Customer Reviews

Milagros: A Book of Miracles

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been interested in Mexican Folk Art for quite some time and often admired Milagros. They are such beautiful little pieces of art that look as though they are crafted with such care. I have been hesitant to start purchasing or collecting these due to a lack of knowledge on their history and meaning.

Enter this great little book by Helen Thompson entitled "Milagros: A Book of Miracles." What a great resource this is for someone like me who has a genuine interest in these little miracles and is searching for their meaning. In it you get a brief history of Milagros and their continued use. Then you are shown the Milagros that relate to the human body, mind and spirit. This is where we are given some amazing stories that drive home the powerfulness of the Milagros!

This book of miracles ends with a bit on making your own Milagros. As an avid crafter, I found this to be an incredibly interesting section of the book. With just a bit of imagination, you can make some beautiful Milagros of your own.

This was a great introduction for me and now I'm off to further my Milagro education.

If you've wondered about milagros and what they mean, this is a great book to explain the traditions. The illustrations are simple and inspiring if you're working with mixed media and want to head more towards authentic folk art. Finally, if you're a believer, the personal stories of how each type of milagro is used are very touching. This is a short book, filled with ample colorful illustrations, introducing you to milagros. For example, if you've seen little lips as a silver or golden charm and wondered what it meant, this book will explain. To dig deeper into religious and artistic traditions, you'll want a different book, but this is a fine place to start your exploration of these ancient talismans.

If you want a little book to place on a table in your guest room, buy this one. But if you want to really learn something about the subject of milagros as votive offerings, buy the book "Milagros: Votive Offerings from the Americas" by Martha Egan. It is very informative with excellent illustrations. It will make you want to be a collector.

This vibrant book blends historical tidbits, personal testimonies of the magical and miraculous and practical advice for using milagros in a vivid colorful array of exquisite artwork. The art pieces are more than just supportive of the text. Their fiery colors and quirky 3-D combinations of tin, wood, paint and traditional milagros create a real convergence of a latin folk art look and a contemporary, more universal look. This is a treasure to own and a natural gift book.

If you are looking for an (art-)historical study on Milagros, go for the excellent little book by Martha Egan (also available at Amazon.com). The short (6 pages) introduction on the history of Milagros in this book is based on the book by Martha Egan.

This colourful, nicely presented book focuses on the role that (making) milagros could play in your own life (I find it a bit 'New Agey', but not too much). There are five chapters in this book, each divided into three parts (body, mind, spirit). Every chapter covers a part of our body:

1. the head ('knowing is wisdom'),
2. the heart ('how we love'),
3. the hand ('your hands connect you to others'),
4. the foot ('your feet support your journey through life'),
5. the mouth ('our words are as good as our deeds').

About half of its 95 pages are filled with full page Mexican style artwork. Small photographs of traditional Milagros are scattered throughout the text.

In each chapter the author gives her view on the symbolical meaning a Milagro depicting this specific body part could have: its meaning for our body, for our mind, and for our spirit. She illustrates this with anecdotes from Mexican daily life: the 'mouth' chapter tells how a mother's offering mouth milagros to the Virgin Mary led to a cure of her son's deformed jaw (Yes! It is - after all- a book on miracles).

The book ends with a chapter on how to make your own milagros. Another reviewer already expressed his (or was it her?) anger at the simplicity of the author's suggestions: cutting out a picture from a magazine and laminating it. If you really would like to make your own milagros, you will get enough ideas from the rest of the book. I believe this chapter was added just for those of us who are convinced (rightly so or not), that they have no creative talents whatsoever. So that even those among us who can barely hold a pair of scissors, can make their own little miracle workers.

To sum it all up: there is not very much substance here. But it IS a cheerful, well-meaning little book on how to find hope and comfort in small things, and how to introduce some (home made) miracles into your life. I liked it. It will make a lovely gift for someone who could use some cheering-up, whether this will be a friend, or yourself.

It wan't what I thought it was going to be. ut it is a cute book

With a text that matches the great art, Thompson and Bruce have compiled an enchanting record of this important and enduring folk art tradition.

This is a cute little picture book with a very superficial discussion of the actual objects. It has very little useful information, lots of hippie crap about love and symbols. Where do milagros come from? who makes them? what are their histories? how did they become symbols of whatever they are symbols of? what is their significance in Mexico? these are questions this book does not address. Also, the claim that there are instructions for making your own milagros is misleading. All the book tells you to do is get a picture from a magazine or maybe cut a shape out of paper and laminate it. I gave it three stars because if you only want a cute little book with a lot of pictures this one would do.