The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers [Paperback]

M.A. Frank MacEowen (Author), Tom Cowan (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2002

In The Mist-Filled Path, Frank MacEowen, a preeminent teacher of Celtic spirituality, shows how embracing the indigenous wisdom of Scotland and Ireland can lead to healing and transcendence. Using his own travels and teachings along with Celtic stories and myths, he explores ancient traditions, eco-psychology, the ancient mother, altars and hearths, Oran Mor (the Great Song), contemplation, and mysticism. The book tells how to draw on ancestral roots to find a personal spirituality that also works for the greater good.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this book, MacEowen, a teacher of the spiritual traditions of Scotland and Ireland, issues a call to readers longing to live a more authentic life to wake up from "the land of sleepwalkers." "Too many of us squander our lives," he writes, "filling our minds with a crazed habitual raciness that is hard to throw off." MacEowen’s purpose is to show us how to break free of our unconscious habits to place our awareness where it matters, living from the perspective of our inner senses and informed by our souls. The "Mist" he speaks of is a metaphor for spirituality used by Celtic peoples. Drawing on his own personal experiences and myths and poems of the Celts and Druids, MacEowen introduces readers conditioned by modern Western society to a world of mystery and meaning that is ours to enter into at any time, were we only to become more aware of it.

Throughout the book, he also shares various exercises to help us further that awareness, and in the process he makes a compelling argument that the "good life" that all of us yearn for can only be found when we live each day with a sense of "wonderment and wakeful purpose" that is in tune with our divine birthright. With The Mist-Filled Path, MacEowen joins writers such as John O’Donahue (Anam Cara) and Caitlin Mathews (The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom) in introducing readers to the ancient spiritual traditions of "the misty green isles" of Ireland and Scotland that gave meaning to their inhabitants for many centuries, and which still hold value for us here in the 21st century.

Review

...a distinctive book that inspires us to participate in Celtic consciousness. -- R.J. Stewart, author of Earth Light

...brings together the very best aspects of the Celtic vision of the world. -- John and Caitlin Matthews

Frank is a brother of the Otherworld, who has learned the importance of listening to the ancestors. -- Malidoma Some

May this book guide you into heartfelt conscious action on behalf of all that is saced. -- Julia Butterfly Hill

To read Frank MacEowen is to go hillwalking with a friend who knows the 'thin places' -- Robert Moss

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (April 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577312112
• ISBN-13: 978-1577312116
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Celtic
  • #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Fairy Tales

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Taking Issue With Racist Review, May 29, 2008

By 

Frank MacEowen (Southeast, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers (Paperback)

I am the author of the book in question. I take issue with the individual's assertion that I am "weak minded" simply because I am willing to look starkly into the face of the shadow-side of my ancestral culture(s) as part of my process of self-exploration. One of the perspectives I present in the book is that *ALL* cultures have a residual shadow. Whatever energies are there that are not brought to consciousness and transformed continue to influence us. This same perspective--although worked with differently in practice--is something that the late Swiss psychoanalyst C.G. Jung asserted vehemently. He once remarked, "Whatever is avoided in the shadow is lived out as fate." I would ask you: What is weak minded? Not wanting to look at the reality of these things, or being willing to step into the thick of it. Am I willing to openly embrace the fact that some of my ancestors were involved in oppressing others? Yes. And in acknowledging that and embracing that as one sliver that comprises the legacy of my ancestors (others were freedom-fighters for the downtrodden), I am able to learn from their journey. By being willing to own up to the fact that *some* of my "White" ancestors oppressed others I am able to transform that energy to become something else and to work toward creating a different kind of world. Does this make me "PC"? I think not. It makes me awake. "PC" would imply that such an orientation toward unbridled love and human equality is only being portrayed for some measure of gain. The only gain worth gaining is freedom. The inner work I describe in my books is done so to help facilitate some individuals in becoming truly free. Are you?

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviresco, November 26, 2004

By 

Jason Kirkey (Boulder, CO - Danvers, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers (Paperback)

The Mist-Filled Path is a timely and inspiring message to wake up from the often tedious and soul-numbing industrial world. It's focus is Celtic (particularly Irish and Scottish), but certainly it transcends culture, and may sing in the spirits of people of many cultures. I feel this is a particularly important "call" in a place such as the U.S. where we have often lost a connection to our roots, culturally and spiritually. If we do not know from whom and where we have come from, it is difficult to know who we are now, and where we are going. This book is not about going back, and romanticizing the past, but rather about engaging the living stream of the Celtic spirit, to orient ourselves in the direction of a soulful and life-affirming future. One of the negative reviewers called it "new agey", and though I respect the right of other's to their opinion, I have to say that I disagree. I think in a world full of Llewellyn print books and shady scholarship, Frank's work is one of authenticity.

The role of the ancient druid was essentially to hold the memory of the tribe (amongst other things). That role is no different in the modern world, though perhaps its method has changed. Frank lyrically reminds us of who we are in a world that drives us to be what he calls sleepwalkers. You, my friend, are a druid. This pint is for you.

Slainte

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Authentic Celtic Seeker, A Timely Message, March 12, 2003

By 

Theresa Garrity - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers (Paperback)

The Mist-Filled Path is a book that truly conveys the essence of the human spiritual search in action from a Celtic perspective. What I liked about it so much was how human the author is. We are really brought along on his journey and I felt changed because of it. At every turn MacEowen offers us an inside view of the inner landscape of someone who has authentically been called to the shaman's path in modern life, and who lives life according to the shaman's heart. Such a book is able to see the interconnections between cultures, peoples, religions, in way that re-sanctifies the human condition of all people--whatever ethnicity or culture. In The Mist-Filled Path the reader will learn about the various expressions of the Celtic spirit--the pagan, druid, shamanistic, and the Celtic-Christian. The reader will also be given various meditations and exercises that aid in developing an expanded sense of consciousness about a number of topics: the elements, the sacred flow of time, working with nature as a healing guide, etc. This is not a textbook. The Mist-Filled Path is a living spirit; a truly relevant and timely message, expressed as a collection of teachings and ideas in the true Celtic storytelling style. MacEowen's harrowing experiences of near-death, his experiences doing a traditional Sun Dance with the Lakota Sioux people, and rediscovering the living wisdom of his Irish and Scottish ancestors makes for a powerful reading experience. The Mist-Filled Path left me with a greater understanding of why the various expressions of the Celtic traditions were pushed down (or "eclipsed" as MacEowen says), and why they are re-emerging today. A remarkable and fascinating book.