Entering the Castle: Finding the Inner Path to God and Your Soul's Purpose

Internationally renowned motivational teacher and popular theologian Caroline Myss has created a transcendent work of unique insight and revelation in Entering the Castle. A highly original inner path to self-knowledge, the Castle is also the road to spiritual knowledge of God and your own soul. In fact the soul is your spiritual castle and doing interior soul work helps you find your path in the world.

Teresa of Ávila's vision of the soul as a beautiful crystal castle with many mansions, and many rooms within those mansions, is the template for this modern spiritual journey on which you meet different aspects of your self and spirit and prepare for the ultimate encounter with God and your own divinity. Seven stages of intense practices and methods of spiritual inquiry develop your personal powers of prayer, contemplation, and intuition, which in turn reinforce your interior castle and build a soul of strength and stamina.With stories and inspiration from mystics of all traditions, Entering the Castle is a comprehensive guide for the journey of your life — a journey into the center of your soul. There, peace, God, and a fearless joy wait for you to discover them...and claim them for your own.

A motivational teacher and "New York Times" bestselling author presents an exciting new guide to awakening the spirit within.

Contents

Foreword by Ken Wilber

A Far Too Personal Preface

Introduction: The Call

Part I: Preparing For The Journey

1: Mystics without Monasteries

Contemporary Mystics

Teresa of Ávila's Significance

Why Now?

2: Approaching the Castle: Readying the Soul Recognizing Your Soul's Voice

Soul Qualities

The Deeper Path: Self-Examination and Contemplation

Unveiling God: The Four Veils of God

3: Crossing the Drawbridge: The Key to the Castle

Spiritual Detachment

And Then There Are the Reptiles

Transitioning between Worlds

Shall You Cross the Drawbridge?

Part II: The Soul's Journey

The First Mansion: The Power of Prayer, Humility, Chaos, and Divine Seduction

Prayers for the Castle

The Stages of Prayer

The Power of Humility

Rooms for Refining Humility

The Pull of Two Worlds: Divine Guidance and Divine Chaos

Exploring Chaos in Your Soul

Divine Seduction

Rooms for Finding God

Leaving the Castle

The Second Mansion: God In The Details: Inner Vision and Soul Companions

The Practice of Illumination

Rooms of Inner Vision and Purification

Soul Companions

Exploring Spiritual Companionships

Commitment to God

Exploring Your Commitment to the Divine

The Third Mansion: Surrender: The Defeat of Reason/The Presence of God

The Defeat of Reason

The Rooms of Reason

The Archetypal Desert in the Soul

Contemplations in the Desert

The Fourth Mansion: The Mystical Heart

Into the Heart of the Sacred

Prepare to Receive God

The Power of Your Cosmic Soul

Rooms for Receiving God

The Prayer of Recollection: Soul Flight

The Fifth Mansion: Dissolving Into Holiness: From Silkworm to Butterfly

Living in a Higher State

Dissolving Into Your Soul

Rooms to Practice Dissolving into the Soul

Characteristics of a Mystical Experience

Rooms with a Mystical View

Into Flight: The Silkworm Becomes the Butterfly

Mystical Marriage

The Sixth Mansion: Essential Wisdoms and the Final Fire

Five Essential Wisdoms about Praise and Criticism

Rooms of Gifts

On Suffering

Rooms of Secrets

Be Mindful of Evil

Characteristics of Mystical Experiences

Rooms with Divine Communications

The Experience of Holy Rapture

Authentic Contemplation

The Seventh Mansion: Divine Marriage, Healing, and Reentering the World

The Mystical Trinity Revealed

The Mystical Roots of Healing

Healing Rooms

The Tranquil Soul

A Return to the World

Taking Leave

Essential Guidance for Mystics Outside the Castle Walls

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

About The Author