Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soul
by Caroline Myss
List Price:
Our Price: $5.86
You Save: $20.14 (77%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Caroline MyssEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-06
ISBN: 0743255321
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Free Press
Book Reviews of Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soul
Book Review: Ecumenical Reader's Guide to St. Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me begin by noting that I enjoyed Sacred Contracts and its multicultural perspective on understanding your soul very much. It was my enthusiasm for that work that led me to Entering the Castle.
I was taken aback to find that Entering the Castle is an ecumenical reader's guide to St. Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle. If I had known that, I would have read The Interior Castle instead for a deeper Christian reading on St. Teresa's mystical experiences and guidance for the rest of us.
If you aren't a Christian, you may like Entering the Castle because the book is careful not to take a Christian perspective while referencing figures from the faith. Jesus, for instance, is typically described as a spiritual figure rather than the son of God. Although Caroline Myss describes herself as a Catholic, her personal beliefs seem to be that all religions are essentially identical. It's more of a Unitarian view than a Catholic description of religion.
If you are a Christian, why wouldn't you want a purely Christian perspective?
The book is very slow to begin. It takes around a hundred pages before you reach the first part of what St. Teresa of Avila described. I didn't find the writing to be tight and engaging like the writing is in Sacred Contracts.
St. Teresa wrote about her mystical experiences as a kind of roadmap that someone can follow who wants more a more direct relationship with God. As described in Entering the Castle there are seven metaphorical mansions in the castle. Within each mansion, there are rooms that represent stages of mystical experience and development. These rooms are described as exercises for you to do. There's a caution that St. Teresa reported that some nuns couldn't get past the first few mansions, and that progress will take years. Think of this book as describing a life journey rather than a quick fix to improve your life.
Here are the mansions and their main subjects:
1. Prayer, humility, chaos, and Divine seduction
2. Inner vision, spiritual companions, and commitment to God
3. Moving past reason into faith, and surrendering to God
4. Receiving God fully
5. Being led by your soul
6. Channeling grace to dissolve self
7. Carrying your fully developed soul back into the world
The author adds prayers, examples, and directions to make these steps easier to grasp. I found that her personal examples were the most helpful as she pursues a quest that began when St. Teresa spoke to her.
A disappointing aspect of the book is that the three early mansions receive most of the attention, even though where most people want to be is in one of the latter mansions. Perhaps that's because St. Teresa indicated that it was up to God for you to make progress through those last four mansions.
I have been interested in these same subjects for many years, and I used this book to help me get a sense of where I was in my journey. What surprised me was that my roadmap seems to be a lot different than this one. From that I conclude that there's more than one path to mystical connection to God. Now that I realize that lesson, I intend to read more of what Christian mystics have had to say so that I can learn from each of them.
I was particularly surprised to see the emphasis on healing of others in this book. I hadn't thought such an activity would be part of a path to mystical experience. That lesson indicates to me that I have much to learn.
May God bless you, your family, and all you do!
Health, Mind & Body Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Wild Wolf Woman Reads
Urgent Message From Mother: Gather The Women, Save The Worldby Jean Shinoda Bolen
Conari Press; Published: 2005-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women's Livesby Jean Shinoda Bolen
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healingby Christiane Northrup
Bantam; Published: 2006-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Circle of Stones: Woman's Journey to Herselfby Judith Duerk
New World Library; Published: 2004-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops:
I Sit Listening to the Wind: Woman's Encounter Within Herself (Circles of Stones , Vol 2)by Judith Duerk
Innisfree Press; Published: 1999-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
The Da Vinci Codeby Dan Brown
Anchor; Published: 2006-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonnaby China Galland
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.40
Price in other shops:
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Plus)by Sue Monk Kidd
HarperOne; Published: 2007-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Entering the Castle: An Inner Path to God and Your Soulby Caroline Myss
Free Press; Published: 2007-03-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
![The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition] Image](/images/The-Artist-Way-A-Spiritual-Path-to-Higher-Creativity-10th-Anniversary-Edition-1585421464-X.jpg)
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]by Julia Cameron
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam; Published: 2002-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Your Power to Create: From Wishful Thinking to True Manifestationby Caroline Myss
Sounds True, Incorporated; Published: 2007-01-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Archetype Cardsby Caroline Myss
Hay House; Published: 2003-09-15; Cards; Book
Best price: $11.85
Price in other shops:
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61)by Eckhart Tolle
Penguin; Published: 2008-01-30; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $10.64
Price in other shops:
Channeling Grace: Invoking the Power of the Divineby Caroline Myss
Sounds True, Incorporated; Published: 2008-05-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $11.53
Price in other shops:
Interior Castleby St. Teresa of Avila
Image; Published: 1972-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
Why People Don't Heal and How They Canby Caroline Myss
Three Rivers Press; Published: 1998-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Entering the Castle: Exploring Your Mystical Experience of God: 9-CD Live Lecture!by Caroline Myss
Hay House; Published: 2007-03-06; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $21.33
Price in other shops:
Invisible Acts of Power: Channeling Grace in Your Everyday Lifeby Caroline Myss
Free Press; Published: 2005-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops:
Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potentialby Caroline Myss
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2003-01-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.15
Price in other shops:
Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healingby Caroline Myss
Three Rivers Press; Published: 1996-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: