For my birthday one of my sister’s sent me the book THE CAMINO. She thought I’d enjoy it as I am close in age to MacLaine when she took the Camino journey and my sister knew I was interested in spiritual topics.
Years ago I had read and enjoyed MacLaine’s OUT ON A LIMB and so I was interested to see what this adventure was about. MacLaine has been courageous and instrumental in getting spiritual ideas into the world. She’s appeared in movies and on TV sharing her experiences with out-of-body travel, her past lives, and ideas on extraterrestrial beings. THE CAMINO also explores these ideas and her own spiritual journey.
The Santiago de Compostela Camino is a famous pilgrimage across northern Spain that has 
been taken by all kinds of people for thousands of years. The path lies directly under the Milky Way and reflects the energy of the stars above. MacLaine received two unsigned letters at two different times while in Brazil imploring her to do the Camino if she was serious about her esoteric writings. MacLaine asked her friend Anna Strong, a spiritual leader and counselor, if this was a journey she should make. Strong encouraged her to make the pilgrimage, which consisted of walking alone nearly 500 miles, carrying a seven-pound pack and sleeping most night in shelters.
Before starting the journey, MacLaine visited her friend Kathleen Tynan in London who was dying of cancer. MacLaine had a soul connection with this special friend and kept in touch with Tynan on her journey, sharing what she’d learned. MacLaine was sad her friend was dying, but also believed only the physical body dies. We start a new life in another world.
The story that follows was an intimate account of MacLaine’s pilgrimage. She met her friend Ann Strong in Spain. Strong started MacLaine on the pilgrimage by walking with her for a few days, then she was on her own. MacLaine took a tape recorder with her and recorded her thoughts and experiences as she went. Early on in her journey she dreamed about a past life as a gypsy during a lifetime when she lived along the Camino. Over the following days she learned more of this life during inner visits from a man named John the Scot. He told her that she was a gypsy during the time of Charlemagne. He was married and she was one of his mistresses.
As MacLaine walked along she had hours to contemplate the meaning of life. She was raised Christian, but came to believe that she was fundamentally soul choosing to have a physical experience. She felt that many of our problems come from a disassociation with our soul. (p. 101-102)
MacLaine also shared her ideas on the law of cause and effect and John the Scot visited her inwardly to talk to her about the law of karma.
In the last third of the book John the Scot taught MacLaine about the Lemurian and Atlantean civilizations. MacLaine remembered a past life during the end of Lemuria. While I believe these civilizations existed, I found this part of the book pretty far out there and yet I was interested to read about her remembrances. I was also impressed with her honesty to share her experiences. No one can prove or disprove someone else’s realizations and inner reality.
If you’re looking for a good book to read about a personal quest for spiritual understanding, I recommend this one. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to go on the Camino and trek across northern Spain.
Have you gone on a spiritual quest? Maybe an inner journey or an outer one. I’d love to hear about it, if you’d like to share it on this blog. Life is a gift and an rich, amazing adenture.
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There’s certainly a lot to learn about this topic. I love all the points you made.