Question: The word Umbræ appears in the Oahspe. Can you give some clarification to this word for our modern age?

Reply: Some editions of the Oahspe Bible contain a section titled “Glossary of Strange Words Used in this Book.” In that section it provides a short definition for the term “Umbræ”, which says: “Great darkness occasioned by the falling of nebulæ.”

This word appears in the Book of Osiris, Son of Jehovih 6:3.

To all the knots, where the false Gods are enveloped, shall ye take umbrae, a sufficiency, that ye may release them. But leave ye with the knot a sufficient guard to keep them in their places.

In modern English, the term “umbra” (plural: umbrae) is defined as a shadowy condition, or a darkness. The Oxford English Dictionary¹ defines the term as the “fully shaded inner region of a shadow cast by an opaque object, especially the area on the earth or moon experiencing the total phase of an eclipse.” The same source says that in astronomy, the term is used to define “the dark central part of a sunspot.” Citing this dictionary again, it says the origin is of “late 16th century (denoting a phantom or ghost): from Latin, literally ‘shade’.”

After understanding the definition and origin of the term, it makes more sense when we read Jehovih’s instructions to His son Osire when He said, “shall ye take umbrae.” In context, we read in verse 1 of the same chapter:

Send sheriffs out into all the divisions of heaven where thou hast destroyed the evil kingdoms. And thy sheriffs shall arrest all the false Gods whom thou hast dispossessed, and bring them hither, that I may speak with them face to face.

Through revelation² we are told that the places where these false gods were residing were shadowy, dark regions. In Allen Kardec’s works through spirit revelation, there is a shadowy plane of existence in the spirit world where certain spirits dwell that have refused to progress. In the Brazilian form of Kardecism, expressed through the works of Chico Xavier, we read about a place called the “umbral.” This place is not necessarily what many westerners believe to be “hell,” but a place of deep mud and mire where spirits remain until a certain amount of time. It’s described as a temporary place in the spirit world.

A Place of Dark Shadows

Concerning this place, Mir Tazar, a senior Faithist elder, said: “In the spirit world, another term for the dark place where the false deities reside is the Shadow Realm. It consists of all those who have resisted the urging of the spirit of truth, those who have refused to progress to higher grades, and those who have committed crimes throughout their entire lives either while in the physical or spiritual body. These spirits reside with other spirits who are like them. The spirits are also called nebulæ — which can be interpreted as dark clouds or mist from dark clouds.”

He stated furthermore that “the Shadow Realm, or what some call the Umbral, is a spiritual plane of existence within humanity’s physical realm. When humans pass beyond the veil they enter into a specific spirit world. There are many of these spirit worlds and planes of existence. If the person was greedy throughout their life on earth, they will be greeted in the Shadow Realm by those spirits who are like them. If in their human existence they were mean spirited, they will be greeted by the same when they pass, and so on. While on earth those who are not living a virtuous life, will be followed by the same type of spirits. In many cases, these lower spirits attach themselves to people who do not live according to Jehovih’s words. These are people that, in their former lives in a corporeal body, were seekers of material gain, those who obsessed with unnecessary things of life and had no regard for living a service to Jehovih and a beneficent life for others. Such spirits will remain in their world of shadows until such a time arrives when a good spirit or angel is sent to reach out to them. They can be brought up out of the mire and eventually into another world. That soul must have ears to hear, that is, it must be willing to get out of that mire. Many souls exist in that plane of existence for a very long period of time.”

“Remember the words of Sundar Singh, who was granted the ability to see into the spirit world where the angels taught him certain aspects of the various levels of those worlds. Sadhu Sundar Singh said the spirits revealed to him that ‘after death the soul of every human being will enter the world of spirits, and every one, according to the stage of his spiritual growth, will dwell with spirits like in mind and in nature to himself, either in the darkness or in the light of glory.'”

Summary

We have learned from various threads of revelation that the Umbræ is a dark place of existence in the spirit world where false deities and less honorable souls reside with one another.

We are told by divine revelation that many who enter into the shadowy place still have an opportunity to be lifted out if they are only willing to hear the truth which the messengers bring them.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary at Lexico https://www.lexico.com/

2. Via Mir Tazar