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

by Becca Piastrelli

A beautifully illustrated guide for connecting with the earth, your ancestors, and your communities as you come home to your whole self

Despite our best efforts, our modern world leaves so many of us feeling isolated, unworthy, and alone. We’re unrooted from the land, untethered from our lineages, disconnected from our communities, and separated from our deepest sense of self.

In Root and Ritual, Becca Piastrelli offers a pathway back to connection and wholeness through rituals, recipes, and ancestral wisdom. “Though we live in a radically different-looking world, the needs of our bodies and spirits are the same as the ancestors we came from.”

Divided into four parts—Land, Lineage, Community, and Self—this book takes you on a journey for engaging more deeply with your life:

- Part 1 introduces practices for reconnecting with the land, including seasonal recipes, crafting with plants, and tending your home
- In Part 2, you’ll learn to reclaim the gifts of your lineage as you understand past harms and explore the traditional folklore, foods, and arts of those who came before
- Part 3 centers around community, helping you cultivate sisterhood and celebrate meaningful rites of passage
- In Part 4, you’ll return to yourself as you open your intuition, tune in to your body, and awaken the wild woman within

A rich and dynamic treasure chest of timeless teachings, Root and Ritual is a beautiful guide for knowing who you are—and that you belong here.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Nature, Witchcraft, Magic, New Age, Audiobook

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit that I was first attracted to Root and Ritual by its gorgeous cover, featuring items one might find on a foraging expedition - herbs, petals, fungi, insects and bones. My first impressions paid off and I found this a stimulating and inspiring read, a call to action for readers to re-ground themselves in an increasingly frenetic and superficial world.
In four parts, author Becca Piastrelli explores our connections to land, lineage, community and self, and how each of these might be considered and enhanced to foster a greater sense of personal fulfilment and belonging. In addition to providing an erudite guide based upon her own substantial experience as a natural healer, specialist public speaker and women's group facilitator, Piastrelli challenges the reader with practical exercises at the conclusion of each chapter. She also includes several natural recipes and suggestions for meaningful personal and group rituals, and other activities designed to enhance the reader's experience.

"Integrating these ideas into your life starts by simply listening and noticing what makes you feel the most grounded, at peace, and joyful in your body." (p.210)

While the author is based in California, and some of the content is primarily relevant to that environment, I felt that the concepts were easily transferable to my own experience as an Australian reader with Anglo-Celtic heritage. I was particularly impressed by Piastrelli's references to indigenous cultures, and her caution to readers regarding the potential for cultural appropriation.
Root and Ritual is an interesting and uplifting read, with many practical suggestions for readers who seek a sense of connection and groundedness within their lives. Highly recommended.
My thanks to the author, Becca Piastrelli, publisher Sounds True and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this beautifully produced title.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't want to discount the information provided by this book, but the real star for me was the illustrations. The color palette is gorgeous and the illustrations really set the mood. However, I really appreciated the different sections of the book. I try to connect with my ancestors as much as possible, but I also long to connect more with my community. The section on Community gave some great suggestions on how to do so. I am also really excited to try out some of the suggestions for making a personal body oil and some of the self care practices. Overall, a great book to help you connect with nature, yourself, and those around you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an eARC of this book. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

[janne Boswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It provided a gentle reminder to slow down and reconnect with nature.
Land. Lineage Community and Self.
The Author provided an array of options to explore nature and its abundance, such as crafts, recipes, journalling, exploring past 'harms', creating a community and the benefits of trusting your intuition, which fuels a sense of empowerment.
I particularly enjoyed the Author's use of folklore and ritual, particularly in dealing with grief. The Author offered suggestions on Honor Rites of Passage, Honoring the Life/Death Cycle, Death Blessing Ceremony, Honoring Death. Grief is so difficult, and I thought her suggestions, offered a way to process feelings with a 'hands on approach' exploring rituals and a nature memorial.
Thank you NetGalley and Sounds True Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.

https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/
jb

[Jessi Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this book! It's inclusive, trauma sensitivity, and culturally, aware and does a great job showing ways to reconnect with your land of residence and origin as well as your ancestral roots. Becca takes precautions against generalizations and cultural appropriation when finding and creating ritual and meaning in your life.

Some of the topics covered are the importance of chosen familial groups and boundaries within potentially unsafe unchosen familial ones, ways to connect to your heritage if it is unknown through adoption or the forcible relocation of your ancestors, ways to honor the power of the feminine regardless of your gender identification or birth sex, confronting the painful reality of the colonization of lands and bodies and the the roles your ancestors played as either victims or perpetrators, how to make the ordinary sacred through ritual, food preservation as connection to the land and nature, and much more.

[Nōn · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need connection. Our human need to connect is in our blood, our hearts, our everything. It's in the stories we read, the stories we tell. It's in how we show up in the world, for others, for ourselves. It's how we're here, and why we're here.

And Root & Ritual reflects all of this connection so profoundly, so beautifully.

[Karin Vala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so lovely! I am absolutely going to buy this as a physical copy once it's out on November 16th.
It's divided into four parts plus introduction: Land, Lineage, Community & Self. 
I think my favourite part was Land as it talked a lot about learning about where we live, did our ancestors originate from here or did we come from somewhere else? and if so who were native to this land, what did their lives look like, how did they work with the land? And also how far back can you trace your ancestry? What cultures are in your DNA? etc. There was a lot about learning the local flora and fauna, building a connection to it through knowledge and understanding and it was just written in a very sweet and, in lack of a better word, cozy way. We also got some recipes for floral water and how to make jam and preserve veggies and I can not WAIT to try them out!
Part two was harder for me to connect with due to the fact that I don't know where my ancestors came from, but it did get me super excited to try one of those ancestry sites where you send in a DNA sample.
I did like that she talked about how some of us might not want to dig in our ancestral line for various reasons, or can't because we're adopted etc, and that it doesn't have to be blood ancestors, but can be any who you feel kinship with. Are you a writer? Then all the writers who came before you are your ancestors. etc. The one thing that bugged me here was that there seemed to be an underlying assumption that whoever reading was going to become a parent at some point or another. There was some talk of "your descenters, your children" etc and as someone who probably will not be able to have kids it felt a bit... uncomfortable.
Otherwise she was very inclusive in her work. She wrote in the beginning that this book is intended for women but is open for non binary and trans people alike to explore, and when she talks about typically biologically female things like first menstruation and how to celebrate it in a ritual called menarche she mentions that not all girls bleed and this ceremony can be done either for another milestone in the person's journey into womanhood, or to just pick a date. 
The part about community was really nice, although I wish she could've been a bit more inclusive of those who aren't exactly socially skilled and/or are introverts. A lot of the things she spoke about were only applicable if the person in question already have a lot of family and friends. A section about how to venture out and find this community would've been welcomed.
So lastly we have the Self. It was typical self love and self acceptance talk- in a good way! She spoke very sweetly about how we ought to remember to nourish ourselves and our bodies, and to think about how we treat our pets with good food and belly rubs and snuggles etc, and to realize that our own bodies need the same thing. I loved that.
Here we got a recipe for a body oil that I will most definitely try out.
All in all I truly enjoyed this and I can't wait to have the physical copy on my shelf.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are absolutely amazing! The content was also generally good, but I had anticipated that certain things would go deeper when buying it. I did not learn something new from this book.

[Amanda Torrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for anyone wanting to feel more rooted and in tune with nature😊

[Ayla Chisholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely gleaned some good information from this book. Some of it I didn’t connect to entirely, but it was an enjoyable read.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished my first read through. I want to hm go through again more slowly to actually follow the journal prompts next

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Root and Ritual by Becca Piastrelli is a guide about becoming more at home with your self. This book is divided up into four parts: land, lineage, community, and self. The author has some great ideas, and this guide is very simple yet very helpful. I appreciated her emphasis on asking one's self, "How am I doing, really?" Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous, and the language gave me a very cozy feelling through it all. It asks all the questionsthat I had (almost) never thought about before during my own magical path and had me talking to my dad about memories I wasn't sure were real or not.

The author makes a great job in being inclusive in her talks about women not all being cis-women. Also making sure that people know that you dont have to be identifying as a woman to be reading this book, that you could just be interested in exploring the divine feminine.

Its one o the witchy books that just leaves me with an all in all warm and fuzzy that I'd very much like fort to stay.

[Lovely Loveday]

Root and Ritual Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self by Becca Piastrelli is a guide for connecting with the earth, your ancestors, and your communities as you come home to your whole self. A well-written read that is full of useful information. Root and Ritual is a book I will read again often.

[Avory Faucette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Root and Ritual by Becca Piastrelli

In a moment of synchronicity, I recently heard my teacher on an episode of the Belonging podcast, particularly enjoyed the host, and then realized she wrote the book I was about to read, Root & Ritual!

This book sits in a middle ground between a witchcraft guide and a more general audience “get back to nature” short-and-inspirational tome. It will appeal to readers who’ve longed for greater connection to earth, community, ancestry, and ritual in times of overwhelm, but may not identify as witches or be drawn to spellwork. The writing is accessible and exercises require minimal supplies or knowledge (though you CAN let your inner DIY queen wild!)

Women of European descent may find the most resonance with Piastrelli’s stories and example. Though she consistently brings up issues of colonization, lacking access to ancestral records, and how oppression harms us all, some BIPOC readers may prefer a book less heavy on European examples. Some practices included will be inaccessible to some readers including those with limited access to ancestral information, trans women, women who don’t menstruate, etc. This is acknowledged, but important to note.

That said, I found myself deeply relating to parts of Piastrelli’s story, and I believe these earth-based practices are crucial for folx living disconnected from ritual or authentic connections to land. The book is for women, but I still really connected to some of the material from a different gender lens. Practices like purposeful wandering sparked my kitchen witchy leanings without being too intimidating, and I love how Piastrelli brings in important topics such as lineage beyond bloodlines. If you’re reading while locked down, just be aware this is one of those books that will make you sad not to have access to a community. ❤️ As an anecdote to loneliness, the communal practices are essential and also require some creativity right now!

[An ARC of this book was provided through #NetGalley for review.]

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this audiobook, narrated by the author. She had some good reflections on self, ancestry, grief, nature, and community. Sometimes it felt contradictory, like saying before you cut a flower, you’re supposed to ask permission. But then she talks about making altars for different rituals, and to cut flowers to leave on them, or to make floral wreaths as a fun craft with your girl groups. Wouldn’t that be disrespectful to the flowers? 🤦🏼‍♀️

I did like this quote on grief: “Grief is not something we can or should attempt to fix. And grief is something that doesn’t simply go away with time. Our job, when circling around someone who is grieving, is to simply be with them in the pain and not enforce a timeline or expectations on how it should look or when it should end.” That resonated with me, probably bc my grandma just died this summer, and I’m worried about my grandpa being alone. 🤔

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

ROOT AND RITUAL invites readers to explore their connection to land, lineage, community, and self. This book speaks to the loneliness so many feel and guides us into a deeper relationship with the earth, ourselves, our history, and one another. The content feels particularly pertinent as we grapple to find a way forward amidst a global pandemic and climate crisis. 

Becca weaves together personal stories, thought-provoking reflections and questions, and offers practical ways to go deeper through rituals, recipes, and crafts. The illustrations are also utterly charming and inspiring. 

Root and Ritual reminded me that in this age of loneliness, I belong: to the land, to my lineage, to my community, and to myself. It expanded my view of my place in the world and offered me hope for the future. 

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Root and Ritual is a great little introductory book on how to connect back to yourself and nature. This book was great for the practice of grounding (recentering and bringing yourself back down to Earth.) Filled with guides to make your own rituals, recipes, and crafts this book has a little something for everyone. I think this is great for anyone that wants to dip their toes into the vaguely spiritual. Also I was so happy that a book of this nature is finally starting to be intersectional, culturally aware, and over all inclusive.

[LittleRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, while addressing how we’ve become disconnected in the modern world, is even more relevant during the pandemic where we have been forced to spend more time at home and alone. It is a great read for anyone who feels like they’re on their own. Broken into four parts, you will learn to connected in meaningful ways to yourself, your past, your community and the land.

Well written, this book is food for the soul.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very timely for me. I find myself feeling alone and disconnected on a level that I have never experienced before. I greatly appreciate the way this book reinforces the necessity for our connections to nature and one another.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why does literally everything have to be so "woke?"

[Kate McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

So at first, I really loved this book. I felt connected to the earth more, the new land we moved to, and so on. I then attended a book club on this and really had my eyes opened to others' experiences reading the book.

So let's start with land, this part of the book is good. She does well to acknowledge whose land we are on, what we should be doing as colonizers etc.

The second part of the book, lineage had a lot of backlash in the book club. I see now how this is very much written from a white woman's perspective. There should have been more work done on talking about connecting to others if you are not from a traditional family... etc. queer, adopted, and so on. It seemed very cis-hetero norm in regards to practices to connect to lineage. When I read this part before the book club meeting I enjoyed it BUT my experience is the very white hetero norm, right? My grandparents moved from Ireland in the 1900s to the U.S. and some of my ancestors lived here before then but all migrated from Scotland and Ireland. I feel for others that this part can seem hard to connect with and there was not much work done by the author to recognize those from other family backgrounds. Another point that was brought up in book club was the fact that not all of us want to connect to our ancestors due to problems with addiction, separation, murder, etc. She also barely touches the surface on reparations which really needs more written on it.

The next part is on community. I think this part of the book was written well but again, very cis-hetero practices, not as inclusive as it could be.

The last section really got me and other book club members riled up. This part is about the self. Here, she talks about making menstrual cycle bracelets. She does not acknowledge women who don't have a period, who are trans and like myself, have chronic illnesses and thus, do not want our period. As someone with endo, I found this section of the book hard to read since I hate my period. Since high school, I've had intense extremely painful cysts and have been overlooked by doctors until my mid-twenties once I was in the hospital with a burst cyst and was finally recommended to see an OBGYN and they found stage 4 endo in my body. After surgery, I have since been on medication so I don't have a period and only have light pain here and there. In the book, she does not discuss disability, chronic illnesses, and more that affect women and how this would hinder us from wanting to connect to our monthly cycle.

Honestly, more could have been, a lot more and the book seems very light. While it can feel warm and cozy and the illustrations are beautiful, it needed more.

[drowningmermaid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know Piastrelli from her podcast and, sadly, I find the twenty-minute dose of new age self-hug conversations to be a lot easier to relate to than 4 hours of former Valley Girl guru. I still like her. I still feel guilty for my fleeting thoughts that her Wise Woman schtick ought to have helped her out of her crippling post-partum misery, or might even be the cause of some of it.

I admit to being a little put off by the need to stress that "feminine includes our non-binary and female identifying sisters" not as a concept, but as a repeated mantra.

I know she didn't mean to do this, but this seems like a book for Posers. The non-Native folks who want to identify as being part of a tribal tradition. Now, she devotes a good part of the book to stressing the need to Not-Do Cultural Appropriation, but the whole concept of "choosing your own sacred rites and rituals" out of the smorgasbord of your *chosen* ancestry (while repeatedly exalting Indigenous Ways as the source of all wisdom)-- is the kind of thinking that draws Posers. Posers are the fanfiction of Native spiritual practice.

At least she never pretends to be anything other than a rootless white girl, and I think I do have to feel for the plight of the rootless, who want so desperately to be part of something larger than themselves.

[Ren Morton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is appropriate for readers who are unfamiliar with ritual/ceremony creation and/or just beginning their journey of locating themselves in a larger narrative.

What I liked I most about this book was how she opens the books by contextualizing the search for ancestral belonging within the not so stellar history of different nations more broadly and within more personal histories or abuse/trauma, so there is space to want to feel connected even as there may be legitimate reasons to want distance/boundaries.

At about 2/3 of the way in she begins to discuss how we have lost our practices of honoring death in life-giving ways, and I found this part fascinating and interesting.

The last part is the book she lays out short ritual templates for common daily occurrence as well as suggestions for adapting them to your needs/intentions.

Again, this is a helpful book for those just embarking on the path. For me, I was looking for a deeper discussion of ritual as a practice and concept, so it didn’t deep dive enough for me.

Even so, I still think I’m going to try the menarche bracelet ritual with my daughter.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I just really needed this book right now. I needed to be nurtured and that’s what this book provided for me. It was inviting and informative. Easy to read and engaging with thoughtful practices and prompts, impactful rituals, and strong encouragement to explore and embrace the deeply intentional ways of my ancient ancestors.

I wouldn’t call this a beginners book and I also wouldn’t call it an experts book. Rather, I think at all times revisiting the “basics” through different narratives, experiences, and voices is necessary, expanding, and important.

That being said, I would categorize this book as “foundational” and I would absolutely put it in the hands of those just embarking on their spiritual and self discovery path.

I will say, I come from a similar genealogical background as the author and live near the author geographically so those two factors did impact my experience and connection with the text.

All that being said, I really needed this book right now and I’m so glad it exists.

[Edie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle introduction to witchy stuff for people who might not want to be witchy but would like to introduce more connection into their life. Would make a good companion to For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World. I follow the author on the socials so am predisposed to a favorable reading of the material.

If there is one thing we learned during the last few years it is that we cannot plan for everything. What we can do is strengthen our resiliency muscle so when the unexpected shows up, we have the mental and emotional flexibility, the community connections, the personal grounding, to bend without breaking. To not just survive but thrive during adversity or change. Being rooted is a big part of resiliency and rituals are how we build it. This book provides concrete ideas and examples.

[Leilany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will start with my positive opinions on this book. The cover is gorgeous and caught my attention right away. The images inside the book are also gorgeous and colorful. There are some recipes inside the book, some are for food and others are for water and body oil. I truly appreciated the instructions to make flower water. Last but not least, the info is concise and to the point. The book is definitely what the name says, it's for connecting to your roots/ancestors (through food, land, and practices) and rituals (using plants, foods, etc). Now to what I did not like about the book, even though some information is nice, other is common sense and easily found with a google search. The book also has chapters on self-love/accepting your body and community/making friendships and even though I do appreciate these chapters, I wish they were shorter and that the book focused more on connecting with your ancestors.

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure who this book was written for; it has a very brief, super introductory approach that almost made me feel like it was a YA book, for wanna-be hippie teenagers, but many fo the efforts are more attuned to adults. It was nothing new for me but it might be for some people. I could see white middle class women who are looking for something new finding meaning and insight and this book to be a good starting point. But the information is not in-depth enough in any area - I wouldn't find the information on dehydrating or harvesting herbs to be enough to actually do it. But perhaps the idea is to inspire?

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful (images and words) account of ways to start to connect back to yourself. It is a high level view with some practices in between.

If you are just thinking about coming back to yourself this is a good place to start…if you have walked this journey for many years then this serves as more of a beautiful coffee table book to page through in a waiting room…plant seeds of things you may no longer be tending to…or start conversations with others.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The layout and images of Root and Ritual are stunning. The book invites you to leave consumerism behind and look deeper into yourself and where you came from. It encourages you to reconnect with your lineage, with yourself, and with the land. We need to remember where we came from.
This book is soothing and wants you to live purposely, while reminding you that you simply belong. It made my heart smile.

[Jacquelyn Fusco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a little at a time, with long stretches between them. I need to look back at my notes to remind myself what I thought of earlier parts. I think my expectations for these types of books are usually too high. I really like the title and the images. I thought because her last name was Italian, she might talk about Italian roots (like mine), but I think that is her married name. It is more prompts for thinking about things in a connected and caring way, journaling prompts, self-care.