Psychopomps

Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.

Roman god of trade, merchants, thieves and travel

thumb|right|Hathor as a cow Hathor (, , , Meroitic: '''') was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom were connected with kingship, and thus she was the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the pharaohs. She was one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, Ra's feminine counterpart, and in this form, she had a vengeful aspect that protected him from his enemies. Her beneficent side represented beauty, music, dance, joy, love, sexualit

thumb|The picture stone Lilbjärs III, showing a helmeted woman receiving a man with a horn of mead. On picture stones, the recurring motif of a woman receiving a man with a horn is generally interpreted as a dead man being received by a valkyrie at Valhalla. thumb|The Valkyrie from Hårby|The "valkyrie from Hårby", silver-gilt figurine depicting a female figure with a sword and shield, often interpreted to be a valkyrie. In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become

Hecate ( ; ) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. She is variously associated with crossroads, night, light, magic, witchcraft, and the Moon. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the 8th century BCE as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. She had popular followings among the witches of Thessaly, and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina. The earlies

thumb|right|Attic red-figure [[lekythos attributed to the Tymbos painter showing Charon welcoming a soul into his boat, c. 500–450 BC]]

In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; , Thánatos, pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω thnēskō "(I) die, am dying") was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person.

Azrael (; , 'God has helped'; ) is the canonical angel of death in Islam and appears centuries earlier in the apocryphal text Apocalypse of Peter.

thumb|Bunworth Banshee, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, by [[Thomas Crofton Croker, 1825|300x300px]]

personification of death

Slavic god of earth, waters and the underworld

, formally referred to with the honorific , is the creator of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifested after the formation of heaven and earth. Izanami and Izanagi are held to be the creators of the Japanese archipelago and the progenitors of many deities, which include the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon deity Tsukuyomi and the storm god Susanoo. In mythology, she is the direct ancestor of the Japanese imperial family. In Shinto and Japane

thumb|Statue of Yama (Buddhism)|Yama

Kṣitigarbha (, , Wylie: sa yi snying po) is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb". Kṣitigarbha is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya, as well as his vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity o

thumb|Relief from a carved funerary at Athens: Hermes as psychopomp conducts the deceased, Myrrine, a priestess of [[Athena, to Hades, (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)]] Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are creatures, spirits, angels, demons, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife.

In Aztec mythology, Xolotl () was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a psychopomp. He was also god of twins, monsters, death, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine brother and twin of Quetzalcōātl, the pair being sons of the virgin Chīmalmā. He is the dark personification of Venus as the Evening Star, and was associated with heavenly fire. The axolotl is named after him.

fictional character from Pirates of the Caribbean

thumb|Ankou in La Roche-Maurice, Finistère

thumb|Hermanubis marble statue, 1st–2nd century AD (Vatican Museums)

thumb|Vanth in a fresco in an Etruscan tomb in Tarquinia Vanth is a chthonic figure in Etruscan mythology shown in a variety of forms of funerary art, such as in tomb paintings and on sarcophagi.

fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series

At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán (1527–1546), Ix Tab or Ixtab ([iʃˈtaɓ]; "Rope Woman", "Hangwoman") was the indigenous Maya goddess of suicide by hanging. Playing the role of a psychopomp, she would accompany such suicides to heaven.

In Etruscan religion, Turms (usually written as 𐌕𐌖𐌓𐌌𐌑 Turmś in the Etruscan alphabet) was the equivalent of Roman Mercury and Greek Hermes, both gods of trade and the messenger god between people and gods. He was depicted with the same distinctive attributes as Hermes and Mercury: a caduceus, a petasos (often winged), and/or winged sandals. He is portrayed as a messenger of the gods, particularly Tinia (Jupiter), although he is also thought to be ‘at the service’ (ministerium) of other deities.

thumb|300px|Dullahan, the headless horseman

thumb|Various Igorot bulul depicting [[ancestor spirits (c. 1900)]]

guardians of the Underworld appearing in Chinese mythology

thumb|A typical depiction of Charun. From an Etruscan red-figure calyx-crater. End of the 4th century BC-beginning of the 3rd century BC. thumb|The other side of the same artifact, depicting Ajax killing a Trojan prisoner in front of Charun. In Etruscan mythology, Charun (also spelled Charu, or Karun) acted as one of the psychopompoi of the underworld (not to be confused with the god of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita). He is often portrayed with Vanth, a winged figure also associated with the underworld.

family of Loa that embody the powers of death and fertility

Rashnu () is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian yazata of justice. Together with Mithra and Sraosha, Rashnu is one of the three judges who pass judgment on the souls of people after death. Rashnu's standard appellation is "the straightest".

Abatur (, also Abathur or Awāthur, ) is an uthra and the second of three subservient emanations created by the Mandaean God Hayyi Rabbi (, “The Great Living God”) in the Mandaean religion. His name translates as the "father of the Uthras", the Mandaean name for angels or guardians. His usual epithet is the Ancient (ˁattīqā) and he is also called "the deeply hidden and guarded". Also known as the Third Life, Abatur is described as being the son of the first emanation Yushamin (). He is also described as being the angel of Polaris.

ancient Egyptian deity

Chinese folk deities

Kherty is an ancient Egyptian deity. Despite being archaeologically attested since the early 2nd Dynasty, his original mythological role during this era is unclear. Kherty was an Egyptian god of the Duat. The earliest mythological descriptions of Kherty's role do not appear until the 6th Dynasty in the Pyramid Texts.

Daēnā () is a Zoroastrian concept representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion." Alternately, Daena is considered to be a divinity, counted among the yazatas.

Anguta (also called "His Father," Anigut, or Aguta) is the father of the sea goddess Sedna in the Inuit religion.

goddess of the hunt, fertility and medicine in Inuit mythology

Muut was the personification and messenger of death in the culture of the Native American Cahuilla people of southern California and northern Mexico, and was usually depicted as an owl or as the unseen hooting of owls. He was one of the most active and vividly remembered of the nukatem, a special classification of beings who were created by Mukat, the Creator figure, in the 'beginning.' 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. This role was assigned by Mukat, who argued that overpopul