Reviews

Book Review – The Pagan Book of the Dead: Ancestral Visions of the Afterlife and Other Worlds by Claude Lecouteux

Book Review

The Pagan Book of the Dead

Ancestral Visions of the

Afterlife and Other Worlds

By Claude Lecouteux

Publisher: Inner Traditions

314 Pages

Publication Date: 9/15/2020

 

 

 

The Pagan Book of the Dead: Ancestral Visions of the Afterlife and Other Worlds by Claude Lecouteux is a human’s best attempt at a compendium of all possible sources of astral literature from the ancient world. This book would serve as a Bible book if we witches had such. 

With such precision, the line between the myriad of pagan folktales, songs, and fables from the Hellenistic, Celtic, and Scandinavian religions, right to the nowadays more accept Christian beliefs of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Jam packed with information, this is one to take notes with. Wonderful for a beginner just now learning the different lores of Paganism, or a seasoned vet, there’s bound to be tons of information even you were unaware of. 

This encyclopedia style voicings make for an unbelievable amount of information in a deceptively small amount of pages. 314, 96 of which are the index and appendix. It’s a jewel for the book shelf, and a book that will take many reads to fully commit the information. I would deem this book essential for anyone serious about their practice. Especially those who are more traditional or restorationists. Or just simply would like to understand some of the stories you already know.

 

 

Not only does he write in length about the subjects of life, death, rebirth, the Fae, Cupid and Psyche, Russian folktales, Homer, to name a few, but he includes many excerpts, sometimes in original languages and translated. This book should be studied for years maybe. This book sought to satisfy the deepest curiosities. I’d recommend this to anyone, but especially the witch trying to cross reference the knowledge of your path, the new witch being bombarded with hearsay, and the wise wizard who literally wants to know everything. 

This book dives deep, and not only deals with stories of death from antiquity, but also address near death experiences from present day. If a Bible were to allow information to be added, this could be a book of death, it is aptly named, The Pagan Book of the Dead.

Claude Lecouteux is a former professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval and pagan afterlife beliefs and magic, including The Book of Grimoires, Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells, and The Tradition of Household Spirits. He lives in Paris.

 

The Pagan Book of the Dead: Ancestral Visions of the Afterlife and Other Worlds on Amazon

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About the Author:

Alexiel Raynes is a shaman, philosopher, and musician from Louisville, Ky. He has studied religion and science for over 20 years. His spiritual path focuses on self realization, the liberation of the constraints of the mind on consciousness. He also studies plant medicines and their use in indigenous cultures world wide. He is fascinated with exploring the world beyond the veil of mainstream western science, and postulates at what lies beyond general consensus reality. He, together with his business partner Hallie Walker are the owners of Saol Bandia, a holistic herbal apothecary based in their hometown. They are also very active in raising pagan awareness in their community, and helping give witches the courage to stand up to a world that has forgotten our ways.

 

You can visit their store at Saolbandia.com

For contact visit Facebook.com/AlexielRaynes2020

Or email [email protected]