An Anthology
Edited by Charlotte Rodgers & Lydia Maskell
A Contemporary Western Book of The Dead
An Anthology
Edited by Charlotte Rodgers & Lydia Maskell
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-04-6
£15.00 +P&P / US$22+P&P
Click HERE for UK edition
Click HERE for USA & Elsewhere
A Contemporary Western Book of the Dead
An Anthology
Edited by Charlotte Rodgers and Lydia Maskell
What happens when a society begins to lose its relationship with the dead?
In a world where death is often hidden away and grief is expected to remain private, A Contemporary Western Book of the Dead explores the enduring importance of remembrance, ancestral traditions and the spiritual practices that connect the living with those who have passed beyond.
Bringing together the voices of magicians, artists, scholars and spiritual practitioners, this distinctive anthology examines death not simply as an ending, but as an experience that shapes personal identity, cultural memory and spiritual transformation.
Through rituals, personal accounts, historical perspectives and explorations of magical traditions, its contributors confront the mysteries of mortality with insight, honesty and, at times, unexpected humour.
Featuring contributions from Nema, Josephine McCarthy, Nevill Drury, Mogg Morgan, Louis Martinie and others, the collection offers a richly varied exploration of grief, ancestor veneration, communication with the dead and the place of death within contemporary Western spirituality.
At once personal, provocative and practical, A Contemporary Western Book of the Dead invites readers to reconsider what it means to remember the dead, to honour those who came before us, and to recognise their continuing presence in our lives.
A book about death, but equally about memory, belonging and the living traditions that connect past, present and future.
From the Editor:
‘I was musing on Singapore in all its affluent glory, still having shrines for the dead on every street corner during ‘The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts’. Then I was musing on how the socially mobile of modern Western society eschew death rites and grieving in the name of ‘holding it together’ and being progressive. I thought about which civilisations are falling and which are rising again, and wondered whether acknowledging death and the ancestors is a vital part of maintaining personal identity and our place in society. I remember how my grieving father mourned for all the information he had relied on his deceased wife remembering, information which was now lost. I recalled Michael Crichton’s words ‘If you don’t know (your family’s) history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.’
Then I thought maybe someone should write about the cults of the ancestors and death, perhaps an anthology, perhaps cross-relate experiences of loss to personal spirituality, magick and history. I know that years of working with the dead in the name of art and spirituality didn’t prepare me for the death of my mother. What helped me was the advice of someone from a long tradition of working with the ancestors. I think that collecting the experiences of spiritual practitioners in their working with grief and death is part of a living and necessary tradition that will give respect to the dead and strength, identity and support to our own personal spirituality.’
Contents:
Introduction/Charlotte Rodgers
Loved One/Nema
All a Do about Death /Josephine McCarthy
Clans For The Memory / Sarah Grimstone
Learning About Death / Nevill Drury
A Thoughtful Wake / Louis Martinie
Break On Through To The Other Side /Louise Hodgson
Death the Final Frontier / Sue Fox
The Bardo Thodol – Bon Voyage / John Power
You Only Live Twice / Ode bi Tola
On Speaking with the Dead: The Cult of the Dead in Traditional Culture / Michael Clarke
Body / Mishlen Linden
The Great Western Hoax / Ode bi Tola
The Book of Gates: A prose arrangement / Mogg Morgan
Biographies of Contributors
Photographers:
Sue Fox, Ruth Kenyon, Ariadne Spyridonos Xenou (Cover: Gerald Hutton)
