The path of the Wheel is very much Associated with temporal power both in ED and SR. It is closely Associated with "what it Means to be ( proper ) elven" and in ED this was the area of influence of the Elven Court, one which could actually be used to declare someone un-elven like in the case of Shosara. It also has the Whole shining ones, shining citadel part of it. In TNN the paths are very much the same as they were in ED, but maybe even more strict and Again they are central to "what it Means to be ( proper ) elven" and here as such falls under the purview of the Seelie Queen. In the old TNN book it is explained that she can actually use this power to change Tir politics though it does not happen often it does happen, sort of like it was with the Elven Court back in ED.
That is Temporal power borne out of being perceived as the perfect symbol of being an Elf.
The paths are also a Tool of social control in a society where social mobility is less due to people simply living very much longer, you need a system that people can channel their natural ambitions and energy into, the paths provide this and at the same time introduces the idea that advancing to the center of the Wheel takes a very long time. Of course in order to get people to follow such a set of strict rules and guidelines their Whole lives, there must be a reward for doing so, in the case of the paths this reward is provided in eventual ascension to the shining citadel, which is the home of the near mythical Tuatha de Danaan. In Tir Na Nog the Paths are this system in Tir Tairngire they had the Rites of Progression fill much the same function, which is to give the "illusion" of social mobility and even some limited real social mobility, while maintaining the Staus quo mostly, both systems are actually quite Feudal in their approach to adressing social status and the reasoning behind them.
I disagree with the notion that the elves of TNN see themselves as being Tuatha de Danaan. They call themselves the Danaan families, the top 8 amongst them call themselves the Danaan Mor, so yes they see themselves as related to the Tuatha de Danaan, as i said above, the Tuatha are the mythic forebearers of the Elves. They do indeed view themselves as reincarnated elves of ages past, because the idea of reincarnation is central to the path philosophy as it takes several lives to reach the center and ascent. Of course this Means that the path philosophy is even more about social control, it is the very incarnation of the idea of "Don't question your betters, they have spend several lives becoming this wise, so they clearly know better." and the "keep to your allotted role in life and you will be rewarded" Funnily enough though this aspect doesn't seem to be present in the ED version of the path of the Wheel. As far as the ED path philosophy goes, don't look to Bloodwood but instead to denizens of earthdawn btw. Also in ED yu actually have two competing versions of the path of the Wheel, which is very interesting, but has been missing in SR ( until maybe run faster, which seems to imply that changes to the path philosophy has occured ).
By making the Tuatha de Danaan the "common" people of the Seelie Court you have shined the spotlight on them, so their every flaw and averageness is plain for all to see, they are no longer the mystical spiritual icons that can inspire people to follow the paths of the Wheel in order to try to emulate the shining ones, why would you emulate people that are just as flawed and ordinary as you are yourselves. In comparison what would hapen to western civilisation if people found out that Jesus was just an ordinary man and that the angels were just as flawed and ordinary as people are? This is the consequence that this ill conceived decision to suddenly make the Tuatha de Danaan the powers that be in the Seelie Court fails to adress. Unfortunately it seems like the author(s) of the book either didn't really understand how religion and myth Works in real life, or they just thought they had a good idea and failed to follow it through to it's logical conseqences. If they had decided to instead make the people in charge in the Seelie Court elves and/or the fae race called Elvar from howling shadows this wouldn't even be an issue because you would have maintained the aura of mystery and semi-divinity surrounding the Tuatha de Danaan.
Lokii's comparison to Hinduism or Buddhism is actually quite apt, but also Again an example of why this decision was the dumbest decision they could possibly have made ( ok maybe they could have made a dumber decision if they tried ). Why does Buddha inspire the Buddhists to seek Nirvana? Why does the Hindus seek to ascend through the incarnations. Because the idea hat this is somethig to strive for is maintained by the stories of the Buddha and by the Hindu myths. If people could suddenly see that Buddha was just a normal man WHO f*cked up and failed just as much as everyone else, do you really think they give two cents about his philosophy? Some would yeah, a lot wouldn't. The reason why these Things Work, both in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity...etc. is because the rules and life philosphies are infused with the absolute authority of the Divine. Making the Divine or mythical ordinary you remove the absolute part of authority and it becomes just another authority no more right or wrong than any other temporal profane authority.
Another point of irritation for me in CoS in the way they have suddenly made the Unseelie Court into just another faction of the Seelie Court which goes totally against the previous incarnations of the Unseelie Court. Yes i know that the Unseelie Court has gone through some different incarnations in SR, but they were not necessarily mutually exclusive. But the most recent one was from Aetherology where we learned that the Unseelie Court was the 2nd great Court of Faerie and that the ruler of the Unseelie Court was Lord Gwynn ( see the Welsh Gwynn Ap Nudd ). The Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court had both been shunted into their fractured Hyper metaplanes existing halfway between the plan of Faerie and Earth because of a magical cataclysm due to both Courts trying to enact a major ritual to banish their counterpart from Faerie ( something that has als been changed to a slow erosion instead, which is Again another point of irritation ). As the Seelie Court was tied to Tir Na Nog, the Unseelie Court is tied to Mag Mell ( a mythical Island off the western coast of Ireland. I remember reading in some book or other about Alchera Islands showing up off the West coast of Ireland i just don't remember which book it was ). Now suddenly the Unseelie Court is "just" a secret faction of the Seelie Court. Why? Why go totally against what you just wrote in Aetherology? Also it makes the Unseelie less mysterious and less of a threat tbh. And again it seems like the author(s) haven't even read Aetherology or perhaps just assumed that no one else had read it.
Tbh CoS seems to me to be more about promoting synergy sales with the 6th World tarot than it is about actually dealing with an underdeveloped area of the 6th World.