Mystical Dogs: Animals as Guides to Our Inner Life [Paperback]

Jean Houston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2004

"For many years, I have been a student of spirituality and states of consciousness. For many more years than that, I've been a student of dogs," says best-selling author Jean Houston, whose study of this subject is the basis of Mystical Dogs. Houston has spent a lifetime bridging the worlds of animals and humans, exploring a realm that pet owners have glimpsed and indigenous peoples have known for millennia. The author identifies dogs, with their deceptively uncomplicated, joyous, loving nature, as custodes animi, guardians of our souls. She shows how animals, particularly dogs, are often the best spiritual teachers. For example, in Houston's hands, a seemingly simple story, such as a man saying goodbye to his beloved dog, becomes a striking metaphor about personal and planetary transformation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Houston, who has written widely in the field of New Age spirituality (Jump Time: Living in the Future Tense) and who once spiritually advised Hillary Clinton draws here on her relationship with dogs to advance a vision of mysticism. Citing the work of Evelyn Underhill, Houston sees the mystic path in eight stages: awakening, purification, illumination, voices and visions, contemplation and introversion, ecstasy and rapture, the dark night of the soul and union with what she calls the One Reality. She provides examples of how her experience of each stage was guided by a dog who lived with her. Chickie, a mix of Welsh Corgi and bearded collie, was Houston's first dog, and she credits Chickie with teaching her "to be alert to both the seen and unseen, the heard and unheard." She explains how the three Airedales she owned at various times all tried to overreach themselves-a quality that Houston believes guided their voices to her, as well as visions. During periods of depression, Houston's bond with her dogs helped her believe that she would recover and evolve. While some readers may prickle at Houston's effusive New Age talk, the author's fans, as well as dog lovers, will relate to and enjoy her descriptions of meditative and spiritual practices that are enhanced by a connection to animals. Color photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Jean Houston's Mystical Dogs makes us realize how profoundly our beloved pets can keep us in touch with the oneness that is Nature and Divinity. All this and lots of chuckles." — Marion Woodman "The author's fans, as well as dog lovers, will relate to and enjoy her descriptions of meditative and spiritual practices that are enhanced by a connection to animals." — Publishers Weekly "In this delightful, but seriously illuminating book, she takes us beyond dogs as simply affectionate property of humans to spiritual guides, capable of genuine spiritual friendship, and carriers of native experience and ecstatic joy." — Wayne Teasdale, author of The Mystic Heart and A Monk in the World --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: New World Library; First Trade Paper Edition edition (May 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193072232X
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722323
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Know What You're Thinking . . . ., January 23, 2003

By 

MaClaren "Consort of Reason" (Ormond Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mystical Dogs: Animals as Guides to Our Inner Life (Hardcover)

You're thinking, "mystical dogs? Yeah. Right." You're thinking, "Forget dogs. Cats (hampsters, pigeons, nemotodes) rule." Or,"mystical what???" If so, you're apt not to be alone. There's a big "however" here: HOWEVER, Mystical Dogs is one read to hang your inner-child's hat on. The book boasts the intricate simplicity which hallmarks genius. Fact is, if you have, or have had, a canine buddy and know the joys, the wonders such kinship brings, you'll be revisiting a much-loved realm. If -- and there's that word again -- however, your idea of a dog coincides with a four-legged type that bummed a ride with Noah, strolled off the ark straight into your hydrangea bush, you will indeed be revisioning your untutored little perception. Chances are, when you read this book, you are going to go and, I might add, gleefully, to the dogs.

Fact is: Jean Houston has given us a gift. She has yanked spirituality off its high-falutin pedestal, framed it in compelling language and winsome anecdote. She has placed Spirit at eye-level. This vantage point lets us discern that which might otherwise elude us: numinous gleanings, transcendent knowings and ineffable intimations. Thanks to the author's lack of pretense, we readers become enlightened even as we encounter the dearest of creatures, the funniest of situations. Fact is: dogs, uh-huh, dogs (!) have something to teach us. Those unlikely teachings are, Houston demonstates, unsurpassed by human prayer or pilgrimage.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must buy for Dog lovers and Spiritual Seekers, November 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mystical Dogs: Animals as Guides to Our Inner Life (Hardcover)

This is an ingenious and ingenuous book. The author does a magnificent job in bringing together glorious stories of her life with dogs and illuminating the stages of the spiritual path --and at the same time! As both a dog lover and one who follows a spiritual path, I found myself to be both inspired and greatly entertained by this profound and often very funny book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's talk to the animals - more!, February 22, 2003

By 

Miss Shirley Ward (Killaloe, County Clare Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mystical Dogs: Animals as Guides to Our Inner Life (Hardcover)

This book is a great gift for humanity.

A former President of the American Association of Humanistic Psychology, Jean is a prolific writer and multi-talented teacher in the field of human potential,sacred psychology,spiritual pathways,consciousness and inner awareness. Her work involves the intertwining of disciplines on the quest for spiritual renewal within the whole development of the individual.

In this her nineteenth book, Jean shares her profound knowledge and wonderful sense of humour, about her experiences with the dogs that have been her companions throughout her journey from early childhood.

She describes eight stages of the spiritual or mystic path which each dog enhanced for her. She calls her dogs, friends of our spirit and guardians of the soul. Advocating the deep spiritual connection between humans and animals that can help us on our path to become one with nature and the divine.

Fans of the author, and those not yet familiar with her writings will have their minds expanded, their spirits filled with wonder and their hearts and souls uplifted as they are touched by the sheer genius and simplicity of this 'breath of fresh air' book.

I am going back to my Tonkinese cats to thank them for what they teach me! As Dr Doolittle did, let's talk to the animals -more!