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Horses and the Mystical Path: The Celtic Way of Expanding the Human Soul

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Magic is, and perhaps has always been, sprinkled around the spirited nature of horses. Recently there's been an explosion of books concerning healings, whisperings, and metaphysical interactions with our equine relations. Horses and the Mystical Path : The Celtic Way of Expanding the Human Soul is distinguished through the McCormicks' insistence upon grounding experience that is at the edge of belief into living tradition, inclusive spirituality, and time-honored psychology. After reading their books and spending a week at their ranch, my longing for making the next step on the path has been more than met.

I'd been deeply moved by my experiences with horses, particularly riding dressage and being taught in the classical manner, but I felt rather inarticulate about it and thus limited in being able to go much further in deepening these experiences with horses and broadening their applications into other parts of my life. I sampled the extensive field of literature related to horses, read closely the ones that seemed nearest to my interests, and in doing so found the McCormicks' work in the center of my target. While I enjoy comfort food, I wanted something more gritty than the chicken-soup variety, something with the numinous edge that would take me further than personal story, something that built upon dressage technique, something that furthered the knowing of the soul dimension in experiences with horses. And this is just what Horses and the Mystical Path offers. The "wisdom pilgrimage" is often a lonely path, oft' beset with doubt; the McCormicks provide much-needed companionship.

Their book contains many lessons; and more significantly, it gives help for a person in finding the one that fits. The most important teaching, from or through the McCormicks to me, right now, is to stop trying too hard. Horses and the Mystical Path is infused with the ancestors' voices; and, even more, it incarnates the Celtic way which also incorporates a Christian and a Sufi spirituality. For not only are these sources cited (for example, Pelagius, Eriugena, Ibn' Arabi, and Meister Eckhart), they are also present in the stories that the McCormicks tell of their work with horses and humans.

This blending of spirit and practice can be illustrated with two of many cases. The Celtic tradition indicated in their subtitle is apparent early and throughout the book: "The horse becomes not only a soothing friend but a provocative adversary-what Celtic shamans call an anam cara, or "soul friend," in Gaelic." This principle is richly illustrated in their practice through the story of Carlin who gets very frightened when her arrogance pushes her horse to run off with her. When riding the same horse later, Carlin had an episode which she called "`the most awesome experience of my life!'" The McCormicks conclude: "Carlin had been pushed into the eternal zone beyond our human control. And in that dramatic moment of confrontation, she had surrendered to both the horse and the Divine." In addition to the mare, the McCormicks had also played the part of the anam cara by insisting that Carlin stay with the same horse even after the frightening experience and in spite of her demand to ride a different horse.

A second case of the merging of the "word" with the body is demonstrated in the teaching of contemplative prayer which constantly complements the McCormicks' work with horses and people. They quote Thomas Merton, "Meditation has no point and no reality unless it is firmly rooted in life." One powerful illustration of their application of this teaching concerns their part in the mare Alicia's recovery from abusive treatment. Led by Adele, one of them sat with the agitated horse for hours every day for about six weeks, spending much of that time in meditative prayer. They walked the talk. From this experience and from this horse, the McCormicks received communion in a texture woven in the book and too elaborate to trace here.

Disciplined hard work and applied classical training in horsemanship as well as in psychology and in religion are essential, but they're not enough for the next step on the path. To work too hard alone is to block one's access to the power from mystical teachers. Why go alone when such companions are waiting? And, too, why not ride on in union with these spirit beings!

Imagine a politically torn nation in which a rancher must rescue his beloved horses from the threat of approaching war. As he and his family prepare to flee in their trucks, he speaks heart-to-heart with his twenty-five year old stallion, begging the animal to follow the vehicles. The stallion goes to the herd, appears to communicate with its members, and they all seem to understand the dire situation. For three days they run, with little food or water, following the trucks. The trek is arduous, crossing high mountains to reach refuge in another country. They all arrive safely. With his task completed, the ageing stallion modestly accepts praise from the rancher, lies down and dies.

This story of communication between horse and human is true, and along with many others, forms the heart of the book, Horses and the Mystical Path. These stories come from the authors' many years of developing and operating programs that combine psychotherapy with the healing power of horses to help emotionally disturbed people.

The unique relationship between horses and humans goes back many thousands of years. The authors came to understand this relationship as a divine-like connection and found explanations in a number of spiritual traditions. Most significantly, they discovered ancient Celtic tradition highly revered this connection. In the book, the authors outline the history of Celtic horsemanship, then explore mysticism at length, drawing from the era of the early Celtic church's so-called "golden age of saints" (ca. 5th - 9th cent. C.E.). While they do touch on the much longer history of the Celts' spiritual tradition, they curiously do not explore its pre-Christian animist beliefs that heavily influenced the early Celtic church and saints, or mention its divine horsewoman, Epona.

Without a doubt, though, the stories of the horses are the best part of this book. They demonstrate the profound depth horses can reach in their relationships with humans, both in the conscious, daily world and in the unconscious, mysterious world of the soul. Many of the stories will bring tears to the reader's eyes. With inspiration and wisdom, Horses and the Mystical Path shows how these animals can teach the human to turn away from the cocoon-like self and find a greater perspective of the world all around.

I'm an avid reader, but never felt compelled to leave a review before now.

I'm sorry to say the writing in this book is dreadful. It reads like a high-school term paper: name-dropping resources, strung together in an attempt to support... something. I'm not quite sure it gets any deeper than 'horses are neat'. There is no clear meaning to be harvested. No point to the rambling. And the language is forced: steeped in self-help-isms. "Paradigm" is used way too much.

As a companion of horses, and as a spiritual seeker, I find more meaning in an afternoon mucking a stall than in the pages of this book. Still, I forced myself to read it all, in the belief that with this much manure, there must be a pony in there somewhere. There wasn't.

In this wise and beautiful book, the authors, Adele, Deborah, and Thomas McCormick, Las Tres Aguilas, weave from the three strands of transpersonal psychology, Celtic spirituality, and spiritual partnering with the wonderful Peruvian horses a fascinating journey into self-healing, reconnecting with nature, including one's own, and exploring the mystical path. They relate their own story as psychotherapists rediscovering first their own roots in Scotland and the rich spirituality of Celtic, with its sense of the goodness of creation and of one's own primal connection with nature, and then discovering the tradition of developing one's spirituality thru partnering with Iberian horses, the ancestors of the Peruvians. Their book is well researched and draws on many sources. It is as rich in Iberian horse lore as it is in holistic Celtic spirituality. Thru narrative and anecdote they tell a moving story of their work at Hacienda Tres Aguilas, northwest of San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country, and of the proud and noble horses, of the people who loved them, and who were loved and healed by them. This book can move you to tears and will reconnect you to a sense of the divine in nature, the imago Dei, and indeed in all of life--the Celtic vision.

I had the happy circumstance of visiting the McCormick's at the Hacienda a week after finishing their book. They were most delightful hosts, and I had the joy of spending a couple of hours with kindred spirits and of planning a future retreat there. The Hacienda, guesthouse, tiny chapel, and Bodega are themselves a virtual museum of Spanish, German, and Texas ranch touches. The Hacienda and their beautiful book are rare Texas treasures one should feel priviliged not to miss.

As the synopsis describes, this book is about a relationship with horses built around an inward and outward journey that the authors undertook and share with the readers. My knowledge of horses and equestrian issues is fairly small and for that reason I abstain from commenting on this book on those grounds. On the other hand, I do hold some solid notions on some of the cultural and geographical references the authors use (I'm Portuguese and living currently in Spain).
The recurring ignorance showed by some American citizens concerning non-American realities has become a sort of established joke outside the US borders. Unfortunately, the authors of this book live up to such jest. The description of the Iberian Peninsula portrayed in this book is, at times, so absurd, it gets hilarious. However, such absurdity seems to take itself quite seriously which impels me to warn off unwary readers, lest they might fall in love with the idea of visiting the place where its habitants, «The Iberians staunchly maintain that the horse is a gift from God, a gift to help humanity see the light and the truth» (p. 18). After all, it sounds quite tempting to meet the natives, if we take into account that «The Spanish people live close to this myth» - none other than the lost city of Atlantis (p. 19). Indeed, that's part and parcel of the whole country «culture's mythology» (Ibidem). Not surprisingly, then, it shaped the character of the «Iberian horse community» (p. 17), whatever that means.
No doubt that bringing up the topic of Atlantis with the indigenous man in the street might raise some interesting situations, if somewhat unexpected ones. Not to mention the outcome of a visit to Galicia, hoping to meet the natives wearing the kilt and speaking Gaelic (p.32). I feel obliged to warn such travellers that unless they are endowed with a strong sense of humour, they are in for a major disappointment.
Suffice to say that from the moment I read such proclamations, I couldn't take this book seriously, much as I wanted to. In fact, I couldn't finish it. Still, I choose to believe that the authors are well intended in everything they say and their attitude seems, overall, a good one.
The exercise of gathering and melting down cultural references and traditions, so abundantly used in this book, is in itself an ambitious endeavour, one that few people are capable of mastering with accuracy, seriousness and grace. In this day and age, the thirst for existential meaning has made this kind of venture very popular despite the fact that, most often than not, such attempts fall very short indeed. This work is such a case. The journey for spiritual disclosure, through our cultural mazes, is a most enticing quest, but it should not, under any circumstance, depend on the easy observing of appearances. On such journey there are no valid «short-cuts».

The McCormick's Horses and the Mystical Path is an inspiring literary account culminating profound ancient psychospiritual wisdom and insights for modern societies and psychotherapies. While steeping the reader within their lives healing and spiritual experiences, astute psychoanalytical observations, and historical references and resources, the McCormick's reveal the deep and intricate connections which exist amongst all peoples and all creatures great and small.
The Horse - the magnificent creature of dreams, myths, empowerment, freedom, community, spiritual questing and healing becomes the Companion-Sojourner as the McCormick's crystallize and distill the Celtic Mystical Path within which Life, in Spirit and within Spirit, is for: passionate living and exploration, selfless sharing, loving with an open Heart and Mind, the disciplining of the Self toward the Greater Self, and for always acting out of awareness of our connection to the Great Creator and Creation as a whole.
Horses and the Mystical Path is an abundant tapestry of the psychospiritual and energetic threads which bind us all, one to the other and to every other life form existing within the ebb and flow of Earth's, of the Cosmos's, perpetual cycles. Upon the life affirming backs of the McCormick's metaphorical steeds and horses of impassioned flesh and bone, the reader comes closer to the astoundingly simple realization, made complex, that Everything consists of the stuff from which the stars are made.
Leah Sellers

When I read this book, I wasn't convinced that the McCormicks' experiences were anything more than interpretations of events that could be analyzed in a number of different ways.

The concepts in this book are so exceptional, that I decided to experience them for myself -- so I went to a seminar at Tres Aguilas outside San Antonio, TX to meet the McCormicks and learn from them.

It is my conclusion that no matter how detailed and precise a person is in writing a book of this nature, the written word will never come close to the experience of seeing the principles in action.

I highly recommend reading this book if you're interested in the spiritual and healing connection between humans and horses. But in order to absorb and learn the material, you must experience it.

The seminar was beyond description, and now I feel as if I need to read the book again to really absorb more of the material.

On the fourth day of the seminar, we worked with horses that we'd never touched previously. We worked silently in an arena and applied the principles that we'd learned. Within minutes, I was able to communicate silently with one of their horses; and the high spirited, hot blooded mare ran ten feet away from me on a lead line; and she reacted to my thoughts before I even twitched a muscle to react. I repeated the procedure a number of times, and every time she responded. I needed to prove to myself that it wasn't subtle body language on my part, and I was very certain that she was responding to my thoughts.

I'm someone who's had very little contact with horses in my adult life and never had a riding lesson. In fact, I'm frightened of horses, so the results for me were quite unexpected.

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I'd have this type of experience; so I have to believe in the principles and practices of the McCormicks.

If you're interested in the subject matter, I urge you to read this book; take it to heart; and then experience it for yourself.

I read this all too brief book in a leisurely fashion over two months. Every time I entered its pages I soon had the feeling that I was talking with an ancient yet brand new spiritual friend. The mystical visitations by the Scottish shepherd, the Spanish waiter, the Mexican cathedral guide, and the sensitivity and sensible knowing of the authors' prized horses pierce the veil in the most profound mystic traditions, yet ground us with their practicality, their inevitability. Yes, great forces are available to us if we only open ourselves. Good will, the wish to benefit other beings, shines from every page of this book. The authors' refreshing passages about communion are inspiring.

The moment I reluctantly finished this book, I handed it to my fifteen year-old son, Eoghan, who was born in Ireland. An hour later he was hooked, too, or I should say befriended. I would like very much to meet these spiritualist authors. I don't know how I can afford it, but I would love to attend one of their equine retreats. Yes, that would be a valuable component to add to my own spiritual practice. For now, I thank them for their visitation, so like an answered prayer!

--Robert McDowell, author of the forthcoming Poetry in Your Spiritual Practice.

Intimate. This book paralleled my own journey with spirituality through horses. Stunning to read in deep and historic context. Important work; well worth the effort. Emotional: Many "AHA!" moments. This work brings together the spiritual, the historical, the philosophical and psychological here on earth.

I have been able to help my understanding of the feelings I have always had while working with horses. I have given riding lessons for 50 years, and trained horses as well. The insight that I thought was mine concerning the training and teaching was not mine, but through the horses.