I wanted to love this book because I adore Casper (thanks to the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast), but I just could not get into this book.

I don't know if it was the writing style or a "good book wrong time" kind of thing, but I couldn't do it. I ended up DNFing it.

4.5. I really enjoyed quite a lot of this. It even inspired me to try “tech sabbath,” which I’d read about before but never done. It was a rewarding experience, and I look forward to trying other things the author suggests.

A book for thoughtful people who are looking to take stock of their life.

(Fitness bonding still skeeves me out, though. The explanation of the psychology behind it was interesting and illuminating, but, no, thank you.)

THE POWER OF RITUAL surprised me. There's nary a self-help book out there that I haven't read, and while this one doesn't explicitly advertise itself as a self-help book, there's something about the "ritual" aspect that lends itself to the navel-gazing you typically find among the self-help tropes. However, there's something different about this one. I appreciated that Casper ter Kuile decided to deep-dive into varying types of rituals, looking at the authentic connections of self, others, nature, and transcendence. His writing is lyrical, and the analogies and themes remind me of Buddhist concepts. I intend to go into this one again, this time with a notebook at hand in order to capture the multitude of gems in this book. I was surprised to find that there is, indeed, a recent self-help book that captures something new and interesting and relevant.

I enjoyed The Power of Ritual by Casper ter Kuile because he examines the power of ritual to improve our lives. Two examples really resonated with me: the everyday rituals around eating & food and rituals around exercise. The book covers: connecting with self, connecting with others, connecting with nature, and connecting with transcendence. The rituals he describes populate our days and make up our lives, the everyday actions that are really the rituals of our life. Thinking about how we move through our days will make our daily life better. This book is thoughtful & wonderful.
Fun fact: Casper ter Kuile is the co-host of the popular podcast ‘Harry Potter and the Sacred Text’ and he got a Masters degree from Harvard Divinity School.
Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I think I will always treasure both this book and my first reading of it. Casper Ter Kuile uses life experiences and his extensive research to show the reader how they can weave meaning into their lives through everyday rituals. He references Kathleen McTigue who defines ritual by intention, attention, and repetition. He breaks up rituals by 1) Connecting with self, 2) Connecting with others 3) Connecting with nature 4) Connecting with transcendence and 5) Already connected. I found so much beauty in the way he defined pilgrimage and sacred reading. These are two rituals I have begun in my own life since the reading of this book. Perhaps the greatest advantage of Casper's gift is the wide audience that would relate to this work. While Casper himself is not religious, the practices and content can be adapted to the life of a person who practices religion, a person who is spiritual, or a person that does not engage in either. It is rare to find books that do this so well.

Post quarantine, I have struggled to find meaning in the new way of life that we are all living. This book was such a gift to me and I immediately went to purchase a copy.

Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to review.

Author Casper ter Kuile walks his readers through the process of finding spiritual direction, and how you can turn everyday rituals into more intentional and meaningful practices. While this book was written pre-COVID19, it couldn't have been released at a better time. Many of us are struggling to find a sense of ritual and routine in a world that seems almost unrecognizable.

His writing is approachable and I loved the reminder that we might already be doing some of this already...and we might just need to become a bit more intentional. Rituals don't need to be complicated, but rather as long as you include these three elements, intention, attention, and repetition...most anything can become a spiritual practice in your own day to day life.

I love this practical approach that is clear, encouraging, and filled with relatable wisdom. It is a quick read that will leave you with an actionable plan to find more connection and intentionality in your own life. You can read this and other book reviews at genthebookworm.com

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper One for the gifted copy.

A gentle, beautifully written look at community and finding rhythm of connection, with others, yourself and nature.
This book could not be more timely. In times of isolation and separation and increased anxiety, it’s important to maintain or create rituals around peace and deep connection. Some of the suggestions, of course, do not comply with social distancing...but it was lovely to read about an ongoing dinner party between friends.
This was the perfect book to read with my morning cup of coffee as a kind of secular devotional. Although it’s focused on the deeply meaningful It is in no way religious or exclusionary.

I think this is one of those books that will be loved by folks who are already a fan of the author. I had high hopes for it but I found it really esoteric and dragging. I was hoping for something that was ideas on how to make rituals out of everyday life, which I really like to do. Instead, this felt like a really long research paper on things like how Crossfit is like church for modern day people. I didn't get a lot out of it but from the looks of the reviews on Goodreads, people who are fans of this author's Harry Potter themed podcast are likely to love it.

I read an ARC of this book for review.

If you like the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast, you'll enjoy this book. Written in Casper ter Kuile's calming tone, The Power of Ritual examines everyday practices and how to treat them as a spiritual practice. Not just a book for the religious - relevant for people of many different background.

This was an interesting book to read right now, when so many of us are seeking ways to connect and provide some sort of framework and meaning for these quarantined days. As someone who believes in ritual, I don't know that the author taught me anything I didn't know, but I appreciated his well-written book and know that it will help a lot of people seeking to make sense of this challenging moment. Many thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

As a closeted gay teen in an all-boys boarding school, Casper ter Kuile fought his loneliness with solo viewings of You’ve Got Mail. As he developed specific habits for re-watching the movie, the hope and attention he gave the film transformed the viewings into a ritual. Watching the 1990s rom-com began to give him something he’d never gotten from his classmates-- or from organized religion.

“I am convinced we are in the midst of a paradigm shift,” ter Kuile argues in his new book, The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices. “In the midst of these age-defining changes, the old answers, rituals, and structures that helped us find meaning and connection no longer speak to our lived experience.” We are in a crisis of isolation and distraction.

Casper ter Kuile knows he isn’t the first to point out this problem. His proposed fix isn’t anything new either: put simply, more “connection.”

So what does The Power of Ritual bring to the table? This book seeks to take the goal of increased connection from theory to practice. It offers a specific methodology for elevating everyday experiences into “spiritual practices” with purpose and commitment.

“We are building lives of meaning and connection outside of traditional religious spaces, but making it up as we go along can only take us so far. We need help to ground and enrich those practices. And if we are brave enough to look, it is in the ancient traditions where we find incredible insight and creativity that we can adapt for our modern world.”

The modern “religious none,” ter Kuile argues, can “unbundle” and “remix” religious traditions to suit their own needs, facilitating connection with themself, the people around them, the natural world, and the “transcendent.”

This concept is the focus of much of ter Kuils’ scholarship and work. Notably, he co-hosts the popular podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, which applies methods of scripture analysis to contemporary fiction. Fans of the podcast will find a lot to love in the book, which is built around the same essential approach.

The book highlights other technically secular communities that incorporate ritualized, quasi-spiritual elements. Soul Cycle, which has long been compared to a spiritual community (favorably as a church and unfavorably as a cult), gets a particularly compelling analysis.

The tone is consistently gentle and encouraging. Casper ter Kuile is all earnestness here. He truly believes in the power of his approach, and you get the sense he’d be delighted for you to try it.

The book drops the barrier to entry as low as it can go. It promises readers that they can dip their toe into ritualizing everyday life with small shifts in habit.
"...you already have a host of rituals we might call spiritual practices--even if you’d never use that language. Reading, walking, eating, resting, reflecting: these are legitimate and worthy of your attention and care, and they can be the foundation of a life of deep connection.”
Despite the warm, fuzzy language, the suggestions in The Power of Ritual are tailored for a very narrow audience. The author is clear that he expects his readers to share his wholesale dismissal of traditional religion, as well as a fairly unfettered and flexible lifestyle. The book gives little consideration to anyone that differs significantly from the author.
The Power of Ritual would have benefited tremendously from a co-author who could offer some context. Another writer, perhaps one at another stage of life, might have pushed back against the sweeping generalizations and blind spots in the book. I would have loved to hear from someone with a different relationship to traditional religion tackle these same practices. At the very least, I would have appreciated an acknowledgement in-text that the author is interested in only a very narrow audience.
As the book concludes, the author tells us:
“I hope you feel empowered to translate ancient traditions to enrich those modern practices and that you feel permission to be creative in combining the ancient and the emergent.”

This line helped me verbalize what bothered me about the book’s approach to religious tradition. Why is the author positioned to grant me that “permission?” Despite his assertions that “we have inherited great traditions from our spiritual ancestors,” Casper ter Kuile is clear that he isn’t religious himself. Is this really, then, his heritage? The book shows us no hesitation or self-reflection about stripping ancient practices of their historical, cultural, religious, and racial contexts.

The result is an attitude I might call “spiritual colonialism.” The book is underpinned by an unquestioned assumption that the religions of the world are waiting to be plundered and rebundled for secular consumption. If it makes you feel good, the book seems to argue, then you have a right to it, even if you don’t know anything about the people who created it.

Casper ter Kuile does many things, chiefly he talks and writes about rituals and sacred practices both in his daily life and in online spaces with others. I had the privilege of reading his new book The Power of Ritual which is categorized as a self help book, I find it more of a memoir into being and the essence of what humans do on a daily basis.

This book can be a way to think about literature in a new way. If you’re a teacher and are looking for a different approach to teaching students to go deeper. Casper’s book will show you ancient ways from theologians and people in history that are hundreds of years old.

For example Casper runs a very successful podcast called Harry Potter and the Sacred Text with his co-host Vanessa Zoltan. They take the text Harry Potter and break it down with these ancient rituals. Why does this matter in Casper’s new book? Well he talks a bit about his podcast in it. It’s fascinating in the fact he breaks down the purpose of why they use “PaRDes” for example on the show in the book.

One of the fascinating pieces of the culture he writes about is how people these days find new ways to create what would be considered a “church”. In his research journey he finds that CrossFit gyms are places where communities thrive in an almost religious nature. The bonds and love of community are so strong literally and figuratively, it’s hard not to want to join a local one.

He portions the book into five sections connecting with self, others, nature, transcendence, and the already connected. A very easy read to delve deeper into the life you are already leading and how you can notice the rituals you already have created.

This book is a fun and informative read. I especially enjoyed the sections on the practice of a Sabbath. This book is engaging and offers a variety of real-life examples of how to implement mindful practices into your daily life. The length of chapters and structure of the book was also easy to digest and kept my attention throughout.

A very interesting book about how people connect .From exercise classes like SoulCycle to dinner clubs to chorus singing to book clubs.All forms of ritual that joins us together gives our lives ritual.Very interesting read especially during this pandemic where people aepre looking for connection Skyping zooming while isolating#netgalley#harper ollins

This book was not for me. I am not religious at all. Had I known the basis of the book focused on Harry Potter, Prayer, Divinty and religion I would not have chosen it. I think it should be promoted as a Christian book. The title and the use of the words "ritual and soulful" are misleading. This is definitely a book with a religious premise.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperOne the opportunity to read and review this book.

jb
https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/

Not my favorite, but self-help does well in our collection. While I wouldn't necessarily categorize this as self-help, I believe it would have a readership here.