Book Review – Brida by Paulo Coelho

How do you feel about the concept of soul mates?

Paulo Coelho’s “Brida” presents the idea of soul mates in a very creative, beautiful, and romantic way. He describes a light in the eye, a glowing light above the shoulder, and a magical connection. In this story human souls are said to be small, divided up parts of other, once larger beings.

As with most of Paulo’s books this one takes yet another character on a search, a quest, for knowledge, her craft, and most of all love.. It was a great book.. I enjoyed it.. It deals with Brida’s search for her gift as a witch… Not the witches we are accustomed to hearing of, but a real witch.. One that respects GOD, earth, and the universe.. It also takes her on a quest for her soulmate…. Though he was already there….

The deepest thing I felt this book spoke about was soul mates, seeing that sparkle in someone’s eyes… It’s very interesting, according to the story we are all fragments of specific divided souls and our live’s journey is to find parts of that whole soul, hence the name soul mate.. It kind of explains those spiritual high energy intense connections people may experience, such as love at first sight.. It’s very beautiful.. Sometimes you get to remain with your soulmate, others they are only there to bring happiness for that brief intense period of time… It’s all very intriguing..

Let’s say that the world initially had 10 large souls in it. To create more life and populate the world, these 10 large souls were split into millions of smaller pieces and scattered throughout the world. Now 10, becomes 1,000,000, 000.  However each one of those individual soul fragments once belonged to one of those large original 10 souls. According to the story, all those smaller souls long to be one again, one with their original large soul.

Its only natural that in time these smaller souls will one day encounter another small soul that was part of its original larger soul. Am I making sense here? Well, guess what happens next? When this happens, it’s “love at first sight”, “where have you been my entire life”, “it feels like I’ve known you forever”, or even “we must have met in a past life”. The connection is undeniable and magical. I have experienced this in my life, a person and I meet, and we immediately connect on a higher, spiritual level.

Things can get complicated though, you must exercise great care, particularly in romance. Remember there is not only one part of your original soul floating in this world. 1 soul was divided throughout the world, and you may in fact meet more than one of your soul mates! What happens then?

According to the story, only a magus, or a witch that has awakened their magical gifts can see the shoulder light of a soul mate. For the rest of us, the only way we know is with our heart. Brida’s mentor tells us to love with all our hearts, he says “you can see a sparkle in the eye if you are open to love, even without magic”. Whether the person is, or is not part of your soul mates, when you love with all your heart, then at least you loved, and at least you were loved. That itself is a blessing.

Of course sometimes love brings pain and agony, but its all part of the rhythm of life. The mysterious music and magic of life. Enjoy it because the tune will not play forever.

I love how Paulo Coelho provokes the reader’s mind with this story! I highly recommend that you pick up and read “Brida”. It is a beautiful read, as are all of Paulo’s books.