Phyllida Anam-Áire - A Celtic Book of Dying: The Path of Love in the Time of Transition

This book is dedicated to Dr Elisabeth Kbler-Ross and to Brigid of Ireland.

Elisabeth guided me on the path I was to walk since our first meeting in 1982, and has been accompanying me with Brigid of Ireland.

Brigid on the other hand has been in me since birth.

A Celtic Book of Dying

Phyllida draws from the deep well of her own life journey and the wellsprings of the ancient spiritual and mythological wisdom held within the ancestral memory of Ireland. Our ancestors embodied a nondualistic perspective concerning life and death that emerged from their close connections with the natural world and its rhythms. Life was understood as a river of presence that flowed in and out of many different forms, and death was understood as a natural part of the continuum of life, death, and rebirth. Earlier cultures saw death as a transformation of form rather than the end of life. These insights are urgently needed in our death-phobic culture. This book is a wonderful spiritual, philosophical, and practical resource to educate and guide people who are dying and those who are journeying with them. With insights, practices, prayers, and blessings to support the journey for everyone involved, this book offers all of us an amazing opportunity to grow in awareness, in consciousness, and in unconditional love and acceptance.

Dolores T. Whelan, M.Sc. Biochemistry, guide, healer, and teacher within the Celtic spiritual tradition and author of Ever Ancient Ever New: Celtic Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century

Phyllida writes with a natural flowing style that invites the reader in. A Celtic Book of Dying is a gift for those wishing to know more about the dying process and an invaluable aid in assisting a dying loved one. I highly recommend it.

Barbara Vincent, M.A., RGN, RHV, RNT, priestess of Brigid

When Phyllida Anam-ire speaks, writes, or sings, she takes you on a souls journey! A Celtic Book of Dying will take you to a deeper understanding of Celtic consciousness that encompasses conscious dying as well as conscious living, as the one cannot be understood without the other. Everything Phyllida teaches comes out of her own experience and is therefore always authentic. I am deeply grateful for the wisdom she is passing on to us and for encouraging us always to embody this wisdom and to live it instead of understanding it intellectually.

Le Gr Mr, Jolanda Aoisanam Marks, psychologist and initiate of Brigid

This sacred book contains an extremely precious sharing of a deeply rooted knowledge and wisdom, focussing on both the biological as well as the spiritual process of dying. It offers us an opportunity to approach death with open hearts and with less fear, so we can be more present for our own death, for being a witness or sitting with another who is dying, and in supporting those whose loved ones are dying. Working with Phyllida you find yourself in a powerful cauldron in which to face all aspects of yourself, including those that may have previously been cut off or denied, so that you can welcome all of yourself home, sit in the fullness of you, and live the whole of who you are. Life becomes an amazing and vibrant journey of preparation for death.

Bryony Smith, M.Sc., biodynamic cranial therapist

Although this book is entitled A Celtic Book of Dying, it is very much about the living and how to live. Phyllida is our loving and empowering guide upon The Path of Love in the Time of Transition, as the subtitle says. Deep insights are communicated with honesty, passion, and practicality. Poetry, song, stories, and rituals are interwoven in a comforting and reassuring way. It is written with great compassion and has an authority that is always rooted in true experience. I dont believe that one could read a book like this and not be changed by it. I know these teachings helped me to accompany my father in the dying process, because they freed me to truly listen to myself and to him, and, as a result, I have a beautiful memory of the gift of his passing. I also know that there is enough teaching in this book to keep my heart and soul inspired for the rest of my life.

Cecilia Rose Kane, teacher (retired), writer, and storyteller

Acknowledgements

My heart-felt thanks to Greta Croilan Pattison for her patience and diligence as she helped get this new edition of A Celtic Book of Dying ready for publication. You are a real Anam Croi and I thank you. Thank you also to Mary Sharpe for proofreading the additional material and my publishing friend Sabine Weeke who has been a compassionate companion and a creative midwife urging the birth of this new edition. Finally my gratitude to Michael Hawkins, friend and editor to Findhorn Press; what a joy to revisit our friendship, Michael. My appreciations also go to Richard Crookes for his creative design of cover and pages, picking up the light of the Celtic spirit.

Go mbeidh Gr an domain leibh.

[Let the heart of love be with you all.]

Contents

Glossary of Gaelic Words and Expressions

Ag dul amach, ag dul isteach [Egg dull amack, egg dull is chaa]: Going out, going in

it an dorchas mr [Atch an dorkass more]: Place or passage of great darkness

ite [Atcha]: Place or passage

An Corda geal [An korda gal]: The bright, or silver, cord

An Earrach [An Yarrack]: Spring

An Fomhair [An four]: Autumn

An Geimhreadh [An Give-rew]: Winter

An Samhraidh [An Sow-ruh]: Summer

An Tursach mr [An Tursach more]: The great tiredness

Anam-ire [Anam aye-rah]: Soul carer

Anam-Cara [Anam kara]: Soul friend

AnamA-le-Cile [Anama le kayla]: Souls together

Cain [Ka-yn]: Energetic nervous system

Ceile De [Kaz-la jay]: Together with God

Cro oscailte [Kree us kailte]: Open heart

Filid [Fillid]: Poets

Fios [Fis]: Wisdom

Glire an Anam [Gloy-re an Anam]: Glory of the soul

Guth an Anam [Gooh an Anam]: Voice of the soul

Ln do Grsta [Lan doh Grasta]: Full of Grace

Meitheal [Mehall]: Gathering

Samhain [Sow-ayn]: Halloween

Scalta [Skealta]: Stories

Se [Sha]: As in ho or amen, yes

Sebhean [Sha-van]: Female shaman, saying yes to life, or old wise woman

Solas [Sol-assu]: Light-bringer

Tr-na-ng [Cheer na nog]: Land of eternal births, Heaven

Tir-na Sorcha [Cheer na Sorka]: Land of brightness

Tobar Beatha [Tuber baha]: Well of life

Trasna [Trasna]: Cross over

Tuatha de Dannan [Tooha day Dannan]: Tribe or people of the God Dannan

An Mac a bhfuil beannacht a Athair aige, is e solas a dhorcas fein.