Psychopomp

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Psychopomp

Many religion

Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
s include a particular spirit, angel

Ángel

?ngel is the third single from Belinda Peregr?n's debut album: Belinda. It was a massive hit in Mexico and an international hit for Belinda....
, or deity

Deity

A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divinity, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by human beings....
whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the concept of a continued existence for the soul, spirit or mind of a being after biological death. The major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics....
. These creatures are called psychopomps, from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
word ????p?µp?? (psychopompos), literally meaning the "guide of souls". Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage. Frequently depicted on funerary art

Funerary art

Funerary art is any work of art forming or placed in a repository for the remains of the death. Tomb is a general term for the repository, while grave goods are objects—other than the primary human remains—which have been placed inside....
, psychopomps have been associated at different times and in different cultures with horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s, whippoorwills, raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus —but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied....
s, dog

Dog

The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
s, crow

Crow

The true crows are large passerine birds that form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small dove-sized jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several offsh...
s, owl

Owl

The Strigiformes are an order of bird of prey, comprising 200 species. Most are solitary, and Nocturnal animal, with some exceptions . Owls mostly hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish....
s, sparrow

Sparrow

The "true sparrows", the Old World sparrows in the family Passeridae, are small passerine birds. As eight or more species nest in or near buildings, and the House Sparrow and Eurasian Tree Sparrow in particular inhabit cities in large numbers, sparrows may be the most familiar of all wild birds....
s, cuckoo

Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos ....
s, harts

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
, and dolphin

Dolphin

File:Bottlenose_Dolphin_KSC04pd0178.jpgDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genus....
s.

In Jungian psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious

Unconscious mind

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Psychopomp'

Start a new discussion about 'Psychopomp'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Many religion

Religion

Ángel

?ngel is the third single from Belinda Peregr?n's debut album: Belinda. It was a massive hit in Mexico and an international hit for Belinda....
, or deity

Deity

Afterlife

Greek language

Funerary art

Horse

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus —but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied....
s, dog

Dog

The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
s, crow

Crow

Owl

Sparrow

Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos ....
s, harts

Deer

Dolphin

Unconscious mind

The Unconscious is a term invented by the 18th century German philosophy romanticism philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge....
and conscious realms. It is symbolically personified in dreams as a wise man (or woman), or sometimes as a helpful animal. In many cultures, the shaman also fulfills the role of the psychopomp. This may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also vice versa: to help at birth, to introduce the newborn's soul to the world (p. 36 of ). This also accounts for the contemporary title of "midwife to the dying," which is another form of psychopomp work.

List by mythology or belief system

African mythology

Ancestors

Aztec mythology

Xolotl

In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense....

Celtic mythology

Ankou

Ankou is a Death in Brittany mythology....

Epona

In Gallo-Roman culture religion, Epona was a protector of horses, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, and the presence of foals in some sculptures ....

Gwyn ap Nudd

In Welsh mythology, Gwyn ap Nudd was king of the Tylwyth Teg and also, in later tradition, identified as the ruler of Annwn . He escorted the souls of the dead there, and led a pack of supernatural hounds, Cwn Annwn ....

Manannán mac Lir

In Celtic mythology, Manann?n mac Lir Manann?n appears in many Celtic mythology and tales, although he only plays a prominent role in some of them....

Santa Compaña

The Santa Compa?a is probably one of the most deep-rooted mythologyical beliefs in rural Galicia , and also in Asturias, where it is called G?estia....

Christianity

Angels

St. Michael

Michael (archangel)

Saint Michael is an archangel in Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God.He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation....
(an archangel)

St. Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
(a saint)

Egyptian mythology

Anubis

Anubis is the Greek language name for a jackal-headed deity associated with mummy and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, ....

Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....

Neith

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron Deities#Egyptian mythology of Sais, Egypt, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty.....

Etruscan mythology

Charun

In Etruscan mythology, Charun was the psychopomp of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita ....

Turms

In Etruscan mythology, Turms was the equivalent of Greek Hermes, god oftrade and the messenger god between people and gods.Turms is also a character in a book by Mika Waltari The_Etruscan which takes...

Greek mythology

Charon

Charon (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead....

Hecate

Hecate Hekate , or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, naturalized early in Mycenaean Greece or in Thrace, but originating among the Carians of Anatolia, the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, progenitor of Mausollus, are attested, and where Hekate re...

Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...

Morpheus

Morpheus (mythology)

Morpheus is the Greek mythology God of dreams.Morpheus has the ability to take any human's form and appear in dreams. He is the son or brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep....

Thánatos

Thanatos

In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....

Hinduism

Agni

Agni is a Hindu and Rigvedic deities. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" , cognate with Latin ignis , Russian ????? , Polish "ogien," Lithuanian - ugnis - all with the meaning 'fire' -, with the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root being h1?gni-....

Pushan

For the port city in Korea, see PusanPushan, also known as Puchan, is the Hindu god of meeting. Puchan was responsible for marriages, Travels, roads, and the feeding of cattle....

Inuit mythology

Anguta

In Inuit mythology, Anguta is a psychopomp, ferrying souls from the land of the living to the underworld, called Adlivun where they must sleep for a year. Anguta is also known as Aguta....

Pinga

In Inuit mythology, Pinga was a goddess of the hunting, fertility and medicine. She was also the psychopomp, bringing souls of the newly-dead to Adlivun, the underworld....

Islam

Azrael

Azrael is the Islamic Death #Angels of death. He is also the Angel of Death in Judeo-Christian extrabiblical tradition and folklore. It is an English language form of the Arabic name Azra'il or Azra'eil , the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in Islam and some Hebrew lore....

Japanese mythology

Shinigami

is the Death that evolved in Japan, having been imported to Japan from Europe during the Meiji period. This image of death was quickly adopted and featured in such works as the rakugo play Shinigami and in Shunsen Takehara's Ehon Hyaku Monogatari ....

Judaism

Abraham

Abraham is a man featured in the Book of Genesis and an important figure in several monotheistic religions. Judaism, Christianity and Islam traditions regard him as the founding Patriarchs of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples....

St. Gabriel

Gabriel

In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger from God. He first appears in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. In some traditions he is regarded as one of the archangels, or as the angel of death....
(an archangel)

Lailah

Elijah/Sandalphon

Sandalphon

Sandalphon is an archangel in Judaism and Christianity writings....
(an archangel)

Korean mythology

Jusung Saja

Mayan mythology

Ixtab

According to Diego de Landa, Ixtab, or 'Rope Woman', was the Yucatec Mayan goddess of suicide. In Yucatec society, suicide, especially suicide by hanging, was under circumstances considered an honorable way to die....

Mesopotamian mythology

Namtar

In Mesopotamian mythology Namtar was a hellish deity, god of death, and the messenger of An , Ereshkigal, and Nergal.Namtar was considered responsible for diseases and pests....

Native American mythology

Muut

Muut was the personification of death in the Cahuilla Indian culture, and was usually depicted as an owl. Death was considered a necessary part of life by the Cahuilla, and thus Muut was seen as more of a psychopomp than a frightening grim reaper character....

Norse mythology

Baldur

Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....

Valkyrie

File:The Ride of the Valkyrs.jpgIn Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a wikt:host#Noun_2 of female figures who choose those who die in battle....
s

Persian mythology

Mithra

Mithra is an important deity or divine concept in Zoroastrianism and later Iranian history and culture.Mithra is descended, together with the Historical Vedic religion deity Mitra , from a common proto-Indo-Iranian entity *mitra "treaty, bond"....

Polynesian mythology

Aumakua

In Hawaiian mythology, an aumakua is a household deity, often a ancestor worship.The Hawaiian plural of ?aumakua is na aumakua , although in English the plural is usually aumakuas....

Roman mythology

Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....

Slavic mythology

Volos

Veles (god)

Veles also known as Volos is a major Slavic pantheon of earth, waters and the underworld, associated with Slavic dragon, cattle, Magic , musicians, wealth and trickery....

Vodun mythology

Guédé

In Haitian Vodou, the Gu?d? are the family of spirits that embody the powers of death and fertility. Gu?d? spirits include Ghede Masaka, Gu?d? Nibo, Gu?d? Plumaj, Gu?d? Ti Malis, and Gu?d? Zaranye....

Zoroastrianism

Daena

Daena is a Zoroastrianism concept representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion." Alternately, Daena is considered to be a divinity, counted among the yazata....

Vohu Mano

Vohu mano

Vohu Mano is one among several "emanations" of the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda.It represents Ahura Mazda's "good mind". Following religious tradition, Vohu Mano, appeared in some form to Zarathushtra, the prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism, and asked him:Zarathustra answered:...

Other

Grim Reaper

Fiction

Compare Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
's role in Dante

DANTE

DANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions....
’s Inferno
The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy , written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature....
.

George Lass and the other reapers on the Showtime

Showtime

Showtime is a Pay TV brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States....
series Dead Like Me
Dead Like Me

Dead Like Me is an United States television program comedy-drama starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as death who live and work in Seattle, Washington....
are more accurately described as psychopomps, as they do not actually kill people but instead remove their souls moments before death and escort them to the afterlife.

The Reapers of the TV series Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)

Supernatural is an American drama-Horror fiction television series starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, brothers who hunt demons and other figures of the paranormal....
act as psychopomps.

In the TV series Reaper
Reaper (TV series)

Reaper is an United States of America television comedy-drama created by Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, who also serve as executive producers alongside Mark Gordon, Deborah Spera, and Tom Spezialy....
, the character Sam Oliver acts as a psychopomp, capturing and returning escaped souls to Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
on behalf of the devil.

In modern literature, the title character of J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet Order of Merit , more commonly known as J. M. Barrie, was a Scotland author and dramatist. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys....
’s Peter Pan
Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a character created by Scotland novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to aging, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys , interacting with Mermaid, Native_Americans_in_the_United_States, f...
is said to act as a guide for children: “At first Mrs. Darling did not know, but after thinking back into her childhood she just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him; as that when children died he went part of the way with them, so that they should not be frightened.”

Whipporwills

Whip-poor-will

The Whip-poor-will or whippoorwill, Caprimulgus vociferus, is a medium-sized nightjar from North America and Central America. The Whip-poor-will is commonly heard within its range, but less often seen....
feature prominently as malign psychopomps in many works of H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an United States author of horror fiction, fantasy fiction, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
, perhaps most notably in The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror

"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928 in literature, it was first published in the April 1929 in literature issue of Weird Tales ....
.

Sparrows as psychopomps play a notable role in Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an United States author of contemporary horror fiction, fantasy fiction and science fiction.Having sold an estimated List of bestselling fiction authors of his books, King is best known for his work in horror fiction, in which he demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the genre's history....
's novel The Dark Half
The Dark Half

The Dark Half is a Horror fiction novel by Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger....
.

The Soul Reapers of the Bleach
Bleach (manga)

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally obtains the power of a shinigami?a Japanese death personification similar to the Grim Reaper?from Rukia Kuchiki....
franchise act as psychopomps.

In the anime and manga YuYu Hakusho

YuYu Hakusho

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi with an anime adaptation. The name of the series is spelled YuYu Hakusho in Funimation Entertainment's distribution of the anime and in the Viz Media manga....
, Botan acts as a psychopomp as the ferrywoman of the Sanzu River

Sanzu River

The Sanzu River , or River of Three Crossings, is a Japanese Buddhist tradition and religious belief. Most Japanese people believe that on the way to the afterlife, the dead must cross the river, which is why a Japanese funeral includes placing six coins in the deceased's casket....
, guiding souls to the afterlife (most notably Yusuke Urameshi).

In Northern Lights
Northern Lights (novel)

Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass across North America, is the first novel in England novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy....
Yambe Akka serves as a guide to dead or dying witches, taking them peacefully to the underworld.

Enma Ai of the anime series Jigoku Shoujo acts as a psychopomp, ferrying grudged-upon souls to Hell.

Death

Death (DC Comics)

Death is a fictional character from the DC Comics comic book series, The Sandman . She was created by Sandman writer Neil Gaiman and given visual life by illustrators Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III....
is one of many psychopomp characters in Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman is an England author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust , American Gods and Coraline....
's Sandman
Sandman (Vertigo)

The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published in the United States by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo Comics. It chronicles the adventures of Dream of The Endless, who rules over the world of dreams, in 75 issues from 1989 in comics until 1996 in comics....
comics. Lucifer Morningstar

Lucifer (DC Comics)

Lucifer is a DC Comics Character that starred in an eponymous comic book published under the Vertigo Comics imprint. The ongoing series, a spin-off of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman , concerns the adventures of the fallen angel Lucifer on Earth, in Heaven and through other realms of creation after abandoning Hell in the Sandman series....
is another psychopomp and refers to himself as one when he kills the Shiko-Mi demon in the second story arc.

In the LucasArts

LucasArts

LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is an United States video game developer and video game publisher. The company was famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the early 1990s in video gaming....
game Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango

Grim Fandango is a graphic adventure game Personal computer game released by LucasArts in and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered 2D computer graphics....
, the player plays as a "travel agent" (psychopomp) named Manny Calavera, guiding people from the Land of the Dead safely to the afterlife.

At the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Will Turner

Will Turner

William "Will" Turner, Jr., also known as Jules Turner, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series....
becomes a psychopomp by becoming the captain of the Flying Dutchman in order to guide the souls of men who died at sea to the land of the dead, a job previously tasked to but neglected by Davy Jones

Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)

David Jones is a fictional character from the Pirates of the Caribbean and is loosely based on the old seaman's legend of Davy Jones? Locker....
.

In the final episode of Six Feet Under, Nathanial and Nate Fisher serve as psychopomps for Ruth Fisher, while Keith Charles-Fisher serves as one for his husband, David.

In the DC comics universe

DC Universe

The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic book stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe....
, speedsters

Speedster (comics)

A speedster is a fictional character in superhero fiction, particularly comic books whose primary power is the superhuman ability to run and perform other physical acts at impossibly high speeds....
are led to the afterlife

Afterlife

Speed Force

The Speed Force is a fictional concept presented in various comic books published by DC Comics, primarily in relation to the various speedster in the DC Universe....
) by a psychopomp known as the Black Flash

Black Flash

The Black Flash is a fictional comic book fictional character from DC Comics. Created by writers Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, and artist Ron Wagner, the character first appeared in Flash # 138 ....
.

Piers Anthony

Piers Anthony

Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony....
's Incarnations of Immortality

Incarnations of Immortality

Incarnations of Immortality is the name of an eight-book fantasy series by Piers Anthony. The first seven books each focus on one of seven supernatural "offices" in a fictional reality and history parallel to ours, with the exception that society has advanced both magic and modern technology....
series is inaugurated by On a Pale Horse
On a Pale Horse

On a Pale Horse is a fantasy novel by Piers Anthony. It is the first of eight books in the Incarnations of Immortality series....
, which introduces protagonist Zane, who inadvertently assumes the immortal role of psychopomp, Thanatos

Thanatos

In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....
, through a confluence of circumstances surrounding a noncommittal suicide attempt.

The deities known as "Spirits" in the webcomic

Webcomic

Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website, often exclusively, providing easy access to an audience, though some are published in books and newspapers but maintain a web archive....
The Phoenix Requiem
The Phoenix Requiem

The Phoenix Requiem is a fantasy graphic novel written and drawn by Sarah Ellerton, author and artist of Inverloch , which takes place in a setting similar to Victorian era....
act as psychopomps.

The 2008 film, The Spirit

The Spirit (film)

The Spirit is a Cinema of the United States comic book adaptation, written and directed by Frank Miller and starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L....
, features Lorelei, a phantom siren who continually attempts to lure The Spirit

The Spirit

The Spirit is a Character appearing in the comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Will Eisner, he first appeared in Spirit Section #1 ....
into the afterlife with her mesmerizing song.

Psychopomp

List by mythology or belief system

African mythology

Aztec mythology

Celtic mythology

Christianity

Egyptian mythology

Etruscan mythology

Greek mythology

Hinduism

Inuit mythology

Islam

Japanese mythology

Judaism

Korean mythology

Mayan mythology

Mesopotamian mythology

Native American mythology

Norse mythology

Persian mythology

Polynesian mythology

Roman mythology

Slavic mythology

Vodun mythology

Zoroastrianism

Other

Fiction

See also