Ritual has its genesis in the movements of the soul and our need to express deep emotions and intentions in story, symbol, and action. Through prayers, blessings, rites, ceremonies and celebrations, we honor our connections with God, others, community, nature, world, and the whole cosmic dance. Abigail Brenner is a board-certified psychiatrist in private practice, a Reiki Master, and an ordained interfaith minister who lives and works in New York City. In this substantive paperback, she takes on the challenge of reconnecting women to "their important life transitions while giving them the tools to honor those transitions and understand their significance in the broader scheme of their lives." Using stories from the experiences of many women, she reveals how significant these passages are in their lives: "Every rite of passage is an act of becoming, an act of taking responsibility for the self we are choosing to become." Here are some of the transitions covered in the book:
• Passages of the body (menstruation, sexual initiation, childbirth, menopause, illness)
• Passages of the self (marriages, birthdays, personal milestones)
• Special challenges of passages through loss (breakups, divorce, death).
The second section of Women's Rites of Passage presents resources that can be used to make and mark these transitions — myths and symbols, journeys, creative projects, religious and spiritual traditions, and communities. Along the way, Brenner also includes many practical suggestions. An example is this list of ideas for examining family traditions: create a family tree, collect family recipes, gather "old wives' tales," learn about natural methods of healing passed down from generation to generation, catalog documents (birth certificates, naturalization papers, passports, bibles, and the like), bring together family photos and memorabilia, and write a loved one's biography and publish it for family members. Women's Rites of Passage by Abigail Brenner is a helpful and handy resource.
