(The soul of the scribe Ani visits his mummified body – from the Papyrus of Ani)
We all die. It is inevitable and unstoppable. Some fear it, some welcome it, some bring it upon themselves. I don’t question one’s beliefs on this subject as, more then likely, I don’t care what you believe. I just do not condone killing oneself. I find it weak and cowardly for the most part.
Across the world many civilizations have feared death. Either humanizing or demonizing it, most of the high class aristocrats feared it much more then their fellow poorer man. Some worshiped gods of death and made it easier on those left alive, while some asked those gods to kill off those who tormented them. Rich or poor, both sides of the economic food chain shared one main point and that was grief. It is the humanizing point in which we declare our ancestors. Those who grieved and made graves for the dead; instead of making fires, hunting or eating, they toiled away to give proper respect toward those who had left their earthly shells. Its been a cornerstone in religions and in day to day life. Called the “Great Equalizer” as it knows no race, creed, religion, nor can it be bribed. For as things live and breath, there will always be those who need to be laid to rest.
Starting in Sumer, the elite who died would be accompanied with many people, loved ones, treasures, wine and sacrificial animals<as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh>. They were cooked until charred and blackened<to halt decomposition I assume>, sprinkled with flowers and dressed in the finest clothing and jewels[1]. But as much as people were dressed, the laws in place in the living society followed them in death. The paradise of the afterlife, which is similar to the mythical realm of Eden was the hope that people would reach. All people who were lawful were welcome into this place. Suicide was not allowed in these laws and would not allow that person to this place and force them into a realm named Kur. Laws in this society were not like those of the Hebrew laws. Mostly breaking of the laws were followed by fines, which is why high class men might have been buried with treasures[2] <I found in a small article that males were born evil and doomed to a “Hellish” region in an afterlife ruled by and/or called Kur. Only site I‘ve found that agrees with this is www.Helium.com> <“Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a tin dome. The Sumerian afterlife involved a descent into a gloomy netherworld to spend eternity in a wretched existence as a Gidim (ghost).”[3] >
Next we examine the Egyptian civilization and their views on death and the afterlife. Egyptian death rites are much more commonly known. The rich and the high class could afford mummification and tombs to be built, or a much higher honor and be laid to rest in the tomb of a pharaoh. The Pharaoh of course was a living embodiment of a god. He would be whisked to the land of the gods at the daybreak of the time he was laid to rest in his pyramid.[4] The Egyptian Book of the Dead clearly goes through a maze like trail. To not get to the end of this would be to not exist. A horrid fate in the eyes of Egyptians. Yet, each of these trails had a prayer or spell in which you could pass the test, which was usually a god or godform asking if you did some sin. These sins went from eating dung to lusting for someone’s property.<If you look hard enough you will find just about all the 10 Commandments in this book[5]> If you passed all these and your heart was lighter then a feather which symbolized you were a lawful moral person you gained access to a Paradise like land. The rich and high class would keep their positions and slaves would still toil. This afterlife was very much like the visions in the Sumerian cultures.
In Tibetan Buddhism death is an event. When one person dies monks will spend over 40 days chanting and praying to help the spirit through its trails. Its believed death is very traumatic on the spirit and they forget much, but the chanting reminds them of their lifelong studying and assists them in these unique trails. First the dead is encountered by pleasures of the skin. If they cannot overcome temptation of this first trial they stay here until they realize it is a temptation, if said time is too long they are reincarnated into a very low life form. Next they encounter darker forms of gods and goddesses. These may seem they want to kill you but its simply the other side of the many gods. The dead must not run in fear but know and respect them. Some need a certain prayer to pass, which the monks chant. Deeper inside this labyrinth is a spirit who adds up the person’s good deeds and bad deeds with colored stones. If the pile of bad deeds is higher the good deeds the spirit does not let the dead pass. This also has a chant which tells the dead this is merely a figment of their own mind and thus it disappears. After many more trials the dead is brought to the god of Life. They tell the dead if they may enter the highest heaven, be reincarnated as a human<the dead enters a room in which they see many people having sex, this person may choose his parents> reincarnated as a lesser life form, or brought to suffer by the hands of the gods the wronged for a time. This list goes from highest to lowest.[6]
Although what we believe, or wish we did, may just be theory, and the process of the soul leaving is unknown to most, those who left us, leave us more emotional strain then we can comprehend. The commonly believed stages of grief are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression then acceptance. I remembered when someone close to me died. He stopped talking to me online for a few days which was not uncommon, then another person said he died. I didn’t believe him of course. I thought “He can’t die, he’s younger then me…” I stayed away from that person for a few days, before asking more questions to try to stump him, to try to make my mind believe my friend hadn’t passed away. When this person told me everything correctly I immediately jumped towards anger. I was so full of anger for the damn kids parent’s not looking out for their son, for him not using better judgment, even at myself for something very idiotic… for not predicting this would happen. I skipped bargaining, well because death is death and I knew that, there was nothing I could do. I had gone from anger to depression. Feeling dead on the inside, numb not caring what if anything happened. As that emotion faded with time, I knew all I could do was hope for the best for my friend. I will always have him in my memories and in my heart.
While I did lose a good friend I learned a life lesson. I also made a ritual to help me when the times were hard. This of course I will share with you. After invoking Lucifer and Leviathan I took a long piece of glass with an upturned shot glass on top. On the underside I had written a home-made Ouija but with a few added things, including sigils of all the demons he held close and a few words. After a lengthy ritual and at the time my candles died out I had felt better, a last goodbye as it were. Before the light flickered its last, I put the base holder on my upturned shot glass and asked him to draw a sigil. The wax dripped along, and crossed a few times which was a bit annoying but at the end I had an image. I drew it with my blood on a fresh piece of parchment then brought it outside along with a handful of coins I had engraved with sigils and two sticks of incense he told me he favored. Burning the incense with the paper, I sat down, inhaling the smells remembering good times, then when the incense burned away, I dug a little bit and buried it all respectfully. Thanking him, the demons and my own I solemnly walked back inside and went to sleep.
For an Occultist, death can mean many things. The tarot card “Death” symbolizes new life and new beginnings along with change. A death of the old self. Those who study and practice under the Left Hand Path have many ideas for an afterlife. Whether it is the reverse christianity ideal of Hell, or its origin Hel, whether it is an astral paradise or not existent at all, or even if its something we cannot fathom. But for those who fear and those who wonder there are many demons and elder gods of death. The deliverer of souls is aptly named in our culture “The Grim Reaper” but that name has changed from culture to culture. The Greek had Hermes and Thanatos. Hindu mythology has Yama, while other pagan religions had multiple “Women in White” or some time of women who could be responsible for death and the passage onto the next world. For true demons, this is my personal list, alphabetically. Astarte, Bifrons, Bune, Charon, Euronymous/Eurynomous, Gamigin, Hades, Hecate, Hermes, Ishtar, Mictan, Nergal, Nija, Persephone, Thanatos.
Just about every LHP group has some splinter group with at least one “Rite of Death” in which those involved focus asking Demons/Old Gods to kill someone else. I would imagine if this many people are coming together to psychically attack someone, so much they ask for death either the leader is very charismatic or controlling or the person really pissed them off. I personally doubt a Demon would help end another life or tell someone to do something to that point, but I have seen people ask for those to be injured and have seen the results. Its quite staggering. Many Satanic groups are so uptight, they do not even allow discussion of sacrifice topics so its nothing to worry about, but groups like The Order of Nine Angles have published works avowing human sacrifice/murder. Other grimoires specifically ones related to Necronomicon or later grimoires do as well. As stated within The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish there is even rationalities to these killings.[7] I do not advocate human killing, and I doubt any real Occultist would as we see life, and we respect that life no matter. I do however advocate animal sacrifice, as it is legal and protected by the US Supreme Court. It really boils down to you must kill the animal with one hit, so it is a painless death, unlike Hebrew Kosher killed animals… slowly bled out, its horrible and inhumane…
For the Satanist, the visions of death and the afterlife are quite different with each different form of Satanism. The most traditional view would be to go to Hell, the place where “Jehovah” was not present. An afterlife without the center for most of the devout. Only much later did it become a pit of flames and torture, which was wrote to keep people believing, of course. But the first Satanists would believe they would go here. Not as one of the damned, but of one of those who assisted the various demons and Satan himself. Either way I’d personally rather suffer for eternity then be a slave to god. Deeper Satanic groups with beliefs of Egyptian Gods/Demons believe more towards either the Paradise or another Astral Plane. Those who are Spiritual Satanists believe in a mix of Sumerian, Thelemite<those who work to themselves become a godhead.> and Astral Traveling for the most part. Demonolatry mostly follows a Hermetic belief about death. With the addition of the demon worship it becomes basically reincarnation of elements until they are worthy of the Demonic Plane[8]. Some believe in going to another planet, some believe nothing, some believe a world parallel to our own, but in the end, its really more about what helps you sleep at night. Afterlife is the prologue of life, why skip through the plot?
With that as just a scrapping at the surface of world religions, the process of grieving and death through the occultist’s eyes, one seems to look at similarities. Older religions have many gods for their death and afterlife rites. Most even have similar tails of another god’s dying or otherwise descent into a realm of the afterlife. With Greco-Roman Mythology, Hades ruled the afterlife and his later-bride, Persephone was tricked into staying with Hades for 3 out of 4 seasons. In Egypt, Osiris was tricked and killed by Set, brought back to life by Isis for sex, dies again after that, body was buried in the sand, later he was dismembered. When Isis brought most of all the pieces back<a fish ate his penis> the other gods made him Ruler of the Underworld. While other religions have multiple layers like the Norse, some are quite simple in nature but the real thing to think about is are they real in any way… Is there something after this? In a cosmic sense we truly are just grains of sand. Has just about every culture made these ideals up just to make them sleep better at night, or to control them, or did one sun-baked madman look into the eternal infinity and see something we can’t comprehend…?
[1] http://archaeological-burial-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/farout_revelations_on_the_great_deathpit_at_ur/
[2] https://www.helium.com/ (the domain was taken by an IT service provider. When the article was written back in 2007, it was the address of an e-learning website)
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
[4] https://www.wikipedia.org/
[5] Egyptian Book of the Dead
[6] Tibetan Book of the Dead
[7] Satanism and Witchcraft: The Occult and the West—Part Two; Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon
[8] The Complete Book of Demonolatry; S. Connolly
Latest posts by Xophier (see all)
- D.I.Y. Magick - July 4, 2015
- Goetia and The Lesser Keys of Solomon (updated 2 July 2015) - July 2, 2015
- Sex and Satanism - June 16, 2015
- Magick Sigils - June 10, 2015
- Death and the Life after - June 7, 2015
