Jeltje Gordon-Lennox - Crafting Secular Ritual: A Practical Guide

Outside of religious institutions there has not been much published guidance on how to create rituals. Beginning in the mid-20th century though, wedding planners, along with celebrant, humanist and funeral societies, began to fill the void. Half a century later, DIY rituals can still be awkward, embarrassing or meaningless. This book takes a decisive step in the right direction. It gives practical advice to readers for crafting rites of passage thoughtfully and creatively.

Ronald L. Grimes, author of The Craft of Ritual Studies and professor
emeritus in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier
University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, ronaldlgrimes.twohornedbull.ca

Crafting Secular Ritual draws on Jeltje Gordon-Lennoxs wealth of experience and her gentle, compassionate nature. This practical handbook will be enormously helpful to all those interested in carving out unique, meaningful, relevant and profound secular rituals for life events of all kinds.

Lindy Mechefske, journalist and author of Sir Johns Table and A Taste
of Wintergreen , Kingston, Ontario, Canada, lindymechefske.com

A fascinating and erudite work on a rich subject that manages to bridge the practical and the theoretical, the broad brush stroke and the minutest detail, in a way that is enjoyable to read and easy to understand. As an independent celebrant, I found it both informative and inspiring, filled with ideas that cover a breadth of rituals that our secular society so clearly needs. Whether you are a professional maker of ritual, wishing to deepen the understanding of how and why human beings ritualize their experiences, or an individual driven by an interest in creating secular ritual to help cross a life threshold, this book will provide the reader with a rich foundation for the creation of meaningful experiences.

Tiu de Haan, celebrant, facilitator and speaker,
London, UK, http://tiudehaan.com

We have forgotten how to make rituals; the lack of ritual in our lives today leads to alienation and loneliness. By neglecting ritual we lose out on an aspect of life that human beings once gave their utmost attention. This book appeals to all, secular and religious. It allows us to reconsider one of the greatest human needs: our ritual life.

Gianpiero Vincenzo, author of New Ritual Society:
Consumerism and Culture in Contemporary Society and
sociologist at the Fine Art Academy of Catania, Sicily, Italy

The time has certainly come for a book like this, which carefully, thoroughly and skilfully describes why ritual is important, how ritual can be created and realized in secular society with people who are either distanced from their root religious traditions, or who have a secular mind set, or little meaningful relationship with any traditional religion. This book contains helpful graphs, lists and directions for creating ritual, and describes the role and duties of presiders or celebrants of secular ritual. This is a handbook and reference book which can be used in many ways in a huge variety of circumstances, and I personally want very much to have it in my library. It is rich with scholarship, careful thought, clear explanations and inspired wisdom.

The Reverend Marchiene Rienstra, interfaith
and unity minister, Sedona, Arizona

This book addresses all aspects of contemporary ritualmaking. The author speaks to her readers heart and mind. The language is clear and concrete. This book is interesting for scholars, celebrants and everyone looking for ways to meaningfully ritualize life-transitions.

Joanna Wojtkowiak, PhD, cultural psychologist and assistant
professor, University of Humanistic Studies, The Netherlands

Crafting Secular Ritual is perfectly written to meet the need of contemporary people for meaningful ritual in their lives without necessarily turning to religious traditions that may not resonate with them or their loved ones. Jeltje Gordon-Lennox provides a blending of historical context with modern tools and checklists that provides the scaffolding needed for those who will create rituals for themselves or on behalf of others. As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I often create personalized rituals for a wide range of people who are religious, spiritual and/or completely secular. This new addition to the body of work supporting the need for ritual to mark major life passages and events combined with a detailed methodology for crafting these rituals is most welcome.

Reverend Margaret A. Beckman, pastor at the Unitarian
Universalist Congregation of Castine, Maine

CRAFTING

SECULAR

RITUAL

A PRACTICAL GUIDE

Jeltie Gordon - Lennox

Foreword by Isabel Russo

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

Identity icon by Adaiyaalam CC BY-SA

All other figures and icons J. Gordon-Lennox

Photos Ida van der Lee

First published in 2017

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Jeltje Gordon-Lennox 2017

Foreword copyright Isabel Russo 2017

Author photo copyright Graham Haber

Front cover image source: Sophie Standing.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

All pages marked can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781785980882 for personal use with this program, but may not be reproduced for any other purposes without the permission of the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Gordon-Lennox, Jeltje, author.

Title: Crafting secular ritual : a practical guide / Jeltje Gordon-Lennox.

Description: London ; Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, [2017] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016022346 | ISBN 9781785920882 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Rites and ceremonies. | Ritual. | Secularism.

Classification: LCC GT95 .G65 2017 | DDC 203/.8--dc23

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 78592 088 2

eISBN 978 1 78450 350 5

For my children Sushila and Jefferson

CONTENTS

RITUAL TOOLBOX

LIST OF TOOLS WITH THEIR ICONS