The Camino: Journey of the Spirit (2000)
by Shirley MacLaine
“For Shirley, the Camino was both an intense spiritual and physical challenge. A woman in her sixth decade completing such a grueling trip on foot in thirty days at twenty miles per day was nothing short of remarkable. But even more astounding was the route she took spiritually: back thousands of years, through past lives to the very origin of the universe.”
I admire Shirley MacLaine. She strikes me as someone that has truly followed her own path while in the glare of Hollywood lights. If you are familiar with any of her earlier books…she has been on a spiritual search for decades and has been publicly vocal about it.
The Camino is the story of her latest journey…a pilgrimage on foot along the Santiago de Compostela Camino in Spain. It is an ancient, and purporteldly to be, enchanted pilgrimage encompassing a nearly 500 mile trek across highways, mountains and valleys, cities and towns. It is said to have been traversed by saints, sinners, generals, misfits, kings and queens for thousands of years. Amazingly, she was 60 years old when she embarked on this intense spiritual and physical challenge. She traveled nearly 500 miles in thirty days. What she discovered in the process was even more astounding.
This book was very enjoyable and kept me interested up to the very last page. Some might find bits of it a little *out there*. However, it is her story and experience. By the time I finished this book….it had enough of an impact on me to realize, one does not have to journey across the mountains and valleys of Spain, to experience the warm, fulfilling thrill of spiritual enlightenment found thru the challenges, goals and willfully living life with awareness.
Review written by Jasmine@majickalgarden.com
