Strike It Up

When it comes to JK Rowling admitting that she has a God shaped hole in her life, one might wonder if the fan backlash to her opinions would’ve prompted this, or at least somebody else could’ve interceded for her. Whilst it’s true that the Harry Potter canon is very polarising, but JK Rowling could be seeking something or somebody in her life that her prime missed out on it. It could be the Christian God that she’s looking for all along, because she knew the things she believed in no longer have bearing on her life. She did make mistakes, most notably showing an inappropriate sympathy for alchemy when writing the Harry Potter stories, but it’s quite possible that the more she seeks God the more she might regret it. Maybe not necessarily regretting it, but with a feeling of having to actually move on from it.

I kind of prayed for her before and perhaps at this point, it’s getting answered though it’s not certain for now if she’ll actually read the Bible, attend church, repent and do her best to do right by God. Maybe she will do all these things later on in life, the more she grows in God and whilst she may never write another Harry Potter story or the like, she could wound up writing about God in ways she never expected to. This is also my case where it took a blog like The Master’s Voice to get me to write about God more often than I intended to, along with listening to sermons more often. Not just on the computer but also from social media, eventually listening to less secular music over time. There are still ups and downs in my life like sermons not airing as expected in whatever manner, but I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t listen to much secular music.

I do my best to learn from my sins, reigning in on some of my sins as much as I can manage (even if I don’t always get it right), praying for others even if I fumble this along the way. JK Rowling could end up doing something similar the more she grows in God, albeit in ways even Harry Potter fans don’t expect her to end up doing but she’ll do it anyways. God could take her to a direction she didn’t intend to do, as it is with me, but something that deepens her faith in him that ultimately she’ll come to worship him more as it is with me in the 2020s after a period of backsliding.

Changing Into Something

The weird thing about speculative fiction is that a good number of writers in that school of thought tend to treat shapeshifting as separate from magic/witchcraft, even though these are quite closely connected in fiction that shapeshifting’s as much an aspect of witchcraft as having familiars and casting spells are. When you think about it, if somebody shapeshifts into a dog, this kind of violates the laws of physics as to be wholly supernatural in nature. Not to mention so suspicious that you can’t help but wonder if somebody disguises themselves as a dog to get away with something, or if that dog may not even be a real dog at all. So shapeshifting being a subset or aspect of witchcraft makes good sense really, especially regarding the intentions and true nature of something or someone.

Despite her own faults (whatever they may be), I wonder if JK Rowling’s own issues with fantasy fiction largely stem from her greater familiarity with and love of folklore. I’m pretty much projecting my feelings on her, but it’s feasible that the way magic’s depicted in Harry Potter may in fact be closer to its folkloric incarnation than it does in most fantasy fiction. It’s not just that the magical characters cast spells on people and have familiars, but a number of them also shapeshift. But this makes me wonder if Rowling might have stumbled upon facsimiles of early modern witchhunting books or at least those about that sort of matter, again I’m projecting here but this is highly plausible.

After all the character of Dobby the Elf has folkoric counterparts in some parts of England. And the Veela are based on the Polish Wila, to the extent that Rowling is this intimated with folklore. If you have witches and wizards turning themselves into animals, then this is closer to folklore than it is in some literary fantasy schools. It’s like in urban fantasy where shapeshifting is treated differently from witchcraft, where you have wolf-shifters, leopard-shifters and so on. I don’t know much about the Harry Potter stories and I haven’t read those myself, but I feel given Rowling’s greater sympathy towards folklore than with the literary fantasy school as popularised by JRR Tolkien, this gives the series a different but legitimate character.

Ever since JRR Tolkien unleashed Lord Of The Rings that fantasy writers are compelled to create elaborate worlds to justify and rationalise the existence of magic and supernatural creatures, this isn’t true for other literary fantasy schools like urban fantasy to an extent. But I feel a good number of fantasy stories since Tolkien and the like feel very detached from folklore in some regards, whereas in folklore fairies and their ilk seem more like omens than legitimately separate species from humanity. Where witchcraft feels realer than one realises, given the possibility of somebody casting spells on you. It seems the only people who genuinely see witchcraft as a legitimate problem are Christians, the ones who don’t just suspect witchcraft in literature.

But also suspect how and why witches cast spells on people to make them do something bad or wish ill on them in many more ways, that this is something fantasy literature usually doesn’t take into consideration. Maybe it does in a way, but I feel most fantasy writers have this mindset of having to create a fictional world as to rationalise or justify the fantastical. Like I said, many folkloric creatures were/are more like omens than separate species. Very odd and suspicious beings that could be used as warnings for something, or as augurs of what is to come. It’s possible Rowling’s own take still adheres to the literary fantasy school to a degree, but I feel some of her issues with fantasy fiction may partly stem from her greater understanding and love of folklore.

Praying for a writer

Given how utterly disowned JK Rowling is by some of her own fans, especially regarding her stance on the transgender community, that it’s about time for Christians to not only welcome her into their arms, but also pray for her salvation. It’s not something she may not immediately accept nor understand, but it’s about time for Christians to actually pray for her, not only because of her own sins but that she’s so disowned by her own fans that Christians should really intercede for her. Keeping her from going to hell and stuff, believe or not I did this with another writer. This writer is none other than Antonia Fraser because one of her characters has a notorious habit of cheating that I not only prayed for her to stop her from cheating, but to also save the author in question. Have her read the Bible, listen to sermons and read devotionals.

Around the time I prayed to God to help her finish her stories, he told me through a devotional that she may be on her way to finishing those, along with the recurring dreams I had involving her character, that it seems to be on its way to becoming real and getting answered at the time. Praying for her salvation also works in that it keeps her from going to hell, as what one devotional said to me whilst praying for her to write a story where this character no longer does that. Fraser might be on her way to becoming a Christian, before she dies or something like that. So it’s a good thing to pray for her to keep her from going to a worse path, no matter how wide it appears to be. Better for her to go to the narrow path to Heaven, than to go to Hell forever separated from God. One can do the same thing for JK Rowling at this point, now that she needs God more than ever, regardless of what she thinks.

If JK Rowling deserves to be saved, especially at a point where she’s been disowned by her own fans, then it’s about time for Christians to intercede for her now that the path to fame and fortune isn’t turning out well in her favour. It would be awkward to realise that you need God more than ever, but I suppose committing social suicide’s a thing needed to see him again in her case. If God’s been telling me or somebody else to pray for her, then God could be the harbour JK Rowling needs at this point now that she’s been disowned by her LGBT fans regarding her stance on certain things. If the secular community no longer wants or welcomes her, then the church should be eager to welcome her and perhaps God would be the one to protect her from then.

It would be very awkward but it’s necessary at this point in her life, then God could be the only one who loves her. Moreso than some of her fans, who only love her if she supports their views. Perhaps a loving God is needed in her life who’ll always be by her side, even if she fails from time to time. Something she needs to realise and accept, now that her fans have turned against her this time. To paraphrase the Bible regarding moral failings and failures, though she stumbles she won’t fall because God will uphold her no matter what. This would have good implications for her right now, perhaps God would be around to support her now that her fans won’t and don’t. It’s like some fans only support her when it’s convenient to their worldviews, but God loves her unconditionally enough to want her to be with him in Heaven.

So let’s pray for her to be saved now.