Adele Von Rust McCormick - Horses and the Mystical Path: The Celtic Way of Expanding the Human Soul

N EW W ORLD L IBRARY
N OVATO , C ALIFORNIA

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, CA 94949

Copyright 2004 by Adele von Rst McCormick, Marlena Deborah McCormick, and Thomas E. McCormick

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Cover design by Tracy Pitts
Interior design and typography by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCormick, Adele von Rst, 1929

Horses and the mystical path : the Celtic way of expanding the human soul / Adele von Rst McCormick, Marlena Deborah McCormick, Thomas E. McCormick. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57731-556-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 1-57731-450-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. HorsesReligious aspects. 2. CeltsReligion. 3. Spiritual life. I. McCormick, Marlena Deborah II. McCormick, Thomas E. III. Title.

BV443.H6M3 2004

First paperback printing, September 2006

Originally published in hardcover in September 2004

ISBN-10: 1-57731-556-1

ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-556-8

Printed in Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper

A proud member of the Green Press Initiative

Distributed by Publishers Group West

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W e wish to thank with great esteem our editor, Hal Zina Bennett, who understands us and our horses. It was mystical to have you aboard, Hal.

We also wish to thank our clients and fellow travelers on the path. Without you there would be no book. You were our inspiration.

Of course, we wish to let the world know how horses can heal and that their relationship with us is most precious. The chakras are always open.

We wish to thank and praise Jason Gardner, senior editor of New World Library in California. You are a gem among editors and publishers.

To Barbara Neighbors Deal, our most patient, loving, and wise agent. You are a blessing in our lives.

We thank Joseph Dial, executive director of the Mind/Science Foundation in San Antonio, Texas, who understands that one mystery only uncovers another.

Women at the Well in San Antonio, we love you all. Thank you to the Hispanic Heritage Society, who proved classical riding is in the blood.

Our many thanks to Animal Planet and the production company Palazzina Productions. Thank you, Manon de Jong, Rene, and Pasqual, for your creative and inspiring vision.

To our friend the Buddhist monk Javier Malcolm, who has shown us there is more than one way.

Thank you to our dear friends Shelley and Jean-Philippe Giacomini, who brought us into the wonderful world of Iberian horses.

And our gratitude to our dear friend of thirty-five years, Jos Mara Poveda de Augustine, M.D., Ph.D., author of Chamanismo: El arte natural de curar, in Madrid, Spain.

W hen our journey with horses and healing began, more than twenty-five years ago, we never imagined that horses would lead us down a mystical path. Nor did we foresee how valuable and enriching this experience would be, not just for us but for the hundreds of people who have participated in our Equine Experience retreats. Yet from the start, the horses we were breeding taught us the silent knowledge of who we are. They helped us cut away the chaff, the empty words and trends, and stay close to the knowledge and skills that have endured the test of time.

A cornerstone that grounded our ever-growing perceptions of the spiritual domain was our past training in analytic depth psychology. Rather than discarding what we had previously learned about working with ourselves and other people, we began to integrate and use much of our knowledge of psychology. We were not leaving our foundation behind but building upon it. We discovered that if we were to be effective in our work, we needed to use both psychology and spirituality.

We stood at a crossroads between psychology and religion, and we could see that these two disciplines, which had been at cross-purposes for years, needed to be reintegrated. One lost its potency without the other. Through the horses, we started reconciling these two approaches, moving increasingly toward the psychospiritual. Psychology without spirituality leads to one set of problems, while spirituality without psychology leads to another.

We were reminded again that the human psyche is the entry point to the creative force within each of us. If we fail to know this inner self, our spiritual and creative resources remain inaccessible. Meditation, spiritual study, chanting, and prayer are no substitutes for self-examination. Every mystical tradition requires inner exploration, which brings greater depth and substance to the person who is developing spiritually.

We found, over time, that in order for the mystical quest with a horse to remain progressive instead of regressive, we had to learn to recognize our juvenile fantasies and wishes as they emerged. And emerge they will in this work with horses. Once we recognize these early needs, we can redirect our attention away from feeding them and toward unlocking our imagination. Imagination, according to famous psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott, is entering the experience and situation of another being without seeking selfish gratification, pleasure, or notoriety. The imagination is the key to a vibrant life. Since we can become ill through the mind, we can also become healthy by exercising the imagination. By contrast, fixation on infantile fantasies invariably leads to disappointment, disillusionment, and despair. As we searched for different paradigms that could spark the human imagination and inspire self-education, we reached back into the annals of history.