Overview

This project contains three books and a oracle deck that was based on personal inspiration by the authors of the three volumes. The project dives into the modern views of death and dying and squares that against ancient views and dives into Hel and Morrigan as a frame for the possible inclusion and exclusion of ancestor veneration. Riding The Bones is Book One.

Synopsis

What is death? How do we deal with loss? Riding The Bones is a book that explores our relationship with life and death and the spiritual past that inspires us to form views on how we personally cope with loss. The book details not only a modern exploration of how we mourn, cope and deal with loss but a snapshot into time as the book explores the history of Celtic and Norse people and their relationship with the gods. The worldview of connectivity in an infinite cycle may seem like a utopian view, but for the ancient people, the world of life and death was intricately connected. The care of the dead and the preparation of bodies was imperative to their crossing and was ever evolving. Riding the Bones details the deep relationships they had with the dead and the use and care of bodies and how one could transition from humble body to divine grandmother.

The Death Book Project has 4 Parts

Synopsis

What is death? How do we deal with loss? Riding The Bones is a book that explores our relationship with life and death and the spiritual past that inspires us to form views on how we personally cope with loss. The book details not only a modern exploration of how we mourn, cope and deal with loss but a snapshot into time as the book explores the history of Celtic and Norse people and their relationship with the gods. The worldview of connectivity in an infinite cycle may seem like a utopian view, but for the ancient people, the world of life and death was intricately connected. The care of the dead and the preparation of bodies was imperative to their crossing and was ever evolving. Riding the Bones details the deep relationships they had with the dead and the use and care of bodies and how one could transition from humble body to divine grandmother.

Part One: Riding The Bones

  • The book is divided into multiple sections.
  • It introduces both the Nordic and Celtic cultures, beliefs and backgrounds as well as gives an extensive overview on the primary goddesses [Hel and Morrigan]. 
  • The book dives into variations on death and related lore/practices as well as theories on the death journey.
  • It contains ghost stories, myths and related lore
  • It features articles written by Katie Harwood [Why Children Don't Go to Valhalla] and Tal Lee
  • The book is extensively researched and provides a massive amount of references for others to follow.
  • It dives into personal experiences with death and dying
  • Reflects varying views about ancestor veneration
  • Contains funeral practices, rituals and customs
  • Discusses death/dying in the modern age
  • As well as ton of other information

Part Two: Summoning The Bones

  • In the second book we dive into the  other goddesses that will be included in the oracle deck.
  • The second will include; rituals, poetry, meditations, and more...

Podcast Episodes

Podcast Episode One

Podcast Episode Two

Podcast Episode Three

References & Resources

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Primary Topic Resources

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A list of all Academia.edu, Common Domain books, and all resources used in writing the three books.

  1. Catherine Harper: Land, cloth, body and culture
  2. Gold Bracteates and Female Burials. Material Culture as a Medium of Elite Communication
  3. Lives in fragments?: Personhood and the European Neolithic
  4. Familial Religion in Pre-Christian Scandinavia? Ancestor-Worship, Mother-Priestesses, and Offerings for the Elves
  5. Life after death, or what shall we do with a broken brooch?, (in) Eriksen/Abegg-Wigg/Bleile/Ickerodt (eds), Interaction without borders. Exemplary archaeological research at the beginning of the 21st century, Schleswig 2017, 275–282.
  6. Ring Out Your Dead: Distribution, form, and function of iron amulets in the late Iron Age grave fields of Lovö
  7. Recognizing a dvergr: Physical Status and External Appearance of dvergar in Medieval Nordic Sources (8th-13th century
  8. From fertility rituals to weapon sacrifices. The case of the south Scandinavian bog finds
  9. Handbook for the Deceased: Re-Evaluating Literature and Folklore in Icelandic Archaeology
  10. Blood Vengeance and the Depiction of Women in La leyenda de los siete infantes de Lara, The Nibelungenlied, and Njal’s Saga 2006
  11. "Death and the Maiden," Journal of Medieval and Early Modern History 42:2 (2012), 269-305.
  12. "Body and Soul in Old Norse Culture", in Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia, c. 1100-1350, ed. by Stefka G. Eriksen, Disputatio 28 (Brepols, 2016), pp. 393-428
  13. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Nomi di streghe e loro attributi nell'Europa germanica
  14. The Helka Fest—Traces of a Finno-Ugric Matriarchy and Worldview?
  15. Body Symbolism in Old Norse Myth
  16. Anon, Fairy Mythology of Ireland
  17. Body Parts and Bodies Whole: Changing Relations and Meanings
  18. Era of the Living Dead: Funerary Praxis and Symbol in Third Millennium BC Syria
  19. Fragments of Grief
  20. Hel of Helheim: An Examination of Hel In Viking Religion and Mythology
  21. Sacrificial landscapes: cultural biographies of persons, objects and'natural'places in the Bronze Age of the southern Netherlands, c. 2300-600 BC
  22. Economies of Destruction. How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe, c. 2300-500 BC
  23. Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages
  24. Women In Antiquity: A Bibliography (5th edition, 9.935 entries), by Yiannis Panidis
  25. Children in Antiquity: A Bibligraphy (A new corrected 4th ed. 384 pp., 5.325 entries on: embryology, childbirth, offspring, newborn, childhood, infancy, childcare, childbearing, breastfeeding, pediatrics, education, play, infanticide, exposure, eugenics), by Yiannis Panidis
  26. Views on the symbolic use of two rare bone finger distaffs
  27. From Fairytale To Goddess: Frau Holle And The Scholars That Try To Reveal Her Origins
  28. A Landscape of Ancestors: The Space and Place of Death In Iron Age West‐Central Europe
  29. Keening the Nation: The Bean Chaointe, the Sean Bhean Bhocht, and Women's Lament in Irish Nationalist Literature
  30. Madwoman, Banshee, Shaman: Gender, changing performance contexts and the Irish wake ritual
  31. Engaging the spirits of the dead: soul‐calling rituals and the performative construction of efficacy
  32. A Landscape of Ancestors: The Space and Place of Death In Iron Age West‐Central Europe
  33. From Fairytale To Goddess: Frau Holle And The Scholars That Try To Reveal Her Origins
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Sources from Diva Portal

  1. Forn Vannen, Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research. Kalmring, Sven
  2. Runic Amulets from Medieval Denmark. Olesen, R
  3. Masking Moments, The Transitions of Bodies in the Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Danielson, I
  4. Breaking and Making Bodies and Pots. Larsson, A
  5. Bronze Age Haga and the Viking King Bjorn. Kalif, A and Oestigaard, T
  6. The Good, the Bad and the Undead, New Thoughts on the Ambivalence of Old Norse Sorcery. Edited by New, A, Willams, H and Ljungqvist, F
  7. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. Chief Editor: Poole, R
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Literary Sources

  1. Ghosts, Witchcraft and The Other Worlds, Icelandic Folktales I translated by Alan Boucher
  2. The English Dance of Death, from the Designs of Thomas Rowlandson. 
  3. Magic, a History by Chris Gosden
  4. Bog Bodies Uncovered by Miranda Adhouse-Green
  5. Cold Counsel, Anderson and Swenson
  6. Women in Old Norse Society by Jenny Jochons
  7. Dying for the Gods by Miranda Adhouse-Green
  8. A Forged Glamor by Melanie Giles
  9. The Real Valkyrie by Nancy Marie Brown
  10. Economies of Destruction by David Fontisn
  11. Cremation, Corpses and Cannibalism by Anders Kaliff and Terje Oestigaard
  12. Lebor Gabála Érenn known in English as The Book of Invasions
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Special Thanks

Thanks to the Museum of London, Docklands for the resources gleaned from the presentation: Bronze Age worlds: ritual and religion with Susan Greaney and Dr. Melanie Giles.

To The Order of the Good Death and Caitlin Doughty who inspired us to look at this moment within our own religious and spiritual context.

multicolumns-item-image-1

Primary Topic Resources

multicolumns-item-image-2

A list of all Academia.edu, Common Domain books, and all resources used in writing the three books.

  1. Catherine Harper: Land, cloth, body and culture
  2. Gold Bracteates and Female Burials. Material Culture as a Medium of Elite Communication
  3. Lives in fragments?: Personhood and the European Neolithic
  4. Familial Religion in Pre-Christian Scandinavia? Ancestor-Worship, Mother-Priestesses, and Offerings for the Elves
  5. Life after death, or what shall we do with a broken brooch?, (in) Eriksen/Abegg-Wigg/Bleile/Ickerodt (eds), Interaction without borders. Exemplary archaeological research at the beginning of the 21st century, Schleswig 2017, 275–282.
  6. Ring Out Your Dead: Distribution, form, and function of iron amulets in the late Iron Age grave fields of Lovö
  7. Recognizing a dvergr: Physical Status and External Appearance of dvergar in Medieval Nordic Sources (8th-13th century
  8. From fertility rituals to weapon sacrifices. The case of the south Scandinavian bog finds
  9. Handbook for the Deceased: Re-Evaluating Literature and Folklore in Icelandic Archaeology
  10. Blood Vengeance and the Depiction of Women in La leyenda de los siete infantes de Lara, The Nibelungenlied, and Njal’s Saga 2006
  11. "Death and the Maiden," Journal of Medieval and Early Modern History 42:2 (2012), 269-305.
  12. "Body and Soul in Old Norse Culture", in Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia, c. 1100-1350, ed. by Stefka G. Eriksen, Disputatio 28 (Brepols, 2016), pp. 393-428
  13. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Nomi di streghe e loro attributi nell'Europa germanica
  14. The Helka Fest—Traces of a Finno-Ugric Matriarchy and Worldview?
  15. Body Symbolism in Old Norse Myth
  16. Anon, Fairy Mythology of Ireland
  17. Body Parts and Bodies Whole: Changing Relations and Meanings
  18. Era of the Living Dead: Funerary Praxis and Symbol in Third Millennium BC Syria
  19. Fragments of Grief
  20. Hel of Helheim: An Examination of Hel In Viking Religion and Mythology
  21. Sacrificial landscapes: cultural biographies of persons, objects and'natural'places in the Bronze Age of the southern Netherlands, c. 2300-600 BC
  22. Economies of Destruction. How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe, c. 2300-500 BC
  23. Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages
  24. Women In Antiquity: A Bibliography (5th edition, 9.935 entries), by Yiannis Panidis
  25. Children in Antiquity: A Bibligraphy (A new corrected 4th ed. 384 pp., 5.325 entries on: embryology, childbirth, offspring, newborn, childhood, infancy, childcare, childbearing, breastfeeding, pediatrics, education, play, infanticide, exposure, eugenics), by Yiannis Panidis
  26. Views on the symbolic use of two rare bone finger distaffs
  27. From Fairytale To Goddess: Frau Holle And The Scholars That Try To Reveal Her Origins
  28. A Landscape of Ancestors: The Space and Place of Death In Iron Age West‐Central Europe
  29. Keening the Nation: The Bean Chaointe, the Sean Bhean Bhocht, and Women's Lament in Irish Nationalist Literature
  30. Madwoman, Banshee, Shaman: Gender, changing performance contexts and the Irish wake ritual
  31. Engaging the spirits of the dead: soul‐calling rituals and the performative construction of efficacy
  32. A Landscape of Ancestors: The Space and Place of Death In Iron Age West‐Central Europe
  33. From Fairytale To Goddess: Frau Holle And The Scholars That Try To Reveal Her Origins
multicolumns-item-image-3

Sources from Diva Portal

  1. Forn Vannen, Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research. Kalmring, Sven
  2. Runic Amulets from Medieval Denmark. Olesen, R
  3. Masking Moments, The Transitions of Bodies in the Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Danielson, I
  4. Breaking and Making Bodies and Pots. Larsson, A
  5. Bronze Age Haga and the Viking King Bjorn. Kalif, A and Oestigaard, T
  6. The Good, the Bad and the Undead, New Thoughts on the Ambivalence of Old Norse Sorcery. Edited by New, A, Willams, H and Ljungqvist, F
  7. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. Chief Editor: Poole, R
multicolumns-item-image-4

Literary Sources

  1. Ghosts, Witchcraft and The Other Worlds, Icelandic Folktales I translated by Alan Boucher
  2. The English Dance of Death, from the Designs of Thomas Rowlandson. 
  3. Magic, a History by Chris Gosden
  4. Bog Bodies Uncovered by Miranda Adhouse-Green
  5. Cold Counsel, Anderson and Swenson
  6. Women in Old Norse Society by Jenny Jochons
  7. Dying for the Gods by Miranda Adhouse-Green
  8. A Forged Glamor by Melanie Giles
  9. The Real Valkyrie by Nancy Marie Brown
  10. Economies of Destruction by David Fontisn
  11. Cremation, Corpses and Cannibalism by Anders Kaliff and Terje Oestigaard
  12. Lebor Gabála Érenn known in English as The Book of Invasions
multicolumns-item-image-5

Special Thanks

Thanks to the Museum of London, Docklands for the resources gleaned from the presentation: Bronze Age worlds: ritual and religion with Susan Greaney and Dr. Melanie Giles.

To The Order of the Good Death and Caitlin Doughty who inspired us to look at this moment within our own religious and spiritual context.

Visual Presentation

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