J. K. Rowling and the Magic of Harry Potter

     "I've never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that's a different matter.  To invent this wizard world, I've learnt a ridiculous amount about alchemy.  Perhaps much of it I'll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic."  J.K. Rowling, Interview with The Herald, 1998

     There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.  Deuteronomy 18:10-11