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{{short description|Entity believed to escort deceased souls to an afterlife}}
{{About|the psychopomp in religion, mythology and psychology|the song by The Tea Party|Psychopomp (song)|the album by Japanese Breakfast|Psychopomp (album)}}
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[[File:NAMA Hermès & Myrrhinè.jpg|thumb|Relief from a carved funerary {{lang|grc-Latn|[[lekythos]]}} at Athens: [[Hermes]] as psychopomp conducts the deceased, ''Myrrine,'' a priestess of [[Athena]], to [[Hades]], {{circa|430–420 BC}} ([[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]])]]
'''Psychopomps''' (from the Greek word {{lang|grc|ψυχοπομπός}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|psychopompós}}, literally meaning the 'guide of souls')<ref name=lex>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dyuxopompo%2Fs |title=ψυχοπομπός - Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu }}</ref> are creatures, [[Non-physical entity|spirit]]s, [[angel]]s, [[demon]]s, or [[deity|deities]] in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife.<ref name="Morreall">{{cite book |author1=John Morreall|author2=Tamara Sonn|title=The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies|date=2011|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=|isbn=978-1405182461|pages=279}}</ref>

Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. Appearing frequently on [[funerary art]], psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic entities]], horses, deer, dogs, [[whip-poor-will]]s, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows, and cuckoos. In the case of birds, these are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying.

==Overview==

===Ancient religion===
Classical examples of a psychopomp are the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|ancient Egypt]]ian god [[Anubis]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Greenberg |first1=Mike |title=Anubis: The Egyptian God of the Dead |url=https://mythologysource.com/anubis-egyptian-god-dead/ |website=mythologysource.com |access-date=3 November 2024}}</ref> the deity [[Pushan]] in [[Hinduism]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Macdonell |first=Arthur Anthony |title=Vedic Mythology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1897 |pages=35–37}}</ref> the [[ancient Greek religion|Greek]] ferryman [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]],<ref name=lex/> the goddess [[Hecate]],<ref name="Charles M 1986 pp. 307–318">{{cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Charles M. |date=July 1986 |title=The Running Maiden from Eleusis and the Early Classical Image of Hekate |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]] |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=307–318 |doi=10.2307/505689 |jstor=505689 |s2cid=193054943}}</ref> and god [[Hermes]],<ref name="transformer">RADULOVI, IFIGENIJA; VUKADINOVI, SNEŽANA; SMIRNOVBRKI, ALEKSANDRA – Hermes the Transformer Ágora. Estudos Clássicos em debate, núm. 17, 2015, pp. 45–62 Universidade de Aveiro. Aveiro, Portugal. [https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3210/321037735002.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907143318/https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3210/321037735002.pdf|date=7 September 2021}} (PDF link)</ref> the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman]] god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]],<ref name="Littleton">Littleton, C. Scott (Ed.) (2002). ''Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling'' (pp. 195, 251, 253, 258, 292). London: Duncan Baird Publishers. {{ISBN|1-904292-01-1}}.</ref> the [[Norse mythology|Norse]] [[Valkyrie]]s,<ref name="ORCHARD36LINDOW104">Orchard (1997:36) and Lindow (2001:104).</ref> the [[Aztec mythology|Aztec]] [[Xolotl]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Johns |author-first=Catherine   |title=Dogs: History, Myth, Art|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-674-03093-0|p=25}}</ref> the [[Slavs|Slavic]] goddess [[Morana (goddess)|Morana]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kowalski |first=Piotr |title=Leksykon – znaki świata: omen, przesąd, znaczenie |date=1998 |publisher=Wydawnictwa Naukowe PWN |isbn=8301125616 |location=Warszawa; Wrocław |pages=609–615 |language=pl}}</ref> and the [[Etruscan religion|Etruscan]] [[Vanth]].<ref>Scheffer, C. 1991. "Harbingers of Death? The Female Demon in Late Etruscan Funerary Art" In ''Munuscula Romana'', edited by A. L. Touati, E. Rystedt, and Ö. Wikander, 43–50. Stockholm: Paul Ǻströms förlag. p. 57</ref>

=== Contemporary religions ===
[[Heibai Wuchang]], literally "Black and White [[Impermanence]]", are two deities in [[Chinese folk religion]] in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld.

The ''[[shinigami]]'' of [[Japanese mythology]] have been described as psychopomps.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://japan-avenue.com/blogs/japan/shinigami |title=Shinigami, God of Death |website=Japan Avenue |access-date=2022-10-06}}</ref>

The form of [[Shiva]] as [[Tarakeshwara]] in [[Hinduism]] performs a similar role, although leading the soul to [[moksha]] rather than to an after-life. Additionally, in the [[Bhagavata Purana]], the Visnudutas and [[Yamaduta]]s are also messengers for their respective masters, [[Vishnu]] and [[Yama]]. Their role is illustrated vividly in the story of [[Ajamila]]. In many beliefs, a spirit being taken to the underworld is violently ripped from its body.<ref>"The Mercury-Woden Complex: A Proposal", [https://books.google.com/books?id=c4Icg6ojX-YC&pg=PA27 p. 27]</ref>

In the [[Persian mythology|Persian]] tradition, [[Daena]], the [[Zoroastrian]] self-guide, appears as a beautiful young maiden to those who deserve to cross the [[Chinvat Bridge]], or as a hideous old hag to those who do not.<ref>[https://heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/death/index.htm Zoroastrianism's After Life & Funeral Customs]. Accessed: March 2024.</ref>

The [[polytheistic]] concept of a specific deity of death is rejected by [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] [[monotheism]], which regards [[God in Abrahamic religions|God]] as the only master of death and life.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/angel-of-death |title=Angel of Death |website=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> However, the archangel [[Samael]] can be regarded as the [[Judaism|Jewish]] psychopomp, whose role in Talmudic and post-Talmudic theology is as the Angel of death.
In Christianity, [[Saint Peter]], [[Michael (archangel)|Michael the Archangel]] and [[Jesus]] are thought of as psychopomps either as leading the dead to heaven or (as in the case of Peter) allowing them through the gates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ejmmm2007.blogspot.com/2008/03/knock-knock-knocking-on-heavens-door.html |title=Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism: Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven's Door: Jewish Psychopomps |website=ejmmm2007.blogspot.com |access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref> In [[Islam]], [[Azrael]] plays the role of the angel of death who carries the soul up to the heavens, acting by the permission of God.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5018-death-angel-of|title=Death, Angel Of|website=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref> According to [[Rudyard Kipling]], Azrael "separates the Spirit from the Flesh".<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Kipling
 |first1               = Rudyard
 |author-link1         = Rudyard Kipling
 |year                 = 1932
 |chapter              = Uncovenanted Mercies
 |title                = Limits and Renewals
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=sAkRAAAAMAAJ
 |publication-place    = London
 |publisher            = Macmillan
 |page                 = 374
 |access-date          = 9 March 2025
}}
</ref>

In many cultures, the [[shaman]] also fulfils the role of the psychopomp. This may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also at birth helping to introduce the newborn child's soul into the world.<ref name=hop-sameu>Hoppál, Mihály: ''Sámánok Eurázsiában''. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2005. {{ISBN|963-05-8295-3}}. (The title means "Shamans in Eurasia"; the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish; page 36 is used as the source.) [http://www.akkrt.hu/main.php?folderID=906&pn=2&cnt=31&catID=&prodID=17202&pdetails=1 Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102125239/http://www.akkrt.hu/main.php?folderID=906&pn=2&cnt=31&catID=&prodID=17202&pdetails=1 |date =2010-01-02}}</ref>{{rp|page=36}} This also accounts for the contemporary title of "midwife to the dying" or [[Death doula| "End of Life Doula"]]" which is another form of psychopomp work.

In [[Culture of the Philippines|Filipino culture]], ancestral spirits (''[[anito]]'') function as psychopomps. When the dying call out to specific dead persons (e.g. parents, partners), the spirits of the latter are supposedly visible to the former. The spirits, who traditionally wait at the foot of the death-bed, retrieve ([[Filipino language|Tagalog]]: ''sundô'') the soul soon after death and escort it into the after-life.<ref name="Scott1994">{{cite book  | last = Scott  | first = William Henry  | author-link = William Henry Scott (historian)  | title = Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society  | publisher = Ateneo de Manila University Press | date = 1994  | location = Quezon City | isbn = 971-550-135-4 }}</ref>

In [[Akan religion]], [[Amokye]] is the woman who fishes souls out of the river and welcomes them to Asamando, the Akan realm of the dead. A deceased person is buried with amoasie (loincloths), jewelry and beads which they then pay to Amokye for admitting them to Asamando.<ref>{{Cite book |last1 =Lynch |first1 =Patricia Ann |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qH96uAAACAAJ |title =African Mythology, A to Z |last2 =Roberts |first2 =Jeremy |date =2010 |publisher =Chelsea House |isbn =978-1-60413-415-5 |language =en}}</ref>

Many mythologies and superstitions simply have a personification of death as psychopomp. Such personifications frequently present death as a reaper, even ascribing it the title "[[Grim Reaper]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1 =Noyes |first1 =Deborah |title =Encyclopedia of the End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More |date =2008 |publisher =Houghton Mifflin |location =Boston |isbn =978-0618823628 |page =35}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 =Menzies |first1 =Robert |title =The Circle of Human Life |date=1847 |publisher=Myles Macphail |location=Edinburgh |page=11}}</ref>

===Psychology===
In [[Jungian psychology]], the psychopomp is a mediator between the [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] and conscious realms. It is symbolically personified in dreams as a wise man or woman, or sometimes as a helpful beast.<ref>Drake, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=s5l4DwAAQBAJ&dq=Jungian+psychology%2C+the+psychopomp+is+a+mediator&pg=PA82 The Great Shift: And How To Navigate It]. (2018) pp. 82. {{ISBN|0-9629002-9-X}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Life replacement narratives]], Korean myths in which psychopomps are persuaded into sparing a person's life.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Commons}}
*Geoffrey Dennis, "Abraham", "Elijah", "Lailah", "Sandalphon", ''Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism'', Llewellyn, 2007.
*[[Mircea Eliade|Eliade, Mircea]], "Shamanism", 1964, Chapters 6 and 7, "Magical Cures: the Shaman as Psychopomp".

[[Category:Psychopomps| ]]
[[Category:Afterlife]]