Rituals are among the most powerful tools we have to create meaning and cultivate wellbeing in our lives. In Rituals for Life, you can learn to live a more intentional life, enriched by your connection with nature. The book explores the essential components of ritual and how to use them to bring happiness and inner peace into your every day life. Includes instructions for twenty rituals, some for every day and others for specific moments and occasions, that you can adapt for your own needs, as well as an exploration of the roots and purposes of ritual. Beautifully illustrated by Luisa Rivera, this inspiring book is a guide more authentic and soulful way of living.

Laurence King Publishing

Overall Rating

5/5

Quick Take

Rituals for Life: A Guidebook to Creating Meaningful Rituals Inspired by Nature by Isla Macleod is a beautifully illustrated new guidebook filled with information on how to create rituals, as well as a collection of pre-made rituals for the reader to re-create for themselves. The book focuses on rituals inspired by nature to help the user better connect with themselves and the world. It is an essential tool for any spiritual practitioner, and it is sure to become a staple in every practitioner’s library.

Tell Me More

I have been Wiccan and a spiritual practitioner for most my life. Rituals are a large part of my spiritual practice, so I was very excited to see that Rituals for Life: A Guidebook to Creating Meaningful Rituals Inspired by Nature by Isla Macleod was being published. This book is as essential for seasoned practitioners and beginners alike. The book heavily focuses on connecting with the earth and its cycles, which I find to be beautiful. So often we get stuck in our technology and fast paced lives, that we don’t take the time to connect with the world we are living in. This book gives us rituals to do just that, while allowing us to open up and create rituals that reflect our own needs.

The beginning of the book goes over rituals and their importance, as well as how they can benefit our lives. This is one of the best books I have found that explains the importance of rituals without just diving in, so I would gladly recommend it for those just starting out with rituals, or those who want to learn more. The beginning of the book also goes over the wheel of the year and explores the seasons that we go through and how they impact our lives. This section includes various illustrations that help explore these concepts, and I found that I will be using this section to educate others who are just starting to explore this form of spirituality.

But my favorite part about the book is that the rituals are split up by time of year (such as winter, spring, summer, and autumn). Each ritual in the seasonal sections of the book is designed to align with that time of year and teach readers which types of concepts are better for different seasons. The pre-prepared rituals are fairly simplistic but provide in-depth instructions on how to re-create the process. I found that the rituals were generalized for average events that could be considered universal, and while readers will probably not relate to every ritual, they can take the concepts therein and create their own processes. The book also includes a list of other books and resources for readers to explore, while including variations of the ritual to match each reader’s needs.

Rituals for Life: A Guidebook to Creating Meaningful Rituals Inspired by Nature by Isla Macleod is very well rounded in that it not only includes pre-thought out rituals, but information on how to create your own rituals, information on each season and what concepts are best to address in each period, as well as why rituals are helpful and how they can help you connect to the earth. The illustrations make the book user friendly, and Macleod’s writing made learning about rituals simple and fun. I absolutely recommend this book for any spiritual practitioner’s library, as well as those just starting out. It is a must read.