The Celtic Book of the Dead is a 42-card oracle based on the ancient Irish story of the Voyage of Maelduin, given here in a new translation by Caitlín Matthews. The locations of Maelduin’s voyage form the route toward the Blessed Isles that lie west of Ireland; for him, and for the reader, each island reveals the wonders and challenges as he sails nearer to the heart of the Celtic Otherworld. As with the Egyptian Book of the Dead, this oracle gives the soul opportunities to purify, clarify, and refocus. Filled with wonders, terrors, and transformational experiences, each island represents a staging post on the reader’s own voyage to self-discovery. As the islands reveal gifts that can be resources for the human condition, so too, solutions and strategies for unknotting life’s tangles may be found. The cards have three uses: to divine the path ahead as a guide to the soul's direction, as a way of meditation for personal and environmental healing, and as a Book of the Dead for the dying. This oracle offers a grown-up method of divination and meditation, based on an ancient northwestern European tradition.
Caitlín Matthews's books, courses, and events may be seen at www.hallowquest.org.uk. Her divination and myth blog is http://caitlin-matthews.blogspot.co.uk.
Danuta Mayer’s work has been widely published, and her paintings and miniatures can be found in private collections around the world. Her books include The Yellow Fairy Book, published by the Folio Society, and the award-winning Tenzin’s Deer, published by Barefoot Books. She has also illustrated a number of divinatory decks and zodiac series. She lives in London with an array of animals whom she fosters or rehabilitates for rehoming, and has been a committed animal-rights and environmental advocate for many years.
