This is a rather sensitive topic so I am unsure if you will even be willing to post this. Yet, I still find it a productive question to ask.
In light of recent events in my extended family I wanted to ask you what the occult tradition you come from says about suicide? I have a catholic upbringing and yet I find it really hard to agree with the maxim that it is a sin. Granted, there are more nuanced takes on this in the modern form of Catholicism; the idea that suicide is not love of thy neighbor as the suicidially depressed individual forgets their larger context/import in their community. However, there still remains the idea od eternal damnation.
In the cinematic potrayal of Dracula: Vlad the Impaler showed his first wife killing herself. Vlad’s realization that the woman cannot be buried in consecrated ground and that eternal damnation is her punishment drives him into darkness and evil.
This is something I simply cannot wholeheartedly sign off on. Suicide seems to me to take place in the larger context of reincarnation: of larger lifecycles (as in cycles not only within your current incarnation but also tracing the outlines of cycles across lives). Reincarnation, in fact, seems to be the only way to put a sense of justice/meaning that does not pander to empty platitudes. Many friends and families coming from a Christian background have tried to help me by saying it was this person's "destiny" to do so, but I can't help but feel that is very fatalistic.
To circle back to my question:
1. How does your magical training contextualize suicide? 2. Is there anything your magical tradition says can be practiced to help the soul of the individual who suffered? 3. Does your magical tradition speak to how suicide can affect the individual's growth in later incarnations?
I understand the heavy nature of the subject and thank you for your time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2025-05-19 12:42 pm (UTC)This is a rather sensitive topic so I am unsure if you will even be willing to post this. Yet, I still find it a productive question to ask.
In light of recent events in my extended family I wanted to ask you what the occult tradition you come from says about suicide? I have a catholic upbringing and yet I find it really hard to agree with the maxim that it is a sin. Granted, there are more nuanced takes on this in the modern form of Catholicism; the idea that suicide is not love of thy neighbor as the suicidially depressed individual forgets their larger context/import in their community. However, there still remains the idea od eternal damnation.
In the cinematic potrayal of Dracula: Vlad the Impaler showed his first wife killing herself. Vlad’s realization that the woman cannot be buried in consecrated ground and that eternal damnation is her punishment drives him into darkness and evil.
This is something I simply cannot wholeheartedly sign off on. Suicide seems to me to take place in the larger context of reincarnation: of larger lifecycles (as in cycles not only within your current incarnation but also tracing the outlines of cycles across lives). Reincarnation, in fact, seems to be the only way to put a sense of justice/meaning that does not pander to empty platitudes. Many friends and families coming from a Christian background have tried to help me by saying it was this person's "destiny" to do so, but I can't help but feel that is very fatalistic.
To circle back to my question:
1. How does your magical training contextualize suicide?
2. Is there anything your magical tradition says can be practiced to help the soul of the individual who suffered?
3. Does your magical tradition speak to how suicide can affect the individual's growth in later incarnations?
I understand the heavy nature of the subject and thank you for your time.