Customer Reviews

Santeria: the Religion: Faith, Rites, Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is an excellent exposition by a brilliant author of a badly misunderstood religion. Migene Gonzalez-Wippler was the first author to write about Santeria for en English-speaking audience, When she began her research ahe was not an initiate and most of the santeros she interviewed gave her wrong information purposefully. This reflected in her first book on the subject. Since then she has recived several of the initiations of Santeria and her books reflect not only her love but also her great respect for it. She was the first author on the subject to make correlations between the orishas of the Yoruba pantheon and the archetypes of the collective unconscious. This is a major contribution to the study of Santeria. The secrecy which is such an intrinsic part of Santeria was born of the need of the African slaves to hide their practices from their Spanish masters. This secrecy is no longer necessary and does a great disservice to the religion. If is more important to let the world know that Santeria is a valid and powerful religious system and not the shady and suspicious cult that most uninformed people think it is. Gonzalez-Wippler has dispelled much of these false misconceptions. Her books were largely resposible for the favorable decision made by the Supreme Court declaring Santeria a valid religion, protected by the American constiturion.Unfortunately, this religion attracts a great deal of fanatics and people of the lower classes, many of them with an ax to grind. None of their ill-intended comments can change the fact that this is one of the most thorough and brilliant books written on the subject. I strongly recoemmend this book to any INTELLIGENT person who wants to know what Santeria is all about. Also excellent is here book The Santeria Experience. =

Un buen libro para comenzar a conocer sobre la santería. Presenta un buen marco de referencia para las personas que tienen curiosidad sobre el tema. La temática es tratada con suficiente respeto y decoro. Su profundidad es limitada. Su lectura es amena y entretenida. No lo recomiendo para personas que ya poseen conocimiento sobre el tema o desean realizar un estudio serio sobre la religion Yoruba según es practicada en el Caribe.

This is the most fascinating book I have read in a long time. I had the pleasure of being present during one of Ms. Gonzalez-Wippler's scholarly lectures on the subject of Santeria while I was a student at Columbia University, and she was both candid and supportive about the work of the santeros. THis book excelled all my expectations. She should be commended for her courage and admirable scholarship in presenting this much-misunderstood religion in a sympathetic and dignified manner. If you really want to know what Santeria is all about, you could not choose a better book. I strongly recommend it.

This is an alright book for those seeing an overview of Santeria but it does contain some misinformation. The book has a small section on Palo Mayombe. The author describes Palo as being evil and calls it "the dark side of santeria". This is not correct at all. Palo Mayombe, Palo Monte, Palo in general is totaly different and seperate from Santeria. There are spirits in Santeria and Spirits in Palo. Palo Mayombe is hardly anything like the information presented in this book. The Other thing to watch out for is her description of Orisha as Gods. Orisha are not gods, In santeria there is one God. The orisha are spirits who live on this earth with those who are initiated in santeria. Be careful when reading this book, use it as a tool to help you get some basic information but take it witah a grain of salt.

The Works of Migene Gonzalez Wippler are the most widely distributed and best selling books on the Subject of Santeria, and Cuban Lucumi. Her works are both liked and disliked, liked buy the community who are new to Santeria, and very much disliked buy Elders and initiates in the religion.

It is not that Wippler's books are not accurate, they are. It is just that they seam to closely resemble other published books on Lucumi and Santeria that have been written in Spanish and have no copyrights. But aside from this, "if you can put this aside, many of the Elders in the religion, will not." (That is steeling) Then you have a pretty interesting book, full of basic wisdom and knowledge that really opens the doors for new comers into the religion, or for those who have a basic curiosity. "I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere." I recommend it to those who have no knowledge of the religion, it breaks that Voodoo stereo type, but this book is pretty much a stepping stone for other bigger and greater things. But I do not completely dislike her books, in fact I recommend this book, and Powers of the Orishas, to all Aleyos out there.

Im glad she reveals a lot of the stuff that is written in spanish. Though I also realize that eighter she made a few mistakes in her book orshe was deliberatly mislead with some of the information. She does give a crate load of information on the religion and beliefs of Santaria. If you are interested in Santaria or you are just curious about it than this should be your first book on the subject. Also her other book The Power Of The Orishas is pretty good as well. In her book Santaria she gives you information about some of the major orishas like Oshun, Chango, Yemaya, Elegua and more. She discusses the taboos and unfortunatly the macho part of it. Unfortunatly it is true a woman can not achieve the same high ranks a man can even though she can reach a centain rank on a Santera (priestess) a man can rise above her to higher ranks. If you are a gay man you can only reach the same rank a woman can. There are some things she did not mention like a woman can not sacrifice animals even as a Santera unless A) she has a warrior Orisha that rules her head or B) she is past menapause. To me thats a load of BS made up by men but thats the religion. Maybe one day it will change. But back to the book she is the only auther that i know of that revealed a lot years ago with her writtings. I brought this book years back and I will never give it away.

I am a student of world religions and have friends in the Yoruba, Candomble, Santeria religions and have found this book to of great understanding of how the religion is interpreted. This is a complex religion, not easily understood by a lay person and the author takes great strides in presenting the religion in a language that demystifies the shrouded religion. Any student of ecumenical studies or anyone that knows someone in The Religion, should read this book from cover to cover.

This is a pretty good introduction to the basics of Santeria. There is some information in the book which is questionable, so I would say read this with a grain of salt and decide for yourself. The author does describe Palo Mayombe as dark and evil, and this is not so, Palo is a beautiful practice and should not be degraded like this. That aside, this was one of my first books on Santeria and it does give good descriptions of readings, recieving beads and warriors, asiento, and more. There are also several photographs of altars, botanicas, and fetishes. For the most part, a good solid book. For difinitive answers, seek out a santera or santero.

Wippler delivers again with this none stop page turner, She has much converse swirling around her from the Elders of the Religion, Migene Gonzaliez wippler is not well liked among most elders but that is no reason to judge her based her ability to write a fanatic book based on the Afro-Cuben Religion- Santeria.


Filled with wonderfully well-written stories of the powerful Orisha and personal accounts of spirit possession and even initiations.


Also, a chapter on 'Making the saint' a very big taboo and much guarded secret kept tingly under oaths, allot was relived from this book- But, not being a santera herself, she does not know the all mysteries of making the saint but does relive a great deal in this book.


If you are thinking about learning Santeria, I highly recommend this book- It will have you hooked from page one but also give you information that one needs to understand what Santeria really is.


A beautiful colorful full Religion that can change your world forever.


If after the you should like to read more on the subject I would also recommend books by: Baba Raul Canizares and my good friend Eric Lerner


Such as:


Babalu Aye: Santeria and the lord of pestilence.


...


Happy reading- and be well.


Ashe.

This is not a book that was written for those expecting spooky pulp horror stories. This is not a book about Voodoo. This intelligently written non-fiction describes a fascinating religion and the people that practice it. The insight into the daily life of an initiate is impressive. The descriptions of the Gods and Goddess, Their offerings and worship is clearly and beautifully written. The book is very informative and I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in Santeria.