ABSTRACT
The medical lecture is a highly ritualized activity that has a distinct structure familiar to all in medical community. Many rituals in medicine date their origin to the Florence Nightingale era and the Crimean war even though medicine and the spectrum of disease have changed enormously since those days. Many rituals are described in great length in the Bible. The ancients used ritual, incense, and music in their healing rituals. Rituals are most useful when they accompany transitions, particularly major life transitions. In general, these fall into five functional categories. Beginnings: birth, graduation, new job, onset of chemotherapy, surgery, etc, Mergings: marriage, partnership, etc, Cycles: anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, etc, Endings: end of treatment, menopause, retirement, etc and Healings: recovery from illness and trauma etc. Embarking on the route of infertility testing, artificial insemination, or in vitro fertilization is a major and stressful undertaking as this couple found out.
