Rites of Passage: Celebrating Life's Changes

by Kathleen Wall, Gary Ferguson

Argues that major life transitions offer opportunities for growth, and provides suggestions for taking advantage of these opportunities

Genres: Nonfiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 1998

Reviews

[Elrize · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book on incorporating ritual into the changes of your life, with practical examples. I've always been drawn to ritual, and I used this book to form some rituals of my own and really enjoyed getting clarity on the value of it. Would recommend for anyone going through a major emotional change in their life, or those who feel like they need something tangible to mark an emotional event.

[Carol]

Some quotes from this book are meaningful to me:
"In our youth oriented culture, we sometimes ignore the needs of individuals to grow intellectually and spiritually through the entire course of our lives. We downplay the rewards that wait in the second half of life,"

"...the need for us in our later years to cast off some of our responsibilities and obligations, to be able to connct with the power of our early dreams and desires, to blossom not into what others would have us be but rather who we were meant to be."

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book offering rituals for transitions in life as well as a quick primer on rituals and symbols. It covers the usual transitions along the life span as well as some of the more difficult times such as the "uncoupling: the dance of divorce." Remembering that this was a good book, I just picked it up off of the shelf looking for rituals toward mid to late life and did not find what I wanted. Nevertheless, it is a very good book.