What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim cover art

What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim

A Midlife Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela

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What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim

By: Jane Christmas
Narrated by: Jane Christmas
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About this listen

To celebrate her 50th birthday and face the challenges of midlife, Jane Christmas joins 14 women to hike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Despite a psychic's warning of catfights, death, and a sexy, fair-haired man, Christmas soldiers on. After a week of squabbles, the group splinters, and the real adventure begins. In vivid, witty style, she recounts her battles with loneliness, hallucinations of being joined by Steve Martin, as well as picturesque villages and even the fair-haired man. What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim is one trip neither the author nor the listener will forget.

©2007 Jane Christmas (P)2015 Post Hypnotic Press Inc. Europe Travel Writing & Commentary Western Europe Witty Psychic

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One of my ambitions is to walk the Camino and I think this book has prepared me for the reality of it. It is interesting to listen to the ups and downs of the authors walk. She seems to cope with the actual walking remarkably well, and I'm sure that this would not be the case for everyone. But for me the interesting part was the descriptions of the scenery and fellow travellers, crowded pilgrim hostels and their owners! I think it prepares you for what to expect on the route she chose and to perhaps adapt your plans accordingly!

A must if you are thinking of walking the Camino

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This book is full of story and well recorded. It gives me cue of the Camino that I would like to do one day by myself. Recommend it.

Enjoy this book

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beautifully written and great narration. Perfect if you are thinking about doing the Camino.

Thoroughly enjoyable

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loved the honesty and quirky way your story was told thank you as I start planning my own camino adventure

brilliant

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An interesting memoir with plenty of poetic licence but not the usual Camino story of which I have read many. I was intrigued by Christmas's view of her 'tribe' and those she met along the way and felt compelled to continue. However, I found her quite selfish and critical but maybe this was driven the anger which underlies many of her encounters? I wonder if her journey brought about any of the insights she sought or altered her view of humanity?
I was surprised at one point that she felt it acceptable to wander around someone's private property because the gate was open. Also that she felt it was the duty of a refugio receptionist to find her a bed somewhere else as they were full. It is no wonder some local people come to dislike 'Pilgrims'.
I became increasingly irritated by her mispronunciation of Spanish words such as 'refukio' and 'cafay con laychay' sticking to the English words refuge or hostel and coffee would have been preferable.
I enjoyed that this memoir was different and the depth of honesty Christmas expressed about her self and her feelings dispite the detail some of her encounters seeming exaggerated or a trifle suspect. This said, I probably won't be listening to any more of her books.

An angry woman's account of the Camino.

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Read this as I wanted a ‘human’ take on walking the Camino St Frances rather than a travelogue. Found the story ok but not enough on the places experienced - a bit self-self-self heavy. The author read the story and, whilst she has a lovely accent (Canadian) and the timbre is ok...I didn’t warm to her somewhat theatrical reading which rendered a lot of the text to sound like it was being exclaimed.

Easy listening - story better than performance

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loved it !! Resonated with me as I have been walking the same camino. interesting to hear a different perspdctive. Great pace, honest and entertaining.

Honest and easy to listen to.

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The lack of tolerance of the women of each other and the approaching of the Camino was painful to hear. So different to my experience which was peaceful and enriching through meeting people on the way, without the agenda of the women in the book (trying to find a man). I would not advise anyone to do the Camino as a group. Alone or with 2 gives, I think, the best experience.

Aggravating

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I have read many books about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and have walked both the Camino Frances and the Camino Portuguese. I held off reading this particular book for quite a while, the title put me off, I have no time for psychics who prey on the hopes and fears of the vulnerable. However, I like that this author was reading her own book, and in the trailer she was quite amusing so I downloaded it. I wish I hadn't. I have never read a more off-putting account of walking the Camino, or one written by such a hard bitten and unpleasant woman. The narrator decides on an impulse to walk the Camino, and announces this publicly before thinking it through. She does minimal research, then invites a group of other middle aged Canadian women to join her. Once in Spain, she takes no responsibility whatsoever for this, and walks off and leaves her group of companions, not even bothering to try to contact them again. She uses people constantly when she wants something, usually a walking companion, she only remembers to call her own children when she happens to see a phone box, she complains about everyone she meets, about the places, and even about the food. Her most often used phrase in the book is that she never saw him / her / them again, and no wonder! She has no self awareness that the reason for this is that the people she encounters find her company intolerable. Almost everyone who walks the Camino has moments of doubt, thoughts of giving up due to pain or injury, low points where the idea of skipping some of the way becomes very tempting, but few people who don't complete it then write a book about walking the camino. This author does, she takes a bus from Castrojerez to Leon, then another to Ponferrada, and a third on to Villafranca, cutting out more than a third of the Camino. When she gets to Santiago, which, of course, she finds fault with too, she talks repeatedly of having walked 800km across Spain, which she hadn't done. Given her impulsivity and difficulty planning ahead, her lack of concern for others, and her poor ability to reflect on her own behaviour and motivation, I think it likely she has significant autistic traits. Even so, the humour that intrigued me in the sample evaporated rapidly, and her constant denigration of others became very waring, as did her wrangled attempts to pronounce Spanish words and place names with any degree of accuracy. I was relieved to finish this book, I would not recommend it at all to anyone wanting to walk the Camino, and I won't be reading any more of her work.

Cynical and unrealistic view of the Camino.

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