HP: Higher Power=Harry Potter

 

Higher Powers: Yours, Mine, and Harry Potter’s

The Harry Potter series serves as an extended metaphor for my recovery.  Harry Potter travels the Hero’s Journey, a journey I believe everyone who struggles and experiences suffering (meaning all of us) has the opportunity to go through. We don’t all take the journey—some die valiantly, some die needlessly, and some simply avoid its path altogether.  Harry Potter had the prophecy that unless he defeated Voldemort he could not truly survive.  He struggled to trust himself, his own strength, and those who loved him (Dumbledore, Hermione, and Ron), but in the end he gained clarity and grew into his own strength.

Like I have a sponsor, Harry had Dumbledore.  These private sessions of exploration about the self, the past, and a higher power (Love) give Harry the information necessary to succeed.  It is difficult for Harry to keep faith in Dumbledore, his teacher, after Dumbeledore passes.  He has to go alone into the forest with his memories of those who died.  While I sometimes lose faith I must carry on in the same direction regardless, because it isn’t the kind of thing you can stop seeking without compromising your ability to survive.  Similar to Harry, in the end I am alone, but it’s not just about me and my well-being.

Dumbledore always set Harry out in the right direction and had utter faith that Harry would find the right answer or do the right thing, but Dumbledore never quite told Harry exactly what to do or what he would find.  In many ways this parallels the relationship the relationship I have with my sponsor.  She’ll tell me what questions to find answers to or how to do a fourth step, but I always feel like I fall into and begin exploring an entire realm I was completely unprepared for or not expecting.  However, when I meet with her, she is prepared for my reaction and helps me move through it.

Harry was a seeker, not only on the Quidditch field but also in life.  He sought truth, love, and serenity. He had genuine insights and dug deep to find truth. We all have to battle our Voldemorts: for me, addiction and the underlying disease of the mind, body and soul have served as my Voldemorts. . We share a common higher power.  God is Love and has saved me, just like Love saves Harry.  In the end those who have passed surround Harry during his hardest times, and I believe the same happens to each of us.

Harry Potter’s friends serve as a support network like my friends do.  In his Dumbledore’s Army meetings he found a sense of strength and leadership.  Ultimately they were there to fight for him and the wizarding world when they needed it, even though handing Harry Potter over would have stopped the fighting.  This was a form of love.  What his family could not provide he received from the outside world.  He had to leave his studies to focus on his battle with Voldemort, not unlike me.

His history is also similar to mine.  Given his early childhood trauma of Voldemort trying to kill him, a piece of Voldemort’s soul was imparted to him.  Similarly, I was traumatized at a young age and sometimes feel like I was changed by that.  It isn’t just the PTSD, but something more like part of that person will always be with me.  It was Harry’s and is my fight to free ourselves from bondage.

Ultimately there is another side.  Although I haven’t found my Ginny and don’t have a happy nuclear family, I have faith that I will overcome and maybe I have.  It won’t be like Harry’s ending, but it is the peace that he found within himself.  I will never stop being an alcoholic addict, but the obsession will be lifted

By Emily F.