The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers, and Seekers

Rating:
Summary: Moving and inspiring work
Review: After eyeing this book for several months, i finally succumbed and purchased it on a whim. Pure stroke of destiny. i haven't read anything so profoundly moving in a very long time. This book spoke to my soul. Frank is a beautiful writer, and has a knack for reaching into your heart with his masterful work. This book speaks to the modern dilemma of lost souls and annlienation from the natural/sacred world. I haven't had much exposure to either celtic spirituality or shamanism, but with Franks wonderful sharing of both, i'm inclined to take a closer look at both. Though I found I already agreed with and felt a deep resonance with much of what he was writing about. This book is timely and inspiring, another stepping stone on the long road to healing of our world. 5 stars +!!

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books on Celtic Spirituality...
Review: I am usally interested in books written by historians. Most books on celtic spirituality are new agey with questionable scholarship. This book is different. Frank Maceowen takes us to his childhood among the mist. His participation in the Native American Sun Dance lend credibility to his work. He writes for both Pagans and Christians, or indeen any that want to find the life they were meant to lead.

Rating:
Summary: A Captivating Soul Journey
Review: I picked up this book on my recent travels here to the United States. I was particularly drawn to comments on the back of the book; advance praise from three well-known Celtic writers and others of note. I have just finished reading it and must say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. I completely concur with the other reviewers who have given this book high marks. The Mist-Filled Path was a joy to read. It combines a number of features in a masterful way, including personal and historical storytelling, pre-Christian Celtic ideas and neo-Platonist concepts, and the account of Frank's personal journey of rediscovering his Celtic roots is a wonderful and inspiring example of someone becoming steeped in the Celtic spirit today... This book clearly expresses the best of the Celtic soul, not only of its antecedent forms, but also proposing a much needed ethic for today. Certainly this is not a book for strident Celtic scholars or tight-laced historians, nor does Mr. MacEowen make such grandiose claims. To the contrary, he declares humbly in the pages of this book that it is a spiritual reflection for the here and now, one which I was deeply served by.

Rating:
Summary: I can't understand what everyone is raving about....
Review: I read this book when it first came out. Based on the reviews and recommendations by several luminaries, I was expecting something quite extraordinary. Instead I was greated with self indulgent meandering. I like poetic prose as much as the next person, but this book fairly drowns in self-conscious, pc, new-agey, "airy-fairy" babbling in the guise of being poetic and mystical.

I have been a spiritually minded person for as long as I can remember. I am also an intensely curious person. Beacause of these two things, I have found occasion to read an enormous volume of religious/spiritual writings. However, I am also a skeptic. I like things with a ring of authenticity, depth, and objective truth. I found none of these things in this work. I couldn't escape the feeling that Mr. Maceowen has found a popular niche in which to fit and is working it for all it's worth.

I don't mean to cast aspersions on Maceowen's character. For all I know he is a deeply authentic and spirit-lead person. But it doesn't come through, for me at least, in his writing.

You will have to judge for yourself of course, but perhaps try to find this book at a used book store or peruse it in person before purchasing it. You may be glad you didn't spend your money...

Rating:
Summary: A Personal Account, An Inspiring Look
Review: I thought The Mist-Filled Path was a very good book. It is inspirational, truly humble, and is a nice blend of personal life experiences of the author and ongoing reflections of Celtic themes. The book is really divided into three main parts: invitation, ordeal, and reflections. The first part of the book focuses on what the author thinks upon as an invitation to wake up to the spiritual life (which can be truly difficult within a culture that focuses on materialism). The second part of the book focuses on some of the life experiences of the author, including an ordeal with an illness, his experiences with American Indian shamans, and his gradual understanding about the Celtic traditions. The last part of the book is really a unique running reflection on certain topics, but done from a Celtic spiritual perspective. I think you would have to have a paralyzed heart and soul not to understand or benefit from the writing of Frank MacEowen.

Rating:
Summary: Good Celtic Wisdom for Life & the Planet
Review: The Mist-Filled Path is a book that seeks to heal. It offers healing to our connection to nature, understanding of our ancestral wounds, and seeks to heal our connections with each other. The reader of The Mist-Filled Path will be invited on a meaningful journey through a series of topics that hail from the Celtic vision of the spiritual life, but in a way that is alive and practical. One reviewer suggests that MacEwen's writing is PC (politically correct). On the contrary, I think his ideas are powerful and visionary. His words issue a call to us all to heal the divisions between us and to work toward a world of peace that includes nature again in our lives. This is not PC; this is wisdom. Expect more from this young man.

Rating:
Summary: A poetic journey into the Celtic otherworld
Review: The Mist-Filled Path is a book that truly conveys the essence of the human spiritual search in action from a Celtic perspective. What I liked about it so much was how human the author is. We are really brought along on his journey and I felt changed because of it. At every turn MacEowen offers us an inside view of the inner landscape of someone who has authentically been called to the shaman's path in modern life, and who lives life according to the shaman's heart. Such a book is able to see the interconnections between cultures, peoples, religions, in way that re-sanctifies the human condition of all people--whatever ethnicity or culture. In The Mist-Filled Path the reader will learn about the various expressions of the Celtic spirit--the pagan, druid, shamanistic, and the Celtic-Christian. The reader will also be given various meditations and exercises that aid in developing an expanded sense of consciousness about a number of topics: the elements, the sacred flow of time, working with nature as a healing guide, etc. This is not a textbook. The Mist-Filled Path is a living spirit; a truly relevant and timely message, expressed as a collection of teachings and ideas in the true Celtic storytelling style. MacEowen's harrowing experiences of near-death, his experiences doing a traditional Sun Dance with the Lakota Sioux people, and rediscovering the living wisdom of his Irish and Scottish ancestors makes for a powerful reading experience. The Mist-Filled Path left me with a greater understanding of why the various expressions of the Celtic traditions were pushed down (or "eclipsed" as MacEowen says), and why they are re-emerging today. A remarkable and fascinating book.

Rating:
Summary: An Authentic Celtic Seeker, A Timely Message
Review: The Mist-Filled Path is a book that truly conveys the essence of the human spiritual search in action from a Celtic perspective. What I liked about it so much was how human the author is. We are really brought along on his journey and I felt changed because of it. At every turn MacEowen offers us an inside view of the inner landscape of someone who has authentically been called to the shaman's path in modern life, and who lives life according to the shaman's heart. Such a book is able to see the interconnections between cultures, peoples, religions, in way that re-sanctifies the human condition of all people--whatever ethnicity or culture. In The Mist-Filled Path the reader will learn about the various expressions of the Celtic spirit--the pagan, druid, shamanistic, and the Celtic-Christian. The reader will also be given various meditations and exercises that aid in developing an expanded sense of consciousness about a number of topics: the elements, the sacred flow of time, working with nature as a healing guide, etc. This is not a textbook. The Mist-Filled Path is a living spirit; a truly relevant and timely message, expressed as a collection of teachings and ideas in the true Celtic storytelling style. MacEowen's harrowing experiences of near-death, his experiences doing a traditional Sun Dance with the Lakota Sioux people, and rediscovering the living wisdom of his Irish and Scottish ancestors makes for a powerful reading experience. The Mist-Filled Path left me with a greater understanding of why the various expressions of the Celtic traditions were pushed down (or "eclipsed" as MacEowen says), and why they are re-emerging today. A remarkable and fascinating book.

Rating:
Summary: Reviresco
Review: The Mist-Filled Path is a timely and inspiring message to wake up from the often tedious and soul-numbing industrial world. It's focus is Celtic (particularly Irish and Scottish), but certainly it transcends culture, and may sing in the spirits of people of many cultures. I feel this is a particularly important "call" in a place such as the U.S. where we have often lost a connection to our roots, culturally and spiritually. If we do not know from whom and where we have come from, it is difficult to know who we are now, and where we are going. This book is not about going back, and romanticizing the past, but rather about engaging the living stream of the Celtic spirit, to orient ourselves in the direction of a soulful and life-affirming future. One of the negative reviewers called it "new agey", and though I respect the right of other's to their opinion, I have to say that I disagree. I think in a world full of Llewellyn print books and shady scholarship, Frank's work is one of authenticity.

The role of the ancient druid was essentially to hold the memory of the tribe (amongst other things). That role is no different in the modern world, though perhaps its method has changed. Frank lyrically reminds us of who we are in a world that drives us to be what he calls sleepwalkers. You, my friend, are a druid. This pint is for you.

Slainte

Rating:
Summary: Like A Fresh Wind
Review: The Mist-Filled Path is marvelous. I have recommended it to a number of my other Scots friends. The way MacEowen writes is like a fresh wind in Celtic writing. He expresses deep spiritual insights of the Celtic traditions, but in a realistic and down to earth style that makes it clear that the true power of the Celtic spirit is found right here in our everyday lives. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Foreword by Tom Cowan, which truly sets the mood for the rest of the book, and gives a clear impression that MacEowen is a trustworthy guide.