Customer Reviews

Encounters With Death: A Compendium of Anthropomorphic Personifications of Death from Historical to Present Day Phenomenon

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Westgate Press is a publisher like no one else.

Because they deal with death. In all ways imaginable. On their website one is able to purchase numerous books, works of art, and things like that that are all related to death and especially the Angel of Death: Azrael. Not only does Leilah Wendell (together with husband Daniel Kempf) run the company and the website, she's also the owner of a house dedicated to her favourite subject, simply called The House of Death. According to her biography, Mrs. Wendell is "the world's foremost recognized researcher of Death personifications and encounters", and while I'm not entirely sure that's the real truth, it still wouldn't surprise if she indeed was just that.

I mean, it's not everyday that I run into people who've devoted their entire lives to the exploration of Death (actually, this is my first time...), but Mrs. Wendell really do appear to know what she's talking about. She's written several books, both ritualistic ones and poetic ones, but the one that's gotten the most attention within the world of the occult is Our Name is Melancholy - The Complete Books of Azrael (also reviewed by me here on Amazon).

But anyhow, this review is about Encounters with Death. (The reason for the rather lengthy introduction is simply that I assume that not too many Swedes know about Westgate, and I think they deserve all the attention they can get). Encounters with Death is a beautiful book; on its cover one finds Death and The Young Girl, by Adolf Hering, and several of the pages have pictures worth looking at both once and twice. Furthermore, the size of the book is very pleasant - a little larger than a standard sized Swedish paperback - and the type-face is simple and stylistically pure.

Well, so much for the aesthetics. What about the content? Well, unfortunately not as great. Mrs. Wendell tries her best to help people who look for some sort of introduction to the subject of Death (but obviously, she in NO WAY WHATSOEVER endorses suicide or any such thoughts; it's obvious that she's very pro-life). In order to do this she's scanned numerous books and other sources for information, which has enabled her to offer a short summary of how different cultures have related to/looked at Death throughout the ages. The second half of the book is made up of stories from Westgate's newsletter, where people share their personal experiences and meetings with what they've believed to have been the Angel of Death.

However, the book is unable to live up to its promises. The stories from the newsletter starts as early as on page 75, and this latter section of the book is, quite frankly, not very interesting. Page 1-75 furthermore contains several pictures, so in the end, the amount of data offered by Mrs. Wendell isn't very impressive. The bibliography is, however, quite large, and so in theory the book could've offered a lot more information. But I'm sad to say that the fun ends all too quickly.

Still, the idea behind the book is great, her ambitions are admirable, and Mrs. Wendell herself is definitely a fascinating human. Obviously this isn't enough to make a masterpiece, but the book isn't very expensive, so in the end it's still worth buying.

This book has a bit of everything a history of the Anthromorphic Personification of Death in various cultures, a overview i=of Death in Art, Literature and Movies and a selection of peoples encounters with the Grim Reaper Himself, which was more interesting than you might imagine. It's a nice little volume and I really think that you will not be disappointed in it.

Does it have to do with Death personified (or not personified, as some of the first-hand accounts relate)? Then you will find it in this short but packed tome. You will find the history of Death personified. You will see various images of Death from different eras. You will read about Death in popular culture. And, you will come to know Death from the recorded encounters of people who have met Death in one form or another. This fascinating read can be quite chilling at times and requires an open mind "for best results".

'Encounters' is a darned interesting read and I thouroghly enjoyed it. However it is not without flaws. Possibly the greatest flaw would be the fact that if you've read the author's brilliant webpages on the subject, you've already read about 80% of this book! I guess If you are borrowing from yourself that's okay, but posting huge portions of your book on the web & then charging people to read the left over dregs is not my idea of "cool". On the other hand, This is one of those highly esoteric subjects that you're lucky to find ANY information about, and in all honesty it is possibly to Ms. Wendell's credit that she has simply decided to share this important material with anyone who takes the time to visit her site.
All this aside, I do not regret buying this book, and I believe that books like this are a rare gem in this world. The heart of the text is the large section on first hand "sightings" of the Grim Reaper himself, reported by folks from the usual "all walks of life". unfortunately, there seem to be a few too many letters from pretentious flakes that have somehow survived the editing process, but the vast majority of these accounts are as chilling as they are moving.
To the true Fortean, this book may not strike them as being as "professionally" or objectively written as Mark Chorvinsky's excellent article on the subject from 'Strange Magazine' a few years ago (Grim Reaper Encounters), but it is no less solid and researched an account of weird non-human visitations than John A. Keel's landmark 'Mothman Prophesies'.
Some of the book seems to be composed of "filler" material to fatten the spine. There is a section on Death personified in art through the ages which, though not unwelcome and good for atmosphere, is ultimately far too cursory and irrelevent to warrant it's inclusion in this book. Then there's a section on Death personified in poetry which I frankly skimmed over as being far too melodramatic...

As always, Leilah Wendell never ceases to amaze and educate in so many ways! This particular book is packed with knowledge and interest. I would highly encourage reading this for those interested in Death, Azrael, and the like.

I was looking for a book that described what it was like to "encounter" Death. THIS is it! If you want first person testimonials as to what the Angel of Death is like, I suggest this book very highly.

This is a Excellent look at the role of death in Cultures around the role it played in history the world and throughout time, a prime example is howe death is no longer viewed as the "Grim Reaper" Ripping your soul from your body but slowly guiding to where it should go, its a great book, have a look its well worth the time..