Customer Reviews

THE JOY OF RITUAL: Spiritual Recipies to Celebrate Milestones, Ease Transitions, and Make Every Day Sacred

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love to read for pleasure, but there's nothing better than being able to put the reading into practice. I've used several of the rituals in Barbara Biziou's book and shared them with friends, and the results have been pretty extraordinary, especially with the release ones. With the help of her rituals, I achieved closure on an old relationship and attracted a new one that took us to the altar! I also recently experienced the power of letting go and making room in my life for a new project; within weeks, I manifested what I wanted to do for a long time. The tools are very powerful, and Barbara does a great job of demystifying the "out there" aspects of ritual. The structure and language of the book are user friendly, so you can just look up a recipe for what you need in your life the way you would use a cookbook to plan your family dinner.At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I highly recommend THE JOY OF RITUAL and think it makes a wonderful gift for friends and family.

I love this book! Through meaningful personal stories, the Joy of Ritual offers simple and practical recipes which inspire us to that which we all long for: to experience our precious humanness and experience The Divine Source of Love!

"The Joy of Ritual" is simply a beautiful and uplifting medium of empowerment. Barbara Biziou shares herself, her fears, her longings, and then shares her knowledge. This book is elegant and quickly becomes a friend in your house. A friend you will want to "talk" to frequently. There is something for everyone in "Joy." Of the many people I know who have read the book each one is drawn to a different aspect of the rituals. This book, I think, will become like an old and trusted cookbook. It will have it's trusty place on your bookshelf. It will be there for you to pickup when you are in need of a good recipe.

Barbara Biziou has some of the qualities of a bona-fide flake: after years pursuing different belief-sets within the Human Potential Movment she believes that she can "channel" the divine light of Johrei, and that she can "draw a godlike healing energy from the universe" for the benefit of the sick.

Even if notions like these offend you (as they do me), you can still find value in this book by reading it selectively. For Biziou, besides being a flake, is also a shrewd folk-psychologist with a deep and very pragmatic understanding of what makes people tick, as well as having the vivid imagination of a born showman. She puts these qualities to work in the design of simple, touching ceremonies that are designed to dissipate negative emotions and create positive ones, to celebrate and to heal.

There are ceremonies for individuals to carry out in private, like the creation of a "healing stick," done by anyone facing a serious medical procedure: assemble a small stick and several colors of yarn. Visualize in turn the friends (and, I would add, public role models) that you most respect. For each one, think of the good quality that you would like to borrow from that person to help you through the coming medical ordeal -- courage, patience, whatever. Choose a color of yarn to represent that person's quality and wind it around the stick. Keep the yarn-wrapped stick with you throughout the hospital stay. Sensibly, Biziou never even hints that the stick itself contains any power; she knows that the comfort you gain from having it close to you is generated in your own mind, through recollection of the people whose qualities you are "borrowing."

And there are group ceremonies, like a ceremony of mutual appreciation to help a group of coworkers bond and support each other.

Some of Biziou's advice is just plain silly, like her discussion of the symbolic meanings of colors and scents: Black symbolizes "release" and "the unknown" -- but not, apparently, death or emptiness -- and red, "passion, energy, creation, stamina" -- but neither "danger" nor "stop." The scent of parsley symbolizes protection and dill, mental clarity, and so on until you just want to say "c'mon Barbara, get real." In my opinion a few of her opinions, especially on health, could be damaging because she is so clever at asserting that illness comes from bad thoughts -- which means that if you don't get well, it's your own fault for not thinking correctly. I think it's a crime to propagate that cruel and stupid concept.

However, many of the ceremonies she describes should indeed be nourishing to the spirit and psychologically healing. For those who can permit themselves unashamedly to participate in a ritual, there should be genuine emotional power and closure to many of these activities.

This wonderful "cookbook" of loving kindness will find it's way to just where it belongs, everywhere. A companion piece for life and love and joy. Thank you, Barbara, for honoring the soul. We ARE one.

I envision using this book throughout my career and life; I particularly found helpful the concept of milestones, which we in the West seem to have forgotten, substituting and overusing a different kind of spirit--alcohol and drugs--for the much-needed community ceremonies. This book has many ways to return to our true loving nature.

I am a psychologist, and I sometimes talk to my clients about creating rituals as a therapeutic tool. Most often, I use rituals as a means to help clients cope with traumatic events and/or difficult emotional experiences. In this book, however, author Barbara Biziou covers a wider range for the utility of rituals, from true "everyday" rituals to simple celebratory rituals to more profound rituals of healing. She explains how rituals can foster connection, provide structure and stability, and bring meaning and focus into our lives. Biziou considers the rituals which she offers in her book to be basic recipes which readers can build on and adapt to fit their own lives. Overall, I think she strikes a nice balance between providing structured information and encouraging readers to engage in self-expression.

Ritual is a part of our everyday lives, from the morning rituals we perform preparing for the new day, to the communal rituals we participate in as family, friends and community members.

In The Joy of Ritual Barbara Biziou allows us to look at ritual from a more personal perspective. Her book takes you from the what to the how, in this wonderfully arranged "cookbook" of ritual.

Barbara begins with an introduction to the concept of ritual, why it is important and the general composition. She then provides details on the "what" and "why", exploring the meaning of colors, scents, food and drink, crystals and more in the context of the ritual space. She also discusses creating sacred space, alters and preparing yourself for ritual.

The remainder of the book is a well organized reference of rituals to support you in defining ritual for every day, milestone rituals, personal transformation and men's and women's rituals. She provides in each section the Intention, Timing, Ingredients and Recipe along with stories of how these rituals have been used by others.

This book concludes with suggested music and readings to support your work. This book offers an accessible way to start creating sacred space and ritual in your life.

I think not! As someone who has reached that stage of life where I find ritual a very valuable and reassuring aspect of life, I was completely disapointed by this book. It should be called "Burn a Candle and Smell Something." Her only approach to rituals are things that the normal populace would find just a tad suspect. I don't need to ritualistically burn mementos to special music by the light of a specific colored candle while inhaling sandlewood, etc. Genuine ritual has great value - this just trivializes life transitions.