Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780882140612)

Organizing data from cultures the world over, Mircea Eliade, one ofthe preeminent interpreters of world religion in the twentieth century, lays out the basic patterns of initiation: group puberty rites, entranceinto secret cults, shamanic instruction, individual visions, and heroicrites of passage. The vast information assembled here transcendsusual scholarship. Eliade always affirms the greater experience in allinitiation - the indissoluble tie between humans and the cosmos ofgods, spirits, animals, ancestors, and nature.As Michael Meade writes in his foreword, Eliade "fervently workedat keeping the doors of perception open to the world of sacred symbolsand creative ritual. Through his insistence that we are each thenecessary inheritors of a vast sacred heritage, he has acted as a spiritualelder and distant mentor to me and many students of myth andritual. Like an archeologist of symbols, he has unearthed, preserved, and found new meanings in the rites of our ancestors."

Author: Michael Meade, Mircea Eliade
ISBN-10: 0882140612
ISBN-13: 9780882140612
Publisher: Spring Publications
Language: English
Published: 09/11/2017
Pages: 204
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.47d