This blog is for Harry Potter fans, who have read the books and watched the movies and, like me, are anticipating seeing the last movie in the series in the coming weeks. As a fan, I decided to look at the Feng Shui at Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts castle sits atop a mountain surrounded by a large loch and low hills. It’s a great location to watch out for Death Eaters and dragons; in fact most castles were built atop hills or mountains, as their purpose is to protect the inhabitants by allowing them to see all around giving them plenty of notice if enemies appear. So from a Feng Shui standpoint the location of the building serves its purpose perfectly if Hogwarts is under attack. The school is a place to learn but also a place of safety for young witches and wizards, too. Hogwarts gets high marks for good Feng Shui safety.
Hogwarts is built of stone, which in Feng Shui expresses as Metal Energy. Metal energy is acute; it’s logical and quick. It is very good energy for a school. Harry and his friends keep sharp as they learn about potions and spells. And certainly, Hermione thrives in this element! Is it balanced however, with all the elements? Certainly there is a lot of Water at Hogwarts; it seems as if that bathroom on the 5th floor is always overflowing, plus there is that lake underneath the school where the basilisk lived. The Fire in the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room is always burning (it’s where Sirius kept popping up to talk to Harry) as are the candles in the Great Hall, plus the students themselves bring a tremendous amount of Fire energy into the school. There is Earth energy too – just not as easy to see. Earth energy is expressed in the shape of the square and rectangle and is evident in all the tables in the Great Hall and in the shape of the stones in the walls as well as the rectangular picture frames that dot the walls along the staircases. The Wood element is expressed in the fabric robes that all the students and faculty wear – so much black fabric billows about every time Harry and company walk the halls.
Plus, the warm and cozy common rooms are hung with fabric tapestries and Harry and Ron’s dormitory beds are hung with curtains. Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood: all the elements are there for the students for a balance of attending school and feeling at home.
Of course, you can’t look at Hogwarts without seeing the yin and yang – the light and dark — that is evident everywhere. As the series progressed, Hogwarts seemed to get darker in accordance with the rise in power of archenemy, Voldemort. Author J.K. Rowling is leading us to final showdown: will good triumph over evil in the final installment of the Harry Potter series? As an avid reader of all the books (more than once!) I do know the answer to this question, but I can’t wait to see it play out in vivid detail in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. See you at the movies!
