Psychopomp

A psychopomp is a type of deity, spirit, or by any other a name, a non-human mythological figure that exists in the majority of religious structures, whose responsibility it is to guide the souls of the recently deceased, to the lands beyond, in the afterlife. Sometimes more than one psychopomp shares the role, because there are different afterlifes to be guided to, according to the life of that particular dead human. The term comes from the Greek language, and is literally translated as “guide of souls”. Their job is only to provide safe passage; they do not judge the spirits of the dead, however, that does not necessarily mean they are in any way friendly, and in some cases, they are susceptible to trickery, –according to Greek legends.

According to analytical psychology, the term psychopomp is used to describe a type of dream mediator, usually appearing as a wise woman, or man, or a number of different helpful animals. In African mythology, the spirits of ancestors guide the dead to their resting place, or to the afterlife. In Celtic mythology, the soul’s guides are Ankou, Epona, Gwyn ap Nudd, Manannán mac Lir, or Santa Compaña. In Christianity, the responsibility is that of angels, the Archangel Michael, or St. Peter. In Egyptian mythology, the psychopomps were Anubis, Horus, or Neith. More popularly, and for some reason, not exactly identified as being part of any particular religion, the psychopomp is known as the “Grim Reaper”, or just “Death”, though anthropomorphed into an actual humanoid form. The Ghede/Guédé are a group of psychompomps, in the Vodou traditions, to which Baron Samedi belongs. Here are a list of others:

Etruscan

Charun
Turms

Greek

Charon
Hecate
Hermes
Morpheus
Thanatos

Hinduism

Agni
Pushan

Inuit

Anguta
Pinga

Islam

Azrael

Japanese

Shinigami