Full Description
Deepen your spiritual understanding of the internal journey of the dying and the adventurous after-death journey to come
Through her decades of hospice work, Phyllida Anam-Áire has revived the ancient Celtic tradition of "watching" with the dying and traveling with the soul after death. Drawing on her Celtic background, she integrates the wisdom of her ancestors with modern knowledge of the death process. She shows how a peaceful transition for the leaving person is possible and how this process can be consciously supported for relatives or friends.
In A Celtic Book of Dying, Phyllida details the Celtic rituals of honoring death and dying, revealing how these rituals act as a catalyst that allows the change of form for our essence to pass on into the afterlife. She shows how becoming familiar with the dying process and acknowledging our own personal death forms an important aspect of preparing for this natural transformation. The author guides us with reflective questions, exercises, and meditations to help us become aware of and evaluate our own beliefs, attitudes, and fears around dying and learn to live our life more consciously and with joy. Once we have come to terms with our own passing, we will also find it easier to assist family and friends in their last hours.
Phyllida presents the sacred meditation of traveling with the dead as held by an anam-áire or soul carer. She also offers suggestions for Celtic rituals, prayers, and blessings for support. She addresses many practical questions around care for the dying during and after the process, including the importance of silence.
A practical yet soulful guidebook, A Celtic Book of Dying deepens our spiritual understanding of the internal journey of the dying and the adventurous after-death journey to come. Through the eyes of an anam-áire, we see death not as the end or something to be feared, but just as the moment of being called home again.
Contents
Glossary of Gaelic Words and Expressions
Introduction
How I Met with the Teachings -- My Own Story: In Grief Did My Mother Conceive Me ---Brigit, Stirrer of the Cauldron
PART ONE
Death and Dying in the Celtic Tradition Opening the Heart to Death -- Life Is Not Threatened by the Loss of Form --Never-Ending Life --Death as Mystery in the Celtic Tradition -- A Time for Change -- Death, the Great Catalyst -- A New Language --The Áite, or Passages of Birth and Death -- The Áite of Birth --The Áite of Death
PART TWO
Dealing with Your Personal Death and Dying Process Natural Transformation as Death Approaches -- The Paths Home -- Slip Away --After the Death of the Body --How Can We Live and Die Consciously? -- Celtic Festivals of Transformation -- Death Is Simply the Next Step -- Lessons in Tough Love -- Learning to Receive Love
PART THREE
Helping a Dying Person and Their Relatives How Can We Help a Dying Person Make a Happy Transition? -- "I Am Afraid of Pain" --The Stages of Releasing into Healing --The Power of Music: Medicine for the Heart --The Work of an Anam-Áire -- The Service of a Traveller with the Dead --Care of the Environment When a Person Is Dying -- How Can We Best Support the Dying? -- Guidelines for Helping the Dying -- Technology Can Help People Suffering Alone in Hospital -- Sacred Ritual of Watching with the Dead --- Blessing the Body -- Disposing of Water and Bedclothes -- Burial of Rings --Letting Go of the Past -- Distant Help for the Dying through Imaging and Meditation -- Prayers for the Dead -- Do What Is Natural -- The Ethics of Assisting Another in Their Desire to Die
PART FOUR
Being With the Bereaved Supporting Bereaved People -- The Golden Breath of Love -- Sacred Ritual for Bereaved People -- Other Rituals Celebrating Transitions in Life
PART FIVE
Lessons from the Heart of Nature Nature Is Our Guide -- The Seasons Are Our Teachers
PART SIX
Stories from the Heart of Death "Do This for Each Other Often -- Don't Wait until You Die" -- Fear Versus Love
Appendix
The Alchemy of Love -- The Court of Love
Overview of Exercises and Practices
Index
Acknowledgements
About the Author
