Author Description

The Sacred Book of Death is one of a large number of compiled works which were made by the well known figure of LW DeLaurence at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The content here may be roughly split into three groups, each dealing with death and spirits- first, the component which involves actual Hindu practice, second, a large number of chapters about objectively western spiritism, defending the same, and third, a few chapters at the end of the book which contain the kind of wand-and-crystal spiritual lore as 17th and 18th century European grimoires.It is well made, and frequently decries the usage of familiar spirits to "harass neighbors" while proclaiming the same to be not only possible but easy, as a potential marketing gimmick. Some of the "Hindu" practices it describes, we ought to note, are decidedly not from a Hindu backdrop at all and are strictly European.