Week Seven: The Novel of Spiritual Education

         For this week I've read both The Night Circus and am in the process of reading The Golden Compass. I have to say that The Night Circus is possibly one of my favorite books I've ever read. I feel like the this book combines many ideas and thoughts without giving a final commentary and leaving it to the readers choice. In this book magic is something that can be learned by anyone (although some are naturals or better apt to pick it up) with two opposing schools of thought: one relies on the power within the individual magic is generated and controlled through physical means. Celia has her hand crushed and is made to heal it. She is able to make objects move with a simple thought and is a master of making her actual magic seem like illusions. Marco works with symbols, glyphs, spells and charms- while both are capable of working both ways their primary instruction differs.

The idea of a spiritual journey comes in with the idea of soul mates. Celia and Marco, for much of the book, do not know that they are each other's opponent in the grand competition- but end up falling in love with one another's magic and their attractions built into the circus.

In The Golden Compass the spiritual journey of the characters is definitely more on the surface. With the ideas of religion, technology, magic and the human soul in a world where every human's soul exists outside their body in the form of an animal called a daemon. Children's daemons are fluid and can change forms at will, and upon maturity the daemon settles into an animal form that reflects it's humans traits, personality, and soul. For example many servants' daemons take the forms of dogs, while Lord Azrial's daemon is a beautiful snow leopard.

Unsurprisingly my favorite characters within the book was was Serafina Pekkala a witch. Witch's daemons exist in bird form and unlike regular people they can separate indefinitely from their humans (witches).  I like the idea of traveling separately from ones soul.

The idea of a human soul taking a physical form indicative of a person's inner being that you can talk and interact with is intriguing and comforting.