Motif family
Afterlife Navigation and Passage
The dead person's journey through the afterlife as a navigable landscape with stages, gates, guardians, and instructions. Includes knowledge of sacred names or words of power as requirements for passage.
96 traditions
4,808 occurrences
174 mapped motifs
10 sub-families
- african akan
- african bantu
- ainu
- amazonian
- andamanese
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- arthurian
- australian aboriginal
- basque
- bavili
- biblical
- buddhist
- burmese
- buryat mongol
- caucasian
- celtic
- celtic irish
- chaco amerindian
- christian apocrypha
- comparative
- confucian
- daoist
- egyptian
- ekoi
- estonian
- ethiopian christian
- fijian
- filipino
- finnic
- finnish karelian
- fjort
- ganda
- georgian
- germanic
- gnostic
- greek
- greek roman
- guiana amerindian
- hausa
- hawaiian
- hermetic
- hindu
- hopi
- inca
- inuit
- islamic
- islamicate folklore
- jain
- japanese
- jewish christian
- jewish pseudepigrapha
- kikuyu
- kimbundu
- korean
- malagasy
- malay
- mangaian
- maori
- maya quiche
- melanesian
- mesopotamian
- micronesian
- mongol
- nahua
- nahua maya inca
- native american california
- native american great lakes
- native american northeast woodlands
- native american northwest coast
- native american plains
- native american plateau
- native american southeast
- native american southwest
- navajo
- norse
- oceanic
- persian
- roman
- samoan
- san
- shan
- shinto
- siberian
- sikh
- slavic
- sufi
- taoist
- temne
- tibetan buddhist
- tongan
- vietnamese
- yoruba
- zoroastrian
- zulu
- zuni
Conserved neighbors: descent · divine judgment · death and transformation · restless dead haunting vengeance
Sub-families · the next landing down
Journey Maps and Supernatural Guardianship
2 motifs
- Afterlife Journey Map 4,632 occurrences · 94 traditions
- african akan
- african bantu
- ainu
- amazonian
- andamanese
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- arthurian
- +86 more
- soul under supernatural guardianship 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
Death Registration and Funerary Administration
2 motifs
- coin payment accompanying death registration 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- funerary deity as administrator of death rites 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
Ritual Purification and Deathbed Recitation
2 motifs
- moral purification before blessed entry 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- pious death accompanied by sacred recitation 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
Death Gates, Hell Pits, and Underworld Enforcers
3 motifs
- Fear that a dead wrongdoer may be rejected at Death's gate and return 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- Hell as burning pit 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Terrifying underworld enforcers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
Garden and River Paradises
3 motifs
- blessed garden-and-river afterlife 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Paradise as inherited gardens for the pious 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Righteous rewarded with eternal garden and rivers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
Paradise Rewards, Pleasures, and Reconciliation
4 motifs
- future reward surpassing present life 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- paradise as healing of social enmity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- paradise as reward for the godly 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- sensory paradise rewards 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
Kin in the Sky and Blessed Kings
2 motifs
- dead kin imagined in the sky 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- dead king among the blessed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Warrior Death and Heavenly Reward
3 motifs
- fallen warrior receives heavenly reward 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Fear of bloodless death and preference for violent death to reach a better afterlife 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- warrior death as honorable passage to heaven 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Ghostly Encounters, Failed Embraces, and Animal Sight
3 motifs
- failed embrace of a ghost 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- failed embrace of the dead beloved relative 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Living person invisible to the dead but visible to dogs 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- ainu
Shades with Diminished Mind and Earthly Fixation
2 motifs
- afterlife continuation of earthly fixation 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- Postmortem shades with diminished mind 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
Not yet placed in a sub-family
148 motifs, showing the 60 most attested
- Afterlife as continuation of earthly social life 2 occurrences · 2 traditions
- chaco amerindian
- melanesian
- future life or afterlife belief 2 occurrences · 2 traditions
- greek
- roman
- after-life land and immortal soul 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- amazonian
- afterlife and spirit-world geography 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- australian aboriginal
- Afterlife as dark and restrictive realm 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Afterlife assurance of marital status 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Afterlife benefit through recitation 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Afterlife dwelling for virtuous spouses 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Afterlife garden with flowing rivers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Afterlife hospitality through divine mead service 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- afterlife paradise place 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua
- Afterlife passage delayed until the name is renewed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- Afterlife reward garden with flowing rivers 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- agricultural paradise of the blessed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Alternative underworld fate after violent defeat 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- angel of death separating or receiving souls 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- angelic mediation and afterlife administration 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- angelic removal and escort of souls 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Animal companion of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua maya inca
- Animal-faced punishers in punitive realms 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- gnostic
- Animals included in the spirit world after death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southeast
- Annihilation or devouring of souls in Po 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hawaiian
- Audience before Hela 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- blessed death and rest after labour 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- biblical
- blocked paths prevent spirit passage 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- amazonian
- blood enabling recognition by a ghost 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Burial of the unburied companion before underworld passage 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- burial required before afterlife passage 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- burial text accompanying the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- burial with possessions and travel equipment 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- canoe drifting ashore with the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- cave by the sea as resting place of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hawaiian
- Challenge to afterlife and ritual efficacy 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Chosen lot with Christ in the other world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- christian apocrypha
- Chosen violent death to avoid an undesirable afterlife 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- coins deposited beside a body in a grave 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southeast
- Companion-rich or sensual paradise 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Damned seek annihilation but are denied release 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- dead hero rejects honour in the afterlife 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- dead hunter continues among ghostly prey 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- dead kin as escorts 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- inuit
- Dead parents appear youthful but do not recognize the living child 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- ainu
- death as departure to the shades 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Death as going home to Odin 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- deceased person received by relatives after death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- departed kin dwelling in the sky 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Deprivation of the dead through stagnant water 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- descent beneath earth to the Yellow Spring after death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- divine authorship of sacred funerary text 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Divine commission of Thoth as underworld administrator 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- divine escort before the afterlife ruler 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Divine vision as supreme afterlife reward 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Dove-form spirit as guide of souls 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- gnostic
- enclosure of souls by a chthonic dragon 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- gnostic
- escape from a soul-catcher's net 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Ethical worth linked to safe afterlife passage 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american great lakes
- exceptional consciousness among the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- family reunion in a tomb after death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- fiery purgatory torment 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- Final baptism, ordered burial, and heavenly salvation 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.