“Shortly after Dad died, I had a distinct sensation and image that my arms were somehow longer—that I was seeing a picture of how Dad was going to be working through me, extending my grasp of things, enabling me to do and handle more than I could on my own. I’m wondering about this now, as I ponder this new language I’m learning, the language of the dead.” —The Call To The Far Shore
I’m posting a video since it seems like a good occasion to try something new—for today is the official date of my book release. The Call To The Far Shore: Carrying Our Loved Ones through Dying, Death, and Beyond is now available all points north, south, east, and west.
Life is whirl-windy these days. There’s so much I might do to promote the book, but time and tech know-how are in short supply. And with a new born granddaughter to hold and cuddle, which also affords our daughter the opportunity to sleep a wink or two, my priorities become quite clear.
I’m having a celebration in a few days with women friends from our Closing Time death group of a few years back. We will have a ceremony to help bless the book and send it on its journey into the world. Then— raspberry mousse cake and tea-time.
On May 8th at 7:00 pm, I’ll have a public book launch in downtown Kingston, Ontario, at Next Church, 89 Colborne St. If you’re in the area, do come by.
I’m gathering together some quotations from the book for another project and including a few to give you a sense of some of the themes covered.
If you read The Call To The Far Shore and are moved to leave a comment, here, on Amazon, or on Instagram, I’d be much obliged. Your interest and support helps the book spread its wings, affirming the worthiness of renewing our relationship with dying, death, and our ancestors.
Excerpts from The Call To The Far Shore:
There is so much happening for each of us right up to and over the edge of dying: growth, self-examination, life review, and the yearning to make reparations—to name a few. Who really knows what wrestling with devils, angels, the dead, and the living is happening at the outer margins of soul-spirit when a person is lying frail and uncommunicative in their dying days? … It’s as if a narrow sense of self starts crumbling, making room for much, much more.
For so many years the very word ancestor felt borrowed; I felt something of an interloper in seemingly usurping its power and place from Indigenous peoples who use it freely and reverently. But now, rooting into my Celtic past, I am surprised by how embedded the notion is. The word has its hooks in me and wants to be known. In being led to this ancient door of my ancestral past, I seemed also to be awakening not just myself but those who reside there, in the “next room.”
It’s not uncommon for the dead to make themselves known through nature. I’ve heard repeated incidents such as Kay’s. Butterflies and honeybees especially seem to have a special affinity with the brevity of life and the presence of the dead, showing up out of nowhere at funerals and gravesites.
Order The Call to the Far Shore: Carrying Our Loved Ones Through Dying, Death, and Beyond through your local bookstore, Amazon, and most major booksellers.
https://www.amazon.ca/Call-Far-Shore-Carrying-through/dp/B0D9TMVNL9
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Call-to-the-Far-Shore/Nancy-MacMillan/9798888501092
Book Review: "You must read this book and you must make sure that those you love read The Call to the Far Shore because it offers profound spiritual wisdom and practical empathic guidance for navigating the inevitabilities of death. Beautifully written, this is as much an essential resource for helping the dying as Spiritual Midwifery was for assisting birth. Sure to be a classic." —Perdita Finn, author of Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World
For more info check out my website: nancymacmillan.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/nancyjmacmillan/
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