The Pocket Guide to Rituals

September 23, 2006

The Pocket Guide to Rituals: Magickal References at Your Fingertips by Kerri Connor; New Page Books (Career Press)
Kerri Connor believes that celebrating life’s little moments are as important as celebrating the 8 Sabbats. In her brief introduction she lists her four distinct reasons to create ritual. 1. Focused attention and energy; 2. Spiritual expression; 3. Show of thankfulness; and 4. Communion with others. Following the explanations for these four reasons, she has a section entitled “How to Use This Book.”

Part One of this short volume is for rituals of life, for such life passages as familiar as birth, handfasting and croning, but also some surprisingly interesting events such as getting a new car, new job or new home. Part Two has rituals of nature featuring such things as sunrise and sunset, the seasons, the elements and astrological occurrences such as a meteor shower or eclipse. Each event has listings of herbs, oils, correspondences, suggested themes and colors that can be used to create a ritual. Also included is a sample ritual for each written by the author.

Appendix A explains how to write the words to your own rituals and appendix B is a simple worksheet template to help focus a beginner on the what, why and how when planning a ritual. There is also a useful index for quick location of specific information listed by event.

This book is a good reference source for someone who is just learning to write rituals. It is very basic volume and would be of little use to someone who has been creating rituals for a while. With any volume claiming correspondences for colors, stones or herbs, it is best to double check against other sources.

I am currently searching for menarche rituals to share with my soon-to-be-a-woman 12 year old, so I was hopeful of finding something of interest here. Personally, I found the sample rituals to be rather bland and generic. I would hope that someone using this book would create something much more personal and meaningful for their own specific needs.

Kerri Connor is also the author of The Pocket Spell Creator, another reference guide for creating your own spells that is similar in structure to this book.