The death vision is used before the death with the person and just after death to guide the soul through the pathways of death. We see it as a landscape that helps our imagination create a doorway for our spirit to work through. Too many people die in a state of distress and too many people stay around after death. They are often confused, frightened or angry and their soul cannot move forward in its journey, as it doesn’t know where to go or what to do. Modern day religions have stripped the sacredness out of death, leaving a vacuum of fear and unknowing.
And although there are many ceremonies in modern day religion for death, they often just deal with the people left behind and their grief, rather than working with the dead person themselves. Older religions had their own version of a death vision or story that prepared and guided the spirit though its journey.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is one example where stories are told to the dead person while their body is laid out in the house. The stories tell the soul of the paths, challenges and spirits they must face on their journey. It warns them of the deities and demons and how to ensure that their soul goes back into the cycle of life. This series of tales is chanted over the body over a series of days before burial or burning. The one that is most common in its occurrence in western myth is the story of the river of death.
I have outlined a death vision that has its base and roots in the Western Mystery Tradition and has been used in various forms for many hundreds of years by cultures in the western hemisphere. This vision is something you would use with a person who is dying, so that they accustom themselves to the feeling of the vision before death. After death you would use the vision on a daily basis until you are sure the transition phase that you can access through the vision has been completed. It is also something you would do if a major disaster hit in your area.
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