Growing from the smaller, self-published Reclaiming book, Crossing Over, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying is a compendium of information on coping with death and dying. It provides valuable and compassionate guidance for dealing with such varying situations as deaths of small children, of parents, and deaths in battle or by violence.
It has been reviewed a number of times. Here are a few of the reviews:
“When it comes to death & dying, westerners have their own challenges and need their own rites. Starhawk, Macha et al’s anthology of essays and contemporary passing-over rites, based on our Northern European Wiccan heritage, fills this need beautifully, and covers a lot of ground.”
— Francesca De Grandis, author of Be a Goddess!
“I am in the middle of the galleys of The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and it is absolutely superb. I wish I had it several months ago when my father died. I love the simple and elegant writing, and the way death is described in relationship to the cycles of the natural world. I found the book enormously comforting, and even suitable to lend my very non-Pagan stepmother as she goes through her own grieving process.”
— Margot Adler, author of Drawing Down the Moon
“It makes a fascinating read and is full of useful practical information. I thought the information about making wills and what to sort out before you die was excellent. It would be great if we had something similar in the UK that met UK legal requirements and was readily accessible. The other fascinating info was how to ceremonially cremate a dead body. I have filed this away in my mental file of ‘facts for emergencies’ along with what to do if an elevator/lift you are traveling in starts to plunge to the ground and what to do if you accidentally drive your car into the. It must be my Scorpio mind.”
— Vivianne Crowley, author of Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Millennium and Celtic Wisdom, Ancient Wisdom: Earth Traditions in the 21st Century
“I just want to say thank you for writing The Pagan Book of Living and Dying. It has been a wonderful resource for me during this time. Blessed be.”
— Eileen
You can order The Pagan Book of Living and Dying from Magus Books.
An unconventional yet incisive look at the cultural effects of the Internet on the ancient-future spirituality that is contemporary Witchcraft.
- Sacred technologies: accessing the “between the world” place in cyberspace and in terraspace.
- Manipulating energy in magic and via electronic communications.
- Polytheism and the Internet.
- Online teaching, ways of learning, covens, and spellwork.
- Networking, building community, organizing, and mobilizing for safety and change.
“The Great Goddess Spider Woman lives — and she’s weaving herself a new world on the Web, through which Macha NightMare threads her way with wit and energy. More than a manual for technopagans, this book offers provocative questions on the nature of both magic and community.”
— Patricia Monaghan, author of The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines and Wild Girls: The Path of the Young Goddess
“Witchcraft and the Internet: to many people, it seems incongruous, even counter-intuitive at first, but Witches have been in the forefront of the internet revolution…. and if you think about it rationally, it makes perfect sense. Not only are thousands of modern Pagans working in computer fields, but as a once, and sometimes still persecuted minority religion, Witches find the web the perfect place to create community, exchange ideas, and even create new kinds of cyberspace rituals. Now comes the first book to explore this phenomenon: Witchcraft and the Web. M. Macha NightMare has written a smart, insightful and extremely readable book filled with all the resources anyone would need to explore the cyber world of Witchcraft. More important, she deftly shows the impact of the web on the Craft – how it is changing the religion’s notions of authority, leadership, authenticity and even the way rituals are conducted.”
— Margot Adler, author of Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today
“In this book, Macha opens up the fascinating world of online Witchcraft. She points out how perfectly the form and structure of the World Wide Web fit our decentralized model of linking and organizing, and how the Web has served the growth of the Craft. Full of great resources, it’s a thought provoking look at an important aspect of our current history.”
— Starhawk, author of The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, co-author of Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions
“This book deserves to be on every Pagan’s bookshelf, right next to Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon and Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance. . . . NightMare has created a valuable resource documenting the history of Pagans online. An excellent work, and highly recommended.”
— Lisa McSherry, author of Cybercoven, in The Beltane Papers
“Your book is great. . . . I am sort of lost and going wow! . . . It is not only a beautiful piece of work but a very important piece of work and something we needed very badly but didn’t know we needed. Thank you so much for doing it. . . .”
— Satori, Reclaiming Vermont, Cherry Hill Seminary
“This book goes beyond the basics, into questions of authority, hierarchy, and institutionalization re-animated by this new [cyberspace] environment. . . . Carrying the metaphor of ‘the web’ throughout this very user-friendly book, NightMare negotiates the warp and woof of the Internet with dexterity, weaving a gathering space for ‘technopagans’ now and in the future.”
— Magya Tor, Magical Blend
Various kinds of Pagan religions are being reclaimed, reconstructed, or begun entirely anew. We can claim a rich and amazingly solid heritage upon which we base our various Pagan paths. Since Paganism, which includes Witchcraft, Druidry, Asatru and several reconstructed traditions (Celtic, Nova Roma, Hellenios, Kemetic, et al.) is one of the fastest-growing religions today, it behooves us to look and, and appreciate, the accomplishments of our foreparents, and their contributions to culture and civilization as we know it.
For those of you whose relatives look askance when you tell them you’re a Pagan, for those of you who work in the area of interfaith, this is the book for you.
“Who wouldn’t be proud? Pagans have given us art and architecture, customs and crafts, philosophy and poetry. Clearly and concisely, Macha NightMare offers a delightfully diverse overview of the world’s pagan heritage.”
— Patricia Monaghan, author of The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit
“Applying the revived and newly meaningful term “Pagan” to a wide variety of human cultural activities, Macha NightMare makes us look at our history with fresh eyes, letting us see the connections between religious polytheism and artistic creativity, political innovation, and freedom of thought.”
— Chas S. Clifton, author of Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America
“M. Macha NightMare has assembled an impressive collection of Pagan accomplishments spanning thousands of years of human history. Modern Pagan readers will rediscover their heritage with pride, while non-Pagans will acquire a new appreciation for the contributions of their Pagan forebears (and contemporaries) to our shared culture and society.”
— Elder Donald H. Frew, Covenant of the Goddess National Interfaith Representative; Trustee, Global Council of the United Religions Institute; editor of Sacred Spaces: 2004 Sacred Space Design Competition
“From The Aenead to the White Horse of Uffington, Pagan Pride includes both well-known and nearly unremembered examples of pagan objects and ideas. Treasure Macha NightMare’s compilation and welcome to our strange and wonderful world, where minority religions can point to so many contributions to the majority culture.”
— Grey Cat, author of Deepening Witchcraft: Advancing Skills and Knowledge and founder of the North Wind Tradition of American Wicca
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