Charles Hobson: Rituals for Life Milestones

RITUALS FOR LIFE
MILESTONES

Fifteen rituals are described in Rituals for Life Milestones which has been published in an edition of 500 copies in the fall of 2009.

Publication Price: $75. To order, click here.

In her introduction Sandra Hobson writes:

This small book contains rituals that I have led over the last twenty years. These rituals have grown out of my study of the wisdom and practices of shamans and indigenous cultures from around the world. I have found that these rituals have opened the participants to experience the deep love and connection that resides within them and that flows during major life transitions. For me ritual is a way of giving depth and meaning to these important life passages. In our busy lives we take so little time to reflect and celebrate each other. Rituals create the form for acknowledging what’s important in our lives. They carry significant life events into the sacred and elevate our interactions.

The design of the book reflects the connection to simple ingredients that are used in each ritual, especially stones and string.

The title page is printed letterpress on Rives Grey BFK paper. The cover has been die cut with an opening which permits a small stone to be attached to the title page and to show through the cover.

The fifteen rituals contained in Rituals for Life Milestones are accompanied by photographs of objects used in the ceremonies of the diverse cultures. The ritual pictured here reads as follows:

Weddings:
Blending New Families

At a friend's wedding I wanted to pay tribute to the parents of the bride and the groom. During the ceremony four glasses of wine were poured and were given to the mother and father of the bride and to the mother and father of the groom. Each set of parents was asked to pour their two glasses of wine together to make one glass of wine. This symbolized the union from which the bride and the groom had each been born and nurtured. Then the wine in these two glasses was poured together into a new glass. The bride and groom were then presented with this glass and each drank the wine of that combined families. In this way each of their family histories was blended together.

Props and ingredients: Red wine and five wine glasses.

Hmong rattle, Vietnam

The objects from world travels were photographed by Charles Hobson who designed the book with the assistance of Alice Shaw in consultation with Yvonne Tsang. Hollis Melton, Melanie Beene and Mary Daniel Hobson have generously given editing assistance. The text is set in Cantoria MT Light and the cover titling is Mistral.

The stones on the cover of each book have been collected over many years on walks taken by the author at Stinson Beach, California, and as a consequence, each book is unique.

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