Nine gates, hm? There's a book in my world called Dante's Inferno, and it speaks of the nine circles of, ah, hell. One of the places in the afterlife, in one separate religion in my world. It seems like your afterlife is much the same...

[ Which is quite intriguing to say the least. ] As for magic, well, the spirits here are open to communicating with almost anyone. Learning magic from them isn't nearly as difficult, I've found at least, compared to learning magic from other worlds.