I have been told to fill you in on Harvestmath by Cissa and Ellieana. It was wonderful. There were pumpkins everywhere and lots of food. The child hobbits were dancing and building things and the adults were having a good time too. Now, we are starting to look towards Yule and the Yule festival.
This month's theme is magical creatures as pets, but what if the creature was your soul? Could it be classed as a pet? I don't think so, but in the first book of the His Dark Materials series, Northern Lights, your soul classifies your animal. In that world, there is magic of a different kind... of alethiometers and Dæmons being the person's soul. There are witches of a different kind, Dust, and the Northern Lights.
The book follows a girl, Lyra Belacqua, who is around the age of 11 and her Dæmon, Pantalaimon, as they live a half wild life in a parallel world to our own. Pantalaimon can change form depending on Lyra's mood and I think that is rather cool. Until you become an adult. We all say pets are part of the family, but imagine having a creature that is basically the physical being of you outside of your body... Nobody can touch your Dæmon except you. It's forbidden... unless it is the touch of your true love, in which case it's apparently okay.
I can't begin to imagine what that is like. To see your Dæmon change shape before your eyes as a child must be the most amazing thing in the world. Now, you'll notice that I said the word child. You see children aren't affected by Dust, but once they become an adult, their Dæmon stops changing and takes one form that it will have for the rest of their life. It's part of the reason that children are stolen in the book.
Lyra's Dæmon takes on many forms in the book, each showing a different side to Lyra. Pan becomes a dragon, eagle, mouse, and a bird, but his favourite forms are: snow-white ermine, a moth, a wildcat, and a mouse.When Lyra begins to transition to adulthood in the final book of the His Dark Materials series, he settles in his final form of a beautiful pine marten, red-gold in colour with a "patch of cream-white fur" on his throat. He is then stuck in that shape for the rest of Lyra's life. Dæmons are usually the opposite gender to their person. Lyra is a girl, so Pan was a male. I'm not sure why it has to be that way but it is.
All this talk about Dæmons makes me wonder what mine would be. I'm not really sure. I know there are dogs in the Shire so maybe one of them? It's hard to tell really. I can't even begin to imagine seeing my soul in an animal form... let alone what it could be. It does make me wonder though. I guess that's something for me to discuss with my sisters. Ellieanarose will be back next month.
Lots of love,Briellerose xxx
