Arianrhod's Dance

by Julie White & Graeme H Tallboys
Published by Grey House in the Woods

Description

Following the success of their highly acclaimed and bestselling work, the Path through the Forest – a Druid Guidebook, the authors now present this companion volume. Written from experience, it provides a discussion of and an introduction to Druid ritual for solo practitioners and Groves alike, along with sample rituals for the eightfold year, rites of passage, and other aspects of everyday life.
All ritual is a focus. It situates you at a moment and a place outside time and space where your relation to specific and distinct aspects of the world are clarified. It marks real and often intimate events of enormous consequence; and by marking these events, we allow them to mark us – binding us to the Sky, to the Land, and to the Sea from which they all derive.
The essays in this book provide a useful look at what ritual consists in and the nature of its varying relation to us and the world. These are supplemented by practical tips, explanations, and clearly presented rituals and prayers. There is also a brief discussion of the nature of the Otherworld and the continuing journey of the soul.

Synopsis
This title provides a discussion on and samples of Druid ritual.

Review

I was lucky enough to buy a copy of this book shortly after it was published, yet somehow it slipped through the net, and it was only when I was asked to recommend books on Druid ritual that I was reminded that I really must write a review of this excellent book.

This book offers step by step guidance on how to create deep and fulfilling ritual, giving some basic background on circle casting and sacred space, and working as a solitary and in groups. We then move into specific ritual to honour the eightfold year before looking at rites of passage, namings, handfastings and so on. Finally there is a section on personal ritual – working with the cycles of the moon, and honouring the ‘everyday’ in our lives.

To those new to ritual this book will provide a basis for the creation of their own individual ritual, and allows the reader to find a greater understanding of how ritual works, and what works for them. There are other books on Ritual, and this one can offer some comparisons, revealing that there is no ‘one way’ to make ritual or to celebrate.

The beauty of Druidry is that it can encompass so many different practices whist offering a commonality of understanding and belief, and this is a book that I sometimes dip into to see another perspective on ritual, and how it can be formed and created.

• Paperback 180 pages (June 21, 2004)
• Publisher: Grey House in the Woods
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0954053125

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