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

by David Feinstein (Author), Stanley Krippner (Author) "Your personal mythology is the loom on which you weave the raw materials of daily experience into a coherent story..." (more)
Key Phrases: new guiding myth, unifying mythic vision, daily personal ritual, Inner Shaman, Personal Shield, The Mythic Path (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Psychologists Feinstein and Krippner show us how to take responsibility for renewing our personal "guiding" mythologies. These myths establish our identity and provide a sense of direction and self-worth. The book explains how to identify outdated myths ("Everything I do must be perfect"), produce alternative imagery, and integrate a new vision into our life. The program uses dreams, journals, and ritual to create "personal shields," "power objects," and individualized fairy tales that will aid the transformation. During the 12 weeks, the authors explain how to identify conflicts between prevailing and emerging myths, how to understand both, and how to construct, refine, and make a commitment to live from a newly created mythology. They suggest three one-hour sessions per week as well as optional time on journaling and dream work. The authors admit that their prevailing thesis is a reiteration of the Hasidic proverb "Carefully observe which way your heart draws you, and then choose that way with all your strength." Patricia Hassler

Review
"A fresh and intriguing synthesis of a mythological perspective with contemporary psychological methods." Commenting on the book’s first edition -- Joseph Campbell

"A masterful guidebook ... deepening your awareness of the personal beliefs that shape your experience. This book can change your life." -- Frances Vaughan, Ph.D., author of Shadows of the Sacred

"Brilliantly conceived and beautifully written ... opens new ground in the fields of personal and social transformation." -- Jean Houston, Ph.D.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (March 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874778573
• ISBN-13: 978-0874778571
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #778,197 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Poetry of Change: Living the Mythic Path, August 4, 2000

By	David Hopkins (Bamberg, Germany) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mythic Path Is A Practical Guide For Reaching One's Goals, August 13, 2000

By	Jimmy L. Smull (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A true story of one's own, May 15, 2007

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mythic Path: Discovering the Guiding Stories of Your Past-Creating a Vision for Your Future (Paperback)

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.