Of Old times...
In the ancient Greek times, during the years the Orphic cult & mysteries were believed there was a teaching that made its way to the modern era in the form of a golden plate. This artifact is still at the the British Museum (sadly for me as it isn't on Greek grounds to be kept). The teaching was made by the Orphics as a guide when the soul was about to enter to the after life.
You will find another, from the lake of Memory refreshing water flowing forth. But guardians are nearby. They will ask you, with sharp minds "Whence are you? Where are you from?ʺ " Tell them the following words.
“I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but of Heaven is my birth:
this you know yourselves. I am parched with thirst and perishing:
give me quickly chill water flowing from Mnemosyne lake“
This will state proudly & with dignity you are true, preventing you from forgetting, giving the chance to the soul to pass to the afterlife with the knowledge that is already is known but most important of all is not to forget that soul itself is immortal without no one to be able to hold it.
Among many other things, this totenpass evokes Remembrance, remembrance of the divine-heavenly nature that dwells within all of us.
In agreement with many Eastern philosophies, the Orphics believed in an eternal soul that was caught in a cycle of reincarnation.
Gold-leaf tablets found in graves from Thurii, Hipponium, Thessaly and Crete (4th century BC and after) give instructions to the dead. Although these thin tablets are often highly fragmentary, collectively they present a shared scenario of the passage into the afterlife. Gold orphic tablet and case found in Petelia, southern Italy (British Museum)
