Practicing the Presence of the Goddess: Everyday Rituals to Transform Your World by Barbara Ardinger


Practicing the Presence of the Goddess: Everyday Rituals to Transform Your World
Title : Practicing the Presence of the Goddess: Everyday Rituals to Transform Your World
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1577311736
ISBN-10 : 9781577311737
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 128
Publication : First published September 3, 2000

More women than ever are incorporating some kind of spiritual practice into their daily lives, and not always in traditional religious form, but as alternative or hybrid practices. In Practicing the Presence of the Goddess, Barbara Ardinger offers a wide variety of meditations and personal rituals to help women honor the feminine spirit and commune with the Goddess. These include creating a sacred space at home, building a meaningful altar, using ritual and meditation to enrich awareness, and inventing new rituals to celebrate personal events. The author's wry, gentle humor and loving attitude shine through the text, which offers possibilities ranging from bringing love into one's life to having a heart-to-heart with the Goddess.

Practicing the Presence of the Goddess: Everyday Rituals to Transform Your World Reviews

  • Molly

    Re-read. One of my favorites (though I like its predecessor, A Woman's Book of Rituals and Celebrations, better). Nice, little pocket sized book.

  • Rhiannon Grant

    A good choice - a Goddess worship book which reminded me why I read Goddess worship books. Ardinger's approach to spirituality and deity appeals to me. In this book, she acknowledges the value of outward rituals and shiny tools for some purposes, but also stresses that these are just accessories, and the awareness of the presence of the Goddess is an inward process which can be worked on anywhere, any time, with no special kit at all. While acknowledging the problems with the eclectic approach which borrows from many traditions, I enjoy Ardinger's twist on it, which takes the universalist element in Goddess religion (the idea that all Goddesses are one Goddess, all Goddess names part of one process) and extends it to the logical conclusion that we can therefore Find new Goddesses as and when they are needed. We can invent new names and thereby explain our current situation and needs better - to ourselves, and to whatever form of Deity is listening. This isn't unique to Ardinger (other books, such as 'Urban Paganism', have taken this kind of approach), but Ardinger's examples are clever, useful, and clearly explained.

  • Kati

    Gotta say, the "Blessed Bees" bit confused the heck out of me, particularly when the author spoke all along about having them present on her altar, but then implied at the end that they are the "modern equivalent of the 'good neighbours' that our ancestors knew." So, is this a real "bee" representation that she has present on her altar, or is it a spectral/imagination of the spirit realm?

    Other than that aspect, I greatly enjoyed this book, and can think of a couple of friends I'd love to gift copies to. Definitely keeping my copy on my bookshelves for future reference and re-reading.