44 Days of Witchery - Thoughts on the Afterlife

44 Days of Witchery

I believe in a Shamanic model of the worlds, a model in which our middle world exists between the underworld and the upperworld. I believe that the only way to access the upperworld is to go through the underworld. It is this way in our meditations, where we must go within and come to know ourselves, our shadows, and our subconcious feelings and thoughts in order to come into communication and balance with our higher selves. It is also this way in death. Before our spirits are able to ascend into the summerland, I believe we must first travel through the underworld. Here we must face our fears, anxieties, blockages, negative beliefs, hates, etc... These are the monsters of traditional mythology, but the only "demons" I believe in come from our shadow selves, and the shadows of those around us with whom we are linked. Once we defeat these, I believe we can cut our earthly ties, and as the Egyptians put it "gather up our limbs," becoming whole and ready for ascension.

I've also observed how when we dream, our experience is formed with images, places, and people with which we are familiar. This has led me to the idea that perhaps our post-life experience of this realm (the same place we walk in the dreamtime) will be similar, and our paths will be paved only with images, places, and people we've come to know in life. Therefore, if we have led godless lives, our afterlife will then be godless. If we've never imagined a path to the heavens, there will be no path awaiting us. If we've no guides in life, we may very well have no guides when we get to our final destination. I've come to think that this, along with difficulties with cutting earthly ties, is the situation that leads us to become earthbound. I think we build our path through the underworld into the afterlife while we live our earthly lives. This is an important working that we as spiritual creatures should all undertake in anticipation of what is to come. How fearful or how beautiful a journey it is, I think, is entirely up to us.

However, I do think that those spirits who've not prepared themselves, whether out of ignorance, unwillingness, or disbelief can be helped by both the living world walkers and the annointed ones of heaven. As for what the Summerland is actually like once we get there - I do not know. I'll enjoy being surprised.