Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self

Becca Piastrelli, Sounds True (NOV 16) Hardcover $26.99 (248pp), 978-1-68364-772-0

Becca Piastrelli’s insightful spiritual text includes advice for living a satisfying life by connecting to one’s land, lineage, community, and self.

Each of the book’s four sections begins with a philosophical discussion of the importance of establishing and maintaining connections, amplified by practical activities and rituals to try. In connecting to the land, Piastrelli suggests remembering what it feels like to be happy in nature. Planting a garden and foraging are discussed, alongside easy recipes for pickling, dehydrating, and making fruit jam. For reconnecting with one’s home, she focuses on enriching the experience of one’s habitation, rather than adding material goods.

The book’s broad, inclusive interpretation of lineage considers the significance of learning about one’s blood ancestry, but also the value of researching particular social groups and cultural identities. Piastrelli advises that visiting ancestral lands can be meaningful, but that studying genealogy, making family recipes, or learning about traditional music and art may be more practical and just as stirring. And in addressing community, she emphasizes the importance of listening and of being heard, suggesting a ritual for letting go of past hurts. Regular get-togethers in which people can share their stories and their lives, honoring rites of passage together from birth to death, are recommended. Later, with gentle authority, Piastrelli addresses the often difficult challenge of accepting one’s physical body; she includes a recipe for massage oil, as well as practices for exploring negative self-talk and a ritual shower.

Root and Ritual is a powerful self-help book, filled with insightful discussions of what it means to connect to one’s surroundings—as well as a myriad of meaningful activities and rituals to help facilitate those connections. CATHERINE THURESON