The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Since an insignificant existence awaited everyone in the underworld, whether they were a proud king, a hero or a famous personality. Accprdiong to Greek mythology, the entrance to the underworld was marked by the River Acheronm where fire and misery mingles with the River Styx. The waters were meant to be full of numours horrow. The ferryman, Charon, was reposnsible to bringing the dead across these rivers in his boat. Obviously, some of you may already recognize this from The Odyddey by Homer (a famous epic poem).

Once upon the shores of the deceased, the three-headed dog Cerebrus guarded the gate through which all finally entered, never to return. Those who did not pay the ferryman for their passage across river were tossed into the bleak and lively waters. So, while escape from the sinners and the just were not mapped out, fate still dealt with things accordingly.

My topic is really a matter of how much you buy into with this? So our souls have trials ahead after we die? What would they be? Are they for redemption or something to lesses the blow of overall punishment -- sinning is sinning.

I feel that the mythology of Greece is a lot like children's bedtime stories. They inspire us to do what is right or in this case, ambitious. If the tale went that all you had to do was not kill anybody and you are golden for the afterlife, there would be no murder, but we'd have a bunch of other crimes and criminals laying around and doing nothing at all. And the mantra of life would be "fuck it, I'm going to heaven" Now, if there were trials and tests (like say a river of torment and a giant 3-headed dog to contend with) then people would be a little more hard pressed to do what is right by them and others. Also in the Egyptian mythology, you are judged by Tholth and buried by Anubis so it's slightly similar. I believe mythology is used basically to keep us all in line during life with tales of woe for the after.

I do not think our souls have trials after we die, I think once we die go to our own personal place of peace.

I imagine a soul as light, a greater light is our souls destination, taint in our soul light, or worse corruption of our soul light, hinders that soul lights , passage to "higher planes", yet as for trials after here, I live in a world now and I want to untangle as much from me as possible before I die, so that I don't struggle to cast my soul light out ward to farther horizons. If my light touched people still here then I could imagine the funeral to be a cast off. We struggle in this life time against many things to expect to struggle in the after life as well. If a person is so weighted by something when they die, it will impress their soul. have a lesser send off, more people happy to see you go, or indifferent. A life without final assurance, a soul that is dim and carries no notice as it passes, a life that illuminated others, goes out in a cast of sparkles a metaphor remembered by name and impression.

people that go out as static, smog, or offal gases. Infamous people cast a shadow while they live.

I don't think we have trials after death... I think that if we've done anything truly wrong then it just reflects on us in the next life. I wouldn't think that you would be kept from any kind of after life because of bad deeds because true punishment would be recieved in that afterlife.

Over all since this is a greek myth, I would have to say that there was one part the ferryman could be bribed with the write items.Usually food forgotten on the wayward travelers would be enough for him to pretend they paid the ferryman.

As for belief or not I really do not know any who still practice Old Greek god beliefs anymore.Some say that when you stop worshiping a god that god loses their power eternally.

So far there is but one greek god( to say if they did/do exist) which still have an abundance of power and that would be Ares with all the violence and war's that break out he must be drowning in nectar.

Aphrodite I would say still has some power after all love still exists although not so much of it is love anymore.

Hades still watches over the dead and Poisidon or however you spell his name still has an ocean to atend
However that is all dealing with the belief system

As for things dealing with your question I truly believe we do have a specific path we are meant to live however we are free to decide which road to take when forks come the one we are meant to and the one that is a false following.

Sinning.........I don't believe there is a such thing. You either are, or aren't. There is or there isn't.

We simply are. Understand that? We are here to learn and be who we are, and encounter who we do, to learn and advance spiritually. We have certain lessons we are here to go through and experience, so some are going to be unsavory and some are great.

Even Dahmer, who killed and ate people, was learning and so were the people he killed. He obviously had karma with those people. And the people left behind, well, they had shit they had to learn too.

Do you think about what you are here to learn and what you have learned, what you keep going through because you haven't learned it yet? Or do you just go through life, not thinking on these things? It's hard to imagine people not thinking. It's a Western world thing.....not reflecting inward.

we suffer from those who question our core faith by claiming we are ignorant,and unenlightened if we don't accept their beliefs and their interpatation or exact thing to believe, we suffer because others think that everybody should be open minded and clutter their open mind with unsettled and undefined "possibilities". We suffer from uncertainty created by people that expand on their "religion" as they go along tailoring it to popular sensational expectations. We can no longer just pass on and see the after life we have to suffer not knowing if we will be enlightened if we don't see aliens or a ghost before we die.. so we are tormented as we die by those who insist on persistantly pushing their faith on us so that they can settle us to their faith, instead of being asked what we expect after here, to assure that we have assrance, we suffer (nonbelievers) from people pressing us to change our faith, then we suffer from people denouncing us as ignorant for not believing, even on our death bed.

I beileve those who do evil to others will face a horrable evil when they die and those who are fair and kind to others will have a wonderful experience. There will be justice for all, be it a river, or a pit of fire, those who commit evil will eventionally have to face what they did in this life.

I guess I would buy into this and believing in something like this could exist. Not only Have I read it in comic form and enjoyed it with the Xmen but also studied the story in Latin translating it in High School.

I passed over once and never saw a beast or a river, I saw what seemed to be a desert, only dark and cold with fire in the sky, and an unbarable sadness, of course it was a suicide attempt when I was much younger, perhaps that is why I saw what I saw, I know I have changed my ways since then due to I never wish to experience that place again.

I don't really believe in that afterlife like that. I believe you're reincarnated or you just move on to something more than anybody can imagine. I don't think there is suffering for your soul after you die. Just my opinion.

Since I believe in reincarnation, I think our souls keep coming back until we get it right.As in atoneing for wrong doings or becoming a better person, etc.
Is there a hell or place to pay for our sins, I don't know what I believe on that subject. I would say for murderers I hope there is.

I think the radience of our soul dims as we taint it and grows murky with corruption, casting not a enduring glow but flickering and fading without rememberence..

I find that souls go thru stages and levels always striving to reach perfection

I do not feel we go through more trials after death I mean we have trials galore while living and once our soul has reached its final destination I feel that is it no more trials no more pain or soorrow, yet a time to relax, enjoy as it were..

Yet, I do understand that greek myths have always been very interesting to say the leat, and hey until we actually die.. well what can i say we will not know for sure.

Our souls go where our perception takes us, and what we believe determines how we are judged.

Sounds like Purgatory to me - atone for your sins and you will achieve entrance

I agree with "BlackxDiamond", atone for your sins and entrance is granted. Can't get it any simpler than that.
Well said "BlackxDiamond".

i think this fable is much like some religions, where forgivness of one sins means you may enter or be cast into a living hell. many similarities of others.

Hey Nocturnis, love, not that I'm saying murders should have anything less than hell but wouldn't they be allowed to come back again and again until they got it right and didn't kill people?

I don't buy into it at all. Our souls cannot [IMO] be judged after death.

Anyone ever see the movie "Defending your life"? I sort of believe in that. Reincarnation until you get it "right" so to speak.

I don't think the soul goes through trials, although many religions have some sort of judgement. I think the stories are made up fairy tales used to scare the weak willed into behaving and conforming to another's beliefs.

I believe the soul moves on, learns from its lessons in its previous life time and decides what it needs to learn in the next before being reborn again.

you guys have good points and i think every one is reborn on this earth just with out memory and some times they remember a past life

All of the stories are made to instill fear in the minds of the weak. It is all about controling the masses.

in my eyes i think that after we die life is not over. i think we await for our souls to be reincarnated as something of our choice or we are sent there to wait. but thats my thought. i think that once our vessels pass i think that our soul that part of us that is truly living goes on

Our bodies are just vessels to be able to communicate.

I believe before we were born, there were things we needed to learn in order to grow.

Some say we signed a contract stating what we needed to learn. If we get it right this time, then we go to a higher level in our next life.

A person who murders a person in this life will come back in their next and be murdered.

I agree with many of the above statements it is for the weak to be controlled that they will go to purgatory.


As for a Demon....the Wiccan religion has the Horned God. The God of wildlife. The God of nature. Many took this as the Demon.

Just adding my 2 cents.

I feel that we are reincarnated after death, maybe we go to a resting place somewhere to reflect on the past life we lived forst for a little while to learn about ourselfs...I don't know.

I believe that we do face certain trials after we die, not to "lessen the blow" of what may be coming to us, but to redeem ourselves and be forgiven for the sins we have committed. As for what those trials might be I am uncertain, maybe we face these trials before being reincarnated and given another chance? As for the greek myths, I don't believe them, I mean yeah they're interesting to learn about but (and I think someone might have already said this) I think they were just created as cautionary tales to make sure we always do what's right, to let people know that there might be consiquences for our actions in this life after we have passed on.

Those who did not pay the ferryman for their passage across river were tossed into the bleak and lively waters.


The price was metaphorical, and the collateral was determined in how a person lived their life. Whether the judge was without or within the individual, it all boils down to making the most of what we know for sure: the here and now.

I fel that once we are died thats it we are worm food all we have left is how remember us and hopefully that is enough and I hope that people remember me in a good way

I have always found it interesting how simple myths and beliefs such as the soul facing judgement before entering some form of paradise is echoed through out hundreds of religions. From Greek to Roman, Egyptian, right to Christianity.

I don't so much believe it is a judgement more like a guidance counsellor sitting you down and discussing your future. If you have gained enough knowledge you get to move onto another level of existance. If you haven't you get sent back to hell lol which is what I consider this earth plane.

I think that what eventually happens to your soul after death has much to do with your Cultural and/or Theological beliefs.

If we knew the answer to this, and other questions, we'd be able to prove Humans evovled either Darwin's Theory of Evolution or the Biblical one.

For now, I believe a Body is just an outside shell or vessel to make physical existance and relationships possible. Perhaps, in the future, we may even evolve into non-corporeal beings......

The points brought up by NocturnisOrchid, seem plausible. If so, I hope that I do a better job of it in my next life......

I do not think that we have trials after death. I think the trials we have our throughout the life we live and we pay for our sins while we are still on this Earth.

It all comes down to ones religous beliefs. And what gives you hope. The christians have St Peter and those pearly gates.

I think when you die, you ceast to exist, like every other living thing in the world. Please don't tell me there is a fly heaven or spider heaven, lol.

i think when you die you di cease to exist in the physical realm,but your soul moves on to the next step in life

Waxer -



Could you please explain your beliefs a bit more? You know ... more detailed. ;]

I think life is our trial, and judgement comes afterwords..

I passed over once as a child and saw the light that everyone talks about...being a 9-year old innocent kid makes that understandable.
I do believe - or want to believe - that there is a place of reckoning for us all when we die...Just the fact that many of us want to believe that those who do good or evil will get their just rewards later makes us feel good about life in general...the flip side is that among Jews and some others , there is no hell - hell is what we have on earth right now. basically - we all pick and chose what we want to believe.

i believe we can come back as certain things, people animals who knows smiles, all i know is i think my next life wil be better i hope

I do not believe in trials after death.. I do believe that if someone wants to come back a animal i think there shoulod be a trial about that..

OKay, I guess it is only right that I weigh in after after such a great response to this thread...

I've always felt that life is always a set of trials -- survival. That is, if you're even interested in life. Let's face it, some people are not (back to that). Now, with a set of trials under our belt, life comes to an end (life as we understand it to be medically) and should there be a second tier to lives lived; one free of trials; where choice is not punished by consequence yada yada yada. I'm of the mindset that this is harder than the most elite country club admission. As someone said before, it is like purgatory. So why not one last final exam? What have you taken from all the decisions made and lessons learned?

The last way I view it is -- we die. We're dust.

This whole process in Greek Mythology is seen many times in other mythologies and even in popular practices today.

It serves to make sure people know that they will be either punished or rewarded for what they do in their life.

I don't buy into this, but I am constantly amazed at the complexity of antiquity's mythology and how 'deep' things go. In many cases, it is much more definitive than today's.

Most of these stories intertwine from culture to culture being repeated. The characters and locations change. I don't know. I have studied near death claims and I know in many cases they say the person if you want to look at it as a judgment goes through a life review and you see the good and the bad things you have done. You are the judge and out of the body your clarity is not the same so you suffer for things you have done to other people. Most everything in this area is legend or mythology so I don't know how one could answer this definitively. I could only state my beliefs and that isn't fact. I think in many cases all these stories are a way of keeping society from creating mahem, similar to the creation of the seven deadly sins...by putting fear into people we (not all of us because our prisons are full) as a species keep ourselves from living on our emotions only and acting upon them.

Cant say whether there will be any trials...guess I'll have to just give you a rain check and tell you after I'm dead.

Greek Mythology is like many other belief systems where they are all about steering you in the right direction. Fear being a huge factor. I honestly can't say whether I believe there is more judgment after death for our souls. It would seem never ending in that case.

every culture has it's own rituals for death and the Afterlife...

The Egyptians are the best example....

Not only did were the dead buried with objects the thought would be the afterlife....

upon death, the deceased's soul was "weighted" against a feather.... with the idea being, if the soul weighed more then the feather.... the soul was not worthy of being allowed into the afterlife.....

and this is also where the legend of Cheron began....

After death... the deceased's soul would be carried down the Egyptian river of death, by Anubis, to where the Soul would be evaluated....

if the Soul passed the tests..... Anubis will continue the Soul's journey into the underworld....

In time other cultures would adapt this belief.... and even add there own take upon it....

When a person dies, the belief of a Soul needing to cross the River Styx, in order to enter the Afterlife is similar the Christian belief the Gates of Heaven.... with Saint Peter acting as a Bouncer...

the over all belief that a Person must be worthy to enter the Utopian afterlife, and someone Guards the way to this afterlife is a powerful message to stay within the established rules of society.

:)

I've read the Odyssey. I loved it. I am very interested in Greek Mythology. I am not sure how much of it could be true, but there are even more far fetched ideas out there.

And honestly I am not sure what I believe in. I am not sure what happens after death, but right now I have a life to live and I will not dwell on the future, whether it be near of far.

a spiritual being can not be affected by the "physical" pain anything a living human would be hurt by, since it is a spirtual being it can not be harm, all after death "punishment" can not be apply on the being, therefore becomes void.

It is hard to believe in after life punishment. I am a firm believer that when we die, we die. That is it

yet when we die who is to say what lies over the otherside if there is one. yet would it not be like the life we have where there is laws and some persicution for evrey plain. some believe we are in heaven and hell now and it is what we make of it, yet the religious side of all religions seem to base on something after death. We are to put this in our own concepts and believe to have the effect fo what we inspire to achieve before the lights in our eyes grow dim.

When i think of Cerberus i think of the Harry Potter movie. I believe we will have a judgement day but that Cerberus will be there i really dont think so.

I don't know where I stand on the afterlife -- but, if there were trials, I've no doubt they'd be laden with traps like this. To bribe or not to bribe, etc.

I think it's a summary of choices already made. The boatman is just taking you across Styx.

I think that no matter what, the trail of the dead will be harsh. Period.

I had never heard of this fable CryingDutchess..... seems to be a good one however I believe that once we are dead thats it its over we are remembered by those who surrive us.

you know what the sad truth is about anything after we die...

YOU CAN NEVER KNOW. unless you die.

so predicting whats going to happen is kind of pointless.

dont you think?

I hope that 'what comes around - goes around' - so that someone who does something terrible during their life and dies and does not ever seem to be punished for it...gets punished in the afterlife -

but I haven't ever seen any evidence of an afterlife...I was raised Catholic and my husband and I are sort of agnostic now...being in medicine it's tough to believe. You see a lot of suffering and then you see a lot of good people hurt badly with disease and trauma...then you see a lot of bad people survive things that they NEVER should have survived..it almost seems like the worse a person is, the more likely they are to live a long life...maybe that's actually the punishment...hehe