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As a minister of spirituality I companion many women who are trying to live with breast cancer, therefore I am also coping with the experience. When I read this book of rituals I imediately ordered several. The authors gently, cretively and wisely make suggestions for rituals that can be reflected upon or acted out by the individual or with another or a group. Often the woman coping with breast cancer is not ready to do so with a group. But she does need to ritualize her feelings. So right in the introduction the authors give this permission to the reader.
If there is a poverty of spirit among women today it is the lack of trusting their own power to ritualize life experiences. We have been, and many still are, co-opted to transfer the power of the ritual to a designated minister...usually a male in the patriarchial religions. But in order to live whole lives women must reclaim their power and creat ritual about all life experiences.
This reclaiming or our power is especially difficult when the experience is a devastating loss. RITUALS FOR WOMEN COPING WITH BREAST CANCER invites the women or her circle of friends to reclaim this power. One ritual done well, and this book is a brilliant aid in facilitating this, convinces the person or community of the power of ritual.
I highly recommend this book for all women, all ministers and for all communities of care.
The doctor told me I was lucky because I had ductul carcinoma in situ, which means the cancer was encapsulated. It was also microscopic. Early detection is always the key to the most hopeful situation. After two lumpectomies and 38 radiation treatments I was told that hopefully I would fall into a 96% category for survival. No matter how hopeful the prognosis, one lives with the FEAR every single day of one's life.
My process began in early June and the treatments were completed in early November. The months between were very difficult. IF ONLY THIS BOOK HAD BEEN AVAILABLE THEN to companion me through the emotions, the sounds and the loneliness conjured by this evil!
Acknowledging one's reality, claiming confidence, naming losses, stream of emotions, taming and living with the fear and celebrating hope -- these are all of things that I was yearning to do in my own personal horror. I did not have the language nor the structure to allow myself these simple yet profound opportunities.
Kudos to the Prism Collective for touching my soul and so many others. Rituals for Women Coping with Breast Cancer is the most wonderful, caring, insightful way to touch the lives of the thousands of women who confront the evil beast every day. This offers courage, hope and a great sense of not being alone in the struggle! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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Felipe Alfau was a strange character and so are his books - very very different, they remind us of the writings of Vargas Llosa with a taste of Cortazar. This is not a translation rather Alfau has written the book in English so all the spices of the Spanish culture are visible. This is extremely rare even with the best of the translators. You get a taste of Spain and a vivid picture of the vibrant society which was so different from the rest of Europe. The people are full of life and passion. Love and passion are the means for making life flow and may be we all need to follow that some day.
You can look at this book either as a short story book or a novel - since it has nine short stories which can either be individually read but they are also connected to each other.
I am long time fan of Marquez and I can promise that this book is equally impressive as any book from Marquez. It is a must buy.
However the next three stories are excellent and I was quickly drawn into the surreal world of Alfau. Each chapter works well as a short story, but the further the reader digs, the more the stories link into a single novel rich in characters and ideas. Borges, Calvino, Kundera and the Boom-time Latin Americans were great writers, but after reading Alfau I realise they were not as original as I'd long thought. A book waiting to be rediscovered (again!).
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