As such “initiatory death becomes the sine qua non for all spiritual regeneration, for the survival of the soul and, ultimately its immortality” (Eliade 131, emphasis in original). In fact, by dying ritualistically, the initiate shares in the spiritual mystical condition as ritualistic and initiatory death become interchangeable while physical death is assimilated with the transitional rite toward a higher state of being. Hence the death of the old self becomes the central mystery that is re-actualized in each initiation. Plato stated that to die meant to be initiated as a being in other words, he explained death as killing one’s old self in order to bring forth transformation and renewal (Plato 1209). In this light, by undergoing Addie’s ordeal, the reader first returns to “the pre-cosmogonic chaos, to the amorphous and undesirable state that precedes any cosmogony” and then, together with her transposition re-invents the self (89). When he argued that “ritual death tends to be valuated not only as an initiatory ordeal necessary for a new birth but also as a privileged situation in itself,” he projected the dead as “the possessors of arcane knowledge, prophecy, and poetic inspiration” (89). 23.2–4)Īccording to Mircea Eliade, the symbols of initiatory death and rebirth are complementary. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
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