psychopomp

noun

Etymology: From Latin psȳchopompus, from Ancient Greek ψῡχοπομπός (psūkhopompós), from ψῡχή (psūkhḗ, “soul”) + πομπός (pompós, “conductor”).

1. A spirit, deity, person, etc., who guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife.

   “As the souls of the departed are symbolized as rats, so is the psychopomp himself often figured as a dog. Sarameias, the Vedic counterpart of Hermes and Odin, sometimes appears invested with canine attributes; and countless other examples go to show that by the early Aryan mind the howling wind was conceived as a great dog or wolf.”

   “It is generally assumed that the sun goddess functions in the Shapash hymn as psychopomp, transporter of the dead to and from their netherly abode.”