Dictionary Definition
psychopomp n : a conductor of souls to the
afterworld; "Hermes was their psychopomp"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Extensive Definition
Many religious belief systems have a
particular spirit,
angel, or deity whose responsibility is to
escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. These creatures are
called psychopomps, from the Greek word
ψυχοπομπός (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, psychopomps have been associated at different times and in
different cultures with horses, whippoorwills, ravens, dogs, crows, owls, sparrows, harts, and dolphins.
In Jungian
psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious
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.
Celtic mythology
Christian mythology
Hindu mythology
Islamic mythology
Judaic mythology
Mayan mythology
Mesopotamian mythology
Persian mythology
Polynesian mythology
Roman mythology
Slavic mythology
Vodun mythology
Other
George Lass
and the other reapers on the Showtime series
Dead
Like Me 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
act as psychopomps.
In the TV series Reaper,
the character Sam Oliver acts as a psychopomp, capturing and
returning escaped souls to Hell on behalf of
the
devil.
In modern literature, the title character of
J. M.
Barrie’s Peter Pan 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
feature prominently as malign psychopomps in many works of H. P.
Lovecraft, perhaps most notably in The
Dunwich Horror.
Sparrows as psychopomps play a notable role in
Stephen
King's novel The Dark
Half.
The Soul
Reapers of the Bleach
franchise act as psychopomps.
In Northern
Lights 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
is one of many psychopomp characters in Neil Gaiman's
Sandman
comics. Lucifer
Morningstar is another psychopomp and refers to himself as one
when he kills the Shiko-Mi demon in the second story arc.
In the LucasArts game
Grim
Fandango, 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
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.
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, speedsters
are led to the afterlife (or in this case,
Speed
Force) by a psychopomp known as the Black
Flash.
Piers
Anthony's fantastic
Incarnations of Immortality series is inaugurated by On a Pale
Horse, which introduces protagonist Zane, who inadvertently
assumes the immortal role of psychopomp, Thanatos, through
a confluence of circumstances surrounding a noncommittal suicide
attempt. The series orchestrates elaborate scenarios for
contemplating the natures of life and death, as well as love,
truth, time, war, fate, collaboration, ethics, evil, torment,
chaos, deism, goodness, order, and nature itself (as well as many
other interdependent and interrelated topics).
See also
Notes
References and further reading
- Geoffrey Dennis, "Abraham," "Elijah," "Lailah," "Sandalphon," Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism Llewellyn, 2007.
- Eliade, Mircea, "Shamanism", 1964, Chapters 6 and 7, "Magical Cures: the Shaman as Psychopomp".
- Psychopomps.org provides additional information about what a psychopomp is, why psychopomps are so important, and how psychopomps have been portrayed in the myths and sacred stories of different cultures around the world.
psychopomp in German: Psychopompos
psychopomp in Spanish: Psicopompo
psychopomp in Finnish: Psykopompos
psychopomp in French: Psychopompe
psychopomp in Italian: Psicopompo
psychopomp in Luxembourgish: Psychopompos
psychopomp in Dutch: Psychopompos
psychopomp in Swedish:
Psykopomp