Brida is the latest book by Paulo Cohelo. I think it was first published in 1990 in Portuguese; right after The Alchemist in 1988. For whatever reason, it remained inaccessible to English readers all these years. It has been inspired by a true story of a woman named Brida. Like all of Cohelo’s previous books, it is an independent writing. It would be unfair to compare any of his books with this one. Fans of Cohelo know that he is not about stories and plot twists and turns. It is not always inspiring in the conventional sense of the word. The only common thread running through all of his works is his conviction that one must be true to oneself.
‘Bride’ is the story of a young woman who wants to learn magic. As simple as it may seem, there is more to her search than she realizes. She seeks out Magnus, the teacher, to learn magic, but she must overcome her fears and learn to have faith in the protective presence of the spirit of the Universe before she can begin to learn magic. ‘Brida’ is about the spiritual journey of a young woman in pursuit of the fulfillment of her destiny and in search of her soul mate, but on the way; she touches on several other spiritual premises.
The first thing Brida encounters and conquers is her fear. Magnus leaves her alone in a forest after dark. She’s scared to death, and after thinking it over briefly, she recognizes that yelling for help wouldn’t help. As she recites the 91st psalm taught to her by her grandmother, the meaning of faith occurs to her. Trusting in something you can’t see right now is faith. She begins to trust the benign and protective presence of her guardian angels and her fears evaporate. She sleeps like a child in the middle of a dark forest all night only to walk away a wiser and more determined person the next morning.
Although witches and various schools of witchcraft may seem like the main theme of the novel, the book’s equally strong background is the study of love and how it affects our lives. Magnus looks at her and knows that she is her soul mate even though she is half her age. In his heart he knows that she will have to suffer. Suffering while she loves herself seems inevitable since love is almost always followed by the desire to possess. And love is such an entity that it cannot be possessed. He is most vibrant until he is possessed, like a flower he gives to Brida at the end of the novel. It’s most beautiful when it’s blooming, but the moment she plucks out to have it, it starts to die. The writer talks about our eternal search for our soul mates. The only way to find them is to keep looking for love and not be afraid of making mistakes. Because the only way to learn something is to make mistakes. The question that springs to mind is why are we looking for a soul mate? Among other things, only our soul mate is capable of teaching us what we need to know. Knowing that our soul mate exists is a reason for us to be alive.
Along with love and the desire to be with the loved one another dilemma arises. Is the old adage “all’s fair in love and war” true? Can a person be forgiven for using unfair means (magic) to win the love and company of the object of her love? The writer believes that each soul has their own path to follow in order to go through certain experiences and learn what they have come to learn in a particular life time. Every soul possesses a free will and under no circumstances should anyone’s free will be interfered with. Those who do that are doomed to long periods of solitude. Sometimes Magnus is tempted to reveal to Brida that she is his soul mate, but he is reluctant to do so because he is already leading a lonely life from using magic to banish another man from the life of Wicca, Brida’s former lover. the.
The author talks extensively about the fear of making mistakes and failure that impedes our learning. Brida is young and this fear of failure prevents her from sticking to any field of learning until she overcomes her doubts about her own abilities. This is true for most people, since we are all constantly plagued with doubts about whether we are good enough to follow our dreams, to achieve what we want. But Cohelo believes that constant doubt and the courage to overcome it is the way to learn and grow. The moment we stop doubting, we become complacent and stop moving forward.
My personal favorite is the message he gives through the story Brida’s mother tells him. Finding one important thing in life does not mean giving up all other important things. We all need to remember that because once we find what we consider most important, we are likely to push other things to the background. But to live a full and healthy life we need to include everything that is important.
Though not as resplendent with inspirational messages as some of her classics, Brida does have her own source of inspiration for those who seek them. Cohelo talks about the gifts that we all carry inside even without realizing it. We need to recognize these gifts. These 9 spiritual gifts are mentioned in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians. By talking about these, the writer wants to show that the Almighty loves us all equally and bestows his gifts on all of us. It is up to us to ignite that divine spark within us and lead a life full of miracles. But we have the choice to turn our back on our true divine selves and lead a miserable life.
The writer has very powerfully and with great sensitivity portrayed the strength of the sexual union between a man and a woman. To a more conservative reader, the use of all five senses to experience maximum ecstasy during such a union may sound quite outrageous. But that ecstasy has often been compared to the ecstasy experienced by seers after years of meditations. The awakening of the five senses to experience the ultimate union is what can never be taught or explained. Too bad, most people go through this experience half asleep just like life itself.
There are a number of other important messages it conveys, such as the importance and power of the spoken word. He describes them as bridges between the visible and the invisible. The means to pass from the non-manifest to the manifest. And then Cohelo talks about the gifts that each one of us possesses and the need to recognize it. These spiritual gifts are listed in the 12th chapter of Corinthians. Another thing he emphasizes is that you should never reject anything on the spur of the moment. Because he says: “Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”
Resplendent with messages, this is a book in which everyone can find what they are looking for in life. And like all his previous books, this one is also about being true to yourself and living to fulfill your destiny, no matter the price.