Where is My Patronus?

When J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, she introduced some terrifying apparitions called dementors.  Like J. R. R. Tolkien's ring wraiths or Charles Dickins' Ghost of Christmas Future, the dementors are portrayed as cloaked and hooded figures that inspire such terror because they represent, in some way, the unknown.  Rowling later said that her dementor was patterned after clinical depression.  Anyone who has ever experienced this disease would agree with her.

Depression takes a terrible toll on its victims.  They feel hopeless and helpless.  All joy and happiness feels as if it has been sucked out of their lives.  In its depths, it can feel as if one's very soul is on the altar.  Most people with "Big D" clinical-level depression can't escape on their own.  Most need medical intervention in the form of medication and counseling.  It can be a long road back, but it is possible.

In the Harry Potter books, Rowling describes the one way to fight off the dementors: the patronus charm.  With the appropriate wand movements, the young witch or wizard thinks of his or her happiest memory and shouts, Expecto patronum.  The patronus erupts from the tip of the wand as a silvery vapor that quickly materializes into a guardian shape that can stand between the dementor and its victim.  It is built on the logical premise that darkness cannot abide light.  Harry's patronus is a stag in memory of his deceased father, but other students produce different and very personal patronuses that are never fully explained in the books.

I have been struggling with a low-key, but insidious depression that has, to put it in a trite manner, sneaked up on me.  I'm usually on top of this and haven't been lately.  I've been mooning around today wondering where my patronus can be.  And then I thought of it: I've had my patronus with me all along. 

He is the Light of the World which the darkness cannot abide.  Unfortunately, sometimes when I need Him the most, I turn to Him the least.  Like Harry, I have to focus on happy memories.  An ancient prophet once said, "If ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"  I have.  I need to remember that, reaching forward in prayer and expecting Him to be there.  He always has been.  He always will be.

Text copyright Gebara Education April 2013

 

Pictures of dementor and patronus from www.harrypotterwiki.com

Picture of the Light of the World from www.flickr.com