Crafting Secular Ritual

Answering the call for new rituals in our secular age, this book recognises the essential importance of rituals to the psychological, physical and spiritual health of individuals, families, organisations, and society as a whole. The book examines and explains the history, function and place of emerging rituals in different cultures, as well as providing practical guidance for creating your own secular rituals. The author includes examples, risk factors and checklists for the stages of planning new rituals for life events such as birth, marriage, and death, as well as for public occasions such as graduation and protest marches.

The growing absence of meaningful ritual in contemporary Western societies has led to cohesive research on the history of ritualizing behaviour in different cultures. The relatively new field of ritology, which includes neuroscience, anthropology, cultural psychology, psychotherapy and even art and performance, raises questions about the significance and practice of ritual today. This book is the first of its kind to discuss the importance of secular rituals for cultural and personal growth. Using a transdisciplinary approach, a range of contributors provide an authoritative account of the science and history of rituals and their role in creating healthy societies in the modern age.

The trend towards a more secular culture in Western society means that there can be greater flexibility in a wedding ceremony, but couples are often faced with the challenge of preparing a meaningful celebration outside the traditional religious framework. This hands-on, practical guide demonstrates how to approach and prepare a secular wedding ceremony that honours a couple's relationship with honest vows and rituals true to their shared values. In addition, it provides guidance on structuring a ceremony for couples that come from very different cultural or spiritual backgrounds. Includes the tools necessary for the creation of a ceremony, such as a Ritual Identity Questionnaire, checklists, and many other resources.

Funerals are among the most important life events in Western society, and fashioning a personalized ceremony for yourself or for a loved one is often the most meaningful way to celebrate the life of the deceased. For those wanting non-religious or secular funeral ceremonies, this step-by-step guide begins by identifying what you want from the funeral and showing how you can make it happen. With sections on society's views of mortality, our need for rituals and crafting the actual ceremony, this guide provides the tools and philosophy to understand, plan and tailor a funeral for individuals. Includes all the tools necessary for the creation of a ceremony, such as a Ritual Profiles, checklists, and many other handy resources.

Upholds “a Disney vacation as a religious experience . . . [offers] insightful arguments relating to the nature of play as well as Nietzschean philosophy” (Reading Religion). Rituals mark significant moments in our lives—perhaps none more significant than moments of lightheartedness, joy, and play. Rituals of play are among the most sacred of any of the rites in which humanity may engage. Although we may fail to recognize them, they are always present in culture, providing a kind of psychological release for their participants, child and adult alike. Disneyland is an example of the kind of container necessary for the construction of rituals of play. This work explores the original Disney theme park in Anaheim as a temple cult. It challenges the disciplines of mythological studies, religious studies, film studies, and depth psychology to broaden traditional definitions of the kind of cultural apparatus that constitute temple culture and ritual. It does so by suggesting that Hollywood’s entertainment industry has developed a platform for mythic ritual. After setting the ritualized “stage,” this book turns to the practices in Disneyland proper, analyzing the patron’s traditions within the framework of the park and beyond. It explores Disneyland’s spectacles, through selected shows and parades, and concludes with an exploration of the park’s participation in ritual renewal. “There is much to commend in Koehler’s study . . . Surely, her work should encourage others to examine myth construction and sacred-secular rituals in popular culture.”—H-Celebration

Written by an impressive group of international scholars, this collection's ten essays explore key issues and forms of design, from ancient life ideals to the new media, displaying how creative design always revolves around the soma, the living, sentient body.

Restorative justice is an innovative approach to responding to crime and conflict that shifts the focus away from laws and punishment to instead consider the harm caused and what is needed to repair that harm and make things right. Interest in restorative justice is rapidly expanding, with new applications continuously emerging around the world. The restorative philosophy and conference process have shown great promise in providing a justice response that heals individuals and strengthens the community. Still, a few key questions remain unanswered. First, how is the personal and relational transformation apparent in the restorative justice process achieved? What can be done to safeguard and enhance that effectiveness? Second, can restorative justice satisfy the wider public’s need for a reaffirmation of communal norms following a crime, particularly in comparison to the criminal trial? And finally, given its primary focus on making amends at an interpersonal level, does restorative justice routinely fail to address larger, structural injustices? This book engages with these three critical questions through an understanding of restorative justice as a ritual. It proffers three dominant ritual functions related to the performance of justice: the normative, the transformative, and the proleptic. Two justice rituals, namely, the criminal trial and the restorative justice conference, are examined through this framework in order to understand how each process fulfills, or fails to fulfill, the multifaceted human need for justice. The book will be of interest to students, academics, and practitioners working in the areas of Restorative Justice, Criminal Law, and Criminology.