Online Zoom Forum: The Call to the Far Shore: Carrying Our Loved Ones through Dying, Death, and Beyond - Phyllida Anam Aire in Conversation with Nancy MacMillan.
Date: Sunday 26 July 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Description:
Format: Following a Talk by Nancy Macmillan, Phyllida Anam Aire will be in conversation with Nancy MacMillan.
Through stories of being up close to dying and death, Canadian author and psychotherapist Nancy MacMillan writes and speaks of following the ancient wisdom of “learning to die before you die,” finding a seaworthy passage to the otherworld. She’s discovered that when we work with our fears, we open the door to where nature, myth, dreams, ancestors, and those yet to be born whisper from the far shore, a place beyond our last breath.
Caring for our dying can be a transformative act, radical even, restoring meaning to our place and purpose in the universe. Nancy speaks about how the practice of caring for the dead can help both those grieving and the newly crossed over. Healing and closure can be brought about through the process of washing and preparing a body for a home vigil or funeral—a ritual she provided for her own mother. In tending her mother’s long dying time, she awakened to the ever-present help of her ancestors. And through dreams and synchronicities she was led to discovering her rich Celtic/Scottish ancestral roots, and a place of belonging.
Bios:
Nancy MacMillan:
Nancy MacMillan is a grandmother, a registered psychotherapist and former multi-faith Chaplain with Master’s degrees in education and theology, plus experience working in palliative care, intensive care, geriatrics, and bereavement. She lives amongst the woods and lakes of Ontario, Canada. Her great-great-great-grandmother was Lady Mary Cameron, the subject of the new book The Glen Nevis Rose: Lady Mary Cameron of Glen Nevis and the Rose She Took to the New World by Ewen Cameron and Vee Walker.
Nancy’s own book The Call To The Far Shore: Carrying Our Loved Ones through Dying, Death, and Beyond, with a Forward by Robert Sardello, is now available through all major booksellers.
Book Review:
What a weight in gold the pages of this book The Call to the Far Shore offers us!
It is all here. In this new gospel of the natural response to death, we the witnesses of MacMillan’s soul experiences are invited to walk beside her as she shows us the mansions of grace to be experienced in following her call to be present and awake in the mysteries of life, death and transition. This book must be available to all who walk the earth and will depart from it.
--Phyllida Anam-Aire, Irish poet and psychotherapist. Author of: Celtic Book of Dying, Love in Times of Transition, The Last Ecstasy of Life, and Let Love Heal.
FiléDia (Phyllida Anam Aire):
Phyllida Anam-Áire is a grandmother, a former Irish nun, author, poet and therapist.
She has worked extensively with the sick and dying and has just finished her 5th book.
Now at 82 years of age, she is truly in love with her beautiful life and grateful for it too.
Phyllida lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Paypal.
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you are having a difficulty paying by Paypal, then you can pay by bank transfer instead.
NB: you must also email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can send you the Zoom sign-in details.
Here are the bank transfer details:
Account Name: Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace
Bank: Bank of Scotland
Bank Address: Edinburgh Royal Mile Branch
Account Number: 06131159
Sort Code: 802000
Some international transfers also ask for an IBAN number:
The IBAN number:
GB70 BOFS 8020 0006 1311 59
BIC:
BOFSGB21168