Mirror of Isis - An Official Fellowship of Isis Publication

The Goddess Isis, Chapel of Osiris, Abydos

Since 9/11 is being reviewed over again, with the  recent anniversary of it’s occurrence, I began to think of the men who carried out the plans, that sacrificed themselves for an ideal. It was said they believe in an afterlife and because they did, this deed that they considered heroic they would go to a heaven where they would encounter hordes of beautiful virginal women.

Most cultures past and present believe in an afterlife. This belief is usually manifested in religion, as it pertains to phenomena beyond the ordinary experience of the natural world. Varius evidences have been advanced throughout the ages for the existence of an afterlife. Those in a near deat experience, out of body experiences, revelatory vision, remembering an afterlife, sometimes receiving messages from someone who died.

Belief in an afterlife usually entails the belief that something survives the body when death occurs, such as a soul or spirit. Major monotheistic religions of the world preach some form of mind-body dualism, eastern religions such as Buddhism and Taoism offer  ideologies quite the reverse. Zen in particular teaches that consciousness is transient and illusory and even the concept of self is fundamentally flawed.

Many religious traditions hold that the afterlife will resolve justice by assigning rewards and punishments to people according to how they live their lives. This belief can be found throughout the ancient world. The afterlife played an important role in Egyptian religion. The believer had to act well and know the rituals in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. If the corpse had been properly embalmed and entombed in a mastaba the defunct would relive in the Field of Yulu and accompany the Sun God on his daily celestial round. If during the Pschomachis, the souls of the defunct were found faulty, the demon Ammit would eat them.

In the traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, human souls spend eternity in a place of happiness or torment, such as heaven or hell. Another afterlife concept found among Hindus, Rosicrucians, Spiritualists and Wiccans, is reincarnation. Some practitioners of eastern religion believe human beings can transmigrate into animals, vegetables or even minerals. Buddhists believe that rebirth is a process of being reborn based on your karma. Then there are the free thinkers who refuse to adhere to any of this. I would like to offer a song from an Ancient Egyptian bard, so you can see even in Egypt there were those that had their own ideas.

Bards Song

Spend the day merrily, as though there is no tomorrow
Spend the day merrily, do not indulge in sorrow
Use perfume for your body
Use poetry for your mind
Use prayer for your spirit
And you will surely find
That you spend the day merrily
For some day you will be
In the land that loves silence
And you no more will be
So spend your day merrily
And weary not with toil
For none can take it with them
Lo, none that have gone will come again.

About the Author: Loreon Vigne is a member of the ArchPriesthood Union and Grand Commander Union of the Fellowship of Isis, in which she has long been both a member and an ordained priestess. She founded the Temple of Isis at Geyserville, California in 1996. The Temple of Isis is a legally recognized church which offers legal minister status for FOI priesthood members. Loreon writes: "We honor the Goddess Isis, who equates with Mother Earth, and has been worshipped longer than any other deity known on this planet." Loreon also owns and manages the property named Isis Oasis in Geyserville, a retreat center which houses two active temple buildings, the Isis Chapel and the Main Temple. http://www.isisoasis.org/temp1/docs/about.htm