As the Last Leaf Falls: A Pagan's Perspective on Death, Dying & Bereavement

by Kristoffer Hughes

Move Beyond the Fear of Death and Integrate Its Powerful Energy As the Last Leaf Falls is a guide to death and the mysterious world beyond. The rituals, meditations, and exercises are designed to bring you on a journey of discovery through the most profound of all human transitions. Filled with insight and practical guidance, this book shows you how to honor family and friends in spirit and discover the life-affirming aspects of every state of existence.

Join renowned Druid priest Kristoffer Hughes as he explores the three Celtic realms of existence—the realm of necessity, the realm of spirit, and the realm of infinity—and illuminates the reality of spiritual continuation. Challenging many status quo beliefs about the afterlife, this illuminating volume supports the important work of confronting death and absorbing its meaning into the core of your spirit.

(This book was previously published as The Journey Into Spirit.)

Genres: Paganism, Grief, Death, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Spirituality, Self Help

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2020

About the author

Kristoffer Hughes (Wales) is Chief of the Anglesey Druid Order, a Mount Haemus Scholar, and a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. He is a teacher, writer, workshop leader, and guest speaker at Pagan conferences, camps, and festivals throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America. Hughes has also contributed to Welsh and English television and radio. He's the author of four books and the creator of the Celtic Tarot.

Hughes is also a Death Services Professional for Her Majesty's Coroner service. He hosts frequent Amicus Mortis/Friends Death, Death Midwifery and Mortality Salience courses in person and online.

Reviews

[Edric Unsane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more of a memoir of the author’s pagan journey and dealings with death. His very heartfelt and genuine musings were appreciated.
There are plenty of exercises that challenge the reader to think about things in relation to death that some may feel are difficult, but it is well worth it.
The book was written with a Celtic/Druidic theme, but can easily be understood by pagans outside of that school of thinking.
This book was most certainly worth the purchase, and I’d recommend it, for sure.

[FrisianTea · Rating 2 out of 5]

(from May 18, 2023)
Background: I recently lost a dear friend to cancer. I was there with him a lot and am the one who found his body. I'm a Pagan and he loved Nature in a more general way.

The parts of this book that were about the physical side of death--and the author's personal and very poignant experiences--were just fine. I appreciated his insights on grief. That it is transformative and natural, that we need to allow it, and that grief is like seasonal transitions... one minute you are doing well (spring warmth), the next you may be deep within sadness (sudden cold sets in again after a warm spring morning).

However, the remainder of the book was... distressing. It was emphatically NOT what I needed to be reading right now. To be blunt, his views remind me very much of those you will get in New Age, Buddhist, or other vaguely monotheistic-leaning circles. He posits that we lose our individuality at death. He calls it personality, which is a somewhat different concept, but I got very far in the book and he still gave NO indicator that individuality really continues in a meaningful way in his world-view. Instead, the deceased person is on their way to becoming the ocean. There's a lot about the river becoming the ocean later in the book. Me, I do not find that oft-repeated platitude remotely comforting.

I am a Jungian (who believes that Individuation is sacred and natural) and a Polytheist mystic who has incredibly meaningful relationships with a few individual Deities from a variety of Pantheons. The author seems pretty dismissive of beliefs that individuality continues after death. On the one hand, I get his thought that if we are eternal, and this human incarnation is a brief experience of ours, that does stand up nicely against all the fear- and control-based religions. If you are no longer "this person," you can't be punished for what you did as "this person." On the other hand, he describes our holiest Afterlives as essentially a crutch, a placeholder like an airport lounge before we fly onto other, "realer" things.

The author does not spend much time on the nature of the Gods. The closest theory he presents to what I have experienced is that They (capitalization is mine) may exist in a parallel world. Even then, the author indicates that They need human attention and relationships or They will fade away. This is vastly opposite of what I personally believe, i.e., that we are in a Cosmos full of individual, sentient Spirits. These are not created or sustained through the lenses of human perception, but rather are fully Themselves.

A few more statements that jump out. The author writes that our spirit does not have an agenda and is just a neutral observer experiencing physical life. He says we do not come here to learn, but to be. That reminds me of some really toxic New Age/etc. views... the sorts of beliefs that can lead people to resignedly accept abuse. I believe we incarnate here for specific purposes and that our spirits definitely let us know if we drift too far off course!

He also writes that our spirits are have always existed, since at least the start of the universe. This does not remotely track with my mystic experiences with the Deities or my own memories from before incarnation. Some Spirits are "younger" or "older"... eternal in the sense that they hold immediate wisdom that does not follow human understandings of linear time, but yes, Spirits can be born from other Spirits. It is a very beautiful process if you are gifted a chance to perceive it (or remember it) in action.

Again, this was not the book I needed right now. I will return to reading Evidence of Animal Afterlife by Edward Anderson, which logically details why and how personality does continue after death. I find far more encouragement in a book about animals than in one that is allegedly supposed to comfort us Pagans.

I realize I may sound a bit harsh... the author seems like an interesting person, based on reading his personal experiences and stories. However, his theology and mine are light-years apart. For myself, I believe that Individuality--and Personhood--is a beautiful and key part of not only the physical Cosmos, but also of the many potential Afterlives and mysteries afterwards.

[Chris Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may think a book about dying would be morbid and almost unreadable, but Kristoffer Hughes' writing is hopeful and informative. He is a scientist by training and the early chapters about his experience and how that influenced him into becoming a Druid is worth the read on its own. What really made this book life changing was the rituals towards the end. The beauty and poetry makes you reread over and over, in particular a meditation where you imagine all the way back to the big bang and beyond moved me to tears. This book really touched me and whatever your beliefs and Hughes respects them all, this is the one for you.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always fascinated by the beliefs of those other than myself, and this book certainly provided an interesting look at the pagan view of death and the afterlife. The parts about the author's job in the morgue were interesting, as well as his views on what happens to us after we die and how our soul is on a journey and our current body is just one stop on the way. It was a tad repetitive though and could've had a few chapters edited down.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kristoffer Hughes is right. The book does seem it could be read again. There is one thing I feel I must point, yes some people sacrificed themselves for others, especially in wartime. Though they did so because when they were poor, joining up was the only way to survive.

[Genevieve O'Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gained: purpose in life
Lost: dread of mortality

[Sandra L. Place · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a death doula and healthcare consultant and educator, I found this book a beautiful discussion of end of life, the spirituality of death, and way to honor the dead. I highly recommend this book and everyone can benefit from this work.

[Dan TheMan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was okay and it had some interesting point of views. However, it felt too autobiographical and I was not interested in that.