K-Now ...
... "Depression is best viewed as a Rite of Passage.
As an Initiation ... a state which we must enter into and pass through.
Mythologically speaking it is an Underworld Journey.
When we suffer depression our attention is pulled out of life and away from the world. As we withdraw our energy our life takes on the silent tone of a stark winter landscape.
This withdrawal of energy may also be viewed as a retreat."

"In many ways a depression is an unconscious demand for retreat. If we fight this need for retreat the unconscious only doubles its efforts. The shame, shyness, apathy or sadness that is experienced during a depression are all cues to pull back from life. Interestingly these psychological symptoms ease off as soon as we consciously acknowledge and honor the need for retreat.
The pain and torment of this initial stage of depression is directly proportional to our attachment to life.
Embracing a depression is essentially an act of 'letting go'.
This shedding may be the release of certain dreams, aspirations, ambitions, relationships, skills, attitudes or anything else that might keep hold our attention in an out or upward direction."
This 'surrender' is the 'death' that depression calls for.
"The Jungian view of the urge to suicide is often the correct psychological attitude - EXCEPT that one should do no physical harm to one's body.
The Descent into the Underworld requires a psychological or ego-death."

"After 'death' comes 'Limbo' - a seemingly eternal state where all is still. Limbo stands between life and death.
It is the drawn out Winter initiated by the Autumn fall ...
The 'Limbo' phase of a depression is a notoriously slow passage. Limbo lasts forever.
Time freezes and we are left abandoned in the dark with no sense of purpose or direction.
Whilst we grope in the dark we are given no indication of whether we are moving forward or back.
In real terms limbo may last many years or many days."

"Yet it is in Limbo that the true work begins ...
... The old has fallen away and cleared a passage for the new. In limbo we piece ourselves and our lives back together. Without really knowing we prepare ourselves for new life."

excerpt from>>>>

https://orderofthewhitelion.net/008.html