Spiritual Bathing: Healing Rituals and Traditions from Around the World - Softcover

Arvigo, Rosita; Epstein, Nadine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587611708 ISBN 13: 9781587611704

Publisher: Celestial Arts, 2004

Synopsis

Since ancient times, people have engaged in spiritual bathing—a soothing and restorative practice that rejuvenates the body, mind, and soul. Spiritual baths promote health and have been proven to aid in the treatment of anxiety, grief, insomnia, and depression. In SPIRITUAL BATHING, best-selling authors Rosita Arvigo and Nadine Epstein explore this lost art and its fascinating history, with information on where sacred baths are currently offered and easy recipes to create bathing rituals in your home. Derived from various regions and philosophies—Shinto, Buddhist, Wiccan, Mayan, and others—most of these baths require only water, a simple ritual, accessible plants and herbs, and the desire to nurture your spirit. Rich with luxurious rituals as well as simple, practical remedies, SPIRITUAL BATHING will help you discover a sense of balance, vitality, and pleasure in your daily routine.An exploration of the lost art of spiritual bathing for promoting healing, rejuvenation, and well-being.Filled with prescriptive recipes for preparing sacred baths at home using water, plants, and ritual.Includes more than 75 stunning photographs from 15 cultures around the world.

About this title

About the Author

ROSITA ARVIGO is a naprapathic and holistic physician who has been using spiritual bathing techniques in her healing work for more than 20 years. She resides in San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize.
NADINE EPSTEIN is a writer and artist whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, and Ms. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

Arvigo and Epstein, authors of a previous book on contemporary uses of the Mayan tradition, offer an intriguing historical-cum-spiritual tour of world religious traditions involving water, its ritual use and spiritual significance. The authors rightly note that water has played an essential role in the rise of world cultures throughout history, and it has been assigned spiritual meaning within various cultures' belief systems. They review 15 cultures' selected beliefs and rituals, some more successfully than others. A tilt toward pre-Columbian Mesoamerican spiritual traditions separate chapters are devoted to the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas is arbitrary but understandable, given the authors' previous book and training with a Mayan shaman. But it does result in relatively stinted treatment of sacred water rituals within such dominant religious traditions as Christianity, in which baptism is one of the world's best-known water initiation rituals, and Hinduism, which has been shaped by the spiritual significance of India's river waters. Practical applications in home ritual are commendable but sometimes strained. While flower baths can be easily done at home without special accessories, a bather will need a fairly large garden for regular baths and, for ideal infusion, sunny conditions more frequent in Belize author Arvigo's home than in, say, Seattle. Still, the book shines light on a common element and underappreciated aspect of ritual that flows through different epochs and world cultures, and its more than 100 color photos greatly enhance the text.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Celestial Arts
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1587611708
• ISBN 13: 9781587611704
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 182