The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over - Softcover

Starhawk,; NightMare, M. Macha

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062515160 ISBN 13: 9780062515162

Publisher: HarperOne, 1997

Synopsis

RITUALS AND RESOURCES FOR HONOURING DEATH IN THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

Birth,growth,death,and rebirth are a cycle that forms the underlying order of the universe. This is the core of Pagan belief – and the heart of this unique resource guide to de

About this title

Review:

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying is the pagan omnibus on death, much more than just a history of various cultural rituals and beliefs regarding death. This collection of essays, prayers, and songs is a living document that draws on the resources of today's entire pagan community and fills the void left by ancient sacramental rites lost over the centuries. Designed in such a way as to benefit both the leaders of the pagan community as well as the individual reader, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying encourages preparation under the obvious, but often neglected, understanding that death is seldom expected nor convenient but happens to everyone.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying discusses all aspects of death, from pagan thealogy (from thea meaning goddess, rather than theo meaning god) to the dying process itself, and it even covers sensitive subjects like helping children cope with death. Congenial essays such as Sharon Jackson's "Crash Course in Being Present with the Dying" and insightful perspectives like Diana Paxson's "Preliminary Thoughts Toward Midwifing Your Own Passage" offer a written spiritual resource for assisting and comforting the dying, and advice on facing one's own passage. The Pagan Book of Living and Dying is simultaneously a practical guide, a comforting liturgy, and a new heritage that shows how to appreciate life through a closer relationship with death. --Brian Patterson

From the Back Cover:

Birth, growth, death, and rebirth are a cycle that forms the underlying order of the universe. This is the core of Pagan belief-and the heart of this unique resource guide to death and the process of dying. Filled with encouragement, strength, and inspiration, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying is an invaluable source of both spiritual counsel and very practical tools and techniques for:

honoring and caring for a dying person
grieving a beloved relative, partner, or friend
planning a funeral or memorial service
distributing personal possessions and making room in the home for a loved one's memory
understanding and mourning specific types of death including miscarriage and terminal illness
providing final instructions for one's own death
and much more.

Bestselling author Starhawk and other Pagan writers have combined practical rituals with prayers, chants, blessings, meditations, essays, and insightful personal stories to offer a new understanding of death and a powerful new approach to the various stages of dying and grieving.

A beautifully crafted and deeply spiritual guidebook, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying teaches that death, like birth, is a doorway--another stage in the cycle of life. It will enhance the spiritual beliefs of readers of any faith and help each of us learn to welcome the change and renewal that awaits us on the other side of life.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0062515160
• ISBN 13: 9780062515162
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384