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BOOK REVIEW   By Aspen

-Starhawk, et al.

“Spirits of this land, of the rocks and trees, of the plants and animals, of those who walked here long before us, we bring you this offering. We come with respect, to ask you to receive the body of our beloved___________.” Pg.162, from Funerals and Memorials.

    This book consists of suggestions for planning funerals and memorial services, how to distribute personal possessions, covering specific types of death, how to care for a dying person, a guide for the grieving process, etc. Rituals, prayers, chants, blessings, meditations, essays, all make up a spectacular resource for the modern Pagan.

    The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, by Starhawk, is, to the best of my knowledge, the first serious attempt to offer that which could be called liturgy and a guide for dealing with the issues around death from a Pagan perspective, for a growing Pagan community. This is a long overdue resource for a culture in America that, up to the publication of this book, has pretty much been on its own when it comes to dealing with profound, spiritual, real-life issues, like death. Previous to this publication, Pagans had to resort to drawing on the preexisting literature and liturgy that is prolific among the major religions, and adapting it, or "Paganising" it to place it within a more meaningful context.

    The strengths of this sizable 353 page book are numerous. This book touches on almost every topic on death one can imagine. First, it places death within the context of a Pagan world view. This is something that is seldom touched on in other publications that are geared for the Pagan population. Moving past the Poly-Pan-theological issues around death, Starhawk then discusses the preparation for death, the moment of death, and the conduct of funerals and memorials. She touches on issues like violence and death, children and death, AIDS, death and choice (covering euthanasia, suicide, abortion), and miscarriages. She also discusses the facilitation of grief through rituals, prayers, songs, and meditations constructed to aid in processing grief.

    I continually take with me from this book a sense of absolute love and acceptance. There need not be guilt, there need not be shame, or anger, without hope, yet there is death. Guilt, shame, anger, sadness, all these are part of a process that is to be compassionately embraced. It is thru this embrace, her message to me seems to be, that healing and wisdom can begin. The book concludes with appendixes listing other resources for books on death and dying, and examples of a living will declaration, a health care proxy/durable power of attorney. If I have any complaint, it might be regarding the organization of the book. When looking for a specific topic, I find I often have to turn many pages and read a fair amount of material before I find what I’m looking for. I think a book like this would be improved if it could be arranged to have a sort of at-a-glance usability, perhaps a quick glance feature.

© Rev. Kipp D. Trembley (AKA Aspen) 2004.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission by the author.

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