Customer Reviews

Rituals for Our Times: Celebrating, Healing, and Changing Our Lives and Our Relationships (Master Work Series)

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a review from the author of DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF: A PERSONAL APPROACH TO DREAM INTERPRETATION; and DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DREAMS, DAYDREAMS, AND FANTASIES.

RITUALS FOR OUR TIMES is a well-written and lucid description of the importance of rituals in our lives, regardless of one's spiritual beliefs. In modern, Western, secular culture, many of us have forgotten the value of marking life passages in ways that speak to our individual needs. Well-organized and well-written, with helpful questions to guide us through planning a ritual and whom to include, RITUALS FOR OUR TIMES brings us back to the power and pleasure of even everyday rituals. Through their suggestions, we learn how we can plan rituals with forethought and conscious choice and without rigidity to old ways that no longer work. With touching stories, authors Imber-Black and Roberts demonstrate the potency of ritual to facilitate growth and resolve conflicts--old and new.

I was just recommending this book on a forum today and came here to provide a link. When I saw only two reviews I knew I had to add to the list. This is a book that should be reprinted but find it used if that's the only way you can buy it. I wrote: As a young mom I bought this book years ago called Rituals For Our Times by Evan Imber-Black and Janine Roberts. The subtitle is Celebrating, Healing and Changing Our Lives and Our Relationships. I can't recommend this book enough for people blending traditions from families or going through changes in their lives. I've read it many times and used the very sensible advice to create or change my own family traditions over the years. It's enabled me to be flexible and really think about the meaning and purpose behind the rituals. The examples in the book are very relevant to our multi-cultural society. There are even some good rituals for those who are divorced or blending new families together and advice about how to deal with changes when a family member passes away, especially if they were the driving force behind the gathering.

Evan and Janine (I feel I almost know them I've read this so often) have really covered every base from holidays to birthdays to life transitions to ritualizing things like divorce and welcoming new people into the family. They talk about ritual meanings, symbols, and styles. I can't imagine any part of ritual they left out! This book added immeasurably to the positive experiences of my own nuclear family and helped me blend my own rituals with my husband's when we married. I can't recommend it enough and have loaned it out many times over the years.

I rate Evan Imber Black highly, having participated in a professional seminar she presented to. I ordered the book to learn more. I wasn't disappointed by the book in any way. I found it easy to read, thought-provoking, moving, and informative. It is full of illustrative case studies and has questions and exercises for the reader to use at looking at the role of ritual in your life. You can read the book without completing the exercises though. I'm going to keep it as a personal reference book when issues arise for me around ritual.