Reviews

THE DREAMER’S BOOK OF THE DEAD:
A SOUL TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO DEATH, DYING, AND THE OTHER SIDE
BY ROBERT MOSS

REVIEW BY C. LEIGH NIC FHIONGHAILE

Robert Moss covers all aspects of death, dying and the journey of the soul from a dream shaman’s perspective. He discusses the importance of dreaming, remembering, and becoming active in our dreams as a method of preparation for death, whether to prepare for our own death or to help another prepare. He asserts that the Land of the Dead is a familiar place to which we travel every night – in our dreams!

Moss claims that shamanic journeys help us become familiar with the Otherworldly landscape and can help us understand what happens after death. He also shows us how we can work in the dreamtime to help make our own transition a smooth and peaceful one. In addition, we can function as soul guides for others who are facing death, helping them to approach the Other Side with grace.

Moss begins the journey into the Land of the Dead with an explanation of Samhain, so those of us of Celtic descent feel immediately at home with the subject matter. In Part One, he discusses ghosts and their various manifestations, spirit visitors to our dreams (for who among us hasn’t dreamed of the dead?), reasons why the dead may visit, our own dream journeys to the Otherworld to be among the dead, and healing our relations with the dead. He also warns of unhealthy attachments, and explains some methods for releasing the spirits of the dead from the living if necessary.

Part Two is an account of Moss’s own interaction with W.B. Yeats as a teacher and guide from the Otherworld, “whose commanding ambition in his life on earth was to bring through a myth of death and rebirth adequate to our condition in the modern world, a Western Book of the Dead.” Yeats and other spirits from the past explain to Moss the condition of their spirits and the “rules” from the Other Side. It is fascinating and sometimes instructional reading.

Part Three discusses how to maintain our “houses of death” in the Otherworld, so that we are ready for death and adept at leaving the body behind. Dreaming and journeying can be considered “rehearsals” for the main event. Moss draws upon both Celtic and other mythologies to help create a dream journey sequence by which we will leave this world and enter the other with courage and grace. There are exercises throughout the book that are practical and effective, including Moss’s “Dream Re-entry Technique” to help us enter into deeper communication with the departed and open a conscious dialogue. It has many other applications as well.

Moss’s techniques are similar to techniques I have developed on my own over the years, so I felt almost as if I was sitting at the knee of a respected Elder in my own field while reading this book. I was pleased to find interesting, different perspectives and sometimes even revelations at every turn of the page. I recommend this book highly to anyone who is interested in dreams, shamanic journeying, and exploration of life on the other side of the Veil – even those experienced in the dream journey, for you
are sure to find something here to enrich your practice.

The Dreamer's Book of the Dead:
A Soul Traveler's Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Side
by Robert Moss

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books (October 10, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 1594770379
• ISBN-13: 978-1594770371