Gates, Guardians, and the Trials of Descent
BY NICOLE LAU
The underworld journey is not a smooth descent—it's a series of gates, each guarded, each requiring passage through trial. From Inanna's seven gates to the Egyptian Duat's twelve gates to Dante's circles of Hell, the pattern is universal: transformation happens through ordeal, and ordeal happens at thresholds.
Why Gates?
Gates appear in underworld myths because they represent:
- Thresholds of consciousness: Boundaries between levels of awareness
- Progressive initiation: Each gate deepens the descent
- Points of no return: Once passed, you can't go back unchanged
- Tests of readiness: Not everyone can pass every gate
- Stages of transformation: Each gate strips away another layer
The gate is where you prove you're ready for the next level of depth.
The Seven Gates of Inanna
The most detailed gate sequence appears in the Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent:
- First gate: Removes her crown (sovereignty, ego identity)
- Second gate: Removes her earrings (ability to hear divine guidance)
- Third gate: Removes her necklace (power of speech and expression)
- Fourth gate: Removes her breastplate (emotional protection)
- Fifth gate: Removes her gold ring (commitment and connection)
- Sixth gate: Removes her measuring rod and line (ability to measure and judge)
- Seventh gate: Removes her royal robe (final identity and status)
At each gate, she must surrender something. By the seventh gate, she's naked and powerless—ready for transformation.
The Psychological Meaning of the Seven Gates
Each gate represents surrendering a defense or identity:
- Gate 1 (Crown): Surrender your ego's claim to sovereignty
- Gate 2 (Earrings): Stop listening only to what you want to hear
- Gate 3 (Necklace): Release your need to control the narrative
- Gate 4 (Breastplate): Drop your emotional armor and defenses
- Gate 5 (Ring): Let go of attachments and commitments that no longer serve
- Gate 6 (Measuring rod): Stop judging and measuring everything
- Gate 7 (Robe): Surrender your final identity and status
This is the progressive stripping that shadow integration requires.
The Guardians
Each gate has a guardian—a being who tests, challenges, or demands payment:
Cerberus (Greek)
- Three-headed dog guarding Hades' entrance
- Allows all to enter, but none to leave
- Represents the point of no return
- Must be appeased or overcome
Charon (Greek)
- Ferryman of the River Styx
- Requires payment (coin in the mouth of the dead)
- Represents the cost of passage
- Won't ferry those who can't pay
The Gatekeepers (Egyptian)
- Demons and gods at each of twelve gates
- Require knowledge of their names
- Test the soul's worthiness
- Represent obstacles that knowledge overcomes
The Dark Goddess (Various)
- Hecate, Ereshkigal, Hel, Kali
- Ultimate guardian of transformation
- Demands complete surrender
- Represents the transformative force itself
The Trials
Beyond gates and guardians, the underworld presents trials:
The Trial of Facing Death
- Confronting your own mortality
- Accepting that the old self must die
- Surrendering to the unknown
The Trial of Seeing Truth
- Facing what you've denied about yourself
- Seeing through your illusions
- Accepting reality as it is, not as you wish
The Trial of Powerlessness
- Surrendering control
- Accepting you can't force outcomes
- Trusting the process when you're helpless
The Trial of Shadow Encounter
- Meeting your rejected parts
- Facing your darkness without fleeing
- Integrating what you've denied
The Trial of Dissolution
- Allowing identity to dissolve
- Enduring the void, the emptiness
- Trusting rebirth will follow death
The Egyptian Weighing of the Heart
One of the most powerful trial images is the Egyptian judgment:
- The heart is weighed against the feather of Ma'at (truth/justice)
- If heavier (burdened with lies, cruelty, selfishness), it's devoured
- If balanced, the soul proceeds to the afterlife
- Represents the trial of absolute honesty
Psychologically: Can you face the truth of who you've been? Can you accept your actions and their consequences?
Dante's Circles: Progressive Trials
Dante's Inferno presents nine circles, each deeper and more challenging:
- Limbo: Virtuous pagans (those who lived well but without faith)
- Lust: Those controlled by desire
- Gluttony: Those controlled by appetite
- Greed: Those controlled by material attachment
- Wrath: Those controlled by anger
- Heresy: Those who rejected truth
- Violence: Those who harmed others, self, or God
- Fraud: Those who deceived
- Treachery: Those who betrayed trust (deepest circle)
Each circle represents a deeper level of shadow—from minor vices to ultimate betrayal.
The Hero's Trials
When heroes descend, they face specific trials:
- Orpheus: Must not look back (trust without certainty)
- Heracles: Must capture Cerberus (master fear)
- Odysseus: Must speak with the dead (face the past)
- Aeneas: Must see his father (reconcile with ancestry)
- Psyche: Must retrieve beauty from Persephone (claim her power)
Each trial is unique to the descender's need.
Modern Trials of Descent
In contemporary life, the trials appear as:
- Therapy: Facing painful truths about yourself and your past
- Addiction recovery: Surrendering control and admitting powerlessness
- Grief: Enduring the void left by loss
- Depression: Navigating the darkness without knowing when it will end
- Midlife crisis: Confronting unlived life and mortality
These are the gates and trials of the modern underworld journey.
Practical Application: Navigating Your Trials
When you encounter gates and trials:
- Recognize them as initiatory: Not punishment, but transformation
- Don't try to skip gates: Each one prepares you for the next
- Surrender what's asked: Resistance prolongs suffering
- Respect the guardians: They're testing your readiness
- Trust the process: The trials have purpose, even when you can't see it
- Seek guidance: Therapists, mentors, and guides are modern psychopomps
The gates are not obstacles—they're initiations. The guardians are not enemies—they're teachers. The trials are not punishments—they're transformations. Pass through them consciously, and you emerge not just alive, but reborn.
