What Happens Between Lifetimes
Definition
The Netist articulation of the inter-life passage: what the spirit does between the close of one incarnation and the beginning of the next. What Happens Between Lifetimes names the structural-passage that the Threshold Period frames at the cycle-articulation layer; the spirit reviews-and-integrates the just-completed life, repairs accumulated structural-damage, receives guidance, and prepares for the next incarnation's specific-purpose.
Literal meaning
The structural-articulation of the inter-life passage at the practitioner-accessible layer. What Happens Between Lifetimes lays out what the broader tradition's deeper-articulation names *Threshold Period*: the integration-passage that occurs after physical death and before the next incarnation begins.
Esoteric meaning
What Happens Between Lifetimes articulates the structural-feature that the Threshold Period names at the deeper-cycle-articulation. The inter-life passage is structurally-distinct from both the just-completed life and the upcoming incarnation; the passage operates as a separate-articulation with its own characteristic-features: review-of-the-just-completed-life, integration-of-its-learning, repair of structural-damage to the field, encounter with guides and the broader soul-cluster, and preparation of the next-incarnation's specific-purpose. The structural-recognition is that consciousness does not stop between lifetimes; consciousness shifts to the operating-mode appropriate-to-the-inter-life-passage and continues its work at that mode-of-articulation.
Allegorical meaning
A traveler who has completed one long stage of a great-journey arriving at a way-station: the traveler rests, reviews the maps and the journey-so-far, repairs equipment, consults with guides who know the next stage, and only then sets out again on the next leg; the way-station is not the journey's end, the way-station is the integration-and-preparation passage between stages.
Extended meaning
What Happens Between Lifetimes articulates the structural-features of the Threshold Period at the practitioner-accessible layer. The article-articulation includes several specific-features: (1) The transition-from-body, in which the spirit disengages from the just-completed physical-form and shifts to operating in subtle-form; (2) The life-review, in which the just-completed life's events are reviewed in their full-context, including the effect of the spirit's actions on others' fields; (3) The integration-passage, in which the learning of the just-completed life is integrated into the broader soul-structure; (4) The repair-and-rest period, in which any structural-damage accumulated during the life is repaired through the broader field's resources; (5) The encounter-with-guides, in which the spirit meets with guides and members of the broader soul-cluster for counsel and support; (6) The preparation-passage, in which the next-incarnation's specific-purpose is articulated and the relevant-circumstances of birth are prepared; (7) The threshold-of-incarnation, in which the spirit moves through the structural-bridge into the new-incarnation. The relationship between What Happens Between Lifetimes and the broader cycle-ladder is structural: the inter-life passage is one of the central-passages of the cycle-articulation; the passage occurs within the spirit's broader cycle-progression. The relationship to the Pillar *Un'Teh* (Interdimensional Bridge) is structural: the inter-life passage is one of the major Un'Teh-bridges, the spirit's transition between incarnations operates through the bridge that the Pillar names. The relationship to the Egyptian *Duat*-traversal is structural: the Egyptian articulation of the soul's underworld-passage is the closest figural-ancestor of the broader Threshold-Period articulation, the funerary corpus of *the Book of the Dead* preserves a detailed-articulation of inter-life passage features.
The *What Happens Between Lifetimes* article articulates the inter-life passage at the practitioner-accessible layer. The article complements the deeper-articulation in the Threshold-Period entries and in the Egyptian-funerary correspondence.
Usage
A practitioner encounters *What Happens Between Lifetimes* in the broader articulation of soul-progression and in specific contexts of bereavement-work and inter-life integration. The article serves as the practitioner-accessible introduction to the Threshold-Period articulation.
Ritual usage
Funerary rites support the spirit's inter-life passage at the threshold of bodily-death. Memorial rites at intervals after death support the spirit's integration-passage. The Group Initiation into the Atūm Current's deeper-passages may include inter-life articulation work for participants whose contemplative-development supports it.
Comparative tradition
Egyptian *Duat*-traversal in the *Book of the Dead* and the *Amduat*. Tibetan articulation of *bardo*-states in the *Bardo Thödol* (the *Tibetan Book of the Dead*). Hindu articulation of *antarābhava* (the inter-life state) in the broader Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Christian articulation of *purgatorial* and other inter-life articulations in the patristic and medieval traditions. The various tradition-specific articulations of inter-life passage as structural-feature of soul-progression.
Science correspondence
The contemporary research on near-death-experiences (Pim van Lommel's research on cardiac-arrest survivor reports, the broader near-death-experience research compiled by the International Association for Near-Death Studies). The research on past-life and inter-life regression (Michael Newton's *Journey of Souls* and *Destiny of Souls*; the broader research on inter-life regression-therapy). The research on verifiable past-life memories in children (Ian Stevenson's research at the University of Virginia).