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The Mythic Path: Discovering the Guiding Stories of Your Past Creating a Vision for Your Future

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A lucid, warm and transforming work, The Mythic Path is the kind of book one continues to carry around as a companion once finished reading it. The rituals of the 5-stage process provide a framwork for addressing one of the most important questions confronting contemporary humankind: How to find grounding and depth for one's soul and spirit in a world struggling to retain a sense of mythos and the sacred. The two authors have combined their individual expeiriences to create a work that is simple in its approach, while sublime in its impact. Stanley Krippner brings to the book years of experience in the study of shamanism and mythology, and David Feinstein combines philosophy, mythos and years of clinical work to offer a comprehensive program for change accessible and invigorating to both scholars and lay persons.

Mythic Path is a psychological inventory of personal myths that may no longer be of value. The authors have expanded their original book, Personal Mythology, to challenge the reader to participate in a mythic treaure hunt to uncover the origin of the mythology one is living. By following an easy step-by-step system of discovery some deeply-embedded patterns should be identified. This practical guide helps to acknowledge, heal and integrate new myths that should be helpful in reaching new goals in life. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't want to waste time living out a mythology imposed on them by their childhood or their culture.

As so many of us look outside ourselves for ways of reaching the understanding and meaning to our lives, David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner, provide us with a sacred journey through which we discover our inner self. A Mythic Path is a Psycho-spiritual journey through which self appreciation, respect and love is ultimately embraced. Each stage provides a path through which you reach this ultimate experience. It is a comprehensible program designed to help the layman and the professinal. As a spiritual counselor who experienced this program first hand, I can attest to it's validity, not only in my life, but in my own personal practice as well. Thank you for your wisdom......

The `Mythic Path' provides readers and seekers the ability throughout 12 weeks to contact their mythic path, to heal their childhood wounds, to create a personal creation myth and connect with their inner selves. "Personal mythology is but the flower on the bush" and it is this flower that one is asked to explore. The book is composed of five stages where the reader is asked to identify their personal myth using elements of the Socratic thesis, the second stage where they identify their opposing conflicting myth, a third stage of synthesis, the fourth stage of testing the `hypothesis' and the fifth stage where the myth is woven into everyday life and action.

The stages and the program provides all the necessary tools to discover these inner personal myths through dreams and inner images, and through careful instructions on how to cultivate these myths and understand them. The incredible degree to which the book walks one through the process, the insight into ancient Greek mythmaking is a real value for anyone searching for meaning in life and hoping to discover themselves. This is an immensely successful and all encompassing program and it should be embarked upon with care and after a period of reflection of what commitments it entails, but surely it provides many answers for people feeling lost or empty, and even for those who feel they have all the answers.

Seth J. Frantzman

what DO we think and believe about ourselves, our place in the world, and the world around us? we have the beliefs, they influence us in more ways every day than we probably realize, but rarely take a look at what they really are. this book is an exploration into the mythology of individuals, complete with exercises and methodologies. if you really want to know and are ready to look, and as a result change and free yourself from old unconscious beliefs, this book might well be a great place to start.

As so many of us look outside ourselves for ways of reaching the understanding and meaning to our lifes, David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner, provide us with a sacred journey through which we discover our inner self. A Mythic Path is a Psycho-spiritual journey through which self appreciation, respect and love is ultimately embraced. Each stage provides a path through which you reach this ultimate experience. It is a comprehensible program designed to help the layman and the professinal. As a spiritual counselor who experience this program first hand, I can attest it's validity not only in my life, but in my own personal practice as well. Thank you for your wisdom......

Stanley Krippner and David Feinstein's work in The Mythic Path book is nothing short of amazing. I used the book as a textbook in one of my classes at Pacifica. The book takes the reader through simple yet effective self-exploration exercises that get at the foundational (and often hidden) beliefs about life, family, work, and relationships. This is an exploratory tool for recognizing and re-patterning these core beliefs. And it does so without an overlay of external symbolic systems. Krippner and Feinstein's approach to mythology is in "personal mythology", so it does not explore the global themes in world mythology and folklore. Rather, it asks the reader to express the core values of his or her life. In this way the book doesn't confuse personal stories with compelling external narratives. Rather, it a sincere plumbing of one's own personal depths. And an imaginative exploration of what the present and future now have to offer.

The Mythic Path: Discovering the Guiding Stories of Your Past-Creating a Vision for Your Future

According to "Personal Mythology," life may not be the adventure we originally thought, and we need magic to steer clear of conventional thinking, signifying a limited scope of who we really are. But how do we avoid this?

Renowned psychologists, Stanley Kripner, PhD and David Feinstein, PhD, begin by making reference to a common path called the earth experience, through which we charter an extraordinary journey using the oversoul's narrative accessible through our dreams, ritual and imagination.

David and Stanley's "Personal Mythology" is a workbook with creative exercises to inspire imagination, so that life has more meaning, accomplished while unfolding the inner story -- with less emphasis on the actual story, but with more emphasis on the process of self-discovery.

Reviewed by Patty Inglish for Reader Views (5/07)

This book contends that we all have an inner mythology working. It tells us that we might benefit from a quiet and sacred appraisal of outdated notions we feed ourselves, perhaps unknowingly. This concept is a welcomed relief in our daily lives amid loud debates and fistfights, murder in the streets, standardized testing, high oil prices, racism, too much trash in our dumps (literally and figuratively), harsh rap music, and a hundred other tragedies and annoyances.

Other authors have called this notion of self-inflicted mythology manifesting as "self talk" that can be positive or negative. The negative includes such ideas as -- "Real men don't wear pink," "Women can't be leaders," and "I'll never be able to find a good job that I like." Most people seem to live according to a pattern developed over the years of their lives and experiences, often tagged as a unique personal behavior set, or overall personality in psychological terms. Some believe that this set cannot be changed after a certain age, if ever. Many people state, "That's just me," or "I'm set in my ways," and feel that they cannot change their personal patterns of living. In fact, many are not even aware of their behavior patterns. These people live a rather unexamined life. They do not live on purpose; they live at random. The authors of this book demonstrate that such randomness may not be random and does not need to be true. In fact, it is not true in anyone's case.

Everyone lives by some pattern and system of beliefs, learned and developed with varying degrees of accuracy and truth in each belief or myth. Myths can be true or false. A personal mythology is a set of beliefs and motives that operate under the surface of the mind, like the wizard behind the curtain in Oz. The set actually guides one's choices throughout life. If unknown and/or unexamined or if an individual is not even aware of the existence of belief systems, then their choices are far fewer in any circumstance. Feinstein and Krippner show that the underlying belief system (mythology) should be a guiding tool for our conscious use and not a secret mastermind. Moreover, the tool should be the most up to date and effective as possible for each one of us. Fairy tales and horror stories learned in childhood can be left behind for a new, effective truth.

First, one must discover the specific mythology that one is using as a guidance system. "The Mythic Path" offers a systematic approach for effectively doing so in well-organized and very easy exercises. The authors call this a treasure hunt. Even if the treasure turns out to be full of negative messages, there is treasure in the discovery of the myths imposed on one by one's family of origin and culture, because once discovered, the negatives can be replaced with more- effective beliefs. This includes working toward emotional healing and cognitive reframing for a better-working belief system.

This Third Edition of "The Mythic Path" is an update of about 30-years of wok, providing a five-step, twelve-week workbook for ritual observations that is pleasant, freeing, and uplifting. It also contains a set of energy exercises, or energy psychology activities, set on a more spiritual level - even a kind of religious level; these can be either added or ignored. The energy exercises include such simple techniques as acupressure paired with thinking activities. The work overall is not Hindu, although there are elements of that system included. It is not Christian, although there are some concepts included that are familiar to Christians. There are elements of the work of psychologist Carl Jung and mythologist Joseph Campbell as well. There are concepts and wisdom from global systems of many kinds. Therefore, this book can be useful to anyone of any faith, or none. The book seems to have a wide application, because it combines professional experience in many specialties of psychology, reframing, healing, philosophy, shamanism, Chinese medicine, and mythology. In reading the book, I found that I could gather what I needed, leave out what I did not, and have an effective program for my unique self.

Book received free of charge.

I am studying mythic path because I always wanted to be a hero, studying Lucas Films and John Williams music and Joseph Campbell. It is sort of my religion.

My mother is 97 and very old. Naomi Feil writes that I must validate her to have her find resolution and prepare her for death.

My heroic theme is equality, so I will be reviewing my personal values, as well as inviting her to review hers.

Simply playing the role of helping her analyze emotional themes in movies without bringing my own life concerns into it is not enough. I must participate in her resolution for healing.

This is a hard book. I am looking for where my myth is in conflict. Perhaps, now, driven by jealousy of others with job security to compete as a scholar I will find another drive to join with others smarter than I to follow my love and destiny Physics. My mother, a doctor, was driven by jealousy of men to compete as a doctor. Now, my mom must have visits from someone smarter than her, me, and yet have fun and give me fun, as well as I give to the great minds I will work with.

From being driven by jealousy to that of mutual inspiration will take work. This book can help me. Perhaps it can help you.