The Purpose Of Death

Dear friends,

Death is a sad thing but it is unavoidable. You see, we happen to be younger than our parents. Why is it in the world?


Our life from birth to death is a process. Like everything in the world it is a reflection of our true state. Everything is created and grows according to an archetypal pattern. This is an outward movement. At the beginning we are one with the source of our creation. As we grow older we find that old, familiar faces get fewer and are replaced by younger. Children become parents and parents grandparents. Each generation replaces the previous.


The completion of our process of growing into an adult is that we return to the state we have left, the centre of Creation. Try to imagine the spoke of a wheel touching the rim and at that point becoming the centre of the wheel. It does not seem possible but that seems to be what our life reflects.


On a simpler level we have here an image of secondary creation. The circumference of a circle consists of an infinite number of points, each one of which is a radiance of the centre and therefore contains the same properties. This is why people are wrong when they say the Spirit is beyond human understanding. Even a cockroach will one day understand all things.


When we move away from the centre as soon as we touch the rim we are at a reflection of the centre. The purpose of the rim is to make the turning possible. The iron hoop of the cartwheel protects the rim. Children maintain the continuity of existence.


Growing older is a movement to the rim and the purpose is to achieve stability. At the final stage of our life we survive only by means of dignity and respect. Death has a stabilising effect on a family. Scattered families are regathered, more so than at a marriage, and everybody notices how old everybody else has got. It is a reminder that we are following the deceased. Young, unruly members of a family are sobered. If we have been dependant on the deceased the death has the effect of bracing us.


Homer records that warriors were cremated. Later writers tell us that Aias was buried because his death was not glorious. Assuming that the war is just and necessary the heroic energy of the death has a great lifting effect on the deceased. We cannot assume that the soul of every deceased will rise to the Spirit, some have to be prevented from sinking, but there is a lot of virtue and self-sacrifice in the domestic path and this lifts many a good parent. The funeral ceremony should contain symbols of all four elements. Prominently featured should be an equal armed cross containing all the elements in equilibrium. The Christian cross with the elongated lower arm is not beneficial.


The soul is used to the support of the body and its loss can have a disorientating effect. They need to be stabilised. Solemnity and the wearing of black are in keeping with this need. People say that the soul should sever all earth attachments but this may be hard to do. They will tend to be drawn back to their friends and relatives and a relaxed reception after the funeral will give the deceased a last opportunity to see them all gathered.


If the bereaved already believe in the afterlife the loss tends to make them put more trust in that belief. If they do not it makes them think more deeply about the nature of existence. The rim is drawing them to the centre. A similar process must be influencing the deceased because they are both being governed by a manifestation of the same principle. The soul is progressing towards rebirth. It can be a confusing time for materialists but even those who practised spiritual disciplines may find the afterlife not what they expected. The funeral ceremony must draw them to the centre.


These days it is possible to hire a horse drawn hearse. This is better than a car because a horse is a natural manifestation of an archetype. A horse is a travelling and carrying animal and therefore a good symbolic influence. The iron shoes are manifestations of martial fire in the lowest place where they overcome inertia and raise the soul.


Solar influences also have a drawing up effect which makes the lighting important. An air breathing flame is more beckoning and more gentle than a perpetual thunderbolt in a vacuum. Apart from this an electric light uses energy generated outside the area of the ceremony. You can consecrate the bulb but not the electricity.


Death corresponds in the yearly cycle to Samhain. The Samhain fire is meant to bring light into the growing dark in order to prepare for the purity of the winter snow. Fireworks release fire from the inertia of the earth. Solemnity should be followed by an attempt to create energy. It may be useful to wear black on top of white and discard the black at some stage.


The best way to learn about the afterlife is to die and that is when our theories are put to the test. If we are wrong it is too late to study so it is important to ensure our beliefs are true first and not be influenced by partisan attachments. It is very important to have faith in the principle of going to the brightest place even if we have to go down to get there. The life in which we make the most spiritual progress is not necessarily the one with the most spiritual influences. It may be one in which we combat evil. Spiritual and moral behaviour may not take the form you expect so it is important to have faith in the brightness of the light.


We need to help the deceased make the right choices but mercurial influences not only help clarify the mind but have the effect of drawing to the centre. The reason why the Egyptians used pyramids is because they make moving up and inward the same thing. The four elements are contained in the point. That is our ultimate goal and each cycle of life and death should draw us closer to it.




May She be with you,

David.