Paulo Coehlo - Life Path

It makes sense that i write something about him and the books of his i have read, cause they have made me think deeply whilst reading them. "The Witch of Portobello" and "Brida", the two books that i have read have put to test my beliefs and also gave me more insight to inner-conflict, chasing dreams and most of all MAGIC.

We have heard about witches, the pointy hats and the black robes and an ugly mole, the ones making soup of frogs n human bones. But i have seen wicthes. When you read his book, you realise that the powers of the witches he describes, is pretty much the same of what we have seen in that sooth-sayer we have visited some point in our life.

The english burned witches at the stake but we believe them to be messengers of God and revere them. I have met them. I was awed as a kid and as an adult i was in doubt. I even imitated a sooth-sayer in a skit. It was an insensitive potrayal depicting them as money minded impostors.

But on further reading the books, i started to wonder whether the powers are real. I have seen my aunt get "saami" many times. I never understood it and and never doubted it. In my own life i have experienced the power of my instincts. We all do i believe. I have known somehow how things would end up, whether it would be impending doom or a happy ending. I somehow knew a year before my marriage that i would be leaving chennai and moving to bangalore. Where from that thought came in my head, i don't know. But it did happen that way. And whenever i have gone against my instinct i have found trouble.

What intrigued me more was the fact that the Witches connected with the MOTHER. He says that GOD was FEMALE, (a nice thought on Women's Day),and later the male GOD concept came in and they started dominating the scenario.

The thing that got me thinking was that, every sooth-sayer that i have met also gets a Female deity in them. It is always an Ambal/Bagawathy and never a male God. Across continents the beliefs are the same. That was a surprise for me. Hindu mythology also says that the origin was from SHAKTHI who later created Shiv and other Gods (based on the serial SHAKTHI i had seen).

My uncle explained it to me in simple words that Shakthi is ENERGY and that is why she can exhibit herself through various mediums.

I am confused for sure. The MOTHER, SHAKTHI and even the concept in the movie AVATAR where the Navi are also in touch with the MOTHER. The same concept reflecting in different cultures.

What do i say about the author? When i read about him, he has had a difficult time up to his 20's. He wanted to be an artist and was considered mentally ill for being a non-conformist. Yet he had the courage to pursue his inner dream and finally became a writer. He published his first book at the age of 38. It only re-assures me that it is never late to follow your dreams.

In "Brida" he says that don't chose a path that is not right for you and keep trying to prove that it is not the right one. Like him having been forced to not be an artist.

Then he says "It’s necessary to take risks, and to follow certain paths whilst abandoning others. No one is able to choose without fear."

"The path to wisdom is not being afraid to make mistakes"

These lessons i will incorporate in my life to live in the present and make the best out of it.