The Pagan book of living and dying is a spiritual guide that offers a unique perspective on the cycle of life and death. Unlike traditional religious texts, this book embraces a more naturalistic approach, drawing from ancient pagan traditions and beliefs. In this book, the authors explore the concept of death as a natural part of life, rather than something to be feared or avoided. They discuss the importance of embracing both the light and dark aspects of existence, and how this balance can be found in the rituals and ceremonies of pagan spirituality. The book also delves into the significance of the natural world, and how it can provide guidance and comfort during the end of life journey. The authors emphasize the interconnectedness of all living beings and the Earth, and how this awareness can bring solace in the face of mortality.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over

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

Genres PaganismSpiritualityNonfictionWiccaWitchcraftDeathReligion

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 1997

About the author

Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern Goddess religion and earth-based spirituality. She is the author or coauthor of thirteen books, including the classics The Spiral Dance and The Fifth Sacred Thing. Her latest is the newly published fiction novel City of Refuge, the long-awaited sequel to The Fifth Sacred Thing.

Starhawk directs Earth Activist Training, (www.earthactivisttraining.org), teaching permaculture design grounded in spirit and with a focus on organizing and activism. “Social permaculture”—the conscious design of regenerative human systems, is a particular focus of hers.

She lives on Golden Rabbit Ranch in Western Sonoma County, CA, where she is developing a model of carbon-sequestering land use incorporating food forests and savannahs, planned grazing, and regenerative forestry.

She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, permaculture, and the skills of activism. Her web site is www.starhawk.org.

The authors emphasize the interconnectedness of all living beings and the Earth, and how this awareness can bring solace in the face of mortality. Additionally, the Pagan book of living and dying explores various pagan practices and rituals that can be performed to honor the deceased and support the grieving process. These rituals may include creating altars, holding memorial ceremonies, and incorporating elements of nature into the mourning process.

Ratings & Reviews

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Community Reviews

My older sister, Heather, started practicing Wicca while she was in high school. One of the books I always remember seeing on her shelf with Pagan books was the Pagan Book of Living and Dying. It looked thick and meaty. Heather's copy was well read with dog eared pages, highlights, and notes in the margin. Heather also lived with the idea of death in a much different way than most of us do. She had a disease called FOP, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, which is a genetic mutation which causes muscles and ligaments to turn to bone. There was very little research or support when she was first diagnosed. It was a lot to handle growing up for her, I think.

I finally read Starhawk's The Pagan Book of Living and Dying as my sister lay in Hospice Care. I wanted to honor my sister's wishes for death, and I knew that this book had had a huge impact on her desires. What surprised me while reading this book was how useful it was. Not only did I discover why my sister wanted the things she did for her death, but thought about the things I wanted. I discovered a whole world of legal issues surrounding how our culture and country handles dead bodies, burial rights, and the care for those dying. It was eye opening.

Beyond what was useful and insightful about the book was the enchantment. I found myself delighted by the music, real sheet music for chants during rituals. There were ritual ideas to help those transition to death and majestic rites for those still grieving. All of these ideas and aids were presented by not just Starhawk but by other voices in the Reclaiming Collective who could share stories of other deaths and other griefs. It would be impossible to cover every situation that might be presented around those dying and those grieving. However, so many heartfelt stories were shared by these authors, that one felt as if the whole picture of this process was presented all while giving voice to the silence and mystery of death that we do not yet understand.

I think that this is a book that everyone should read, hopefully before they find themselves confronting death. It is also a book that I think deserves to be on every Pagan's bookshelf. For I have yet to find another book that presents as much practical, spiritual, or beauty for working with and around death from a Pagan viewpoint as this book. I hope it inspires our community to take these gifts out into the world and bring a more balance viewpoint around the culture we have with death.

Notes upon rereading, May 2013: What I said before holds true. The practical aspects seem even more useful this time (and make me feel very lazy about my own planning!). And while I still disagree with some of the metaphysical aspects, this time they, too, seem much more useful in terms of dealing with dying Pagans and/or their survivors in these transitional times.

Notes from first reading, January 2007: The pragmatic aspects I find incredibly useful. The theology (despite the fact that I myself practice Reclaiming-tradition Paganism, Starhawk's own tradition) and "history" drove me bonkers. Ignore those, and you'll be fine.

9 books 33 followers

First of all, I think this book fills a void. As Grieving: A Beginner's Guide points out, our culture is really anti-death to the point where even talking about death or dealing with the grieving is really unexplored territory. And I enjoyed this book and found it comforting, but at the same time ended up feeling like paganism is "warm" when it comes to my personal spirituality, but I'm not quite there. But I don't think any "off-the-shelf" religion is going to do it for me, and it really is an excellent book.

I'm grateful to Starhawk for including chapters on suicide and other sudden, violent deaths. That she also has a lot to say about how to care for someone who is dying is also important. So often, this part of life is ignored, and people are uncomfortable in dealing with the needs of the person passing away on a physical or spiritual level. Starhawk's view is a compassionate, unflinching one, and is a ray of hope in a world full of dull tomes on the subject.

As I am currently dealing with the deaths of two people who were instrumental in helping me get my life together when I most needed inspiration, this book has been doubly important as a comfort and a resource.

This was my second time picking up this book. I bought it in 2019 when my mother in law passed unexpectedly and hoped to find information to help in that process. At the time, this book was honestly a waste of paper. It had nothing to actually help with anything. I left it unread after the first hundred or so pages and flipping through for anything of use.

It lived on my bookshelf for the next few years until yesterday when I found out someone in the family passed that previous night. It was as close of a death to me but regardless, I wanted a book to help with the death and figured this was a good time to pick up this book without the intensity of grief I’d experienced with other deaths. And much to my dismay, this still isn’t helpful.

There is very little for the grieving person. This is mostly a story of their tradition, their losses, their activism, and a handful of songs or prayers.

The book is so heavy handed that you *must* wash the body yourself, promotes home funerals, and even had an in-depth description for a home cremation. While this is interesting, it isn’t practical for everyone. Personally, I don’t want to ever wash my dead loved ones bodies or keep them on ice in the living room of my home. Some do and that’s great but there was such a distaste for those of us who don’t want the dead literally next to us that most of the book was irrelevant. I’ve gotten more helpful information for death laws (which have likely changed since this was published) from Ask A Mortician. I trust someone like Caitlin to explain the legal options and the realities of death than this book.

While this book covers certain topics that were more taboo in the past, it isn’t helpful for the majority. It heavily dates itself with the focus on AIDS related deaths (though they do still happen, it isn’t as often or as taboo). There are topics that may be helpful to some such as mourning a miscarriage or abortion. The child death section may be somewhat helpful if hearing other people’s stories gives you comfort.

For myself, each death I’ve experienced has absolutely nothing to do with this book. It seems like this book is really written for people wanting to be a death priestess. If that’s your calling, great. I’m grieving. I don’t have the energy for it. I was hoping for a variety of resources as a Pagan and as someone who is grieving. There isn’t much in this book. And if it is, it’s so crowded with personal stories and shoving their tradition and beliefs at you, it’s lost.

The handful of rituals are heavily based on their afterlife views—not helpful if your loved one didn’t believe in that or any afterlife. Let alone if you don’t believe in their version of an afterlife, there’s very little discussion on other Pagan beliefs and practical approaches to handle it. The rituals are for the dead, not the grieving.

There is a huge emphasis in this book on confronting your own death. Perhaps if it’s the first time you’ve considered the reality, this may be helpful. However, not many people want to dive into their own mortality while actively grieving the loss of a loved one.

Overall, this simply isn’t the book I hoped it would be. This is a book for their tradition, death priestessing, and confronting the concept of death. It isn’t a book full of various rituals to help you, the griever, to cope and handle the death as a Pagan. Unless your method of coping is to do several meditations on the reality that you too will die.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: T/K (Paperback)

Starhawk is the author of nine books, including her bestselling The Spiral Dance, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and Webs of Power, winner of the 2003 Nautilus Award for social change. She has an international reputation, and her works have been translated into many different languages. Starhawk is also a columnist for beliefnet.com and ZNet. A veteran of progressive movements who is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism, she travels internationally, teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism. Starhawk lives part-time in San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in western Sonoma County, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens and writes.

M. Macha NightMare, Priestess and Witch, has chosen to develop her skills as a collaborative ritualist and author as her contribution to our emerging Pagan culture. Early in her journey on the path of Witchcraft, Macha joined in the formation of Reclaiming Collective, to teach Craft and to perform public sabbats in San Francisco. The collective evolved into a Craft tradition, and eventually dissolved itself in 1997, to re-emerged as a much larger and more inclusive entity. She co-created, with Starhawk, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over, HarperSan Francisco, 1997, and is author of Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online, ECW Press, Montreal, November 2001. Her writing has appeared in many periodicals, and she has spoken on behalf of the Craft to electronic and print media.

Macha holds Elder and ministerial credentials through The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG), the oldest and largest non-denominational organization of Witches in the United States. A member since 1981, she is a former National First Officer and has served the Covenant in many other capacities. She is on the teaching faculty of Cherry Hill [Pagan] Seminary in Bethel, Vermont, where she also serves on the Pagan Pastoral Counseling Advisory Panel.

She is a member of the Biodiversity Project Spirituality Working Group, to increase biodiversity awareness, preservation, and activism within religious communities. She also works with the Sacred Dying Foundation in educating funeral professionals and hospice workers about Pagan beliefs and practices about death and dying. To keep current on Pagan research, she participates in the Nature Religion Scholars Network.

Her matron is Kali Ma. Her magical practice is inspired by feminism and a concern for the health of our planet, and is informed by Celtic, Hindu and Tibetan practices, the sacred art of tantra, and the magic of enchantment. When the opportunity presents itself, Macha travels the broomstick circuit, where she enjoys immersing herself in the diverse community that is American Witchcraft.

She lives in Marin County, California with her beloved partner Corby and their thwo cats. The light of her life is her daughter Deirdre Blessing.

Product Details
ISBN: 9780062515162
ISBN-10: 0062515160
Publisher: HarperOne
Publication Date: October 8th, 1997
Pages: 384
Language: English

• Religion / Spirituality
• Religion / Biblical Studies / New Testament
• Psychology / Grief & Loss
• Self-help / Meditations
• Self-help / Personal Growth / Happiness
• Body, Mind & Spirit
• Religion

• Kobo eBook (July 22nd, 2013): $15.99

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: T/K (Paperback)

Starhawk is the author of nine books, including her bestselling The Spiral Dance, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and Webs of Power, winner of the 2003 Nautilus Award for social change. She has an international reputation, and her works have been translated into many different languages. Starhawk is also a columnist for beliefnet.com and ZNet. A veteran of progressive movements who is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism, she travels internationally, teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism. Starhawk lives part-time in San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in western Sonoma County, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens and writes.

M. Macha NightMare, Priestess and Witch, has chosen to develop her skills as a collaborative ritualist and author as her contribution to our emerging Pagan culture. Early in her journey on the path of Witchcraft, Macha joined in the formation of Reclaiming Collective, to teach Craft and to perform public sabbats in San Francisco. The collective evolved into a Craft tradition, and eventually dissolved itself in 1997, to re-emerged as a much larger and more inclusive entity. She co-created, with Starhawk, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over, HarperSan Francisco, 1997, and is author of Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online, ECW Press, Montreal, November 2001. Her writing has appeared in many periodicals, and she has spoken on behalf of the Craft to electronic and print media.

Macha holds Elder and ministerial credentials through The Covenant of the Goddess (CoG), the oldest and largest non-denominational organization of Witches in the United States. A member since 1981, she is a former National First Officer and has served the Covenant in many other capacities. She is on the teaching faculty of Cherry Hill [Pagan] Seminary in Bethel, Vermont, where she also serves on the Pagan Pastoral Counseling Advisory Panel.

She is a member of the Biodiversity Project Spirituality Working Group, to increase biodiversity awareness, preservation, and activism within religious communities. She also works with the Sacred Dying Foundation in educating funeral professionals and hospice workers about Pagan beliefs and practices about death and dying. To keep current on Pagan research, she participates in the Nature Religion Scholars Network.

Her matron is Kali Ma. Her magical practice is inspired by feminism and a concern for the health of our planet, and is informed by Celtic, Hindu and Tibetan practices, the sacred art of tantra, and the magic of enchantment. When the opportunity presents itself, Macha travels the broomstick circuit, where she enjoys immersing herself in the diverse community that is American Witchcraft.

She lives in Marin County, California with her beloved partner Corby and their thwo cats. The light of her life is her daughter Deirdre Blessing.

• Religion / Spirituality
• Religion / Biblical Studies / New Testament
• Psychology / Grief & Loss
• Self-help / Meditations
• Self-help / Personal Growth / Happiness
• Body, Mind & Spirit
• Religion

• Kobo eBook (July 22nd, 2013): $15.99

Finally, the book offers guidance on preparing for one's own death, including discussions on creating a personal legacy, making advanced care plans, and exploring different afterlife beliefs within pagan traditions. Overall, the Pagan book of living and dying serves as a comprehensive resource for those seeking a pagan perspective on life and death. It provides insight and practical advice on navigating the end of life journey, while emphasizing the importance of embracing nature and honoring the interconnectedness of all living beings..

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1. John - 2/5 stars - I was really disappointed with "Pagan book of living and dying". It felt like a mishmash of random beliefs and practices without a coherent structure. The author seemed to jump from one topic to another without fully exploring any of them. I was hoping for a more comprehensive guide to Pagan rituals and beliefs, but this book just didn't deliver.

2. Sarah - 3/5 stars - As someone who is new to Paganism, I was looking forward to reading "Pagan book of living and dying" to gain a deeper understanding of the faith. However, I found the book to be quite overwhelming. It was filled with complex terminology and concepts that were not adequately explained. Additionally, the author seemed to assume that the readers were already familiar with Pagan practices, making it difficult for beginners like myself to follow along. I appreciate the effort, but this book could have been more accessible to newcomers.

3. Emily - 2/5 stars - I found "Pagan book of living and dying" to be rather dull and unengaging. The writing style felt dry and monotonous, making it difficult to stay interested in the content. The book lacked the personal anecdotes and compelling storytelling that could have made it more enjoyable to read. I was hoping for a book that would inspire and enlighten me, but unfortunately, this one fell short in terms of engagement and entertainment value.

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