Purgatory



Purgatory is a realm where the souls of supernatural creatures go after they die. Its physical location is separate from both Heaven and Hell. Crowley estimates there are 30-40 million souls there. It was originally created to restrain God's oldest creatures, Leviathans, for fear they would destroy the rest of creation. It is also home to various creatures native to Purgatory.

Crowley makes a deal with Castiel that they will locate Purgatory to use the power of the souls housed there. They start a plan where they use Samuel Campbell, getting his agreement with a promise to resurrect Mary, to capture the Alpha monsters who they are convinced know Purgatorys location.

Story
In "Family Matters", the Alpha Vampire reveals to Sam and Dean that when monsters die, they don't go to Heaven or Hell. They go to Purgatory instead. The mystery that Samuel (under Crowley's demands) tries to torture him into solving is the location of it. The Alpha seems to hint that he knows, but doesn't clarify if he does. Crowley later appears and admits that Purgatory is "vast, unutilized, and Hell adjacent," and that he wants to develop it.

In "Caged Heat", Crowley tortures the Alpha Shapeshifter into revealing the location, even going as far as threatening other shapeshifters lives. The Alpha resists, and Crowley decapitates it.

In "Appointment In Samarra", before Death leaves to retrieve Sam's soul from Lucifer's Cage, he tells Dean that despite how the brothers "cause a disruption on a global scale", that they are digging into something regarding souls. He encourages Dean to keep digging. He is most likely alluding to Purgatory. In "Like A Virgin", Bobby translates some details of an ancient manuscript that Sam and Dean salvaged from the dragon's sewers, and makes out only a few details based on them. According to Bobby, the dragons are reading an instruction manual to opening a door to Purgatory, to let something in or bring something on Earth.

The dragons then perform a ritual that opens the door to Purgatory to bring Eve to Earth. The Latin incantation: "Ego coniuro vos / Insolubiliter ad mei potenciam alligati / Ad me prestolacion venire / Deberiatis aperiat / Hunc sine mora debeas mater". Eve, Mother of All rises from the pit possessing the young virgin sacrifice as a vessel.



In "The Man Who Would Be King", both Castiel and Crowley are searching for Purgatory. The reason is for the souls. Castiel needs the souls power for his war againist Raphael. Without the souls, Castiel does not have a chance of defeating Raphael. They find a way to open it from Dr. Visyak, a creature who is from Purgatory. When Crowley allies with Raphael, he gives them a fake jar of blood and performs the cermony by himself. Castiel, like Lovecraft has successfully opened Purgatory and absorbed all their souls. With this new power, Castiel proclaims himself the new God.

In "Meet The New Boss", Death reveals the true purpose of Purgatory as the prison for God's earliest creations the Leviathan; monstrosities of unimaginable power and hunger. Realizing the danger they posed God created Purgatory as their prison and sealed them inside so they could not harm the Earth. When Castiel absorbed the Purgatory souls he also absorbed the Leviathan which had begun to eat their way out of Castiel by rotting his vessel.

Mythology
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven. This is a theological idea that has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, while the poetic conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the creation of medieval Christian piety and imagination.