What happens when we die: A Hermetic description

I am on tricky ground here, for one of Cougina’s favorite axioms is, “Belief is the death of knowledge.” The subject is on my mind because two of my close friends, women half my age, have recently experienced the death of a parent, and I know that many of you also face the loss of loved ones. What follows is a report of Cougina’s experience, as described to me. Both your open-mindedness and your skepticism are requested.

After death, one’s physical, mental, and emotional bodies are discarded, and one’s spiritual body returns to the guf, the hermetic word for the etheric place of discarnate souls. The death process happens quickly, completing in a few hours. The tunnel of white light, the waiting family members, the life review, and the ghoulish visitations described by some Eastern paths are dependent on the belief system of the dying person, and are not an inevitable part of the death experience. Dying is an easy process, significantly easier than birth.

The guf is a place of ecstasy, but the soul cannot tarry there -- rebirth must be taken within three lunar cycles of death. The soul is free to choose its next incarnation from among extant fetuses on earth at the time. Based on today’s demographics, for example, a yellow soul will look for a set of yellow parents, and, if that is not available, a yellow mother and blue father. An adept will look for adept parents. The body will be chosen in part for the opportunity to fulfill karmic requirements, but the focus is on karma as a present reality, not as repayment for past deeds. With rare exceptions, the soul is alone in this process, without the guidance of a wiser being.

[As a side note, hermetic opinion on abortion derives from the way that incarnations are chosen. A soul may have reserved a fetus, and be enjoying the bliss of the guf, and if that fetus is then destroyed by abortion, the soul may be left scrambling for a suitable body at the last minute. However, until a soul has occupied a fetus, abortion is allowable. Once a soul has entered, abortion is to be avoided. The soul does not necessarily enter at the moment of conception.]

Regarding reports that dead loved ones watch over us, visit, or communicate with us, this is possible until the body of the next incarnation reaches puberty. The spirit body is not active until puberty, and until then is free to involve itself with incarnate souls from its previous life. Hermetica cautions against mediumship, in the sense of conjuring the spirits of the dead, as conjuring may negatively interfere with the soul’s work in its current life.

One is born many times, until all that is possible to be experienced has been experienced. Cougina uses the analogy of dipping a cup into the ocean. One dips the cup repeatedly, until every drop of water has been tasted. Therefore, it is to be expected that many people will remember a past life as Cleopatra; this is possible if one drop of a person’s current body comes from the body that was Cleopatra. Some drops of water will have come up repeatedly, and will result in strong abilities and/or personal qualities. When two past incarnations, A and B, were intimately connected, and one person living today shares many drops in common with A, and another person living today shares many drops with B, the feeling of strong connection is present that is sometimes referred to as being “soul mates.” For a person who has been a part of many incarnations, much of what exists, and many people, will seem familiar.

A soul retains continuous memory of its lives from the moment that it becomes adept, that is, achieves auric vision and telepathy. Cougina speaks from his experiences as an adept over several hundred years.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA AND AGGIE