I’ve read “The Witch of Portobello” lately and I’d like to ask you a question: What made you write this book?
I wanted to understand the feminine face of God in this book – and moreover how some women are sacrificed for their freedom.
Today’s Question by the reader : Aleksandra
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I was so deeply touched by this book but not merely for it’s depiction of the feminine face of god. As someone who is involved with animistic spiritual practices, the theme of the book that struck me most profoundly was the price that individuals who participate in religious practices unsanctioned by the dominant society must be willing to pay. Athena was in effect crucified for her continued practice of direct communion with her god. Despite the positive effect her countenance had on those who circled her orbit, the practice of her faith and sharing of her healing were considered too subversive to allow. I witness this repression – by governments, religious institutions and cultural mores – continuing to play itself out against both men and women. I thank you for showing how individuals are sacrificed for their freedom but how inspiring and many times necessary that sacrifice is.
PS also my teacher of graphology, who was a monk, told me about the feminine side of God in 1992.
so the perspective are definitely individual, and dipends on the capacity of the individual mind, and on the will (volonté) of open it.
love.
Chris
I met a person like “witch of POrtobello” many years ago, and the end of the story was quite similar to the book.
Why people who bring peace and knowledge often have to defend themeselves from the so called “advanced and tolerant sciety”?
‘some women are sacrificed for their freedom.’
This sentence is not clicking in my mind, for some reason I am not comprehending it.
Savita, I like and agree with what you have written. I’d also like to add that, in my opinion, a Patriarchal society started to emerge because man became threatened by woman’s strength and power, so they started to exercise ultimate power over them by the name of God and labeling God as a male. It takes a Strong ‘person’ to acknowledge the feminine face of God as Paulo Coelho has done. I think you are a Very Strong and Secure person, ‘MAN’, Paulo, to have spoken about the feminine face of God.
You are a treasure for Woman!!
Love Always.
i loved the book when i read it a few months ago and i think that we still have long to go b4 women would be able to practice their freedom the way they feel and want!
we r still in a pretty conservative society,,,, and it is not ssso easy to take freedom,
i really hope one day things will change and i have a feeling that it will happen!!!!!!!
A woman is from her nature a free Spirit. She is a dreamer, a mother, with a creative fantasy governing her actions. Unfortunately due to her role as a mother she was obliged to suppress her abilities in the course of man’s history.. The Amazons were the only mythical tribe that were the rulers of their own destiny ..
Living in a Patriarch society, with the masculine values appreciated, men were puzzled and confused by the Intuition, Powers and Charms of their ‘slaves’, who at the end appear to be more balanced, stronger and with their … tender, ‘iron’ hand can achieve everything.. Their fear in front of the Mystery, the Abyss has made them call them Witches and yes many have been condemned to .. silence.
LOVE,
Thelma.
I was member of a church, doing what was intended by the “word of God” transmitted by the pastor and his subordinates, as interpreted by them. At that time, vulnerable, I believed. I became a Sunday teacher, and began having them on my back. I was too emotional, had ways of doing things that did not correspond to the “word of God”, and one day he comes to see me and tell me that because I still smoked cigarette I had to be out of that role, and that “poor me for being an emotional human being and that he would pray for me” … That day, I understood. I then divorced, and was told by others that I was no more welcomed. Lost all the “friends” of almost 10 years, no more calls, no nothing, even my kids, they were told “poor you”. That hurt me a long time, and I had to recover from that, even to ask God to forgive me but that I needed to walk a time myself, incapable of talking to him, for I was scared of what He would ask of me, of His will for me. One day, at a AA meeting, a priest was talking! I went to him and asked: What is God’s will for us? He said: That everybody be happy! I smiled and I started to talk to God again that day … because since I left those people, I was no more depressed but happy, and that was not due to my emotions but of the reality of being part of that group and giving my power to this man and his words. And you know, all that time when I was “alone”, He was there in those people that I met, even that priest.
I agree with Alexandra: if only we all could be so open-minded as you are, Paulo, the world would be filled with much more compassion and understanding and much less strife and contention.
Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about Native American history and culture, and a couple of days ago I read something that I thought was quite interesting in regards to the masculine and feminine aspects of God. While some Native American cultures worshipped God as a man, many viewed God as a woman. In general, there was a pattern to this. The societies which were matrilinear – wherein ancestry was traced through the mother and wherein property was held, controlled and passed down by women – God was viewed as a woman. In societies which were patrilinear – wherein ancestry was traced through the father and wherein property was held, controlled and passed down by men – God was viewed as a man.
This, I think, is particularly interesting when we look at our own Western culture, which has been traditionally and almost exclusively patrilinear until very recent history. Even in countries where the child is given both last names, the father’s name predominates. We trace our ancestry through our paternity. Also, up until very recently, men have been the predominant owners and controllers of wealth and property. Men have been the leaders in every aspect of society, from the smallest family unit to the largest governing body. We have also created for ourselves a masculine face of God: God the Father. God is an old man with a long white beard – the ultimate patriarch.
But things are changing in our society. Although many archaic laws still exist defining men as the controllers of wealth and inheritance, women have gained the right to participate in this exchange. Finally, we are beginning to see women in positions of political power. Similarly, many women these days are even opting to keep their own last names when they marry. Over the past hundred years or so there has been an enormous shift in power and control within our society. Interestingly, mirroring this is a renewed interest in and openness toward the feminine face of God.
I really think that, as the future unfolds, as people begin to accept that power is not an exclusive male right, we will see even more of this growing eagerness to define and accept God as a woman. Of course, the ideal would be a balance: if we could learn to see both faces at once. Perhaps one day we will worship both God and Goddess and we will not feel the need to create myths wherein one devours or destroys the other.
Much Love,
Savita
Well, Savita, you just showed once again how smart you are. Thank you, you said very interesting things.
Take care
Love
Alexandra
You’ve got me thinking…:)
I grew up wondering why God was a man…and even as a child in Catholic school thinking that had to be wrong because God was greater and more powerful and more knowing and more loving than any one human could be, so why a man? I got in loads of trouble for asking Sr. Cecelia that in confirmation class. He he :)
Later, when I read about Native American customs and pagan beliefs about God being not male, not female, but both and ALL…something about that just made more sense on a spiritual level for me. Why would God be limited by gender? Why would God possess only masculine strengths or only feminine strengths, why not both and beyond? How could we be all that we are if the creator hadn’t been in possession of ALL of the qualities given to what was being created, both male and female? And is God sexist, or did WE do that, creating limits where there are none, as a people in our cultures in conceptualizing who or what God is? Isn’t it terribly disrespectful to seek to limit and define something limitless and more complex than we CAN define, given our own limitations? Isn’t that arrogant of us? Too much to ponder here…
While we don’t have gender free language and we’re stuck with him/her and he/she, I’m not sure that God has to be gender specific just because we lack the language skills to demonstrate such greatness. Although I often wonder what the “right” word would be, in any language, for a power so great. Perhaps that’s why some cultures never speak the name of God…reverence has merit. (But I still want to find the right word ;-)
Dear Paul,
no – some free spirits are sacrificed by society.
Love
Paulo
But in your story she managed to escape …That was an interesting part of your story, as during the whole testimony we were lead to believe she was dead. Nice ending, thank you for the surprise.
Love
Alexandra
You so open minded… Why others dont like the idea of the feminine side of God? God is everything, so can have a feminine part too.Love you for promoting the idea.