Download Free Ritual And Human Transformation Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Ritual And Human Transformation and write the review.

Rites to a Good Life is the definitive guide on how to think about and restore practices of ritual healing to everyday contemporary life. This exhaustive handbook is essential for the well-being of all individuals, families, and communities. Poised in the middle of a conversation between the ancient past and the present-day, Marx translates indigenous wisdom practices into the needs and realities of our present-day world. This is a spiritual book for all those who've given up on religion and spirituality, yet recognize that something is missing in their life. There's nothing New-Agey here. It's full of no-nonsense practical suggestions. Self-help books tend to focus on the individual (i.e. "Here's what's wrong with you that you need to fix.") But what if there were nothing to fix? What if we only needed to drop more deeply into what already IS, experience it more fully, and then consecrate it with simple ritual? This book focuses on the key processes and relationships that make that possible (i.e. between parent and child, individual and community, individual and nature). With a final chapter focusing on all the upheavals during 2020's Planetary Rite of Passage (i.e. Covid, the economy, Black Lives Matter, and political turmoil), Marx clarifies what happened and the opportunity that exists for all of us to create positive change. The times demand change and Marx tells us what rebirth might look like. Outdated tropes must die (i.e. "Looking out for #1," "Every man for himself," and "Whoever dies with the most toys wins."). This definitive handbook is full of practical advice for: - What parents can do with children. - How families can restore relations across the generations. - How to gain sustenance from nature. - Where to find the mentorship we require. - Who the leaders are who can introduce us to the future.
Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this Very Short Introduction explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviors have been studied as ritual while others have not. Stephenson shows how ritual is an important vehicle for group and identity formation; how it generates and transmits beliefs and values; how it can be used to exploit and oppress; and how it has served as a touchstone for thinking about cultural origins and historical change. Encompassing the breadth and depth of modern ritual studies, Barry Stephenson's Very Short Introduction also develops a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
From Sabbat events to magick ceremonies to handfastings, ritual is at the heart of Pagan worship and celebration. Whether you''re planning a simple coven initiation or an elaborate outdoor event for hundreds, "RitualCraft" can help you create and conduct meaningful rituals. Far from a recipe book of rote readings, this modern text explores rituals from many cultures and offers a step-by-step Neopagan framework for creating your own. The authors share their own ritual experiences-the best and the worst-illustrating the elements that contribute to successful ritual. "RitualCraft" covers all kinds of occasions: celebrations for families, a few people or large groups; rites of passage; Esbats and Sabbats; and personal transformation. Costumes, ethics, music, physical environment, ritual tools, safety, speech, and timing are all discussed in this all-inclusive guidebook to ritual.
Historically, canonic studies of ritual have discussed and explained ritual organization, action, and transformation primarily as representations of broader cultural and social orders. In the present, as in the past, less attention is given to the power of ritual to organize and effect transformation through its own dynamics. Breaking with convention, the contributors to this volume were asked to discuss ritual first and foremost in relation to itself, in its own right, and only then in relation to its socio-cultural context. The results attest to the variable capacities of rites to effect transformation through themselves, and to the study of phenomena in their own right as a fertile approach to comprehending ritual dynamics.
Foreword / Betty Sue Flowers -- Preface. About the authors and their personal and academic engagements with ritual -- Introduction. What is ritual? Its definition and characteristics -- Symbolism in ritual -- The cognitive matrix of ritual : belief systems, myths, and paradigms -- Belief systems, myths, paradigms, rituals, and the process of truing -- Ritual drivers : generating and controlling stages of consciousness -- Ritual techniques and technologies -- Ritual framing, order, and formality : how ritual generates a sense of inevitability and inviolability -- Ritual as performance : generating emotion, belief, and transformation -- Ritual and the 4 stages of cognition -- Ritual's paradoxical roles : preserving the status quo and effecting social change -- Designing rituals -- Conclusion. Ritual : what it is, how it works, and why.
Most ritual participants claim that their rituals have been the same since time immemorial. Citing recent research in ritual studies, this book illustrates how, on the contrary, rituals are often subject to dynamic changes. When do rituals change? When is the change accidental and when is it on purpose? Are certain kinds of rituals more stable or unstable than others? Which elements of rituals are liable to change and which are relatively stable? Who has the power to change rituals? Who decides to accept a change or not? The Dynamics of Changing Rituals attempts to address these questions within this new field of ritual studies.
Shaping our journey into the Divine This moving and enlightening book presents us with a compelling vision of what can happen when we take the opportunity to connect stories and rituals--a vision of individuals and communities transformed through a deeper sense of connection to our loved ones, our communities, and God. Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley reveal how when stories and rituals work together, they have the potential to be both mighty and dangerous--mighty in their ability to lift us up and help us make these connections beyond ourselves and dangerous in challenging us to learn to live with complexity and contradiction. They show how much more meaningful a baptism, wedding, or funeral can be when liturgy is made to include and recognize the personal stories of those involved. Suddenly, these familiar life-cycle rituals are infused with new life as participants become connected in a narrative web linking past and present, human and divine. Newly created rituals can also help us connect our stories to the divine story, giving meaning to what we experience and bringing us closer to God. Ministers, worship leaders, and pastoral caregivers can use this approach to storytelling and ritual to find ways to bring together worship and pastoral care.
This book examines Maya sacrifice and related posthumous body manipulation. The editors bring together an international group of contributors from the area studied: archaeologists as well as anthropologists, forensic anthropologists, art historians and bioarchaeologists. This interdisciplinary approach provides a comprehensive perspective on these sites as well as the material culture and biological evidence found there
The Power of Ritual describes the characteristics from which ritual derives its power and efficacy in the world, and in human bodies and minds. This book is about ritual itself--what it is, how it works to influence human belief and behavior, what makes it powerful, what makes it dangerous, and most of all, what makes it useful to contemporary humans. The authors draw often on their own personal experiences with ritual to illuminate its potential for generating and perpetuating group belief and individual transformation, making the book an engaging read. Professors teaching about ritual will find this to be a useful textbook, source that can complement the myriad of more technical articles and bewildering, heavily theoretical tomes often assigned. Students and scholars seeking to study ritual will find much to interest them, as will all those interested in designing and performing rituals, and understanding the rituals they choose to participate in or perform