Morbid Magic

By Tómas Prower. Pub Date September 8, 2019.

4.5 Stars. Best Enjoyed Anytime Your Morbid Curiosity Taps on the Glass

Tómas Prower takes us on an amazing journey into the one of the most important, yet seemingly taboo, parts of life: Death. I have been enjoying this one for a month now. This is the reference book I didn’t know I needed in my life and I have learned so much so far and will probably need to buy copies for my close friends and relatives. It has seriously opened my eyes to various religious practices, deities associated with it across cultures, and how people around the world grieve. It has also broadened how I, myself, see the subject matter. As a professional in the funerary arts (after reading this I feel like that’s kind of what it is: an art), Prower has first-hand experience handling the complicated relationship most westerners have with dying, death, and the grief that we experience when our loved ones pass on to the next plane of existence.

Each chapter and section covers a different culture, starting with the ancient and moving into the modern, extrapolating out the belief systems surrounding death, the gods and goddesses involved, practices related to both the preparation of the body of the deceased, and the rituals that are undertaken by the living to ensure a good afterlife for the person whom has passed, providing some first and second-hand stories on how others have used the rituals and knowledge related to their own cultures to help them with their own experiences. He also gives tips regarding things we can do now to strengthen our own relationship to the inevitable and also to help plan fot it so that our families and friends can focus on grieving so they can live their own lives again. Not only does this book feed your morbid curiosity, but it also silently builds coping mechanisms.

For those of us who live in this giant melting pot of western culture, this guide to the world of death and varying religions is super important. Most of us do not talk about death enough and do not have a healthy relationship with it, but it is something we will periodically be exposed to it as both those who experience the loss of another and our own inevitably. Death doesn’t always have to be seen as morbid and taboo, it can also be seen as the end of a marvelous journey that we have all had the privilege of undertaking. By building a healthier relationship with the end, we can learn to celebrate and relish the adventure leading up to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. for the advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!