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Brida
The story concerns a young Irish girl called Brida, who is born with a little magic ability and desires to become a witch. She wants to find answers to some of the questions regarding the hidden meaning of life. She yearns to see the parallel universe that surrounds us, the unseen forces, the wisdom of nature, the mysteries of the tradition of the sun and the moon. In her pursuit of knowledge, she meets people of great wisdom. They teach her how to communicate with the soul of the world to recognise her true love; and above all, to discover about herself. The first person who acquaints her with the power and mystery of magic is a mysterious magician, Magus. He teaches her the lesson of ‘the dark night’. It enlightens her that every moment in life is an act of faith and it is up to one to fill it with snakes and scorpions or with a strong protecting force. Wicca, a practitioner of modern witchcraft, guides her path through the Wicca pagan tradition. She teaches her to dance on the ever-present vibration, i.e., the sound of the world. She directs her how to follow the tradition of the moon that involves performing ancient rituals and learning the wisdom of time. Her extraordinary experiences include traveling in time, her past reincarnation, reception to the invisible world. Coelho, with his philosophical brilliance, guides the readers that it is through love that God reveals himself to mankind. He poses fundamental moral questions like who we are, what is our purpose and what is our place in the world. Despite of the repetitive feel, his eloquent narrative has power to cast the spell of his intellectual charm and enlightens the reader about the essential wisdom on the path of life.
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Witches
are often depicted as wicked old women with wrinkled skin and pointy
hats, clothed in black or purple, with warts on their noses and long
claws like fingernails. They typically ride through the air on a
broomstick as in the Harry Porter universe and are supposed to have
dealings with the Devil or evil spirits. On the contrary, Paulo Coelho,
a celebrated Brazilian author in his mesmerising novel Brida, attempts
to portray witches as essentially good humans of normal appearance,
whereas witchcraft as one way of being close to the supreme wisdom.