lb_lee: A clay sculpture of a heart, with a black interior containing little red, brown, white, green, and blue figures. (plural)
lb_lee ([personal profile] lb_lee) wrote in [community profile] pluralstories2022-10-28 12:10 pm

Spirit Marriage, by Megan Rose (history/personal experience prose, 2022)

"This is a love story—a love story disguised as a piece of scholarly research."

Blurb: "Megan Rose, Ph.D., examines the practice and purpose of spirit marriage around the world, presenting transcultural evidence of this form of sacred union. [...] She shares her in-depth interviews with ten contemporary practitioners of spirit marriage, including a Faery Seer, a Shakta Tantric, a West African Shrine Keeper, a New Orleans Voodoo Mambo, Haitian Vodou practitioners, and a ceremonial magician," along with her own spirit marriage.

Why is it worth your time?: This is an unusual entry for this catalog, since it is anthropological research from a religion and magic perspective, but it is easy enough to read and crammed with personal stories of spirit marriage, along with possession, channelling, and indwelling, and that seems super-relevant. If you have been itching to read about metaphysical or religious experiences of pluralish phenomena and love, this book fills a big hole in a lot of plurals' education. Megan Rose is herself in a spirit marriage, and she states at the start that she will not spend the book arguing about the reality or truth of her subjects' (or her own) experiences--and indeed, she does not.

Plural Tags: creator speaks from experience, abuse not mentioned, mindsharing, otherworld, dreamfolk, nonhumans [gods, spirits, lwa, fairy], the dead, romantic relationships, teamwork, community, and metaphysical/spiritual

Content Warnings: Much discussion of religion, mentions of religious oppression but nothing too intense. That said, this can be an emotionally intense read, just because of its subject material.

Access Notes: Available in paper and ebook forms.