Many religious belief systems have a particular spirit, deity, demon or angel whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. These creatures are called psychopomps or death walkers. The term psychopomp from the Greek word psychopompos, literally meaning the “guide of souls”. They were often associated with animals such as horses, whippoorwills, ravens, dogs, crows, owls, sparrows, harts, and dolphins.
In Mythology a psychopomp was primarily a god or goddess of the Underworld. Well know psychopomps are Anubis, Hermes, Hades. The role of the Underworld was to guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife or underworld.
The following is a listing of Underworld Gods & Goddesses, this list is not inclusive. The underlined headings are links to information on various gods and goddesses as researched by members of the Inner Realm Of Ynys Witrin – the Dark Moon group within Spheres Of Light.
All links in the table below lead to the Spheres Of Light website – just use the “Back” button on your browser to return to this page.
Aztec mythology
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Etruscan mythology
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Persian mythology
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| Cahuilla mythology | Greek mythology
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Polynesian mythology |
| Celtic mythology | Hindu mythology | Roman mythology
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Christian mythology
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Inuit mythology
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Slavic mythology |
Egyptian mythology
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Mayan mythology | Vodun |
English/Welsh mythology
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Norse mythology
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Zoroastrianism |
In Jungian psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms. It is symbolically personified in dreams as a wise being, or an animal called totems or power animals. A psychopomp is one of the main functions of a shaman. This could 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.
Psychopomp, means “soul conductor”. The soul conductor uses various techniques to assist spirits no longer in body to cross to the Light and join Source. The psychopomp also waits with and comforts the soul of a person who is dying and guides them across at the moment of death. The psychopomp also has the ability to search for lost souls, find them and guide them home. The soul can become lost when death occurs, the soul is caught unprepared. Depending on the person’s spiritual or religious beliefs, the soul may not remember where its spiritual home is.
Psychopomps may have varying degrees of psychic abilities. There can be a difference between being a medium and having the ability to communicate (seeing, hearing, talking) with the spirits and being a psychopomp. Many people have the gift of communication with spirits. A psychopomp may not be a medium but can cross over into the spirit realms, travels all over these realms and assists those who may be lost or trapped for whatever reason and helps, shows, guides them to their Spiritual Home.
When a person who is dying, when they lose consciousness a psychopomp will wait on the other side, for the soul to emerge and meets them there. The psychopomp can at this stage ask the soul where it wants to go, and then show them where this place is, so they have an idea about which way to go after death. It is the psychopomps duty to stay with this soul that has made the final crossing and guide them all the way home.
References:
http://www.angelfire.com/moon/fae/psychopomp.html
Psychopomp – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Psychopompos
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/psychopomp.html
