The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: T/K

By Starhawk and M. Macha NightMare

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9780062125217

Starhawk

Starhawk is the author of nine books, including her bestselling The Spiral Dance, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and Webs of Power, winner of the 2003 Nautilus Award for social change. She has an international reputation, and her works have been translated into many different languages. Starhawk is also a columnist for beliefnet.com and ZNet. A veteran of progressive movements who is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism, she travels internationally, teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism. Starhawk lives part-time in San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in western Sonoma County, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens and writes.

Reviews for The Pagan Book of Living and Dying

[Jill · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been practicing the craft for almost two decades now. I have been familiar with Starhawk's name for almost as long, yet this is the first book of hers that I've read. I have experienced a couple of years of great loss and mourning, and was feeling lost in terms of my spirituality. Though I had been practicing magic, I had lost a sense of wholeness and peace in my practice. I was looking for some solace when I chose this title. What I found was not only great comfort in this dark time, but a renewed sense of wonder and recognition of why I chose this path so many years ago. I'm so very grateful to have found this book. <3

[Jorge Gonzalez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have always wanted to meet Starhawk. She is the model of wisdom and practicality and explains pagan practices so that anyone can understand them. Working with the dying is very close to my heart, having worked as a hospice nurse in San Francisco some years ago. What she says about the dark goddesses resonates so well. Fear of death and denial, anger, are normal and can be helped by understanding people, of any religious tradition. Well done!

[nilchance · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Borrowed from library during hard time of mourning. It has a lot to say about grief from the pagan perspective. I need to buy a copy of this to re-read and use in practice.

[alsatia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The only book of it's kind that I've ever seen, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying is a collection of essays, rituals, and poems from various pagan traditions which discuss pagan views of death, dying, and the afterlife. I encountered this book at work, and I read it. It is a harrowing, heartfelt thing, full of stories of people from many traditions who have had to deal with death in the most intimate and terrible of circumstances. I think that the spiritually inclined reader of any faith can find something to learn in this book. I recommend reading Sogyal Rinpoche's Tibetan Book of Living and Dying with this book. The two together make a very interesting pair.