Redesigned and reformatted for a new generation of readers, this classic series provides illustrated introductions by distinguished writers and scholars to the worlds of mythology, symbols, and sacred traditions. Shamans and mystics seeking to enter the afterlife by "dying before dying" have inspired Books of the Dead across continents and millennia, from Egypt and Tibet to Europe and the Americas. Stanislav Grof suggests that these depictions, ritual manuals, and mythic maps for the afterlife are bound by common threads and that modern consciousness research may bring us closer than ever to the realms beyond life.