This article accompanies the fable
Sacred Prostitute



Harry Potter

Rowling makes superb use of medieval and Renaissance alchemy rather than Christianity and it has aroused controversy among those who see alchemy as heresy and witchcraft.

The English title of her first book, The Philosopher's Stone, says it all really. Harry is a magical child, the Philosophers' Child or Divine Child that was a prime goal of the alchemists' experiments. Of course they were mostly obsessed with the secret to eternal life, not getting through adolescence alive. The alchemists' lab experiments went through phases from black (think Sirius Black) to white (Albus, as in Dumbledore, means "white" in Latin) to red (Rubeus, as in Hagrid, means "red" in Latin) and then there are those references to alchemists like Nicolas Flamel, divination classes, mysterious symbols, dragons and other strange creatures... For more on alchemy - here

These book covers are from the US, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and Japan, reflecting the different cultural and visual styles.