Obstacles and Demons of the afterlife

As we have discussed, the Hermetic myth describes the reality of gods, angels, demons, and similar forces from two perspectives: as living, acting, and volitional beings, and as forms or matrices of mind.

In other words, each such being has both a physical and a psychic reality and can be regarded as an independent or a “projected” entity. This means that when, for example, a magus in a goetic ritual sees an image and hears a demon’s voice, he is interacting with a complex composite image in which there are both the traits and manifestations of a “living” demon — a “complete” bearer of the corresponding matrix — and the “overlaid” projections of his own destructors and dead ends of the mind, which interact with it. In this, a mutual interpenetration of “psychic” and “metaphysical” realities occurs: the demon is simultaneously present “outside” and “inside” the operator’s mind, and the operator controls the demon both in the Triangle and in his own psychocosm. This is precisely the purpose of goetia: to be a diagnostic, therapeutic, and evolutionary tool that helps recognize and heal mental pathologies.

Similarly, in operations of Invocation, theurgy, or “deity yoga,” the mind perceives manifestations of the Higher matrices both as “living” gods and as images from its own depths.

At the same time, a feature of manifested, embodied existence of mind is such a mixed perception that has both positive and negative aspects. On the one hand, it is a powerful tool of self-knowledge and self-improvement: by recognizing in itself the manifestations of particular matrices and the foundations on which they are activated, mind can effectively develop its strengths and correct destructive manifestations. On the other hand, there is always the danger of confusion and self-deception: mind always projects its fantasies outward and may layer them onto perceived images — either “ennobling” or romanticizing predatory and evil “vis-à-vis,” or simply attributing to the objects of contact properties that are not inherent to them “in themselves.” Accordingly, both goetia and theurgy require enormous inner honesty and a trained ability to correctly recognize and interpret perceived images, in order to separate the influences of “external” forces from the overlays of projections of “internal” matrices.

In an intermediate state — in trance, dream, or after-death — this “layering” becomes even more complex. Since the space of the Interworld is highly malleable, it subtly and precisely reacts to impulses of the perceiving mind, generating images corresponding to them. In other words, everything that is “inside” mind turns out to be “outside” it as well. In this lies the fundamental honesty of the Interworld: unlike manifested worlds, in the Interworld both conscious projections and reflections of hidden processes of the psyche are revealed — what in worlds can be masked or concealed. The mind thus sees the full spectrum of its manifestations and states in the form of “external” images, beings, and objects. Therefore, most “supernatural” beings — gods, spirits, or demons — appearing before the gaze of the dead or the dreamer are projections of properties and processes of their stream of mind.

At the same time, the Intermediate is also inhabited by and visited by a huge number of independent beings and entities, which may likewise be perceived by an elementer or a vedogon who finds themself there.

Accordingly, there arises an even more urgent need to distinguish projections, which must be studied, from interactions, which may have energetic consequences (most often negative).

Precisely in order to identify energetically charged interactions, various thanatological systems developed verification systems in the form of spells, prayers, and names, which one must know primarily to preserve the mind. Such a method is also known in manifested worlds as the “Direct Questioning” of Powers and spirits in goetic and theurgic operations; and in the after-death it takes on special significance.

For example, when an elementer or a dreamer sees beings attacking them, they can recite the corresponding spell or speak their names, and thus understand what they are dealing with: their projections or real predators. Uttering spells or Names of power in the Intermediate is a magical, creative action that changes reality, and therefore the right word can stop predators and dispel illusions. In exactly the same way, by addressing a deity by name that has appeared in the Intermediate, one can precisely determine how real it is and what its goals are.

Nevertheless, after death, the mind must still confront the “full spectrum” of its contents: all its streams, processes, impulses, dead ends, and blockages “burst” outward and become externalized in the form of beings and objects surrounding it in the Intermediate and superimposed on Interworld landscapes and features. There is no way to avoid meeting one’s inner demons or unpleasant aspects; all of them are guaranteed to “crawl out” and take the forms most appropriate to their content. The only thing one can and must do is confront them directly, work through them, and find one’s wholeness — one’s divine akh.

And along the way, the elementer should suffer as little as possible from the hungry inhabitants of the Interworld, seeking to snatch what remains of their vital or psychic energy.

Accordingly, the journey after death is not a romantic path toward “a light at the end of the tunnel,” but a most complex quest of self-analysis under the “crossfire” of internal and external obstacles and dangers, on successful passage the future of the mind depends.