Customer Reviews

Women's Rites, Women's Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As much as I loved the main text of the book, I was more impressed by the appendices that followed - clear, concise history and information about the Dianic tradition. That is a rare find, indeed, and it's very well done. As important as the other works by Z. Budapest and Shekhinah Mountainwater are, this is the book to buy if you want to hand something short, sweet and positive to a loved one that is trying to understand where you are coming from. This belongs on every woman's bookshelf because it's a part of feminist history as well as the return to the Goddess spirituality that allowed humans to live in peace for untold millenia before patriarchy reared it's ugly head. We never needed the Goddess more than we do right now.

What I greatly appreciated about this book is that Ruth Barrett gives you exercises and tools to create a ritual that works for you... heart and soul. It's definitely NOT a recipe book, and you won't find any long lists of correspondences here, nor any line by line poetry to recite (although there are wonderful examples of what other women have written for their specific rituals).

If you are looking to create intensely personal, meaningful ritual I would strongly recommmend this book. It will give you powerful tools to ritually tackle issues such as healing from sexual abuse, miscarriages, abortion..to celebrating incredible life changes, new baby, a move, new jobs, honoring your Cronehood. etc. Several chapters address creating and facilitating rituals for the public. There is also a wonderful chapter on the Wheel of the Year, that has ample ideas for the Sabbaths.

Included in the Appendix is an explanation of the Dianic Tradition (in the Z Budapest lineage), as well as the roots and history of Dianic Wicca.

There is a bounty of questions and exercises throughout the book to deepen your understanding of ritual creation. Ruth offers up her toolbox and shows you way to dig deeper, build stronger and make your magical work resonate with incredible depth.

Recommended for any woman on the Goddess path, Dianic or otherwise.

I've read numerous books on rituals, goddess and pagan spirituality/practices. This book is unique in that it provides deeper spiritual context to ritual creation. I'm not quite finished reading it, but I would recommend this book to anyone who is involved with women's circles.

If you are interested in the Dianic Tradition, this is an excellent book for you. Ruth does not give you step by step instruction of how to do a specific ritual, but leads you down a path of understanding on how to create meaningful rituals for you and/or your coven. As a ritualist, Ruth is one of the best you will ever work with; if you can't spend time with her in person, this book is the next best thing.

This is a great book not only for beginners but for experienced women as well. The beginning of the book gives the history of the Dianic tradition. From there, Ruth addresses the difference stages in women's lives and how to honor these passages. There is also a breakdown for the different roles within a group and how to set guidelines. I continue to use this book when I plan events or rituals for my local group. This is one of the first books I recommend to any woman that wants to know more about being Dianic.

This is just wonderfully written, and I enjoyed it very much, I think this book will be very useful for many years!

A very Dianic look at ritual creation, this book is well organized but there is a constant undercurrent of judgement. In particular, there is a passage that chastises those who approach a Goddess from another tradition and heritage other than one's own, ethnic heritage. [exp. must one be Egyptian to worship Isis??] I returned the book to the library unfinished because I was offended.

This book includes a segment in which it informs us that it regards transsexual women (which it calls transsexual men) as men. This terminology, conventional in earlier medical texts which regarded lesbians, gay men, and transgender people as deluded and sick, is highly offensive. It is one thing to make valid arguments for reserving the book to non-transsexual women (itself an arguable disenfranchisement). But quite another to try and misrepresent them out of existence.

I agonized over whether to review this book which I had owned. After all, it is an otherwise very good book and serves an important purpose. There is a need for books of this type and I too certainly want to support, not undermine, anything that is affirming to my non-transgendered sisters. Many people will not care about the exclusion of and misrepresentation of transsexual women and it will not affect either the usefulness of the book or their enjoyment of it. If this is you, you will probably want to ignore this review.

But the deliberate misrepresentation of transsexual women requires comment and will be balanced by the positive reviews. The opposite of love is not hatred, it is to ignore or disacknowledge one's existence. To deny a transsexual woman's very nature and being, and then to misinform those closest to them (other women), is a very nasty thing for one human being to do to another. If transsexual women could socialize in society as men, they would have successfully done so. That they go through such a difficult process sometimes losing everything else in finding themselves (in the process bringing to light the divine spark of Goddess within which all women have in abundance) is testament to this.

I wish Ms. Barrett all the very best. But such an attack on transsexual women is nasty, and I at least cannot let it pass, if only so that other transwomen won't buy this book and be upset.

The author shows herself to be a bigoted and cruel by pointedly referring to trans-women as "men." This is not an innocent choice of words but a deliberate effort to exclude the transgendered from participation in her narrow little world view. Its very sad that this kind of mean spirited cruelty is allowed to masquerade as spirituality. This attitude scars what would otherwise be a lovely book. If you are trans be aware the attitude you will find here lest you be disappointed and hurt by it. This will likely only matter to a small slice of the possible audience for this book and those assigned female at birth who feel compassion and unity with their trans sisters. I hope for a day when hate like this is not tolerated and allowed to mask itself as having anything to do with Women's Mysteries.