The Spindle of Necessity: Reincarnation in the Western Tradition
​By Ike Baker

Among the Eastern traditions there is a well-known tenet of spiritual transmigration familiarly referred to as reincarnation. Yet, there is another tradition at least as old but perhaps less widely acknowledged in the Western metaphysical traditions. This comes from Book X of Plato’s Republic in a story entitled, The Myth of Er. In this story Plato, via Socrates—the chief protagonist of his dialogues—recounts the tale of an ancient near-death experience related from a first-hand account by a soldier named Er. After being slain in battle and lying dead for twelve days, Er sprung back to life and recounted his travels out of body in the celestial realms.

Er claims to have passed beyond the realm of the Ogdoad–the outermost shell of the material universe, upon which the “fixed stars” or constellations, rather than the moving stars or “wanderers” or planets, were affixed. In this supra-astral realm Er beheld many things, such as the punishment of souls who were tyrants while in a physical body, as well as the souls of long-separated friends and family members reuniting to exchange news, greet, and catch up with one another...​
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