After his murderous insanity induced by the goddess Hera, Hercules travelled to Delphi to atone and pray to Apollo for guidance, who directed him to serve Eurystheus as penance, leading to Hercules’ famous 12 Labours.

The pattern of 12 appears often, as in the number of the Olympian gods, as well as the 12 signs of the zodiac, the 12 Knights of the Round Table, the 12 Disciples, and so on. That being said, the number of the Labours is not arbitrary. Each task was a lesson as well as a symbol, as all things are, all leading up to and preparing the way for his initiation and his final mission, which, for his 12th and last task, Hercules was to journey to The Underworld and back, bringing the hound of Hades, Cerberus, out with him. Unlike the other labours that tested his resolve – this one was meant to destroy him.

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Before entering The Underworld, Hercules first travelled to Eleusis in order to be instructed by and initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Here we see that the Warrior, Hero, Knight or Kshatriya does not exalt himself beyond his station, but rather makes himself passive and supplicant before the spiritual authority of the Priests, Clergy or Brahmins. From them comes both the legitimatization of his power as well as the teachings that are necessary to carry out the highest of deeds.

In these Mysteries the initiate must no longer place consciousness in the mind, desire or the body. These are tools that can still be used however, and they are used to help humanity. What is focused on is the Spirit, that Self that is truly formless, and so the claws and fires of Hell cannot ever hope to cling to or burn it. It is to become ‘centered’, and when centered it is as though one is at the eye of the storm or the the spoke of the wheel; in the image of the Unmoved-Mover. Here, the initiate is like a bridge or a window between the world of humanity and the world of the gods, between the two hemispheres of the summer and winter solstices, between Cancer and Capricorn. Active towards the world bringing forth and manifesting what is Heavenly unto the Earth, and then like towards the Priests it is passive to the Heavens, so as to guide Humanity toward the Divine. The window allows light to shine through and the onlooker to witness.

To be found in Eleusis was also the gateway to The Underworld itself, the great darkness Hercules must descend into and return from, and so before entering he had to undergo a personal Hell in order to learn the nature of this universal one. We truly learn by individual, personal experience, not by hearsay or books. In a similar way, when dealing with one’s own spiritual journey it’s prudent first to go through your own before attempting to aid others in theirs. We learn on airplanes that in emergencies you must first equip your own mask before helping others do theirs, the concept is the similar here.
If you haven’t first made your own self in order, you can’t go on and instruct others:

“The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.
From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.”
~ Confucius, The Daxue.

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Having been initiated, Hercules now could confidently enter The Underworld; he is free, he passed the Labours and the signs of the Zodiac, learned the lessons and the signs, and can now serve the world in a way that is truly universal. During his journey he came across two heroes: Theseus and Pirithous, imprisoned for trying to steal Persephone, the goddess and queen of The Underworld.
Hercules stopped to help and try to deliver them out from Hades before he was to deal with his own task, exemplifying the nature of service for a disciple of the Mysteries.

He freed Theseus, but was powerless to rescue the Pirithous. Pirithous had wanted Persephone for himself, and his hubris had locked-in his fate. We may deride the illogicality of this fate; but is not, say, the law of the aftermath of being struck dead by a speeding car just as damning and ‘permanent’?

Pirithous shows us that that there are laws that not even a god as mighty as Hercules can break, that Karma’s gravity is a force to be reckoned with, that the laws of Heaven, Hell, our ‘Middle-Earth’ and our Spirit among them are of a more complex nature than even the lives of the deities. A warning to not make one’s Spirit so heavy in vice and, more subtly, to not make oneself spiritually unfit, unable or unwilling to take or recognize the saving hand of a divine grace.

The reason why we condemn Ignorance so persistently is that one who is ignorant of spiritual law will
keep on forever committing evil deeds, condemning oneself ever on.

“Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.”
~ Matthew 5:18

“Fear not them which kill the body … but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
~ Matthew 10:28

This encounter, of course, foreshadowed Hell’s Harrowing to come. Though this is of truly infinite greater quality, it doesn’t negate Hercules’ deed. Rather it highlights even more the significance of what this Son of Father-Zeus was able to achieve, and what we ought to do in the face of our own pitfalls.

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When Hercules finally reached the Hound of Hades, he was faced with its three heads and serpentine tail.

Its tail symbolizes illusion, Māyā, our hinderance to spiritual progress, keeping us chained in life to a fate akin to Sisyphus, another denizen of The Underworld. How can one hope to escape the world of Illusion and witness Eden without facing the Serpent that deceived?

The hound’s central head represents Desire, the other two being Sensation and ‘Good Intention’.
Desire is the root of suffering and this is the very nature of the world that the serpent maintains, and so is the most formidable head to face on the monster.
Sensation on the other hand is contingent upon desire, and it is what drives humanity this way and that in this world, thirsting to constantly satisfy itself, its pleasure and greed. Its ultimate consequence is the occupation of the mind from real purpose.
The head of ‘Good Intention’ is the world of actions not carried out or not thought through. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

A formidable opponent indeed, but Hercules unarmed wrestled it into submission, dragging it up with him from the darkness, completing his final Labour and firmly establishing himself a Divine Protector of Mankind.