Is Harry Potter’s Baptism Important?

January 17, 2025 by Leave a Comment

This Sunday is the Feast of Theophany or the Baptism of Christ in the Orthodox Church and services began this morning to celebrate it with Royal Hours. Only Pascha, Pentecost, and the Annunciation outrank the appearance of the Triune God at the River Jordan among the right-believing Christian faithful; in other words, it’s bigger than Nativity and why there are twelve days of Christmas. Among Greeks, it is sometimes referred to as the Photismos or the Illumination, even Enlightenment, because this is their word for Baptism. Read about Orthodox Theophany here, here, and here.

In 2011, we had something of a Roundtable discussion at HogwartsProfessor on the subject of the importance of Harry Potter’s baptism. Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Louise Freeman, and John Patrick Pazdziora checked in with their thoughts and I of course added my own ideas. It’s well worth revisiting that piece today as a jumping off place for a second look at baptism in Rowling’s work, which I think has to be expanded to include the symbolism of light, of water, and the revelation of God by “illumination.”

Today, though, let’s just reprint that 2011 piece: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Louise Freeman, Traditional Symbolism

The Running Grave to be Published in September

April 26, 2023 by 2 Comments

According to Amazon and numerous other booksellers, the official release date in September 26th.  Page count is 832, which may feel like a novella compared to the last two.

Five months to go!  (or, depending on when you are reading this, less.  Click link below to be exact.)

Countdown to The Running Grave

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Louise Freeman

New Twitter Header from London’s Chinatown: #3 Rupert Court

April 20, 2023 by 5 Comments

A new and presumably The Running Grave header popped up yesterday.  As usual, our friends at Strikefans.com were quick to identify it as from London’s Rupert Court in the Soho area, near China Town. For fans of the TV series, it is the place where Robin laid flowers for Kara Wolfson.

What could it mean?  Possibilities abound.

  1. A hat-tip to Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint?
  2. A connection to the mystery of the series, and particularly to the I Ching connection, given the location?
  3. As other Strike Fans on twitter have noted, the round sign on the right has the initials, “C & R” at the top.  The business itself is apparently a Malaysian restaurant.  Could one or both of our favorite detective duo take note of the suggestive letters if they pass by, or, better yet, stop for a bite to eat?
  4. Or, perhaps our heroes tail a suspect to the historic The Blue Posts pub?
  5. The business on the left is a reflexology establishment, a traditional Asian healing practice. Could we get an echo of Career of Evil’s visit to the Thai massage parlor, in search of a clue?  Although, with her two feet, Robin might be a more convincing client than Strike for this one.
  6. Though apparently upscale and respectable now, the area has a seedy history, with sex clubs and illegal gambling establishments predominating in the 1960’s.  Could some of these less-than savory establishments lingered into the 1970’s and have been part of Leda’s, as well as Kara’s, checkered past, perhaps even connecting somehow to the Norfolk commune?
  7. Or, if the TV clip was a preview/hint,  maybe this heralds a return of Kara Wolfson’s presumptive killers, the Ricci’s?

I’m going out on a limb and guessing reflexology, but any of those would be fun.  Or maybe we’ll just enjoy a few more helpings of takeaway Singapore noodles. In any case, here’s another potential stop on the Serious Strikers London tour.

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Louise Freeman

Ink Black Horcruxes

April 16, 2023 by 4 Comments

Much work has been done tracing the parallels between The Ink Black Heart and The Half Blood Prince. One of more intriguing ones is the plot point of horcruxes and the search for them. Anomie’s sock puppet Twitter accounts were first identified (I think) by Sandy, here in the comments, just a few weeks after the book was published:

– The sock puppet accounts seem to parallel horcruxes, especially when both are designed to bully and torture perceived enemies

Sandy in the Hogwarts Professor Comments

Is this a viable parallel or a reach to far? Find out what the top parallel-pundits think after the jump!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Louise Freeman

Laurie Halse Anderson Wins Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

March 8, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I have written and presented lots about psychology within the Harry Potter and Cormoran Strike series, both at fan events and scholarly conferences.  However, neither J.K. Rowling or Robert Galbraith ever turned up in the audience to hear my talk. However, in 2018, at the UNLV Summit on Young Adult Literature, I was privileged to give a talk on PTSD in Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and in the works of Laurie Halse Anderson, one of the conference keynote authors. I was both honored and frankly terrified to see Ms. Anderson herself turn up as part of the relatively small audience for my talk, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of my professional life. Ms. Anderson was very gracious and appreciative of what I said, and quite supportive of the work I was doing on YAL and empathy.

Ms. Anderson has just been awarded one of the top prizes in children’s literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.  I am very excited to see this news and offer my heartiest congratulations.  If any Hogpro readers would like to start a discussion of Speak, Wintergirls or The Impossible Knife of Memory, please chime it!

Filed Under: Louise Freeman