Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Caroline Myss's brilliant, brave, and profoundly moving book takes us deep into the burning heart of Teresa of Ávila's vision of divine consciousness. Seekers on all parts will find here mature wisdom and deep sacred passion expressed with thrilling directness and a fierce psychological precision worthy of Teresa herself."
-- Andrew Harvey, author of The Direct Path and Son of Man
Review
"Caroline Myss's brilliant, brave, and profoundly moving book takes us deep into the burning heart of Teresa of Ávila's vision of divine consciousness. Seekers on all parts will find here mature wisdom and deep sacred passion expressed with thrilling directness and a fierce psychological precision worthy of Teresa herself."
-- Andrew Harvey, author of The Direct Path and Son of Man
Review
"Entering the Castle is...based on St. Teresa's seven interior mansions, which are explained and elaborated here...so beautifully, clearly, compassionately, lightheartedly, wondrously...[as] seven steps...to your own deepest self or soul. Teresa became not only a spiritual woman who had written a brilliant practice manual, but a saint who saved Caroline's life, showed her her soul, awakened her heart, and set her on the never-ending...timelessly fulfilled road of practice. I just know that Teresa would say 'amen' to this luminous book as the fruit of her calling to you, a calling to all of us to be mystics without monasteries in a world sorely in need of a touch of the divine...the true self in each and every one of us."
-- From the foreword by Ken Wilber, author of A Brief History of Everything and Integral Spirituality
Synopsis
A motivational teacher and "New York Times" bestselling author presents an exciting new guide to awakening the spirit within.
About the Author
Caroline Myss is the author of the
New York Times bestselling books
Invisible Acts of Power, Sacred Contracts, Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, and
Anatomy of the Spirit, and is a pioneer and international lecturer in human consciousness. In 2003, she founded the CMED Institute, an educational program that specializes in intensive classes on archetypes, personal power, and mysticism. Her audiotapes include
Entering the Castle (Hay House) and
Why People Don't Heal and How They Can; Spiritual Madness; and
Spiritual Power, Spiritual Practice Table of Contents
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