J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are more than riveting good reads, they are encouraging people to think about different forms of spirituality, says Anne Loseff, owner of the New Age Shop. She sees the author as a modern-day prophet who uses fantasy as a mode of communication. 'J. K. Rowling brings children and adults back to a childhood dream of fairytales. When we revert to that aspect then it is possible to believe in the light, in higher powers, and in dark energy as opposed to positive energy,' she says. Ms Loseff, who began reading the Harry Potter books to her children before getting hooked herself, believes that Rowling uses magic as a way of persuading people that there is another power bigger than we are. 'She uses magic as a door into the spiritual world, making it possible for children to believe in other things. It's not a big leap from Professor Dumbledore to God.' Rowling would not be the first children's author to write books that have been considered spiritual. C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) - both of whom have written books for children that have been widely read and enjoyed by adults as well - are considered to have a strong spiritual bent to their writing. And some critics have gone as far as to say that they suspect that the authors are channelling their work. Ms Loseff suspects that Rowling is too. 'Channelling is when information is given to someone from the spirit world. I definitely think J. K. Rowling is channelling. I think that she is being given information and it is up to her how she communicates that information.' Ms Loseff says that by using the fantasy genre in her books, Rowling is able to discuss ideas and issues that might otherwise be hard to believe. 'It would be pretty boring if Rowling wrote about the spirit world of her belief system. It is much more interesting if she writes about something wild and wonderful, a story book that we can enter - and in doing so bring that belief system into our own.' It was Rowling's fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which made Ms Loseff convinced the author was channelling. 'She would really have had to study metaphysics and arcane branches of esoterica to know the things that she writes about,' she says. Rowling, who has fiercely guarded her privacy since the first Harry Potter book was published, gives few interviews and has never spoken openly about where she gets her ideas and information. Ms Loseff says the Harry Potter books have made her children much more interested in spirituality and have helped them develop a stronger belief system. 'The Harry Potter books give children the ability to develop their own spiritual life. As they grow older their fantasies can grow into a belief system that they can create for themselves,' she says.
