The Valkyries
by Paulo Coelho
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paulo CoelhoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-08-02
ISBN: 0062513346
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: HarperOne
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780062513342
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Valkyries
Book Review: The more I read, the less I like...
Summary: 2 Stars
As I finished The Valkyries I find myself more and more disillusioned with Paulo Coelho. As I learn more and more about the man behind the books, through his own books, I find I don't like what I see.
He described it as The Hunter and The Farmer type people in Valkyries. It was in the words of his wife, but it was there. Thing is, even after seeing that reality in himself, I don't think he took the right message from it.
He sees himself as The Hunter--going off storming across the country, across the world on this nobel quest. He's spent his life trying to be a priest (Jesuit?) and stopping, getting into Wicca, into Knights Templar (seeing them as holy when many others see a much darker side), into the Tradition. He walks across Spain, he goes into the American desert seeking enlightenment, he hangs with biker chicks on a "holy" mission. And he continues to feel that "living" is running around doing these ridiculous rituals, many of which are made up by him or these weird groups. You could stand back and see him in the same way we look at the Incas, making human sacrifices as part of their sacred rituals---it is bizarre, puerile and misguided.
In short, he continues to confuse DOING with KNOWING. And to know, all you have to do is shut up, be quiet and realize what you already know. You don't have to run off anywhere to do it, you don't have to GO anywhere, you don't have to "fight the good fight"--there is no fight to be had, except within himself.
The lesson of the Hunter, him, and the Farmer, his wife--was that they were attracted to each other because they both needed to assimilate some of the other in themselves. HE needed to stop hunting and just be. SHE needed sometimes to be open to experiencing that which is put in front of her. And all of it was really HIM not seeing the lesson in front of him.
In Valkyries he kept indicating that Heaven (or his equivalent) would only be "open" for a certain time. And like many right now, he decided that only some of us, the enlightened few, would make it to the evolution of the planet, while the unenlightened masses would go through some sort of purging process.
If you understand Light and that it exists for us to see, to feel, for ALL, you couldn't entertain any idea of Us and Them. THEY wouldn't leave anyone behind because they aren't learning lessons fast enough. Any scenario that makes an Us and Them means you haven't yet seen that we all come from One.
On to his inability, unwillingness to deal with his own excessive appetites--for women, specifically, and probably for booze. He continues, through all the books, to acknowledge his own filandering, and then goes on to justify it in numerous ways. She doesn't really mind, they have an open marriage, guys are meant to "notice" other women, women and men are made to be attracted. He is always actively plotting the conquest of the next woman or women, falling "in love" with the woman of the moment. But somehow he still "loves" his wife in a special way and expects her to just accept that. He encourages his wife (and himself, of course)to sleep around, and never asked questions because he didn't want questions himself. The fact is, he has never come to terms with his own excessive appetites. These kind of issues block you from the Light, keep you from communication with spirit (Angels in his terminology)--but he hasn't yet really grasped that concept.
I did disagree with his terminology, although I think we each get a life view from our society. I have noticed that those raised Hindu or Muslim or Catholic or Protestant--each have their own predisposition to believe in certain ways.
But, with great pride in his knowledge, Coelho names off four kinds of beings. One is of spirits passed (who have incarnated). He blows them off as being basically unworthy because they're just "men" like he is. [Ah, yes, but these "men" have lived many, many lives, progressed perhaps to no more incarnations. Is their guidance worth nothing? Isn't that the majority of spirit guidance--those who were once carnate because they know the difficulties of being in body? Make sense to me, but he dismisses them as inferior knowledge.]
Next he talks about Angels--his whole book (Valkyries) is about finding his, which is apparently like a Master Guide in my terminology. My understanding (and it can be as wrong as his) is that Angels have never incarnated. To me, those who have never incarnated might not be the best Guides. Then there were two other categories of beings--oh, Saints. What the....? Saints, who become saints only through a religion of some kind? Who were men also, maybe not even really good men, but maybe men who had influence in the church. And were the stories of a particular saint ever right?
I do accept that people who pray to specific angels (Archangel Gabriel, Michael) might be contacting some spirit. But are they all communicating with the same Gabriel, Michael? It probably doesn't matter, but likely not.
Just like William Buhlman talks about there being a virtually stable "thoughtform" in astral that is the Pearly Gates--literally, because so many people believe it and visualize it. But it is, nevertheless, a thoughtform also--not a "reality" (whatever that means).
In earlier novels I was disturbed by the violent images in what he was doing. Why a Sword? What spiritual aspirant needs an instrument of war? He refers to it as war, as there being righteous wars (I strongly disagree here), that there was a justification for fighting one's enemies. He calls it "the good fight". It's more of the Hunter here--just an excuse to be active and not to be within his own soul, higher self. Had he spent more time there, these might have been real novels of discovery not Tipping at Windmills all over the world. And maybe I'm reading too much here, but these novels (Valkyries, Pilgrimage) might have been when he was still in search of power through magic, wicca--and not the White Witch kind of way.
Coelho mentions that he "did" astral travel and he didn't find any passed souls, no higher spirits. Which says to me his energy, his own vibration was not high enough to get out of astral--an indication to him that he should work on those negative-inducing qualities that block out the Light for him.
[Over the holidays I watched some movie about a guy with tinnitus (ringing in the ears). It is driving him crazy and his girlfriend finally plays the "complement" note to what he hears and it wipes out the sound. She says that there is a complementary color for every color (you can see that when you close your eyes), and there is a complement to every note. And that made me wonder if, as souls, we don't "see" the Light or feel the vibations around us are because we are putting out the negative complement ourselves, blocking ourselves from hearing or seeing. Just a mind detour.]
The scene at the end of Valkyries was cr*p to me--the idea that he had to See his angel, and finally accepting military jets as the "sign". Now, he'd made the distinction earlier that spirit can work through other things--people, animals, and that one could just hear their Angels (but he'd made it clear that wasn't good enough for him. He wanted to See these beings.)
But Coelho, lagging behind his wife, who already talked to her angel just by being herself, had to find a shortcut, a way out. His experience in the desert was no different from experiences any of the rest of us have when we feel spirit strongly through nature or whatever is in front of us. But he lies to himself, saying that he finally "saw" his Angel in the form of light and jets--so that he could end his adventure. Same with his Pilgrimage---he ended it prematurely and took a bus when because he couldn't find the sword.
He admitted in the Valkyries that the song lyrics (and I think he implied even some of his earlier books) were written in pursuit of the Devil, of evil power--but that the public was so dumb, they followed him anyway. He happily took it to the bank and continued to write. So, in my mind, this is not the type of writer I want to emulate --or enrich. He doesn't deserve it. His impulses were wrong to begin with. It's one thing if someone is well-meaning but missing the mark. But to intentionally be pursuing evil, write about it and then profit from it--maybe explains why he is so apologetic about his owb success. He truly doesn't deserve it. There are far more honest and deserving voices out there.
Summary of The Valkyries
A Magical Tale About Forgiving Our Past and Believing in Our Future
The enchanting, true story of The Valkyries begins in Rio de Janeiro when author Paulo Coelho gives his mysterious master J., the only manuscript for his book The Alchemist. Haunted by a devastating curse, Coelho confesses to J., "I?ve seen my dreams fall apart just when I seemed about to achieve them." In response, J. gives Coelho a daunting task: He must find and speak with his guardian angel. "The curse can be broken," he replies, "if you complete the task."
Rising to the challenge, Paulo and his wife, Cristina, drop everything, pack their bags, and take off on a forty day adventure into the starkly beautiful and sometimes dangerous Mojave Desert where they encounter more than they bargained for. A masterful blend of the exotic locales, dramatic adventure, and magical storytelling, for which Coelho?s fictional works are renowned, this true-life account is at once a modern-day adventure and a metaphysical odyssey.
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