Phyllida Anam-Áire - The Last Ecstasy of Life: Celtic Mysteries of Death and Dying

Each earthing
Tells more of
Our story

Each story
Unravels more
And more of our
Mystery

It is with humble devotional heart that I dedicate this book to the great mystery of Life Itself.

Life Itself has allowed me the privilege of experiencing one tiny glimpse of its immensity during 77 years, as a divine being, masked in humanity. It will also allow me the privilege of experiencing it again when the mask has been removed and off I go into another experience...

The Final Ecstasy! Wow!

Time and Space

Time and space are the gifts of birth

Timelessness and spacelessness are the gifts of death

We move and dance between the two

Like children playing in fields of corn

Thrashing and teasing the sheafs

As they open to their touch

Would that you could be so easy with life and death.

The Last Ecstasy of Life

The Last Ecstasy of Life is a book to be absorbed at a cellular level, as it speaks to the soul in each of us. I felt a deep sense of joy as I read it. The language and essence is one of love and deep compassion. I know going forward it will be a loving companion on my life journey, offering sustenance, re-hearting, and a constant reminder of what we truly are.

Bethan Elsdale, RCST, UKCP Reg, IoB, psychotherapist and craniosacral therapist

This book is groundbreaking. I felt so warmly welcomed into its pages where I was ecstatically inspired by the abundance of life force in death, in dying, in life. Phyllida shows us how to live and die fully through our heart and soul with her deep compassion and wisdom on every page. This book is a soul companion for life and death.

Croilan Greta Pattison, MBACP (Snr Accred), psychotherapist, teacher of Celtic consciousness, and guardian of the teachings of the Cauldron of Brigid

A timely and courageous book, Phyllidas words take us deeply into the mystery of life and death. Understanding death as part of our evolutionary spiritual journey through life, it is seen as a great adventure where the soul is freed to transition into a higher vibrational state of unbounded wholeness, beyond the material world. Phyllida takes a fresh look at the dying process, describing with deep love and sensitivity the final dissolution of the elements and absorption of the soul into the Universal Heart of unconditioned cosmic energy. This is deep wisdom, reassuring, practical, and lovingan essential guide for each one of us preparing for our own conscious death and an invaluable support for those accompanying others making their final passage.

Sara Arivanna Trevelyan, M.D., psychotherapist, Brennan Healing Science practitioner, and One Spirit interfaith minister

I so recommend this book. In beautifully poetic language and poetry, Phyllida Anam-ire presents an integration of spiritual insights, deep knowledge and understanding of the process of dying, and authentic personal experiences and insights. Her love and compassion, which have brought light and comfort to so many, shine through on every page.

Frances de Vries Robbe, R.N., esoteric healer and Access Consciousness practitioner

Beautifully written and presented, The Last Ecstasy of Life contains much information that will be of great help and support to all those who are involved with death and dyingthose who are undergoing the dying process, their relatives, friends, caregivers, and supporters. It is also of interest for anyone who wishes to understand more about the great mysteries of life and death. Phyllida writes with a flowing, colourful, and poetic style and covers practical, emotional, spiritual, and esoteric aspects of the experience of dying. This book may raise many questions for the reader, and perhaps one may disagree with aspects of it; but this is good, for without discussion and the free exchange of differing points of view, there can be no advancement of true knowledge. I would recommend this important book, so timely in our world of the chemical and materialistic approach to the phenomenon of death, as a gift of Light in a darkening world.

Jacqueline Kemp, BscHon (psychology), ATCL, ALLCM, Reiki master and author of Size Zero and Beyond

Phyllida Anam-ire lets us participate in her own experiences, insights, and amazing understanding about living, dying, death, and rebirth into a new existence. She paves the way to a new consciousness. The Last Ecstasy of Life is key to delving deeper into the mysteries of love and overcoming the fear of death. It explains the connections between healing and spiritual evolution and how immensely important it is to heal the psychic pain of our imprints while we are still alive, to be able to face death very consciously in peace, in a final ecstasy.

Alannu-Doris Hogger, healer and psychotherapist

Acknowledgements

T rue gratitude to Ems Harrington without whose loving encouragement, editing, organizing contents, nudging and creative input, this book would never have reached completion. You guided me when it all seemed too much. Without your input in those early days Ems, I would not have finished this book.

Then came Greta Pattison with her endless patience as she saved chapters for me as my computer had forgotten how to save!! Thank you so much dear Greta.

And continued thanks to Sabine Weeke at Findhorn Press. What a journey we have experienced together since back in 2005. You helped transform my notebook scribbles then into A Celtic Book of Dying.

My true thanks to Morticia Crone for her professionalism and creative directness in script-reading and general editing, before Michael Hawkins received the manuscript, for final editing. Morticias precise input added to the overall integration of the work.

And lastly, it was a joy to exchange life stories with Michael Hawkins. His feedback was gentle, open hearted, delightful and everything just flowed with ease.

I send blessings of abunDance to you all.

Preface

T he thing is, I love writing. My grandfather, from Donegal, wrote in-depth poetry and prose. Poetry, storytelling and singing were all gifts I received from my own family tree and for which talents I am very grateful. Somehow writing a poem or just writing an experience seems to ground the experience for me. Its like the writing of it acts as a witness. You are not alone when you write. I feel the ancestors gather around in stillness watching, taking it all in and I invite them to sit with me and learn, or teach me, as the case may be. Sometimes they form part of my memory and what I forget, they fill in, and this is exciting.

My friend asked me why I wanted to write about death and dying again and wasnt there more to life than dying? I loved the question because in it I found such wisdom. So, is there more to life than dying? I write about death and dying because I believe in the continuum of life whether in physical form or out of it. It is about this that I write; there is more to life than being in a body and there is more to death than being without it.

I believe that life experiences itself just as fully in dying as it does in living because life is not dependent on form. We experience just as deep a connection with life during our dying process as we do in living life daily. The problem is we are socialized into believing that all life comes to an abrupt end in death. In this book, I will share with you my deep belief that life is a preparation for death and death is a preparation for further life and that both are necessary for our integral spiritual evolution.