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Friday, November 26, 2010

Book Review: Life's Little Rituals, by Alexandria

 
Life's Little Rituals: Celebrations for Everyday Living
Author: Alexandria
Publisher: Citadel Press
Page Count: 206

Summary: (from back of book) Bring extraordinary depth to each ordinary day by adding rituals to your lifestyle. High Priestess Alexandria draws on ancient ideas to help you celebrate the events and changes that color your journey through life. Whether you want to make a child feel special or add awesome motivation to starting a diet, you'll find the means within these pages.  Along the way, you'll discover a wealth of rituals for:

  • Morning, evening, and bedtime routines
  • Seasonal changes
  • Relationships
  • Parenting
  • Work and career
  • Personal finance
  • Home and food
  • Physical fitness
  • Firsts ... and lasts
  • Thoughtful descisions
  • Fateful happenings
  • Love and loss

This book is filled with all sorts of ideas on how to make life more meaningful and magical.  There is a power in rituals and this book is filled with many.  But it is also filled with really good ideas that aren't really rituals at all. The book is organized into areas that pertain to many areas of life.  Family and friends, career and work, health and finance many areas are covered with great effort made to incorporate all the milestones of life.

First word, first tooth, first day of school, decision to have (and to not have children), loss of a pet, divorce, even paying off your mortgage. All sorts of little things we take for granted in life can be made into magical moments. This book is filled with ideas.

My favourites would have to be.

  • Mealtime: Give gratitude, the act of saying grace or a prayer each meal is a ritual that will put you in the flow of being thankful. We often rush through eating and do not take the time to really appreciate what we are putting into our bodies. If we did take our time more with this we might be able to listen to our body and make the right decisions of what we should be eating. 
  • Birthday: Make a list of goals, and what you want to accomplish for the next 10 years. Then on a separate sheet of paper write out your past successes. Then on another page write out your regrets. On your birthday read your lists as you light your candles toasting your past successes and looking towards your goals. Before you blow out your candles light your Regrets list from your candles. Make sure you have a firedish or somewhere safe to let it burn. That way your goals can extinguish your regrets. Make your wishes (goals) and blow out your candles. 
  • First Day of School: Before school starts make a treasure map of different items needed for school. (Pencils, lunchbag, notebooks etc.) Hide the items throughout the house and give the map which will lead them to each item and then to the final greatest treasure of them all the School itself.
The book is written by Alexandria a Wiccan High Priestess however the book does not follow any specific set of "ritual rules".  The nice thing about the book is anyone can do these "rituals" and they don't even really feel like a "ritual" in the religious sense.

I recommend the book for anyone who wants to make the little things in life special and magical.

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