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The Witch of Portobello (P.S.)

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Would Athena's life have been more meaningful, more useful, if she had, as Andrea McCain suggests, joined a convent and devoted herself to a life of service to the poor? Our main character had aspirations for her life and thought she knew what would bring her happiness. Athena went off to college and found young love, then dropped out of college, got married, and had a baby – it was all part of her plan. But something was always missing. Athena was unsettled within her marriage and the restrictive rules of the church that inhibited her search for God and herself. While venturing to understand it all, she discovered spiritual guides along the way that brought her closer to the answers she was looking for. The Witch: The one who justifies her existence by going in search of complete and limitless pleasure. Is the world of sight, sound, and touch—the rational world —sufficient for you? Or do you seek another kind of reality, the one, perhaps, that Athena offered? Vertex is the culminating point of life, the goal of all those who, like everyone else, make mistakes, but who, even in their darkest moments, never lose sight of the light emanating from their hearts. The Vertex is hidden inside us, and we can reach it if we accept it and recognize it.

Here was a chance for the Church to do something really beautiful for my whole family, most especially my Mother, and they shut us out. Just like the people at the Inn who shut the door on Mary & Joseph when they needed a place to stay for Christ's birth. This is not a Church of love or compassion. It is a Church of fear, judgement, and exclusion. It’s the story of Athena, or Sherine Khalil, who was always ready to walk out of the door from the comfort zone and confront the winds, the thunder and the lightning that life can bring, again and again, all by her own choice.Our protagonist searches for a path within people, dogmas, and motherhood. Athena finds a sensual spiritual compass by putting herself in her body, integrating a deeper state of presence. She becomes a guru, taking on the persona of Hagia Sophia. Then Athena grows a following that attracts both good and evil attention. Calligraphy, as written in the book, is the search for perfect meaning of each word through writing, the writing which wasn’t just the expression of a thought, but a way of reflecting on the meaning of each word. A single letter requires us to distil in it all the energy it contains, as if were carving out its meaning. It teaches objectivity and patience, respect and elegance. Coelho sets out a framework for thinking about Athena and our own lives through the the character Deidre O’Neill, a doctor also known as Edda and a teacher to Athena.

Narrated from multiple points of view, the portrait of Athena that emerges is as provocative and spiritually complex as one would expect from the author of The Alchemist (1993) and The Devil and Miss Prym (2006). The novel in this novel is the portrayal of the internal conflict of the female and what she suffers in her life from kaleidoscope and pressures and how to face it. True, it is a difficult and profound method, but it is not simple to understand. We women, when we’re searching for a meaning to our lives or for the path of knowledge, always identify with one of four classic archetypes. Athena’s business/career side as a successful real estate agent in Dubai is only lightly referenced, mainly to explain how she financially supports herself in her multi-year-long journeys to different parts of the world in search of who she is through dance, calligraphy and ceremonies.

Throughout the novel, Coelho’s words verifies the phrase: “How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of whom we are?” Although Coelho, in an interview about the motivation for writing the book, noted he wanted to explore the feminine side of God, for me, its scope was even broader. It is a study into the personal and spiritual meaning of life, happiness and self-fulfillment in a society built on rules and conventions. I think that the fact that it is told from multiple narrators really enhances the story. It is interesting to hear the different opinions on Athena and her teachings. I've encountered multiple narration in other books and hated it, but in this book it works very well. My only criticism is that because the characters are never really explored in depth, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the different narrators, however this is a minimal issue. In some ways, the protagonist seemed selfish, but it derived from her longing for meaning – she had a destination; nothing would stop her from finding it.

Never once did I sympathize or care what happened to Athena or Sherine or Hagia Sofia (all one person), and that is the worst flaw a book can contain. Insult was added to injury when all the other characters weren't any more significant to my senses. The Witch of Portobello" is a daring response to an unconventional spiritual path. Living the RICH extreme opposing emotions of: the sensual and, the pure. The thin, the fat. The depressed, the enthusiastic. The believer, the naysayer. The wife, the divorcee. The saint, the sinner. The physical, the spiritual. The word witch is full of judgement and prejudice in the religious world. This story speaks to the courage it takes to leave the tribe, to wonder, to explore - without guilt, that which one is drawn to. A tale spun in a way that gets you thinking and then rejoicing. A necessary "hearing" quite revealing, amazing, thrilling and well done! Paulo writes with a passion to transform. This tale uncovers the feminine side of God. A MYTH = A dance with a thought that never was. THE WITCH OF PORTOBELO = An allegory, or Cohelo's tremendous interpretation of a meaning other than a literal definition. The writer elucidates the opinion that the Church has deviated by its stringent rules to the point where it no longer serves Jesus Christ, or as put in his words in one of the interviews: "It's a very long time since they've allowed me in there [the Church]".The Virgin (not speaking of sexual virgin): One whose search springs from her complete independence and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone. The book talks about free love, a river which overflows its banks, which is above all the concept we associate with love, like desire, possession or betray. The Saint finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return.

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