The following is an excerpt from Charles "Uncle Chuck" Riley's book "Tales of Divine Adventure: What to Do When Things Go Bad."
Chapter 3: Rites, Rituals, and something else that starts with R
When you look at the world of Greco-Roman mythology you tend to find certain patterns; Gods tend to get away with a lot, the prideful mortal usually gets their world turned upside down, heroes die in tragic ways, the kings tend to be haughty and rude, and there are horses every few feet.
One of the lesser acknowledged themes is the act of purifying one's soul through a ritual known as the Trials of Purification, or as it is more colloquially known, the Labors of Hercules.
The Trials of Purification has its roots in the second age, during the rule of the Titans. As a matter of fact it began because of how the age of the Titans started. Ouranos' blood left a stain on the souls of those who participated in his dethroning, Kronos, Iapetus, Hyperion, Koios and Crius. Their siblings refused to be ruled by murderers, and threatened a revolt.
According to my sources, it was Themis who first hit upon the idea, and it was quickly ratified into divine law. What tasks Kronos and his co-conspirators had to perform is still a mystery, but the evidence remains that whatever the task, he succeeded, and ascended to his father's throne.
Over the years this rite has not only been adopted by the Gods, but humans as well, although it was never quite as binding with the latter, and has fallen out of vogue centuries ago.
Anyone can take on these trials, but markedly few have successfully completed them, and of those poor mortals who fail, death is the least of their punishments.
The process of taking on the Labors always begins in the same way; a crime is committed by the one who will be undertaking the task. This can be as small as a perceived crime such as a betrayal of trust, all the way up to and including murder. After the crime has been committed, the person must then find a god, which is harder than it sounds. Any god, technically, will do for the purposes of the Labors, however it is a generally held, if untrue, superstition that performing the Trials for one of the twelve Olympians has more prestige and will yield more rewards.
Once the trial taker has come into contact with one of the gods they must convince them that they are worthy of redemption through the trials. This is easier said than done. Some gods, upon hearing the crimes, will simply turn away in disgust and refuse to give the person in question what they want. In other cases an act of metamorphosis or godly smiting is in order.
If the person convinces their god to allow them to try the Trials of Purification they are marked and the god sets a number to their labors, as well as the terms of their arrangement. Ten labors is standard practice, but there are stories of anywhere between three labors and fifteen.
If I sound optimistic about the Trials of Purification, if you hold any inclination towards attempting the path paved by Hercules, let me take this moment to tell you something. Do not do it. Over seven thousand demigods, men, and women have attempted to reach the end of their trials. Only eighty three succeeded. The rewards involved have purposely left out of this volume to avoid tempting the guilible, greedy, or just plain stupid amongst you. There may be a great deal for those who make it through, but whatever those rewards might be, you won't be getting that from me. What you will get is caution from me, because the cost of failure far outweighs the rewards of success.
If you proceed on the Labors of Hercules, and fail, you win certain death in the short term. After death, however, once you cross the Styx, you skip the line to the underworld judges. For every trial or task you left undone, you receive a fifty year long stay in the Fields of Punishment.
For those of you slow at math, I'll save you the time. If you are on the standard ten Labors path to success, and you bite the big one during your first labor, you end up in punishment for the next five hundred years before you ever get your turn in front of the judges. No appeals, no refunds, no reprieve. All without even knowing that there is even a prize at the end of the gauntlet, aside from the joys of a job well done.
Now that I've hopefully scared you from this path, let us move on to the happier topic of funeral rites!