Hello! Sorry if I sound ignorant but I'm only new to Hellenic Polytheism, but I was wondering if you could maybe elaborate on what happens after death, and the underworld? And how is your life judged in order to place you in one of the three sections of th

Hi there! So this is a long and complicated question, but I’ll try to answer it to the best of my ability. I’m still going to recommend you go back and read the mythos, particularly Homer’s Odyssey, in which he goes into great detail about the Hellenic underworld. Also keep in mind that there are many accounts of what the underworld is actually like, so you’ll have to piece together for yourself what you think the best interpretation is. Do read this article on Theoi, which I’ve taken a lot of info from.

From what I understand, when you die, your soul is separated from your body and greeted by Hermes Psychopompos, who guides you to the underworld. The underworld itself is considered to be physically under the earth. Different accounts detail different things at this point. In some versions, the underworld has five rivers (Styx, Archeron, Lethe, Cocytus, and Phlegethon), one of which is crossed by paying the ferryman a coin. You then pass through the gate guarded by Cerberus and are presented before Hades and Persephone.

In other versions, you are judged by the three (or sometimes one) judges of the underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus, and they decide whether you go to Tartarus (the pit of torture) or the Elysian Fields/Islands of the Blessed (paradise reserved only for great heroes).

In most stories, the average person spends their time in Hades in the Fields of Asphodel, which are described as gray, damp, and dull–but peaceful, a place to be finished with toils. There are some accounts that say you lose all memories of your life in the fields and roam them peacefully. I’ll give you one of my favorite passages from the Odyssey which I think illustrates the passage of souls beautifully:

Homer, Odyssey 24. 1 - 204:
“Meanwhile Hermes Kyllenios (of Mount Cyllene) called forth the spirits (psykhai) of the wooers. He held in his hands his wand, a fair wand of gold, wherewith he lulls to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while others again he wakens even out of slumber; with this he roused and led the spirits, and they followed gibbering. And as in the innermost recess of a wondrous cave bats flit about gibbering, when one has fallen from off the rock from the chain in which they cling to one another, so these went with him gibbering, and Hermes, the Helper, led them down the dank ways. Past the streams of Okeanos they went, past the rock Leukas (the White), past the gates of the sun (pylai Hêlioi) and the land of dreams (dêmos oineiroi), and quickly came to the mead of asphodel (leimôn asphodelon), where the spirits (psykhai) dwell, phantoms (eidôla) of men who have done with toils.”

I hope this answered your question, or at least started to!