serpent was the devil, and I believe this to be true. But it the text it is sort of like the "serpent" as "cunning" represents the something in nature that the devil used to get to the couple, to tempt them. As far as sexuality goes ("nakedness") I do no think that the "something" the serpent represents is necessarily sexuality itself but rather that the temptation of this "cunning" goes straight to the heart of the deepest meaning of sexuality, the core of what sexuality "symbolizes " or rather almost "incarnates" (with a lower case "i"). The woman as soul-mate for man was the "crown jewel" of creation in Genesis 2 (I cannot think of the name of the scholar who coined that phrase, but I assure you I am not well-studied enough yet to even try to claim it as my own) and the end the first chapter of Genesis we hear that "god said let us create man in our own image, and so he created them male and female." This second consideration from Genesis 1 is precisely what the "cunning" serpent spins the wrong way when he tells the couple, "in the day you eat of it you will be like gods." Rowling I believe that Slytherin as representative of water and potions as a class are the same type of elements, following the model of things that we have seen employed in archetypal evil but which could also be put to the use of archetypal good. I personally think Snape will be the instance of that element being used for the greatest good. This fits with Rowling's and others' statements that the action is about the reconciliation of the four elements (I'm sure granger has said it more than once) - Harry will need to be reconciled to Snape in order to overcome Voldemort, they will need to be unified. As I said in a previous post, I think Snape is holding a key given him by Dumbledore on the tower via a more holistic legilemency (more holistic meaning more than "what Dumbledore told Snape", keep in mind legilemency is reading someone's mind, not just what they "say" mentally), so it works mechanically ... but moreover it works symbolically. Harry needs reconciliation with Snape both materially (to conquer Voldemort) and even more so for the sake of his own soul (the golden soul) and for the good of the school. ASIDE: What I said above about sexuality - I think this is why the relationship between Harry and Ginny, which Rowling has craftily developed over 4 books, is such a good image and motif to have in the books.