Books & Anthologies
HarperSanFrancisco, October 1997
ISBN 0-06-251516-0
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.
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Macha &
Starhawk
Photo by Tom Lux taken at a Spiral Dance by candlelight © 1992 |
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.
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ECW PRESS - 2001
IBSN
1-55022-466-2
An
unconventional yet incisive look at the cultural effects of the Internet on the
ancient-future spirituality that is contemporary Witchcraft.
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Sacred technologies: accessing the
"between the world" place in cyberspace and in terraspace.
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Manipulating energy in magic and via
electronic communications.
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Polytheism and the Internet.
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Online teaching, ways of learning,
covens, and spellwork.
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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.
Witchcraft and the Web
has also been reviewed in
The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum
and by Kathryn Lanier for
Innerchange Magazine.
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Citadel Press / Kensington Publishing Corp - 2004
IBSN: 0-805-2548-7
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, Colorado State University, Pueblo
"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
Here's a
review
at about.com.
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