The Pagan Book of the Dead

The Pagan Book of the Dead PDF Author: Claude Lecouteux
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644110482
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
An extensive look at the cartography and folklore of the afterlife worlds as seen by our ancestors • Examines how ancient European cultures viewed the beyond, including the Blessed Isles of early Greek and Celtic faith, the Hebrew Sheol, Hades from Homer’s Odyssey, Hel and Valhalla of the Norse, and the Aralu of Babylon • Shows how medieval accounts of journeys into the Other World represent the first recorded near-death experiences • Connects medieval afterlife beliefs and NDE narratives with shamanism, looking in particular at psychopomps, power animals, the double, the fetch, and what people bring back from their journeys to the spirit realms Charting the evolution of afterlife beliefs in both pagan and medieval Christian times, Claude Lecouteux offers an extensive look at the cartography and folklore of the afterlife worlds as seen by our ancestors. Exploring the locations and topographies of the various forms taken by Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, he examines how ancient European cultures viewed the beyond, including the Blessed Isles of early Greek and Celtic faith, the Hebrew Sheol, the pale world of Hades from Homer’s Odyssey, Hel and Valhalla of the Norse, and the Aralu of Babylon, the land where nothing can be seen. The author also explores beliefs in Other Worlds, lands different from our own that are not the afterlife but places where time flows differently and which are inhabited by fantastic or supernatural beings such as fairies or dwarfs. Sharing medieval tales of journeys into the beyond, Lecouteux shows how these accounts represent the first recorded near-death experiences (NDEs) and examines how they compare with modern NDE narratives as well as the work of NDE researchers like Raymond Moody. In addition, he also explores tales of out-of-body experiences, dream journeys, and travels made by a double or fetch and connects these narratives with shamanism, looking in particular at psychopomps, power animals, and what people bring back from their journeys to the spirit realms. Analyzing the afterlife beliefs of the Middle Ages as a whole, Lecouteux concludes with a collection of medieval afterlife-related traditions, such as placing polished stones in the coffin so the departed soul can find its way back to friends and family at those times of the year when the veil between the worlds grows thin.

The Pagan Book of the Dead

The Pagan Book of the Dead PDF Author: Claude Lecouteux
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644110482
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
An extensive look at the cartography and folklore of the afterlife worlds as seen by our ancestors • Examines how ancient European cultures viewed the beyond, including the Blessed Isles of early Greek and Celtic faith, the Hebrew Sheol, Hades from Homer’s Odyssey, Hel and Valhalla of the Norse, and the Aralu of Babylon • Shows how medieval accounts of journeys into the Other World represent the first recorded near-death experiences • Connects medieval afterlife beliefs and NDE narratives with shamanism, looking in particular at psychopomps, power animals, the double, the fetch, and what people bring back from their journeys to the spirit realms Charting the evolution of afterlife beliefs in both pagan and medieval Christian times, Claude Lecouteux offers an extensive look at the cartography and folklore of the afterlife worlds as seen by our ancestors. Exploring the locations and topographies of the various forms taken by Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, he examines how ancient European cultures viewed the beyond, including the Blessed Isles of early Greek and Celtic faith, the Hebrew Sheol, the pale world of Hades from Homer’s Odyssey, Hel and Valhalla of the Norse, and the Aralu of Babylon, the land where nothing can be seen. The author also explores beliefs in Other Worlds, lands different from our own that are not the afterlife but places where time flows differently and which are inhabited by fantastic or supernatural beings such as fairies or dwarfs. Sharing medieval tales of journeys into the beyond, Lecouteux shows how these accounts represent the first recorded near-death experiences (NDEs) and examines how they compare with modern NDE narratives as well as the work of NDE researchers like Raymond Moody. In addition, he also explores tales of out-of-body experiences, dream journeys, and travels made by a double or fetch and connects these narratives with shamanism, looking in particular at psychopomps, power animals, and what people bring back from their journeys to the spirit realms. Analyzing the afterlife beliefs of the Middle Ages as a whole, Lecouteux concludes with a collection of medieval afterlife-related traditions, such as placing polished stones in the coffin so the departed soul can find its way back to friends and family at those times of the year when the veil between the worlds grows thin.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying PDF Author: Starhawk
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062125214
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
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

The Worship of the Dead

The Worship of the Dead PDF Author: John Garnier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ancestor worship
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description


The Return of the Dead

The Return of the Dead PDF Author: Claude Lecouteux
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594776830
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
How the ghost stories of pagan times reveal the seamless union existing between the world of the living and the afterlife • Demonstrates how Medieval Christianity transformed the more corporeal ghost encountered in pagan cultures with the disembodied form known today • Explains how the returning dead were once viewed as either troublemakers or guarantors of the social order The impermeable border the modern world sees existing between the world of the living and the afterlife was not visible to our ancestors. The dead could--and did--cross back and forth at will. The pagan mind had no fear of death, but some of the dead were definitely to be dreaded: those who failed to go peacefully into the afterlife but remained on this side in order to right a wrong that had befallen them personally or to ensure that the law promoted by the ancestors was being respected. But these dead individuals were a far cry from the amorphous ectoplasm that is featured in modern ghost stories. These earlier visitors from beyond the grave--known as revenants--slept, ate, and fought like men, even when, like Klaufi of the Svarfdaela Saga, they carried their heads in their arms. Revenants were part of the ancestor worship prevalent in the pagan world and still practiced in indigenous cultures such as the Fang and Kota of equatorial Africa, among others. The Church, eager to supplant this familial faith with its own, engineered the transformation of the corporeal revenant into the disembodied ghost of modern times, which could then be easily discounted as a figment of the imagination or the work of the devil. The sanctified grounds of the church cemetery replaced the burial mounds on the family farm, where the ancestors remained as an integral part of the living community. This exile to the formal graveyard, ironically enough, has contributed to the great loss of the sacred that characterizes the modern world.

Walking the Twilight Path

Walking the Twilight Path PDF Author: Michelle Belanger
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 0738713236
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Introduces a spiritual path of personal transformation and rebirth. This book draws on the wisdom of shamans, Tibetan Buddhists, and ancient Egyptians, Michelle Belanger and illuminates death as a beautiful gateway to change and regeneration.--Worldcat.

Llewellyn's Little Book of the Day of the Dead

Llewellyn's Little Book of the Day of the Dead PDF Author: Jaime Gironés
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 0738762857
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
Celebrate the revered Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos with this beautiful little book. Packed with activities, recipes, spells, and rituals, this pocket-sized guide is a must-have tool for honoring the sacred dead. Author Jaime Gironés shares authentic ways to respectfully enjoy this holiday, from creating an altar to baking pan de muerto (bread of the dead). Sharing his personal experiences and recommendations, Jaime guides you through the Day of the Dead's origins, history, and modern celebrations. Discover how to build an altar, set out your ancestors' favorite foods, and invite the spirits to a feast. Explore the significance of marigolds, sugar skulls, and monarch butterflies. You'll also learn how to say goodbye when celebrations are over. This book provides everything needed to honor the dead and share your love and abundance with them.

The Witches' Book of the Dead

The Witches' Book of the Dead PDF Author: Christian Day
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781733246644
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
The spirits of the dead can confer magical talents, fame, love, and wealth on those brave enough to beseech them. In The Witches' Book of the Dead, modern-day Warlock Christian Day shows you how to build relationships with the spirits of your beloved dead that they may help you discover hidden opportunities and bring blessings and aid to your life. Honor and remember the dead and they will honor and remember you!The Witches' Book of the Dead explores the enduring relationship between Witches and the dead. Learn about Witches of legend who have raised the dead, the tools of necromancy, methods of spirit contact, rituals, recipes, exercises, and more.This revised and expanded 10th anniversary edition offers 70 pages of additional content, including chapters on the deities of the dead and the afterlife, a new preface, a new foreword by Salem Witch Laurie Cabot, as well as updated research, insight, spells, and recipes throughout! Dare to walk between the worlds with Christian Day as he guides you into the shadowy realms where the dead long to connect with us once more!

Pagan Britain

Pagan Britain PDF Author: Ronald Hutton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300198582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Britain's pagan past, with its mysterious monuments, atmospheric sites, enigmatic artifacts, bloodthirsty legends, and cryptic inscriptions, is both enthralling and perplexing to a resident of the twenty-first century. In this ambitious and thoroughly up-to-date book, Ronald Hutton reveals the long development, rapid suppression, and enduring cultural significance of paganism, from the Paleolithic Era to the coming of Christianity. He draws on an array of recently discovered evidence and shows how new findings have radically transformed understandings of belief and ritual in Britain before the arrival of organized religion. Setting forth a chronological narrative, Hutton along the way makes side visits to explore specific locations of ancient pagan activity. He includes the well-known sacred sites—Stonehenge, Avebury, Seahenge, Maiden Castle, Anglesey—as well as more obscure locations across the mainland and coastal islands. In tireless pursuit of the elusive “why” of pagan behavior, Hutton astonishes with the breadth of his understanding of Britain’s deep past and inspires with the originality of his insights.

Afterlives

Afterlives PDF Author: Nancy Mandeville Caciola
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501703463
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Simultaneously real and unreal, the dead are people, yet they are not. The society of medieval Europe developed a rich set of imaginative traditions about death and the afterlife, using the dead as a point of entry for thinking about the self, regeneration, and loss. These macabre preoccupations are evident in the widespread popularity of stories about the returned dead, who interacted with the living both as disembodied spirits and as living corpses or revenants. In Afterlives, Nancy Mandeville Caciola explores this extraordinary phenomenon of the living's relationship with the dead in Europe during the five hundred years after the year 1000.Caciola considers both Christian and pagan beliefs, showing how certain traditions survived and evolved over time, and how attitudes both diverged and overlapped through different contexts and social strata. As she shows, the intersection of Christian eschatology with various pagan afterlife imaginings—from the classical paganisms of the Mediterranean to the Germanic, Celtic, Slavic, and Scandinavian paganisms indigenous to northern Europe—brought new cultural values about the dead into the Christian fold as Christianity spread across Europe. Indeed, the Church proved surprisingly open to these influences, absorbing new images of death and afterlife in unpredictable fashion. Over time, however, the persistence of regional cultures and beliefs would be counterbalanced by the effects of an increasingly centralized Church hierarchy. Through it all, one thing remained constant: the deep desire in medieval people to bring together the living and the dead into a single community enduring across the generations.

Pagan Book

Pagan Book PDF Author: Nancy Pennick
Publisher: Inner Traditions
ISBN: 9780892813698
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
A guide to the festivals, traditions, and sacred days of the year.