Saturday, 26 November 2022

Paulo Coelho - The Witch of Portobello

 



“Everything, absolutely everything on this earth makes sense, and even the smallest things are worthy of our consideration.”

- Paulo Coelho,
The Witch of Portobello

About the Author and Subject:
Paulo Coelho de Souza is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist, best known for his novel The Alchemist. In the Witch of Portobello, a work of fiction, Mr. Coelho writes of the return to the Goddess religion. Here, he expounds upon the interpretation of love, and the feminine part of the Divine within the theme of opening to the energies of the world in search of one’s true self. Central to the story is the question of how we find the courage to be true to ourselves - even if we may be unsure of who we are.

[Image: Lady of Shalott (1889-1892) tempura and oil on panel by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Manchester City Art Gallery.]

About the Artist and Subject:
This painting has a complicated and elaborate symbolism which I'll explore in the Image section of a future post. The Lady of Shalott is herself an artist and possibly reflects Mr. Hunt's own aesthetic on the consequences of turning away from duty and yielding to the temptations and material realities of the world.

The Smart Witch by Elizabeth


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