afterlife journey
Soul's next passage
The afterlife journey is the passage a soul makes after death, a concept appearing across many religious and mythological traditions.
Egyptian texts describe navigating the underworld; Greek myths tell of crossing the river Styx.
The phrase captures both literal belief in post-death travel and metaphorical exploration of what lies beyond: The book examines ancient beliefs about the afterlife journey.
- life after deathContinued existence posthumously
- ValhallaHall for fallen warriors
- purgatoryPlace of temporary suffering
- spirit worldRealm of the dead
- ferrymanOne who shuttles across water
Moksha · path · guide · funeral rites · last rites · boat · tunnel of light · Elysium · Book of the Dead · river crossing · Styx · passage · heaven · threshold · Charon · cosmic cycles · otherworld · crossing over
- DanteDivine Comedy, Inferno, Dante, Paradiso, Beatrice
- Egyptian AfterlifeBook of the Dead, Pyramid Texts, Osiris, ba, Anubis
- sacred storiescreation myth, creation story, Noah's Ark, flood myth, flood story
- Egyptian astronomySirius, star maps, Nut, Orion, lunar calendar
- PurgatorioDante, Virgil, Beatrice, Mount Purgatory, cantos
direction of transition
afterlife journeybirth
Coming into the world
incarnation · coming into being · reincarnation · rebirth · embodiment