Florinda Donner (1944–1998)

This book is (obviously, I guess) about ‘magic’ and the nature of reality, but it is—equally, really—about such social and personal things as the relations between German/white settlers in Latin America, and the whole thing between the-portrait-of-the-narrator-as-a-young-woman and the mysterious spiritual man.

When I first started to read this I couldn’t quite get what I was learning or what the point was, I guess because I was already drifting away from spiritual philosophy towards practical & prosperous spirituality. But I guess you can never, should never, totally separate out, the threads—theory, experience, and skills, right. And also, you don’t have to be so northern as to overthink. It’s an entertaining story/memoir/whatever. Any 20th century Plato was far less likely to be Swiss or whatever as people imagine, and far more likely to be a simple-yet-enigmatic child of the earth, you know.

…. It’s certainly not a book of affirmations, and it doesn’t always seem “positive”—sometimes it seems like it’s about a thorny girl in a thorny world—so, it’s not obvious. But secretly, it is kinda similar to those “power thoughts” & “think of God” & “you are what you think you are” stuff. If reality is the dream, then what you imagine in the dream is your experience. The teaching is veiled by the story format and you’d be better served to read & wrestle with it yourself, but I think that’s the basic seed idea. You have a dream, and what you decide the dream is is your experience. The girl, the dreamer, is confused because she hardly ever has any idea what she wants or what’s going on around or inside her, you know.

…. Sometimes it takes a lot of living before you realize that you can live the way you want to.

…. It’s certainly a book about a beginner, plagued by her wild emotions, but it’s also equally not trivial, being about beginning to explore dreams while becoming rooted in rationality.

…. Women and dreams; women are the Dream.

…. “…. the designs of fate, no matter what they are, are merely challenges a sorcerer must face without resentment or self-pity.”

“…. It’s your challenge to rise above this. As you know, challenges aren’t discussed or resented. Challenges are actively met. Sorcerers either succeed in meeting their challenges or they fail at it. And it doesn’t really matter which, as long as they are in command.”

“…. The world of sorcerers is a world of solitariness, yet in it, love is forever.”

…. I suppose for some people a sorcerer is a warrior, for whom the call to be free is a calling higher than what is commonly called life. A sorcerer molds perception and reality, like dough into bread….… (more)