In a recent post of a Facebook group, a member asked about the concepts of the afterlife in Stregheria. As expected, it varies by the tradition or family practice.
Here is my contribution:
Our group has a concept of an afterlife which is based on the 4-fold body. The physical, the primal, the individual (spirit), and the divine (soul).
When alive and incarnate, the physical body is the vehicle that is imbued with and integrates our subtle bodies (primal, spirit, divine). It is no less sacred than the subtle bodies and is necessary for us to more easily interact with the manifest world. At death, the physical body returns to its component parts and becomes one with the physical world. The subtle bodies continue according to their nature.
Our Fetch or primal energy bodies return to the sacred land from which they came. They then become one with the sacred life of the land and eventually can manifest as nature spirits, land wights (local gods), or even became part of the Faerie Host, each according to their own evolutionary nature.
Our spirit (individual consciousness) ultimately travels to the Chthonic Realms (Hades). Normally, the spirit is guided by Hermes Chthonios for rest (or possibly rebirth, according to their nature). However, the lost or unquiet spirits (such as from an unexpected death or death from violence), often went to the Gulf of Hecate to await Her (Queen of Lost Souls and the restless dead) to guide them on. Our lore says that once a year, when the Veil between the words thins (Oct 31 – Nov 6), Hecate would guide the lost and unquiet spirits to their rest in the Chthonic Realms. Some individual spirits become “active” ancestors and are counted among the Might Dead who can intercede in material matters and provide spiritual mentoring and guidance. Most become “passive ancestors” and enjoy their rest.
The soul (our divine self) guides the process of what happens to our spirit self until it rises on the celestial fire (some say at Yule when the Sun is reborn) and returns to the Great Mother where it integrate the lessons learned during incarnation. It await rebirth into a new physical form and manifests with a new individual consciousness (spirit).
Benedizioni,
—Enzo