Women and Reiki: Energetic/Holistic Healing in Practice (Gender, Theology and Spirituality) - Hardcover

MacPherson, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845531531 ISBN 13: 9781845531539

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Women and Reiki is the first ethnographic study of Reiki and energetic healing in Britain. The book argues that if we are to build an accurate and comprehensive picture of healing we must examine the role of gender, representation and power. Although women healers predominate at the grass roots level these factors have been largely ignored in academic studies of "New Age" and alternative spiritualities. The acknowledgement of women’s power in these studies is to be found somewhere between male-dominated biomedical approaches to health and apparently more egalitarian holistic discourse and practice. Using the work of theorists such as Michel Foucault and Meredith McGuire, the book shows that women healers are using Reiki and other healing spiritualities to actively engage in a politics of reclamation.

About this title

Synopsis:

This book is the first ethnographic study of Reiki, energetic healing and dowsing in the British context. Overall, the book argues that if we are to build up an accurate and comprehensive picture of healing thought and practice, we must locate gender, representation and power as central elements of this project throughout. For to date, even though women healers predominate at the grass roots level in both local and international contexts, this key issue has been largely ignored in most academic studies of 'New Age' and alternative spiritualities - a major oversight. The narrative of women's power and consciousness of healing can be located in the debates between largely male dominated biomedical approaches to health and the apparently more egalitarian holistic discourses and practices (e.g. mind, body and spirit). The women in the study operate within fluid fields of force and engage in personal projects of redefinition, transformation and self empowerment. Using the work of writers, such as Michel Foucault and Meredith McGuire, the book shows that women healers are using Reiki and other healing spiritualities to actively engage in a politics of reclamation.

About the Author:

Judith MacPherson is an independent researcher. She has lectured on healing, women and power at the University of Stirling, UK and has held a position as an Associate Lecturer at The Open University, UK.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845531531
• ISBN 13: 9781845531539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244