River of Death

After thinking about life after death, I immediately think of the Old Kingdom book series by Garth Nix. In this particular series, it follows the life of two different necromancers and their journey to fight evil brought on by death itself. These two woman, Sabriel and Lirael venture into the world of the dead a variety of different times. In this story, the world of the dead is described by a vast river, where you have to pass through nine different gates in order to go deeper and deeper into death, much like Dante's description of the nine gates of hell in Dante's Inferno. Great willpower is essential in order to resist the pull deeper into the death, mentally and physically. Only Abhorsens and Necromancers can easily pass through the gates and dead cannot do so unless they are extremely powerful. This is how I imagine death.

The afterlife is often described as a river. In Greek mythology, you must pass through the river styx in order to descend into Hades. There is also the mention of the River of Forgetfulness,where you drink from the river and forget your past life so that you can start a new life.

I, myself, am not much of a religious person, but I do believe every person does have a spirit/soul. To me, the body is just a temporary vessel to protect your soul from deteriorating, but as you age, your body begins to weaken to the point of death. However, once your body dies, your soul lives on and passes into this "so-called" world of the dead. I am quite curious on the idea of reincarnation, therefore this whole idea of water cleansing your soul and causing you to forget your past life so that you can start over again definitely sparks my imagination. This idea also seems very peaceful. Water has a very calming effect on me and the idea of the land of the dead being a vast river sort of eases the anxiety of my thoughts on the afterlife.

Image Credits:
http://kalafudra.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/sabriel_by_iribel.jpg
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00984/images/riverstyx.jpg
http://ule-w-ritgen.de/pix/pictures/aquilasuite/LETHE--RIVER-OF-OBLIVION-2.jpg