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The Book of Uncommon Rituals (forthcoming) is an adventurous collection of unique works from practitioners across spiritual paths and no spiritual path, a gathering of rituals for life circumstances for which traditional rituals do not already exist, as well as rituals which exist beyond the categories and structures of traditional religious practice. This resource is meant to be used in a myriad of ways – by groups and individuals, in times of sickness and health, in grief and in joy. Its contents will mark everything from celebrations of love and new life to acknowledgements of profound loss. It has an expansive vision of what ritual is and what it can be, and its framework is always God-optional.
About
Ritual is a crucial way of framing human activity. From time immemorial, human beings have crafted rituals to mark important occasions, define the boundaryless space of transition, and structure the liminality of endings and new beginnings. Ritual nurtures our relationships, connects us to ourselves, others, and the world at large, and raises our awareness of the sacred qualities of all life. Ritual breaks us out of mundanity, numbness, and the forgetfulness of the everyday, and brings us into the immediacy of the here and now. Ritual reminds us of who and where we are.
Today we live in a world bereft of ritual. More and more, we lack the frameworks we have relied on to bring us through the ordinary and extraordinary events of life and death. The rituals that we do have, tied to institutions that no longer speak to our contemporary moment, often do not feel potent or relevant. We are starving for ritual.
The Book of Uncommon Rituals is a collaborative creation in process. We seek submissions from a diverse community of people who long to remedy our cultural lack of ritual, and share with a broad audience the life-giving practices they have created or learned. We seek submissions from you: clergy and chaplains, businesspeople and artists, men, women, and gender nonconforming folks, youths and wise elders. If you believe there is a need for vibrant ritual in our ever-changing world, please join us.
Submit
Thank you for your interest in submitting to The Book of Uncommon Rituals! Please read all instructions before submitting. Each submission will be considered for one of our forthcoming volumes. Thank you in advance for your contribution — we look forward to reviewing it!
— Editors Wesley Wildman, Melody Stanford Martin, and Molly Silverstein, on behalf of the entire Wildhouse Publications team
- All ritual submissions must be completely original and must not be replications of another author’s work. Any quoted material must be properly attributed. The editors reserve the right to omit attributed material if contributors cannot secure the proper permissions to print.
- We are thrilled to have many contributions to this work, however we cannot guarantee that all submissions will be published.
- Contributors may submit multiple entries, but each entry must have its own form submission. Please do not use the form to submit multiple entries at once.
- Interactive components are highly encouraged! 🙂 Please consider including descriptions of physical materials, body movements, and sensory textures to help participants ground their experience.
- Please omit any specific terms for the divine or specific religious figures (e.g. Goddess, Buddha, Jesus, etc.). Instead, we ask that you use a single asterisk * within the text. In the printed volume, each instance of an asterisk will be replaced with a special symbol. Readers will be encouraged to use whatever referent they desire in its place.
- If your ritual includes a guide or leader, please use the term “facilitator” instead of referencing a particular type of clergy member (priest, rabbi, pastor, etc.). Our goal is to make these rituals accessible to a wide audience from many different backgrounds, and to be non-hierarchical in practice.
- Please consider writing rituals in such a way that they can be adapted to be used either in a group or solo.
- While we are not able to offer monetary compensation or royalties for submissions, each contributor will receive a free copy of the volume in which their contribution is printed and a great big shoutout on our website, social media, and promotional campaigns.
If you have any questions about submission, please feel free to reach out to Melody Stanford Martin, mmartin@wildhousepublications.com.
MEET THE EDITORS
Wesley Wildman
MELODY STANFORD MARTIN
MOLLY SILVERSTEIN
What do a transreligious mystical philosopher, a druid folk activist musician, and a contemplative Jewish agnostic have in common?
A deep passion for supporting the spiritual quests of non-religious people and people on the creative fringes of religious organizations – including through innovative and transformative ritual. Wesley, Melody, and Molly are launching this project on behalf of the nonprofit WIldheart Evolution and its publishing arm Wildhouse Publications to produce resources that address the crying need for more relevant ritual practices in our time. All royalties from sales of books produced through the Uncommon Rituals publication project are dedicated to Wildheart’s central activity of supporting the spirituality of people who are nonreligious or who dwell in the creative borderlands of traditional religious groups. And we have the support of an array of stunningly gifted editorial advisors who will help us gather, select, and organize contributions of rituals that have bubbled up out of the creative genius of our beloved audience.
You can find out about Wesley, Melody, and Molly on the Wildhouse Publications web site (wildhousepublications.com). And you can find out about our amazing editorial advisors right here.
MEET THE BOARD
Coming soon!