Free Downloads Santeria: The Religion: Faith, Rites, Magic (Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick)
Brought to Cuba as slaves, the Yoruba people of West Africa preserved their religion's heritage by disguising their gods as Catholic saints and worshipping them in secret. The resulting religion is known as Santeria, a blend of primitive magic and Catholicism now practiced by an estimated five million Americans. Santeria: The Religion is an informative and insightful examination of an African religion's survival in the New World. No one could write this book better than Migene Gonzalez-Wippler. Combining her informed study as an anthropologist and personal experience as a Santerian initiate results in a thrilling book that reveals some of Santeria's most spellbinding elements: ·The or’shas: the deities of Santeria. Who they are. What they represent. How they may be contacted. ·The santeros: the priests of Santeria. What they are like. What they do. Initiations into the priesthood. ·The diloggœn: shells used in divination. How they are used. Methods to consult the gods with the shells. ·Ewe: the magic of Santeria. Includes herbal potions prepared as medicinal cures. Santeria: The Religion covers every aspect of this religion, including its rites and ceremonies. Some of these ceremonies may be considered bizarre or controversial--but, if you want to know the truth, get this book. Santeria: The Religion contains over 65 remarkable photographs that will take you right into Santeria traditions. Interviews with practitioners reveal aspects of the religion rarely disclosed to non-believers. The time has come to reveal the growing spiritual practice that continues to gain ground worldwide, and to remove the fear and distrust from people who do not understand. Here is the truth about the religion. Get Santeria: The Religion today.
Series: Llewellyn's World Religion & Magick
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 2nd ed. edition (September 8, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1567183298
ISBN-13: 978-1567183290
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #113,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Books > History > World > Religious > New Age, Mythology & Occult #28 in Books > History > World > Religious > Ethnic & Tribal #47 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age & Spirituality > Wicca, Witchcraft & Paganism > Paganism
This is an excellent exposition by a brilliant author of a badly misunderstood religion. Migene Gonzalez-Wippler was the first author to write about Santeria for en English-speaking audience, When she began her research ahe was not an initiate and most of the santeros she interviewed gave her wrong information purposefully. This reflected in her first book on the subject. Since then she has recived several of the initiations of Santeria and her books reflect not only her love but also her great respect for it. She was the first author on the subject to make correlations between the orishas of the Yoruba pantheon and the archetypes of the collective unconscious. This is a major contribution to the study of Santeria. The secrecy which is such an intrinsic part of Santeria was born of the need of the African slaves to hide their practices from their Spanish masters. This secrecy is no longer necessary and does a great disservice to the religion. If is more important to let the world know that Santeria is a valid and powerful religious system and not the shady and suspicious cult that most uninformed people think it is. Gonzalez-Wippler has dispelled much of these false misconceptions. Her books were largely resposible for the favorable decision made by the Supreme Court declaring Santeria a valid religion, protected by the American constiturion.Unfortunately, this religion attracts a great deal of fanatics and people of the lower classes, many of them with an ax to grind. None of their ill-intended comments can change the fact that this is one of the most thorough and brilliant books written on the subject. I strongly recoemmend this book to any INTELLIGENT person who wants to know what Santeria is all about. Also excellent is here book The Santeria Experience. =
This is an alright book for those seeing an overview of Santeria but it does contain some misinformation. The book has a small section on Palo Mayombe. The author describes Palo as being evil and calls it "the dark side of santeria". This is not correct at all. Palo Mayombe, Palo Monte, Palo in general is totaly different and seperate from Santeria. There are spirits in Santeria and Spirits in Palo. Palo Mayombe is hardly anything like the information presented in this book. The Other thing to watch out for is her description of Orisha as Gods. Orisha are not gods, In santeria there is one God. The orisha are spirits who live on this earth with those who are initiated in santeria. Be careful when reading this book, use it as a tool to help you get some basic information but take it witah a grain of salt.
This is the most fascinating book I have read in a long time. I had the pleasure of being present during one of Ms. Gonzalez-Wippler's scholarly lectures on the subject of Santeria while I was a student at Columbia University, and she was both candid and supportive about the work of the santeros. THis book excelled all my expectations. She should be commended for her courage and admirable scholarship in presenting this much-misunderstood religion in a sympathetic and dignified manner. If you really want to know what Santeria is all about, you could not choose a better book. I strongly recommend it.
Un buen libro para comenzar a conocer sobre la santería. Presenta un buen marco de referencia para las personas que tienen curiosidad sobre el tema. La temática es tratada con suficiente respeto y decoro. Su profundidad es limitada. Su lectura es amena y entretenida. No lo recomiendo para personas que ya poseen conocimiento sobre el tema o desean realizar un estudio serio sobre la religion Yoruba según es practicada en el Caribe.
The Works of Migene Gonzalez Wippler are the most widely distributed and best selling books on the Subject of Santeria, and Cuban Lucumi. Her works are both liked and disliked, liked buy the community who are new to Santeria, and very much disliked buy Elders and initiates in the religion.It is not that Wippler's books are not accurate, they are. It is just that they seam to closely resemble other published books on Lucumi and Santeria that have been written in Spanish and have no copyrights. But aside from this, "if you can put this aside, many of the Elders in the religion, will not." (That is steeling) Then you have a pretty interesting book, full of basic wisdom and knowledge that really opens the doors for new comers into the religion, or for those who have a basic curiosity. "I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere." I recommend it to those who have no knowledge of the religion, it breaks that Voodoo stereo type, but this book is pretty much a stepping stone for other bigger and greater things. But I do not completely dislike her books, in fact I recommend this book, and Powers of the Orishas, to all Aleyos out there.
A Santero recommended this book to me because I have recently become interested in the Religion. It's a great starter. It has a lot of information on the very clandestine practices of the religion. It teaches a lot about the orishas, initiation ceremonies, and the history of the religion. Gonzalez-Wippler also includes some VERY interesting anecdotes.... I would recommend reading the book just for these anecdotes. Still, the book definitely contains some misinformation.The author even admits that, when writing other books (and earlier versions of this book), the initiates from whom she sought information, told her lies so that outsiders would not be let in on the very private practices of the religion. I feel that that might still be true for this book. I was even more suspicious about the accuracy of this book because, in her discussion of Brazilian candomblé, she misspelled nearly all of the terms she used. How can you trust that her information is accurate when she didn't even care to get the correct spelling of the words?Still, it is a good read. Well written, with good information. I definitely wouldn't use it for any academic work, or as the go-to source for information on Santería. Definitely buy it, but do a lot of other research.
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