Rites And Symbols Of Initiation

First published 1958; preparation of sacred ground, separation from women; Kurnai initiation mystery; tooth avulsion Yuin, Murring & Waradjuri, initiatory ordeals, symbolic death, tossing of novices (Arunta), throwing fire; bullroarers & circumcision, symbolism of subincision; female initiation Arnhem Land; Kunapipi cult & ritual exchange of wives; medicine men, initiatory death, Arunta, Unmatjera and Western Desert tribes; use of magical substances, quartz crystals, pearl shell, spirit snakes; Asiatic influence apparent; Melanesian mummification; comparisons with Indian & Tibetan yogis; many authors quoted; bibliography.

This resource helps you prepare a reverent, artful, and interactive experience of the symbols of the liturgy followed by reflection on their meaning for groups of adults or teens.

Mircea Eliade--one of the most renowned expositors of the psychology of religion, mythology, and magic--shows that myth and symbol constitute a mode of thought that not only came before that of discursive and logical reasoning, but is still an essential function of human consciousness. He describes and analyzes some of the most powerful and ubiquitous symbols that have ruled the mythological thinking of East and West in many times and at many levels of cultural development.