• Describes the Celtic rituals of honoring death and dying and offers prayers, meditations, and blessings for the time of transition • Offers reflective questions and exercises to explore your beliefs, attitudes, and fears around your own death • Includes the sacred meditation of traveling with the dead as offered by an anam-áire or Celtic soul carer 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.

• Describes the Celtic rituals of honoring death and dying and offers prayers, meditations, and blessings for the time of transition • Offers reflective questions and exercises to explore your beliefs, attitudes, and fears around your own death • Includes the sacred meditation of traveling with the dead as offered by an anam-áire or Celtic soul carer THE CELTS BELIEVED in the transmigration of the soul, in the magical rhythm of life with a particular order of coming and going for each soul. As they celebrated every new stage of their lives with a ritual, they also honoured the passing of a soul--the death of the physical body. In her decades of work with the dying, Phyllida Anam-Áire has revived the ancient Celtic tradition of watching with the dying and traveling with the soul after death. Integrating the wisdom of her Celtic 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 by relatives or friends. Reflective exercises and meditations help us become aware of our beliefs and fears around dying and acknowledge our own death as a natural transformation, allowing our essence to move on into love. Once we come to terms with our own mortality, we will find it easier to assist family and friends in their last hours in this life. Rituals, prayers, and blessings in this guide offer compassionate support for the one transitioning and for those left behind. Phyllida also shares the sacred meditation of traveling with the dead as held by a Celtic Anam-Áire, or soul carer. In addition, she addresses many practical questions around the care for the dying and their environment during and after the process, stressing 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 afterdeath journey still to embark on. Dying is the most natural step we will ever take.

The ancient Celts left a rich legacy of artifacts, illuminated manuscripts, standing stones, and burial sites. This illustrated collection, a window into a long-ago world of dramatic myths, art, and mystical symbolism, traces the course of life from birth through death and into the afterlife. Certain to appeal to owners of the popular Celtic Symbols stamp kit, The Celtic Book of Living and Dying contains more than 40 Celtic-style full-colour artworks and over 40 landscape photos. This is not a reproduction of primary source material but an interpretation by an acknowledged authority.

The ancient Celts used ritual at every stage of their passage through life including dying. Phillida, with her Celtic background and experience working in hospices, integrates the modern knowledge of the death process with the old Celtic wisdom.

• Emphasizes how shadow work, integrating past wounds, and healing our ancestry allows us to facilitate the ecstatic transition into the next life • Offers exercises and visualizations to help us integrate emotions like anger and grief, which impact the soul’s readiness to leave the body when the time comes • Discusses what happens to our cells when we die with regard to the human energy field and explores the soul’s journey through the aítes or bardos In the Celtic tradition dying is considered an act of birthing, of our consciousness passing from this life to the next. Informed by an early near-death experience, spiritual midwife and former nun Phyllida Anam-Áire offers an intimate overview of the sacred stages of the dying process seen through the lens of her Celtic heritage. Compassionately describing the final dissolution of the elements, she emphasizes how important it is to resolve and integrate our psycho-spiritual shadows and wounds in this lifetime. What truly heals is our capacity for authentic compassionate love--in life, in death, and after. Healing our ancestry before leaving the body eases not only our transition but sets future generations free from old stories held in our family systems. Sharing her insights into God consciousness, our earth/ego mind, and the soul’s journey through the Aíte or bardos, Phyllida’s poetic words guide us toward the final ecstasy as the soul leaves its material form and enters the vast Universal Heart of cosmic energy. Providing a deep spiritual understanding of the mysteries of death and the afterlife, this courageous book combines Celtic and Christian wisdom to dispel the fear of dying and invites us to live consciously and with love to our very last breath.

"Anam Cara is a rare synthesis of philosophy, poetry, and spirituality. This work will have a powerful and life-transforming experience for those who read it." —Deepak Chopra John O'Donohue, poet, philosopher, and scholar, guides you through the spiritual landscape of the Irish imagination. In Anam Cara, Gaelic for "soul friend," the ancient teachings, stories, and blessings of Celtic wisdom provide such profound insights on the universal themes of friendship, solitude, love, and death as: Light is generous The human heart is never completely born Love as ancient recognition The body is the angel of the soul Solitude is luminous Beauty likes neglected places The passionate heart never ages To be natural is to be holy Silence is the sister of the divine Death as an invitation to freedom

Modeled on both the Egyptian and Tibetan Book of the Dead, this beautifully illustrated guide to Celtic belief traces the journey of the soul, revealing along the way the lessons it must learn in the course of a lifetime. At the heart of the spiritual voyage from birth to death lie the key themes of Celtic wisdom: time, the afterlife, destiny, prophecy, courage, and fertility, all visualized with magnificent artwork and evocative landscapes, as well as color photographs of superb artifacts. A wealth of lore and literature, including timeless poetry and epic battle scenes, show the Celtic imagination at its most fertile and illuminate Druidic practice. The underlying spiritual significance of Celtic myth appears in all its splendor, helping those who wish to move closer to its true essence.