There are physical and psychological experiences and rites of passage common to all women’s lives, crossing the boundaries of age, class, culture, race, sexual orientation, and religion. While women have a great hunger for ritual to reflect the events in their lives, they often do not know how to begin. For many, the very thought of creating their own rituals is too intimidating, and instead wait for others to take the lead, or simply suppress their own needs, desires, and dreams. Consequently, many women lead lives that too often are physically, emotionally, and spiritually unfulfilled. Finally, comes an author who seeks to provide women with the tools to address and fulfill their own needs for meaning that is sourced from their own intuitive knowing. Together, with open minds and hearts, we can learn to shape chaos and human needs into works of great power and beauty.

Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries is a practical and magical, one-of-a-kind guide and resource for both creating and facilitating Goddess and female-centered rituals. Written for individuals and groups, both beginners and experienced ritualists alike, Dianic High Priestess and seasoned ritualist Ruth Barrett guides women through a unique step-by-step process, with practices that weaves personal need with an individual or group’s intuitive creativity. Barrett demystifies the components of how to design and facilitate an effective ritual for any significant occasion, seasonal holy day, or life-cycle event. Unique from other books on ritual, Barrett emphasizes energetics for ritual, delving into the awareness and conscious working of energy to intentionally align, support, and carry out the ritual’s purpose. From personal energetic preparation, preparation for group ritual facilitators and participants, Barrett provides practices and suggestions for this important and often overlooked aspect of the ritual experience.

Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries is specifically not a didactic ritual “cookbook,” that tells the reader exactly what to do, but rarely explains the reason or motivation behind a given enactment or symbol. Ruth Barrett teaches women how to think like a ritualist and develop the inner tools needed to create meaningful rituals for themselves and with others.

Beginning with a discussion on the power of women’s ritual and the importance of women creating their own ritual experiences, Barrett proceeds with how to use intuition to develop a ritual’s purpose, how to work with energy that supports the ritual theme, creating enactments, appropriate structure, creating invocations, and an overview of a female-centered Wheel of the Year for seasonal celebrations. Barrett brings four decades of experience providing ritual facilitation, to discuss the personal and practical skills needed when creating, preparing for, and facilitating small or large group rituals that open to the public – a must for women drawn to providing rituals for others. Rarely addressed in print before is the topic of how to evaluate a ritual in order to constantly learn and improve them. A variety of magical techniques with applications for ritual and spellcraft are woven throughout the book that enhance and deepen a woman’s relationship with herself and the powers of nature. Barrett substantially discusses her perspective on the roles and responsibilities of the Priestess in ancient and contemporary times, the herstory and cosmology of the feminist Dianic tradition, its foundational spiritual tenants based on female embodiment, spiritual service, and as a spiritual feminist tool for women to heal from internalized patriarchal oppression.