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Home , Acheron, Adamant, Aeacus, Aegina (mythology), Alecto, Broteas

Contents GREEK ...... 1 ...... 7 NORSE ...... 10 THE OF BALDER ...... 11 RAGNAROK ...... 14 EGYPTIAN ...... 15 AFRICAN ...... 16 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ...... 17 BUDDHIST (TIBETAN) ...... 17 CELTIC ...... 18 ’S ...... 19 CHRISTIAN ...... 21

GREEK UNDERWORLD

Underworld, the kingdom of the dead, was the realm of and his queen, . Hades was very disinclined to let his subjects leave and - with very few exceptions - the only creatures who were allowed to freely go in and out were the , also known as the Furies. The Underworld is separated from the above by five rivers:

- the river of woe  - the river of lamentation  - the river of fire  - the river of unbreakable by which the swear  - the river of forgetfulness.

According to the , written by the ancient poet , the Underworld is located beneath the secret places of the ; in the (also written by Homer) the way down there lies over the edge of the world across Ocean. In later poems there are various entrances to it through caves and beside deep lakes.

According to Homer the Underworld is a shadowy place where nothing is real, but rather a ’s existence there is like a miserable dream. Later poets describe it more and more vividly and it becomes a place where the evil are punished and the good rewarded. Of all the poets, the Roman tells of the geography of the underworld in greatest detail. leads the down the path to the underworld, to where Acheron pours into Cocytus. There the ancient boatman, , ferries the souls across. Charon only ferries those who can pay for his service, with the money placed on their lips during their funeral. Those who cannot pay are trapped between two and must wait a hundred years before Charon ferries them for free.

Once on the other bank the souls face , a three-headed dog with and heads for its tail. His job is to guard the gates to the underworld. Cerberus will allow all to go in, but none to leave. Upon its arrival, each soul is brought before three judges: , and who pass sentence and either send them to eternal torment in a part of the Underworld named after its master, Hades, or to a place of blessedness, the Elysian Fields, sometimes said to not even be located in the Underworld.

Somewhere in the Underworld lies the great palace of Hades (). Other than saying that it is many-gated and crowded with guests, no writer describes it. Around it are wide wastes, wan and cold, and meadows of asphodel, presumably strange, pallid, ghostly flowers

Excerpts from Carlos Parada's Genaeological Guide to (Everything you always wanted to know about the Underworld):

After death there is no annihilation in Greek Mythology. The dead are dead because they have a flavorless and unhappy existence in the Underworld. Those who are practically dead but exist and dwell in all happiness in the Isles of the Blest or , are called Immortals. So life and death are qualities of existence, not lack of it. and Styx.

Between the world of the living and that of the dead there are, it is said, great rivers and dread streams. First, greatest and outermost is Oceanus, which winds about the earth and the sea with nine rings, but is also a . The river Styx (river of Hate), which is a primordial figure too (daughter of Oceanus), is a branch of Oceanus and a tenth part of his water is allotted to her. So Styx, which flows out from a rock, is the tenth ring, though some say that Styx itself corrals the souls in the Underworld with nine rings.

The Oath of the Gods.

Styx, daughter of Oceanus, was the first to come to Olympus and, together with her children, supported the gods in their war against the . For this reason caused oaths to be sworn by the water of Styx. If any of the gods pours a of her water and is forsworn, he/she lies breathless for a year, never tastes and Nectar and lies down spiritless and voiceless. After spending thus one year in sickness he/she is cut off for nine years from the 's councils and feasts and cannot return until the tenth year. Such is the oath of Styx, which could be expressed thus:

"Now let my witness be Earth, and the wide above, and the down-flowing waters of Styx, which is the greatest and most dread oath for the blessed gods, and your own sacred head, and our own bridal couch, by which I would never dare to forswear myself - that not by my will is doing and the Trojans harm and helping their enemies." [ to Zeus]

Other Rivers.

Styx is sometimes considered to be the river the souls must cross to enter the realm of the dead, though at other it appears that the souls may cross the river Acheron (river of Woe), or embarking here in vessels and navigating its stream, come to the Acherusian Lake. Some say that it is in this lake that the ferryman Charon takes the two obols for the fare. According to some into Acheron flow Pyriphlegethon (river of Fire) and Cocytus (river of Wailing), which is a branch of the Styx. But others say that the river Acheron, turbid with mud, pours all its sand into the stream of Cocytus and the place where all these rivers meet is known as the Stygian marsh.

Still others say that these rivers have no bottom or foundation and that they, coming in and out from , oscillate and wave up and down from one of the earth to the other. The river Acheron, which flows through various desert places, is said to come to the Acherusian Lake, where the souls of most of the dead remain, some for a longer , some for a shorter, until they are reborn. The river Pyriphlegethon, which is a stream of lava rolling in its torrent clashing rocks, also builds a large lake boiling with water and mud. Pyriphlegethon comes to the edge of the Acherusian lake, but does not mingle with its water and neither does the Styx, which coming close to the Acherusian Lake, passes round in a circle and falls back into Tartarus under the name of Cocytus.

Tartarus, Cosmic Place.

Tartarus is the lowest abyss beneath the earth where all waters originate; all rivers flow into the chasm of Tartarus and flow out of it again. Tartarus is, they say, a gloomy place as far distant from earth as earth is from the sky. For, it is said, a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth. Still others say that Tartarus yawns deep under the shades, extending down twice as far as the view upward to Heaven. Tartarus and the Underworld are the realm of , which is pure Darkness.

Tartarus, Place of Punishment.

Tartarus is also a place of punishment. Round it runs a fence of , and night spreads in triple line all about it. Some say that the gates are of iron and the threshold of bronze, and others that there is a threefold wall around it. Around this triple wall flows Pyriphlegethon with its flames and its clashing rocks. The entrance, in which there is an enormous portal has pillars of solid that not even the gods could break. At the top of its tower of Iron sits the Erinye 1, with her bloody robe, and sleepless day and night, guards the entrance.

Tartarus, the Being.

Tartarus is, at the same time, a being capable of intercourse. Tartarus is the father of such as and [for the fight of Typhon against heaven see Zeus]. Erebus, the Darkness of the Underworld, possibly existing from the beginning together with , (Night) and Tartarus, gave birth, according to some, to the MOERAE, the , , (Old Age), (Death) and Styx.

Arrival to Hades.

As men and women die Hermes leads their souls to the Underworld, past the streams of Oceanus, past the White Rock (Leucas), past the Gates of the Sun and the Land of Dreams, until they reach the Asphodel Fields, where the spirits dwell living the flavourless existence of a shadow or . This is not a place of punishment, but there is no pleasure and the mind is confused and oblivious (with the exception of ).

In the Entrance.

Before the entrance to Hades live Grief and Anxiety, along with Diseases and Old Age (Geras). Also Fear and Hunger and Death and Agony and Hypnos (Sleep), brother of Death, dwell in this place together with Guilty Joys. On an opposite threshold is War, the ERINYES and (Discord). Close to the doors many other beasts dwell: , , the from , the Chimera, the , and others. In the midst of all this an Elm can be seen and False Dreams cling under every leaf.

Charon.

The dead seem to know the location of Hades less than the living, as several entrances to Hades were known from all times (one of them is in Taenarum, another in ; arrived to Hades navigating the stream of Oceanus). The souls descending to Hades carry a coin under the tongue in order to pay Charon, the ferryman who ferries them across the river. Charon may make exceptions or allowances for those visitors carrying a certain Golden Bough. Otherwise is this Charon appallingly filthy, with eyes like jets of fire, a bush of unkempt beard upon his chin, and a dirty cloak hanging from his shoulders. However, although Charon embarks now one group now another, some souls he keeps at distance. These are the unburied: none may be taken across from bank to bank if he had not received burial.

On the other bank.

Across the river or, as some say guarding the gates of Hades, is Cerberus, the bronze- voiced hound, who eats raw flesh and has fifty heads. Others say that this hound has three heads of dogs, the tail of a dragon and on his back the heads of all sorts of . Cerberus 1 was once caught by . On another occasion someone eluded his guarding instinct throwing him a cake of honey and wheat infused with sedative drugs. Then several categories of souls appear in this neutral zone or , which could be the same as the Asphodel Fields. Children are by themselves, and so are those who have been condemned to death on a false charge and those who killed themselves. Next comes the Vale of Mourning where those who were consumed by unhappy love dwell, and in the farthest fields, before the dividing road, are those who were famous in war.

The Dividing Road and the Judges of the Dead.

Some say that the soul receives judgment in the meadow (the Plain of Judgment) at the dividing of the road, whence are the two ways leading, one to the Isles of the Blest (or Elysium), and the other to Tartarus.

Those who pass judgment are Aeacus, former King of , Minos 2, former King of , and Rhadamanthys, brother of Minos 2. Aeacus, who keeps the keys of Hades, judges those who come from and Rhadamanthys the Asians, but Minos 2 has the privilege of the final decision. However those who suffer a punishment in the Underworld have been condemned by the gods.

Well known characters punished in Tartarus.

Rhadamanthys, who rules in Tartarus, is sometimes said to be the one that, with severe rule, tries and chastises wrongdoers and forces confessions; then Tisiphone 1, who guards the entrance wrapped in a bloodstained robe, pounces upon the guilty and lashes and threatens them holding angry snakes in her left hand. There receive punishment the TITANS, the ALOADS, who mimicked the thunder and lightning of Zeus, Tityus who tried to rape , and who tried to carry off Persephone. Many of these are prevented by the ERINYES to stretch out their hands for the food they see before them. The ERINYES (, and Tisiphone) are detectors and of crime and wickedness, avenging spirits, of vengeance, ready to stab fear into the hearts of mortals.

The and the were hurled down to Tartarus by both and Cronos. And when Zeus overcame the TITANS he shut them up there. was in Tartarus the jaileress of the CYCLOPES and the HECATONCHEIRES. Double-shaped, she appeared a woman to the middle of her body, with clusters of poisonous serpents for hair. Her form, from the chest to the parting-point of the thighs, was covered with sea- 's scales. The claws of her hands were curved like a crook-talon sickle and over her shoulders a scorpion coiled upon itself. Campe is no longer in the Underworld because she was destroyed by Zeus. But Eurynomus 3, a who eats off all the flesh of the corpses, leaving only the bones, is probably still there.

Crimes punished in Tartarus.

Among those punished in Tartarus are also those who in life hated their own brothers, those who struck their parents, those who loving fraud entangled their clients, those who kept their wealth for themselves without ever sharing (these are the majority), those who killed for adultery, those engaged in treason, those who corrupted the and became dictators, those who entered the beds of their daughters, and others who committed numerous crimes which would never cease to fill an unending catalogue; but equally unending are the punishments and retributions inflicted here: rolling huge rocks, whirling round, sitting in the Chair of Oblivion are just a few examples.

Other punishments for the wicked.

The most wicked and the worst criminals are cast into Tartarus, whence they never emerge. Others, who have committed great wrongs but who nevertheless are curable, are thrown into Tartarus where they remain for some time until the waves, either of Cocytus or of Pyriphlegethon cast them out again. They then are carried by the currents to the Acherusian Lake, where they beg to those whom they have wronged to be gracious and let them come out into the lake. If they prevail and their are heard by those who had been outraged by them, they may come out and their ills cease, but if not they return to Tartarus starting all over again until they prevail upon those whom they have wronged. This penalty is imposed upon them by the Judges.

Elysium (Elysian Fields).

There is then a spot where the way forks in two directions, the right-hand leading, under the Palace of Hades, to Elysium, and the left-hand taking down to Tartarus. Elysium is a happy place which has a sun and stars of its own. The souls in Elysium cannot be grasped and are like phantoms and in this they do not differ from those dwelling in the Asphodel Fields. Those who dwell in Elysium exercise upon grassy playing-fields or wrestle friendly on yellow sands; some dance and others sing or chant poems. is here and Musaeus, who wrote songs and poems and uttered . Some say several members of the Trojan Royal House dwell here. All these live in groves and make their beds on river- banks and may wander in luminous plains and green valleys.

Reincarnation from Elysium.

According to some in Elysium, which is considered to be ruled by Cronos, live also those who are not yet born. These souls swarm along the banks of the river Lethe (Oblivion). Some say that:

"They were all required to drink a measure of the water, and those who were not saved by their good sense, drank more than the measure, and each one as he drank forgot all things." The souls who are destined for drink from Lethe's stream and quench their troubles in forgetfulness so that they may return to corporeal existence on earth. This strange desire (some say perverse) for earthly existence appears to be a part of the laws governing the universe. For, according to some, all that exists, heaven as well as earth, the plains as the sea, the moon and the sun and the stars are all sustained by a spirit within, an immanent Mind. And this spirit flows through the whole of the material world making it work and producing all creatures including mankind. Their life-force is celestial fire but they are made out of clay, and thus encased in their dark prison they fail to see the heavenly light and are the victims of fear, depending on stupid desires and grief as well as joy. They grow so accustomed to their bodies and its evils that not even death makes them relinquish those ills that the body is heir to. That is why they are disciplined in the Underworld paying the penalty of old evil, each one finding his own level and suffering his own spirit. Some of them however stay in Elysium, not needing to reincarnate in order to regain original purity, but the majority return to earth with their memories deleted after having drunk from the waters of Lethe.

Some who went there and returned.

Besides the already mentioned Er, Odysseus, , Heracles 1, are among those who descended to Hades while they were still living. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed. In particular , whom Odysseus met in Hades (although some believe that Achilles dwells in the Isles of the Blest), said:

"Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished."

MORE TARTARUS

Tartarus was spawned from the primordial chaos. It was at once both a place deep beneath even the underworld and a of the place. So dark and sunless was Tartarus that its gloom had its own personification - Erebus.

It was said that to reach Tartarus an anvil dropped from the surface would fall for nine days. Tartarus was the ultimate place of imprisonment, it was surrounded by a bronze fence with gates of iron; the Hecatoncheires (100-handed ones) were its guards. When Gaea gave birth to several horrible monsters, including the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes, Uranus imprisoned them there. When Zeus and his followers defeated the Titans, Zeus also banished most of the Titans to Tartarus

TANTALUS: how we got the word "TANTALIZE”

There were many unfortunate people who were perpetually punished in the Underworld because of their evil or wrong-doing, or through lack of respect for the gods. Worse yet, it was the horrible method of their punishment that made them so memorable. was one such person, sentenced to forever roll a rock up a hill, only to have it roll back over him just as he reached the top. Another such criminal was Tantalus. His name means "lurching" or "most wretched", and his torment was unique indeed - He was made to stand chin-deep in water with all kind of sweet-smelling and delicious fruit dangling just over his head, but whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water would magically recede or the fruit would miraculously be lifted just out of his reach. It's this torment, through which something seems to be offered only to be withdrawn again, that has been called, in memory of its best known victim, "tantalize". Here's how it happened...

ORIGIN AND PARENTAGE

There is great debate over the origin and parentage of Tantalus. His mother was Pluto (no, not that Pluto!) who was daughter of the Titans and . His father was reputed to have been either Zeus or , who with his wife ruled over the land of . Others claim that Tantalus was a king of Argos, or of ; and yet others say that Tantalus originated in Lydia and then went north to reign in a place called . Whatever. Don't you wish us darn ancient kept better records? :)

At any rate, we do know that he became the father of , , and . What we don't know is if the mother was Euryanassa, daughter of the River-god Pactolus; or Eurythemista, daughter of the River-god ; or Clytia, or even the Pleiad ...again, opinions differ on the identity of his wife.

PARTY ANIMAL

Still, that doesn't really affect our story, one way or another. What's important to know is that Tantalus endeared himself to Zeus and became his good buddy. Talk about having friends in high places! His pal Zeus admitted Tantalus to exclusive , lofty home of the gods, where the lucky guy got to attend all the Olympian feasts and banquets, partying hearty on nectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods. Nice work if you can get it!

Well, you would think that Tantalus would be grateful for his good fortune and would pay daily homage to his friend Zeus, whose devotion made all this possible. But instead his new-found stature went to his head. Copping an attitude, Tantalus betrayed Zeus' confidence and the jerk stole the divine food, nectar and ambrosia, to share with his mortal friends back on earth.

Is that any way to repay friendship? I would think not! But wait, it gets worse. Before his crime was discovered, Tantalus committed another, this one even more vile and serious. Inviting the Olympians to a banquet of his own, held at his home on , or perhaps at Corinth, he soon realized that his stock of food wasn't sufficient for the invited guests. What's a vain man to do?

MURDERS HIS SON PELOPS!

You won't believe what the monstrous Tantalus did next. Either to demonstrate what a giving host he was, or perhaps to test his friend Zeus' ability to know all, he summoned his son Pelops and proceeded to murder him. Cutting his son into many pieces Tantalus next added the boy's limbs to the stew prepared for the gods and served it to them. Yuck! The gods were astute enough to immediately know that something was wrong, and they refused to eat the stew, recoiling in disgust and horror. But , of the Harvest, still in mourning at the loss of her daughter Persephone, absentmindedly ate all the flesh from the left shoulder of Pelops. She took quite a few bites before the other Olympians hastened to stop her.

JUST DESSERTS

Needless to say, Tantalus got all that he deserved for his unspeakable crimes. First his kingdom was destroyed by the gods and then he was struck dead by Zeus on Mount Sipylus. But I'm here to tell you that the didn't find in death. As punishment for his evil ways Tantalus was sentenced to reside forever in the Underworld, hanging from the bough of a fruit tree which leans over a marshy lake. Perennially consumed by hunger and thirst, yet he is unable to quench his needs.

You see, whenever Tantalus bends down to drink from the waters that lap up against his waist and often reach his chin, they drain away, leaving nothing but mud at his feet. So close and yet so far, just barely out of reach, Tantalus forever seeks to quench his thirst with the tantalizingly-close waters.

Similarly, each time that Tantalus reaches for the splendid fruit hanging from the tree, sweet pears and shining , ripe figs, olives and , a gust of wind blows them just out of reach. With stomach rumbling, and with the fruit-laden branches oh-so- close, still the tormented criminal can't grasp the food, no matter how he tries.

THAT'S NOT ALL!

How's that for cruel and unusual punishment? Still, how can you feel sympathy for Tantalus, considering the severity of his crimes? But wait, there's more. Tantalus had committed a third crime, the theft of a golden dog created by , the craftsman god, to watch over baby Zeus when he was growing up on the island of Crete. The golden dog had afterwards been dedicated as the guardian of Zeus' temple at Dicte, where it had been stolen by a variety of suspects. The pilfered property eventually came into the possession of Tantalus and when the original thief asked for the return of the golden dog, Tantalus swore an oath by Zeus that he knew nothing about it.

Hence his additional crime was not only theft, but also perjury. Word of the oath reached Zeus and he sent Hermes to interrogate Tantalus, who insisted and swore up and down that he'd never seen the stolen dog. It didn't take long for clever Hermes to expose the lie and that's when Zeus crushed the culprit under a crag of Mount Sipylus.

From there it was straight to the Underworld for Tantalus. And as if perpetual hunger and thirst wasn't bad enough, Zeus arranged that an enormous stone, taken from Mount Sisypus, overhangs the tree, constantly threatening to further crush Tantalus' skull.

So besides being always hungry and thirsty, Tantalus must also contend with daily paranoia. That'll teach the chump!

EPILOGUE By the way, there was a happy ending amid all this insanity - After the fitting punishment of Tantalus was , Zeus ordered Hermes to collect the limbs of the boy Pelops, who had been murdered by his father and served as an entree to the gods. Zeus told Hermes to place the body parts in the same cauldron and to boil them again, then the King of the Olympians laid a magic spell.

Clotho, one of the Three Fates, next re-articulated Pelops, and Demeter replaced the shoulder that she had eaten with an ivory one. Rhea, mother to Zeus, breathed life into him as danced for joy. A new and improved Pelops emerged from the cauldron, adorned in such radiant beauty that Poseidon carried him off to Olympus in a drawn by golden horses. There, Pelops became Poseidon's cup-bearer and attendant, much like young was to Zeus.

I guess Poseidon found Pelops too tantalizing to ignore...:)

NORSE AFTERLIFE

The ("Choosers of the Slain") are beautiful young women, mounted upon winged horses and armed with helmets and spears. needs many brave warriors for the oncoming battle of Ragnarok, and the Valkyries scout the battlefields to choose the bravest of those who have been slain. They escort these heroes, called the to , Odin's hall.

The Valkyries are also Odin's messengers and when they ride forth on their errands, their armor causes the strange flickering light that is called "Aurora Borealis" (Northern Lights).

Some of the Valyries are Brynhildr, Göll, Göndul, Gudr, Gunn, Herfjoturr, Hildr, Hladgunnr, Hlokk, Hrist, Sigrdrifa, Sigrún, and Svafa.

Valhalla, Hall of the Slain, in is the hall presided over by Odin. This vast hall has five hundred and forty doors. The rafters are spears, the hall is roofed with shields and breast-plates litter the benches. A wolf guards the western door and an eagle hovers over it. It is here that the Valkyries, Odin's messengers and spirits of war, bring half of the heroes that died on the battle fields (the rest go to Freya's hall Folkvang). These heroes, the Einherjar, are prepared in Valhalla for the oncoming battle of Ragnarok. When the battle commences, eight hundred warriors will march shoulder to shoulder out of each door.

Ragnarok ("Doom of the Gods"), also called Gotterdammerung, means the end of the in Norse mythology. It will be preceded by Fimbulvetr, the of . Three such winters will follow each other with no summers in between. Conflicts and feuds will break out, even between families, and all morality will disappear. This is the beginning of the end. The wolf Skoll will finally devour the sun, and his brother Hati will eat the moon, plunging the earth [into] darkness. The stars will vanish from the sky. The cock will crow to the and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. A third cock will raise the dead.

The earth will shudder with earthquakes, and every bond and fetter will burst, freeing the terrible wolf . The sea will rear up because Jormungand, the Midgard , is twisting and writhing in as he makes his way toward the land. With every breath, Jormungand will stain the soil and the sky with his poison. The waves caused by the serpent's emerging will set free the ship Naglfar, and with the giant as their commander, the giants will sail towards the battlefield. From the realm of the dead a second ship will set sail, and this ship carries the inhabitants of , with as their helmsman. The fire giants, led by the giant Surt, will leave Muspell in the south to join against the gods. Surt, carrying a sword that blazes like the sun itself, will scorch the earth.

Meanwhile, Heimdall will sound his horn, calling the sons of Odin and the heroes to the battlefield. From all the corners of the world, gods, giants, dwarves, and will ride towards the huge plain of Vigrid ("battle shaker") where the last battle will be fought. Odin will engage Fenrir in battle, and will attack Jormungand. Thor will victorious, but the serpent's poison will gradually kill the god of thunder. Surt will seek out the swordless , who will quickly succumb to the giant. The one-handed Tyr will fight the monstrous hound Garm and they will kill each other. Loki and Heimdall, age-old enemies, will meet for a final time, and neither will survive their encounter. The fight between Odin and Fenrir will rage for a long time, but finally Fenrir will seize Odin and swallow him. Odin's son Vidar will at once leap towards the wolf and kill him with his bare hands, ripping the wolf's jaws apart.

Then Surt will fling fire in every direction. The nine worlds will burn, and friends and foes alike will perish. The earth will sink into the sea.

After the destruction, a new and idyllic world will arise from the sea and will be filled with abundant supplies. Some of the gods will survive, others will be reborn. Wickedness and misery will no longer exist and gods and men will live happily together. The descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir will inhabit this earth.

Ragnarök does not mean "Twilight of the Gods"; that phrase is the result of a famous mistranslation. "Ragnarökr" or "Ragnarøkr" means "doom of the powers" or "destruction of the powers" (where "powers" means "gods"). http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/norse/articles.html

THE DEATH OF BALDUR

Baldur was the most beautiful of all the gods. He was so wise and kind and good that all heaven and earth adored him. Many considered him to be the light of the world. But one night Baldur had dark and terrible dreams. He dreamt that he was slain by an unknown enemy. In the morning he met with the gods in their council and told them about his dreams. Everyone became frightened. They believed Baldur's dark dreams were a warning that Baldur would soon be harmed. "We must figure out how to protect my beloved son," said Odin. Some recommended that Baldur be guarded at all times. Others urged Odin to send him away. But Baldur's mother, , had the best idea of all. "I will go out in the nine worlds," the goddess said, "and secure a promise from all of nature that it will never bring harm to Baldur." The gods and goddesses applauded Frigg's plan, and she set out to make the world safe for her son. Fire and water promised Frigg that they would never hurt Baldur. Iron, metal, wood, stones, earth, disease, beasts, birds, and snakes -- all assured Frigg that they would never bring harm to Baldur. Finally Frigg returned home, secure in the knowledge that her beloved son was safe. The gods were so relieved that they played games, mocking fate. They shot arrows at Baldur, only to watch their arrows miss their target. They threw stones at him, only to see their stones fall to the ground. They tried to stab Baldur with their swords, but their swords bent in midair. They proved again and again that no harm could come to Baldur. All the gods celebrated Baldur's invincible power, except for one. Loki, the trickster, grew jealous as he watched the gods at their play. Loki's jealousy grew until he could bear it no longer. He disguised himself in woman's clothing and found Frigg in her palace. When she saw Loki, Frigg mistook him for a servant-woman. "What is everyone doing outside?" she called from her spinning wheel. "Why are they laughing and clapping?" "They're shooting arrows at Baldur," said Loki in a high voice. "They're throwing stones at him to prove he cannot be harmed." "Yes, of course," said Frigg. "That's because wood and stone promised me that they will never hurt him." "Oh really?" said Loki. "So all of nature has promised not to harm your son?" "Well, not quite all," said Frigg. "I did not bother with one small plant that grows on the eastern side of Valhalla - the mistletoe. It's too young and weak to ever hurt anyone." "Ah, I see," said Loki. Smiling to himself, he slipped out of Frigg's hall and hurried into the woods east of Valhalla. Loki searched the forest until he found a piece of mistletoe. He picked the sharp sprig, then rushed to the field where the gods were playing. Hod, the blind twin of Baldur, was standing outside the ring of players. "Why do you not throw something at Baldur?" asked Loki. "Because I cannot see him," said Hod. "And because I have nothing to throw." "Oh, but you must show honor to Baldur the way the others do," said Loki. "I'll help you shoot him with this dart." Loki placed the piece of mistletoe in Hod's hand. Then he directed Hod's aim and helped him send the mistletoe toward Baldur. The sharp sprig sailed through the and lodged in Baldur's heart. At once, Baldur fell to the ground, dead. The gods stared in disbelief at Baldur's lifeless body. They knew that Loki had wrought this evil, but they could not take vengeance, for their pain and horror were too great. None grieved more than Odin. With his deep wisdom and knowledge, he alone understood how disastrous was Baldur's death. Odin knew that it meant that Ragnarok, the final battle of the world, was close at hand. Frigg could not let go of her hope that Baldur would return. She called the gods together and begged that one of them travel to the land of the dead to find her son and bring him back. The god Hermod volunteered to go, and Odin gave him for his journey. The grieving gods carried Baldur's body down to the seashore to Baldur's dragon- ship, Ringhorn. The gods planned to make Baldur's funeral pyre on Ringhorn. But when they tried to push the ship into the sea, it would not budge. They sent for a giantess named Hyrrokin, and she arrived on the back of a wolf, snapping reins made of twisted snakes. Hyrrokin leaned against the ship's prow and with a single shove she pushed Ringhorn into the water. All the inhabitants of the nine worlds paraded in Baldur's funeral . First came Odin and Frigg, the Valkyries, and Odin's two ravens. Then came Frey in his chariot drawn by the golden boar, and Freya in her chariot drawn by cats. Then came Thor, , , Tyr, Heimdall, , Idun, Njord, Skadi, Gerd, and all the light elves, dark elves, and dwarves. Even the mountain-giants and frost-giants came down from their icy mountains and marched in Baldur's funeral procession. The gods carried Baldur onto the ship. When his wife, Nanna, saw the body laid on the pyre, she died of a broken heart and was laid to rest beside her husband. Odin placed his magic ring upon Baldur's body, and the funeral pyre was set aflame. Then the burning ship was pushed out to sea. Meanwhile, the god Hermod was proceeding on his mission to the land of the dead. On the back of Sleipnir, he galloped for nine days and nine nights through deep valleys filled with shadows. Finally he came to a glittering golden bridge. "Stop! Who are you? Are you dead?" cried a maiden guarding the bridge. "Not yet," said Hermod. "But I seek one who is -- Baldur, the fairest of the gods. Have you seen him by chance?" "Yes," said the maiden. "He and his wife came over this bridge only yesterday. You'll find him if you follow the road to the north." Hermod crossed the bridge, then traveled until he came to the barred gates of the land of the dead. He spurred Sleipnir, and the magic horse leapt into the air -- sailing over the gates without even touching them. Hermod rode on to the palace. When he entered 's home, he found Baldur and Nanna sitting in the hall's most honored seats. Hermod visited with his beloved brother all night. In the morning, he found Hel, the ruler of the dead, and begged her to let Baldur and Nanna ride home with him. "The gods cannot stop mourning for this son of Odin," Hermod said. Hearing these words, Hel's heart softened. "Return to the living," the monster said. "If you find that all beings weep for Baldur, I will send him back to you. But if only one creature does not mourn this loss, I will keep him forever." Before Hermod left, Baldur placed Odin's magic ring in his hand. "Take this golden ring back to my father," Baldur said. "Tell him I will see him soon." "And please give this to Frigg," said Nanna, and she gave Hermod a beautiful woven rug. Hermod said good-bye to Baldur and Nanna. Then he rode night and day until he arrived back home. When Hermod delivered the message from Hel, Odin and Frigg quickly sent messengers out from to bid the whole world to weep for the death of Baldur. All creatures wept as they were asked: gods, goddesses, dwarves, light elves, dark elves, -- even mountain-giants and frost-giants. But as the messengers headed back to Asgard, convinced their mission had been successful, they came across a giantess sitting in a cave. She said her name was Thokk, though she was really Loki in disguise. "Please weep for Baldur," said a messenger. "The whole world must weep for him, so he can return from the land of the dead." "Thokk will only weep with dry tears," Thokk said. "I loved him not. Let Hel keep him for as long as she likes." And so Baldur was not allowed to return to the land of the living. Thus the dark of winter was victorious over the light of the world.

RAGNAROK

Loki was punished in the most dreadful way for Baldur's death. He was bound to a rock, and a serpent was fastened above his head, its venom dripping onto his face. Loki's faithful wife, , sat with him and tried to catch the poison in a basin. But every time she emptied the vessel, poison fell on Loki again, and the earth trembled as he writhed in pain. When Loki finally broke free from his bondage, he turned completely against the gods and joined the forces of evil. Steering a ship over the seas, he sailed with the sons of Hel. Then, all of the monsters of the world joined them. The wolf Fenrir broke free from his fetters, the Midgard Serpent came from the sea, and the giants from the mountains. Together the evil force marched against Asgard. Heimdall, the watchman, saw the army crossing the rainbow bridge. He grabbed the mighty trumpet that had never been sounded, and he gave it a long, deep blast. The terrifying sound wakened all the gods. Odin put on his gold helmet, grabbed his magic spear, and led his warriors into battle. The gods of Asgard met their foes on a huge plain. Odin attacked the wolf Fenrir. But the wolf devoured him. Mighty Thor killed the Midgard Serpent, but then fell dead from the serpent's venom. Frey battled the monster Hel, and lost. Heimdall fought Loki, and each died by the hand of the other. The eagle on top of the screamed with fear. The mighty tree trembled. Mountains crumbled. Seas flooded the land, and hot stars fell from the sky. Brothers turned against brothers for greed's . Terrible storms raged through the nine worlds. The wolf Fenrir swallowed the sun, and Moon-Hound finally swallowed the moon. Flames engulfed heaven and earth and all the universe, and all things died -- gods, goddesses, men, women, elves, dwarves, monsters, giants, birds, and beasts. But after the nine worlds had been consumed by fire, the sun brought forth a daughter more lovely than herself. The earth began to turn green again. The eagle soared, and waterfalls flowed in the forests. Miraculously, some of the gods returned to the world of the living -- Baldur and his blind twin Hod; and two sons of Thor, Modi and Magni. These gods met on the sunlit plain of Asgard, and they talked about time's morning. They remembered the Midgard Serpent, the wolf Fenrir, and the mighty Odin. After they talked long and lovingly about the past, they returned to live in heaven, home of the wind. During the terrible destruction of the universe, two humans had hidden themselves deep in a forest within the World Tree. They were named Life and -for-Life. Now these two came out of hiding, and the dew of early morning served as their food. From Life and Eager-for-Life came a great multitude of children who spread over the earth. And thus began a new time and a new world.

EGYPTIAN

The God Atum, or , Lord of the Universe, was the first of a divine line that produced two couples: and , and Seth and . Isis and her brother-husband ruled during a , taking humanity under their protection. Seth, their brother, married to their sister Nephthys, became insanely jealous of Osiris and sought to destroy him. He lured Osiris into an open coffin, nailed it shut, and cast it into the Nile. Distraught, Isis searched everywhere for the coffin, finally finding it hidden in a sycamore tree in . When she returned with the coffin to Egypt, Seth seized the body of Osiris, cut it up into 14 pieces, and scattered the fragments. Isis, however, found them and, with the help of , the jackal God, put them back together, thus creating the first mummy.

Osiris’s posthumous son, Horus, was hidden from Seth by Isis. After he grew up, he avenged the death of his father by emasculating Seth but lost an eye in the struggle. , the ibis-headed God of wisdom and writing, intervened to heal both opponents, who were then summoned before a tribunal of Gods to determine their guilt or innocence. The found Horus in the right and ordered Seth to return his eye. Horus gave the eye to Osiris, who was then magically restored to life. Osiris, the first being to undergo death and , bequeathed the crown of Egypt to Horus and retired to the underworld, Amenthe, to rule over the dead. Spirits of the dead, who have been mummified after the example of Osiris, also may live eternally beyond the grave of Amenthe. The entrance lies in the extreme west beyond the sea where the sun descends over the earth.

Before arriving at Amenthe, the soul must successfully complete a perilous journey. The Book of the Dead, which relatives leave in the tomb along with food and other necessities, will guide the soul and ward off evil. With its help the deceased may elude demons and monstrous monkeys that lie in wait with nets to catch traveling souls. The dead must cross snake-infested plains and a body of water stretching to Amenthe. To reach Amenthe she must ask the taciturn ferryman Face-Behind (so called because he always faces backwards) to row her across the water.

At Amenthe’s gate sits a hybrid monster, part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamus, who warns that he will tear out the heart of sinful travelers. Inside the gates, the soul wanders through magnificent halls until it comes to a place where there are 42 assessors, who initially hear its case. To them the soul must make the Declaration of Innocence, saying, "I have not blasphemed, I have not killed a , I have not robed, I am pure," etc. Then comes the awesome final trial in the Hall of the Two Truths (approving and condemning) before Osiris and a tribunal of deities. Here three deities, Horus, Anubis, and Thoth, supervise the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a scale balanced against a feather, symbol of , Goddess of truth. Anubis adjusts the balance carefully while Thoth, inventor of writing, sits ready to record the result. If the heart and Maat exactly balance, it proves the sincerity of the dead person’s Declaration of Innocence. Thoth’s report is then given to the divine tribunal, and the deceased advances to the throne of Osiris to receive the verdict and sentence.

If the soul is condemned, it is either scourged back to earth to be reincarnated as a vile animal or plunged into the tortures of fire and . Alternatively, it might be driven up into the atmosphere to be tossed by violent storms until its sins are expiated. The ruler of this zone is Pooh, overseer of souls in penance. After their purgation in this region, the souls are granted probation through another life in human form.

The blessed soul lives eternally with the Gods in Amenthe, where it may encounter its parents, offspring, friends, and lovers. The blessed hunts and fishes, plows and sows, reaps and gathers in the Field of the Sun on the banks of the Heavenly Nile. She will receive her reward in inexhaustible crops of beans and wheat, with bread from divine granaries and figs and grapes to eat.

Much of our knowledge of the Egyptian of death and the afterlife is derived from The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL : DAHOMEY SONG

They that are born are destined to die; and the dead to be brought to life again; and the living to be judged, to know, to make known, and to be made conscious that He is God, He the Maker, He the Creator, He the Discerner, He the Judge, He the Witness, He the Complainant; He it is that will in future judge, blessed be He, with whom there is no unrighteousness, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes. Know also that everything is according to reckoning; and let not your imagination give you hope that the grave will be a place of refuge for you. For perforce you were formed, and perforce you were born, and perforce you live, and perforce you will die, and perforce you will in the future have to give account and reckoning before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL

Australian Aboriginal "Dream Time" represents the home of the Gods, psychic messages, spirits and ancestors; it is a place where time and space have little meaning. Many Aborigines still live their lives according to rules handed down for millennia through story and song.

There is also a strong sense of spiritual feeling attached to many of the decisions made by aborigines. They base their lives on intuitive hunches and the ability to empathize with the emotions and actions of others, even at a distance. Mythology tells of whole tribes responding to an inner call to move out of danger to another place. They have harnessed the powers that we may all possess at some level, but which modern Western society has driven down into the deep recesses of the mind. We have become conditioned to assume that communing with spirits and sensing the oneness of all things is superstitious nonsense. Yet as a result we have lost touch with basic survival skills that may once have kept us alive in a hostile environment.

Early students of aboriginal legend discovered the that the dead were "taken to the sky" and eventually brought to Earth again. Those who were returned would do so in a trance, bemused by the mourning of their friends and relatives who thought them dead. They would be treated with reverence, and many became shamans. Whether these were legends of survival or examples of near death experiences, one can appreciate the impact they made on aboriginal culture and the importance placed upon the view that we do have spirit and that it survives bodily extinction.

BUDDHIST (TIBETAN)

Everyone has returned from death. Many persons do no believe this because they cannot remember it, yet although they have no memory of their birth, they do not doubt that they were born. The supreme goal is to be born no more. This can be accomplished when one understands that the world is an illusion, a mental construct. This knowledge, plus a willingness to understand that the self is likewise an illusion, liberates one to merge with the Universal Mind, the divine mind of Buddha, in the state of enlightenment known as .

At the moment of death, the deceased enters the state, the afterdeath , lasting about 49 days between death and rebirth. The Bardo has three stages: the Chikhai Bardo, the Chonyid Bardo, and the Sidpa Bardo. The Chikhai Bardo begins at the moment of death, when the deceased has a supreme vision of the liberating Truth. But the dead person, unless trained in yoga or , will not be able to remain in this transcendental state. Only those who have come close to negating the self can seize this opportunity to enter Nirvana. The great majority pass through the brilliantly intense divine light, unwilling to be absorbed into it. In this Bardo the deceased person may remain several days in a trancelike state, unaware that s/he has separated from the physical body.

In the second state, the Chonyid Bardo, the deceased encounters the dreamlike state of karmic illusion. ( is the psychic residue of our previous existence.) Thought forms generated by the deceased person’s own mental content take on terrifying . The deceased involuntarily fabricates encounters with good and evil powers, peaceful and angry deities. Buddhas (enlightened ones) and Bodhisattvas (semidivine beings who have deferred their own Nirvanic state in order to help others achieve it) appear majestic and awesome. Their radiance will cause the impure deceased person to shrink back so as to preserve his/her insignificant selfhood. Many lights and colors will bewilder the dead person. Evil karma may produce thought forms of flesh-eating demons making a frightful tumult, competing with each other to seize the deceased. In this Bardo, the deceased will experience a vision of judgment and punishment. -Raja, King of the Dead, holds a balance scale on which are placed black pebbles (evil deeds) and white pebbles (good deeds) to be weighed. Supervising the weighing is the monkey-headed god Shinje. Also present is a jury of Gods, some with animal heads, some with human heads. Dharma-Raja holds up the Mirror of Karma, in which the naked deceased person in reflected. Devils await to conduct evildoers to the hell-world of purgation. None of these deities or demons have any real existence; they are thought forms. If the deceased could realize this, s/he would enter the Nirvanic state.

In the third stage, the Sidpa Bardo, the deceased descends into the ultimate degradation of a new physical birth, having been unable to profit from experiencing the two previous Bardo states. Although the deceased might have taken rebirth in a nonhuman world or one of the realms, human life along generates the karma that makes it possible to end the rebirth cycle.

[The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo by Guru Rinpoche, et al]

CELTIC

Little is known about the religious beliefs of the Celts of Gaul. They believed in a life after death, evidenced by the burial of food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead. The , the early Celtic priesthood, taught the doctrine of transmigration of souls and discussed the nature and power of the Gods. The Irish believed in an "," imagined sometimes as underground and sometimes as islands in the sea. The otherworld was variously called "the Land of the Living," "Delightful Plain," and "Land of the Young" and was believed to be a country where there was no sickness, old age, or death, where happiness lasted forever, and a hundred years was as one day. It was similar to the Elysium of the Greeks and may have belonged to ancient Indo-European tradition.

DANTE’S INFERNO Inferno opens on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300. Traveling through a dark wood, has lost his path and now wanders fearfully through the forest. The sun shines down on a mountain above him, and he attempts to climb up to it but finds his way blocked by three beasts—a leopard, a lion, and a she- wolf. Frightened and helpless, Dante returns to the dark wood. Here he encounters the of Virgil, the great Roman poet, who has come to guide Dante back to his path, to the top of the mountain. Virgil says that their path will take them through Hell and that they will eventually reach Heaven, where Dante’s beloved Beatrice awaits. He adds that it was Beatrice, along with two other holy women, who, seeing Dante lost in the wood, sent Virgil to guide him. Virgil leads Dante through , marked by the haunting inscription “abandon all hope, you who enter here” (III.7). They enter the outlying region of Hell, the Ante-Inferno, where the souls who in life could not commit to either good or evil now must run in a futile chase after a banner, day after day, while hornets bite them and worms lap their blood. Dante witnesses their suffering with repugnance and pity. The ferryman Charon then takes him and his guide across the river Acheron, the real border of Hell. The First Circle of Hell, Limbo, houses pagans, including Virgil and many of the other great writers and poets of antiquity, who died without knowing of Christ. After meeting , , and Lucan, Dante continues into the Second Circle of Hell, reserved for the of Lust. At the border of the Second Circle, the monster Minos lurks, assigning condemned souls to their punishments. He curls his tail around himself a certain number of times, indicating the number of the circle to which the soul must go. Inside the Second Circle, Dante watches as the souls of the Lustful swirl about in a terrible storm; Dante meets Francesca, who tells him the story of her doomed love affair with Paolo da Rimini, her husband’s brother; the relationship has landed both in Hell. In the Third Circle of Hell, the Gluttonous must lie in mud and endure a rain of filth and excrement. In the Fourth Circle, the Avaricious and the Prodigal are made to charge at one another with giant boulders. The Fifth Circle of Hell contains the river Styx, a swampy, fetid cesspool in which the Wrathful spend struggling with one another; the Sullen lie bound beneath the Styx’s waters, choking on the mud. Dante glimpses Filippo Argenti, a former political enemy of his, and watches in delight as other souls tear the man to pieces. Virgil and Dante next proceed to the walls of the city of , a city contained within the larger region of Hell. The demons who guard the gates refuse to open them for Virgil, and an angelic messenger arrives from Heaven to force the gates open before Dante. The Sixth Circle of Hell houses the Heretics, and there Dante encounters a rival political leader named Farinata. A deep valley leads into the First Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where those who were violent toward others spend eternity in a river of boiling blood. Virgil and Dante meet a group of Centaurs, creatures who are half man, half horse. One of them, , takes them into the Second Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where they encounter those who were violent toward themselves (the Suicides). These souls must endure eternity in the form of trees. Dante there speaks with Pier della Vigna. Going deeper into the Seventh Circle of Hell, the travelers find those who were violent toward God (the Blasphemers); Dante meets his old patron, Brunetto Latini, walking among the souls of those who were violent toward Nature (the Sodomites) on a desert of burning sand. They also encounter the Usurers, those who were violent toward Art. The monster transports Virgil and Dante across a great abyss to the Eighth Circle of Hell, known as , or “evil pockets” (or “pouches”); the term refers to the circle’s division into various pockets separated by great folds of earth. In the First Pouch, the Panderers and the Seducers receive lashings from whips; in the second, the Flatterers must lie in a river of human feces. The Simoniacs in the Third Pouch hang upside down in baptismal fonts while their feet burn with fire. In the Fourth Pouch are the Astrologists or Diviners, forced to walk with their heads on backward, a sight that moves Dante to great pity. In the Fifth Pouch, the Barrators (those who accepted bribes) steep in pitch while demons tear them apart. The Hypocrites in the Sixth Pouch must forever walk in circles, wearing heavy robes made of lead. Caiphas, the who confirmed Jesus’ death sentence, lies crucified on the ground; the other sinners tread on him as they walk. In the horrifying Seventh Pouch, the Thieves sit trapped in a pit of vipers, becoming vipers themselves when bitten; to regain their form, they must bite another thief in turn. In the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell, Dante speaks to , the great of Homer’s epics, now doomed to an eternity among those guilty of Spiritual Theft (the False Counselors) for his role in executing the ruse of the . In the Ninth Pouch, the souls of Sowers of Scandal and Schism walk in a circle, constantly afflicted by wounds that open and close repeatedly. In the Tenth Pouch, the Falsifiers suffer from horrible plagues and diseases. Virgil and Dante proceed to the Ninth Circle of Hell through the Giants’ Well, which leads to a massive drop to Cocytus, a great frozen lake. The giant picks Virgil and Dante up and sets them down at the bottom of the well, in the lowest region of Hell. In Caina, the First Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, those who betrayed their kin stand frozen up to their necks in the lake’s ice. In Antenora, the Second Ring, those who betrayed their country and party stand frozen up to their heads; here Dante meets Count Ugolino, who spends eternity gnawing on the head of the man who imprisoned him in life. In Ptolomea, the Third Ring, those who betrayed their guests spend eternity lying on their backs in the frozen lake, their tears making blocks of ice over their eyes. Dante next follows Virgil into Judecca, the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell and the lowest depth. Here, those who betrayed their benefactors spend eternity in complete icy submersion. A huge, -shrouded form lurks ahead, and Dante approaches it. It is the three-headed giant , plunged waist-deep into the ice. His body pierces the center of the Earth, where he fell when God hurled him down from Heaven. Each of Lucifer’s mouths chews one of history’s three greatest sinners: Judas, the betrayer of Christ, and Cassius and Brutus, the betrayers of Julius . Virgil leads Dante on a climb down Lucifer’s massive form, holding on to his frozen tufts of hair. Eventually, the poets reach the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, and travel from there out of Hell and back onto Earth. They emerge from Hell on morning, just before sunrise. Author · Dante Alighieri Language · Medieval Italian vernacular Time and place written · Early fourteenth century (probably begun around 1308 and completed around 1314), throughout http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/inferno/summary.html

CHRISTIAN

[Disclaimer: Christian afterlife beliefs have never been precisely formulated. Doctrines accepted at various times and by different denominations allow wide variation in imagery and content. Probably at no time were all the elements here described accepted universally or uniformly interpreted.]

When a person dies, the physical body is separated from the soul, and the soul must be judged to be in a state of grace or a state of sin. This is the Immediate Judgment, which determines where the person will spend eternity. If the soul is in a state of grace, it goes to Heaven to await the . heaven, the abode of the Christian God, is located beyond the skies. Here, amid choirs of , blissful souls enter gates of pearl and walk golden streets.

However, condemned souls await the Last Judgment in Hell, located in the Earth’s center or, on a vaster scale, beneath the visible cosmos. Here the leader of the fallen angels, , dwells in exile from heaven, flapping vast bat wings. (Occasionally, he visits Earth to attempt to seduce humankind in defiance of his former God.) Hell is a pit of visible darkness where the damned are punished in fiery heat or intense cold. They may be lashed by horned demons, rolled over sharp stones, etc. Above all, they suffer the worm of conscience, which reminds them incessantly how easily in life they might have earned the eternal bliss of God’s presence. In a special compartment of Hell called Limbo, the souls of unbaptized children and morally righteous people who lived before Christ’s coming are confined, not in torment, but forever excluded from bliss.

In a variation, some souls, probably the vast majority, who die in a state of grace but with some taint of sin as yet unpaid for, will be sentenced to a term in , a place or state in which the soul can be purified until it is ready to dwell with God. In Purgatory, suffering is intense; souls are deprived of God’s presence and suffer the sensations of physical tortures. [Note: Indulgences, which can be gained through special prayers uttered either by the person before death (they can be stored up) or by people praying for the deceased can mitigate the taint of sin that sends souls to Purgatory. During the / period in Europe, these indulgences could be bought for money from traveling , confessors, ministers, etc.]

On the day of the Last Judgment, four angels standing at Earth’s four corners will sound trumpets to initiate cataclysmic events. Christ (the son of the God) will descend from Heaven in triumph to judge all people and nations in the presence of one another. In many versions, only Christians will share in the reign over Earth.