Teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts to Muggles, Part One

My talk for the Harry Potter Conference in Chestnut Hill, October 2015 Part One

I gave this talk several years ago and then moved to another country. (Those two things were not connected.) Consequently, I have yet to finish transcribing my notes into an understandable written text.

You are sitting in a small classroom on an upper floor of St Joseph Hall at Chestnut Hill College. You have ducked in just now to grab a seat in the high-ceilinged old-school classroom.  You set your bag on the sill of the soaring, arched window that looks out on the green walks and trees of the grounds.

In sweeps a woman in a witch's hat and swirling black robe.  She plunks a stack of books down, whips out a wand and smacks the lectern, booming, "Wands away!"  

"Class, open your copy of 'Defence Against the Dark Arts for Muggles' and turn to Chapter One!"

"Let me introduce myself. I am Professor Alison Longstaff, and I have been invited here to teach you Defence Against the Dark for Muggles in accordance with the new era of cooperation between the magical and non-magical populations."

"I am also known as Alison Smith Longstaff, raised not 20 minutes from here in Huntingdon Valley, PA.  I have lived most of my adult life in Ontario, Canada, though for the past two years I have been the pastor of a small church in Bath, Maine. 

"I am an ordained Swedenborgian minister— a minute and obscure Christian denomination, which, although incredibly small, has split three times (at least) on this continent.

"I am also a trained therapist, a mother, a writer, and a published author.

"I care about this topic as a therapist and as a pastor and as a human being who has had to face the darkness."

"I know what it feels like to be marginalized, because I have been bullied, because I am a woman and because I felt called to ministry in a sect that says women are not capable of being ministers."

"If I were a character in the Harry Potter world, I would be somewhere between Luna Lovegood and Tonks, with a little bit of Dumbledore thrown in for good measure.  I am also Harry, as we all are.

And now for today's lesson.

The Dark Arts are REAL.  If you have ever suffered, you know the darkness is very real. It can often feel far more powerful than we can withstand.

There are many parallels between the "dark arts" in Rowling's world and the mental and emotional anguish we experience in regular life. Whether we are dealing with anxiety or depression, bullying or blocks, childhood traumas or low self-esteem, the tools for battling the darkness in the Harry Potter universe map beautifully onto the many skills and tools available to "muggles" in the non-magical world.

Muggles absolutely can learn skills, which work like magic, in battling the dark energies that attack us in our personal lives.

Let's take a look: 

Coming to us straight from Harry Potter's life and experience is the number one rule to remember:

#1 Fear and despair make the attacks worse. LOVE and BELONGING beat the darkness back.

Try to remember that you are never alone.  There is always a Dobby or Hermione or a shard of mirror connected to a presence ready to help you, even when it seems like your usual resources have fled or turned their backs.  Ask for help, and don't stop asking until you get it.  Remember that you are worthy of love and belonging ALWAYS.  ALWAYS.  Be your own ally FIRST.  Harry struggled more when he forgot to get help from his friends.  Voldemort was defeated only by the uniting of many against him.  We need each other.  There is nothing weak in asking for the help of friends.

#2 WORDS HAVE POWER

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” Albus Dumbledore, in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

We put "spells" on ourselves and each other through the words we use. 

For more on this see: https://breadbin.blogspot.com/2018/08/do-you-believe-in-magic-part-1.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR20h5oXtu5Sev2-xfS2I77KnuxpZMR2M4jOAspngRnwCDOjkZw55L9dlHo

The power of words, point 1: Swear words

Swear words are words that our culture has decided have extra power.  We are trained from a very young age to know what words we can say and what we are not allowed to say.  We have been trained to be upset by certain words. But this is culture or fashion.  The words themselves have only the power we have been taught that they have.

  

If someone swore at you in a foreign language you would have no idea what they were saying. The words would have no power because they would have no meaning attached to them. The sounds themselves hold no power.  And if meaning can be attached to a series of sounds, it can be unattached.  Swear words only upset us because we have been programmed to be upset.  Even English speaking countries don't agree on what a swear word is. For example, "bugger" carries little energy in North America, but you don't want say it loudly or often in England, South Africa, or Australia.

What wisdom can we draw from this realization? 

We can reclaim a lot of power by working with the meaning we attach to words. Like all magic, it takes practice to get good at having power over the words others use against us.  Just keep remembering that it is possible to develop the power, with practice, to turn the power of words to our side.  "Names can never hurt us" if we practice having power over the words that get thrown at us.

Do I call myself names? Rather, is there an internalized Snape always mocking and finding fault inside my mind?  How would I feel if someone was saying the sort of unkind things I think about myself to someone I love and cherish?  If I would never treat a dear friend to those words and thoughts, why do I allow them voice in my own heart and mind? Once I decide I want to speak more compassionately to myself, I can begin to do so.  Our inner thoughts have more power than we realize, and it is possible to unplug the negative "feed" and plug into a more positive inner dialogue, which increases our power for good in the world as well. 

The power of words, point 2: Pep talks and self-talk

The words we tell ourselves, and especially the words we believe deep inside (often unconsciously) affect us profoundly.  When we understand that, we can begin to pay attention to the "spells" we cast on ourselves and on others. And once we begin to pay attention, we can begin to "practice casting good spells" --- the spells we truly want in our lives.

Luna Lovegood was steadily under a barrage of name-calling, exclusion, and contempt.  How powerful was her magic that she never let this eat away at her peace of mind?  The group conversation had no power over her.  She had a deep magic that way.  What does it take to shift negative inner paradigms and heal them?  It is all in the story we tell ourselves.

Luna never saw herself as a victim.  She never gave away her power to the group by needing their approval.  Her inner self-talk and inner paradigm were stronger than the voices around her.  She knew she was loved.  She knew she would be okay.  And she believed what she believed despite raised eyebrows, contempt, and mockery.

Any good sports coach readies a team for a game by means of a "pep talk." The sole purpose of the pep-talk is to change the inner narrative of the players---to wipe away fear and distraction, and bring all the focus and intention on playing their best. A truly great pep-talk can give an "average" team the inspiration to triumph over their toughest adversary.

Do you want to use the words you put into the world to inspire and encourage, uplift and empower?  Or do you want to undermine and discourage?  Nobody who has achieved seemingly impossible things allowed beliefs like, "I can't," or  "It is impossible," to have power over them.

Every negative story we believe: "I am stupid," "No one likes me," "I am incompetent," "Others are out to get me,"  "I can't ever achieve my dreams," "I am a failure," "_Fill in the blank_", limits what we can do in life and how much of a gift we can be in the world.  That doesn't make us wrong, it makes us human.  It means we have a lot of practicing to do to get auror-strong at defending against the darkness.  You got this!

The power of words, point 3: Rhetoric, spin, and political speech-writers

There is a lot of wisdom in how to use the power of words in what speech-writers study---the power of rhetoric.  When we can spot the tools another is using to persuade us or change our thinking, we can deflect and parry their arguments.  We can choose whether we want to be persuaded rather than be swept along by the power of their created aura.

It is far more powerful to listen to an argument and be able to say, "That is a false either/or dichotomy," than simply feel frustrated by a statement such as, "Do you want freedom or do you want the country to be overrun by Mexicans!?"  

When one spots the weakness in the narrative, one no longer needs to be pulled into a waste-of-time argument.

We can find tremendous power and freedom in learning the bait-and-switch tools workers-with-words use to waste our time and distract us from more important issues.

All aurors must do advanced studies in rhetoric---particularly in parrying logical fallacies. If you want more power over the words used against you, begin to study, and keep on studying LogicalFallacies.

Part two of this talk is coming soon.  Until then, practice wisely!

Professor Alison Longstaff

Read Part two Here: https://alisonlongstaffmoore.blogspot.com/2019/10/teaching-defence-against-dark-arts-to.html