Rating: 
Summary: Earn big bucks writing about a controversial target
Review: Basically, Migene Gonzalez-Wippler has found a way to make big bucks by exploiting Santeria, a controversial topic. The novice reader might see this volume as the definitive text on Santeria. Don't be fooled. Even though this is a smooth read, not everything that glitters is gold. The actual religion is nothing close to what is found in these pages.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have for Friends of The Religion
Review: I am a student of world religions and have friends in the Yoruba, Candomble, Santeria religions and have found this book to of great understanding of how the religion is interpreted. This is a complex religion, not easily understood by a lay person and the author takes great strides in presenting the religion in a language that demystifies the shrouded religion. Any student of ecumenical studies or anyone that knows someone in The Religion, should read this book from cover to cover.
Rating: 
Summary: Too bad she revealed it!
Review: Im glad she reveals a lot of the stuff that is written in spanish. Though I also realize that eighter she made a few mistakes in her book orshe was deliberatly mislead with some of the information. She does give a crate load of information on the religion and beliefs of Santaria. If you are interested in Santaria or you are just curious about it than this should be your first book on the subject. Also her other book The Power Of The Orishas is pretty good as well. In her book Santaria she gives you information about some of the major orishas like Oshun, Chango, Yemaya, Elegua and more. She discusses the taboos and unfortunatly the macho part of it. Unfortunatly it is true a woman can not achieve the same high ranks a man can even though she can reach a centain rank on a Santera (priestess) a man can rise above her to higher ranks. If you are a gay man you can only reach the same rank a woman can. There are some things she did not mention like a woman can not sacrifice animals even as a Santera unless A) she has a warrior Orisha that rules her head or B) she is past menapause. To me thats a load of BS made up by men but thats the religion. Maybe one day it will change. But back to the book she is the only auther that i know of that revealed a lot years ago with her writtings. I brought this book years back and I will never give it away.
Rating: 
Summary: ?I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere.?
Review: The Works of Migene Gonzalez Wippler are the most widely distributed and best selling books on the Subject of Santeria, and Cuban Lucumi. Her works are both liked and disliked, liked buy the community who are new to Santeria, and very much disliked buy Elders and initiates in the religion.It is not that Wippler's books are not accurate, they are. It is just that they seam to closely resemble other published books on Lucumi and Santeria that have been written in Spanish and have no copyrights. But aside from this, "if you can put this aside, many of the Elders in the religion, will not." (That is steeling) Then you have a pretty interesting book, full of basic wisdom and knowledge that really opens the doors for new comers into the religion, or for those who have a basic curiosity. "I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere." I recommend it to those who have no knowledge of the religion, it breaks that Voodoo stereo type, but this book is pretty much a stepping stone for other bigger and greater things. But I do not completely dislike her books, in fact I recommend this book, and Powers of the Orishas, to all Aleyos out there.
Rating:
Summary: ¿I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere.¿
Review: The Works of Migene Gonzalez Wippler are the most widely distributed and best selling books on the Subject of Santeria, and Cuban Lucumi. Her works are both liked and disliked, liked buy the community who are new to Santeria, and very much disliked buy Elders and initiates in the religion. It is not that Wippler's books are not accurate, they are. It is just that they seam to closely resemble other published books on Lucumi and Santeria that have been written in Spanish and have no copyrights. But aside from this, "if you can put this aside, many of the Elders in the religion, will not." (That is steeling) Then you have a pretty interesting book, full of basic wisdom and knowledge that really opens the doors for new comers into the religion, or for those who have a basic curiosity. "I guess those who do not know gotta start somewhere." I recommend it to those who have no knowledge of the religion, it breaks that Voodoo stereo type, but this book is pretty much a stepping stone for other bigger and greater things. But I do not completely dislike her books, in fact I recommend this book, and Powers of the Orishas, to all Aleyos out there.
Rating:
Summary: Unethical Portrayal of the Yoruban Faith
Review: This book embodies an unflattering and unethical portrayal of the Yoruban faith, known as Santeria to Latin practitioners. It contains photographs of sacred items, ceremonial items, etc., and this is, at the very least, sacrilegious and an offense hurled at the Santeria community. The author supports her poor judgment by rationalizing that the religion has been shrouded in secrecy for far too long. Informing the public is one thing. When it is done responsibly and tastefully it is commendable. However, when the information conveyed injures the subject matter in the process, authorship is suspect. In penning this book, the author has done a great disservice to the Santeria religion. Granted, she has a great turn of phrase, but her literary skills are maligned by her irresponsibility. To provide a concrete example, the book features an open soup tureen with otanes, sacred stones which should never be seen except by the eyes of the initiate in whose care they belong! . Additionally, the author informs the reader that these articles were obatined during a police raid. Santeria has always been subject to unfair stereotypes and calumny and a caption of this kind does nothing to portray the religion as the life affirming faith that it is. The first thing a reader unfamiliar with Santeria may think upon reading this is "Ah ha, so it must be true that Santeros are evil criminals, why else would the police raid an ile (sacred temple)?" Additionally, the author's ego overwhelms more than a few of the book's pages. Instead of focusing on the work of the various priests and priestesses she makes mention of, she goes on (over and over again) about how well she managed to charm them even though she was writing a "revolutionary" tell-all Santeria chronicle. Read what you like but at least understand what you are reading.
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Summary: some inacurate information
Review: This is an alright book for those seeing an overview of Santeria but it does contain some misinformation. The book has a small section on Palo Mayombe. The author describes Palo as being evil and calls it "the dark side of santeria". This is not correct at all. Palo Mayombe, Palo Monte, Palo in general is totaly different and seperate from Santeria. There are spirits in Santeria and Spirits in Palo. Palo Mayombe is hardly anything like the information presented in this book. The Other thing to watch out for is her description of Orisha as Gods. Orisha are not gods, In santeria there is one God. The orisha are spirits who live on this earth with those who are initiated in santeria. Be careful when reading this book, use it as a tool to help you get some basic information but take it witah a grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent exposition by a brilliantg author.
Review: This is an excellent exposition by a brilliant author of a badly misunderstood religion. Migene Gonzalez-Wippler was the first author to write about Santeria for en English-speaking audience, When she began her research ahe was not an initiate and most of the santeros she interviewed gave her wrong information purposefully. This reflected in her first book on the subject. Since then she has recived several of the initiations of Santeria and her books reflect not only her love but also her great respect for it. She was the first author on the subject to make correlations between the orishas of the Yoruba pantheon and the archetypes of the collective unconscious. This is a major contribution to the study of Santeria. The secrecy which is such an intrinsic part of Santeria was born of the need of the African slaves to hide their practices from their Spanish masters. This secrecy is no longer necessary and does a great disservice to the religion. If is more important to let the world know that Santeria is a valid and powerful religious system and not the shady and suspicious cult that most uninformed people think it is. Gonzalez-Wippler has dispelled much of these false misconceptions. Her books were largely resposible for the favorable decision made by the Supreme Court declaring Santeria a valid religion, protected by the American constiturion.Unfortunately, this religion attracts a great deal of fanatics and people of the lower classes, many of them with an ax to grind. None of their ill-intended comments can change the fact that this is one of the most thorough and brilliant books written on the subject. I strongly recoemmend this book to any INTELLIGENT person who wants to know what Santeria is all about. Also excellent is here book The Santeria Experience. =
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Realistic !
Review: This is not a book that was written for those expecting spooky pulp horror stories. This is not a book about Voodoo. This intelligently written non-fiction describes a fascinating religion and the people that practice it. The insight into the daily life of an initiate is impressive. The descriptions of the Gods and Goddess, Their offerings and worship is clearly and beautifully written. The book is very informative and I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in Santeria.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Realistic !
Review: This is not a book that was written for those expecting spooky pulp horror stories. This is not a book about Voodoo. This intelligently written non-fiction describes a fascinating religion and the people that practice it. The insight into the daily life of an initiate is impressive. The descriptions of the Gods and Goddess, Their offerings and worship is clearly and beautifully written. The book is very informative and I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in Santeria.
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