Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A guide or conductor of spirits or souls to the other world: a special title of Hermes.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Myth.) A leader or guide of souls .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a conductor of souls to the afterworld
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ψυχοπομπός. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms.”
“We have seen that the original werewolf, howling in the wintry blast, is a kind of psychopomp, or leader of departed souls; he is the wild ancestor of the death-dog, whose voice under the window of a sick-chamber is even now a sound of ill-omen.”
Myths and Myth-makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology
“Death is sometimes portrayed in fiction and occultism as angel of death (note that the name "Azrael" does not appear in any versions of either the psychopomp is a spirit, deity, or other being whose task is to conduct the souls of the recently dead into the afterlife.”
“As psychopomp is a critical role of my personal and professional shamanic path, I'm often approached by those who want me to communicate with deceased loved ones.”
The Huffington Post: Kelley Harrell: You Don't Call, You Don't Write... The Quiet Dead
“Depp (although I continue to love him unreservedly) was the weakest of them: Jack Sparrow as psychopomp.”
“If you were to speak to a Jungian psychologist, a psychopomp would be described as the mediator between the conscious and unconscious minds.”
“Hermes is the traveller who moves between worlds and was also thought of as a psychopomp.”
“A psychopomp is actually a "conductor of souls" - gods who lead human souls through the after-world.”
“Turms is mentioned as a psychopomp, but otherwise I could not find any Charun related texts*.”
More about egg symbols in Etruria and the rest of the classical world
“Maybe he's dead, this is his personal Hell and she's some sort of psychopomp leading him a merry dance through it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘psychopomp’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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PF
metastatistics, yarn, Providence, psychopomp, psychopompos, husk, corporeal, infidel, fortuitously, wistful, tarried, tarry and 4 more...
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Amos.Oz's list
"I am very concerned with the state of words. Words keep me up at night."
~Stacy Piestarantism, lucubration, psychopomp, wlatsome, logolept, hypnogogic, aphenphosmphobia, ataraxia, huggles, lucubration, sennight, plumicorn and 10 more...
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words-for-apocalipstick
all your words are belong to me.
sybaritic, cacography, scatterbrain, extravaganza, fenestra, kaleidophone, machination, mudpuppy, saturnalia, Bacchanalia, ersatz, fictile and 58 more...
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Last Words
Endings, results, and pinnacles. The ideal here is to somehow imply the paradoxical concept of "after-endings".
consequence, aftermath, finality, outcome, postmundane, endgame, redound, cloture, bourne, meridian, memento mori, psychopomp and 72 more...
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palimpsest
an overlapping of manuscripts.
eschatology, ostentatiously, harangue, caricature, caveat, chiaroscuro, Emollient, Diaphanous, Demesne, cataclysm, milieu, puerile and 23 more...
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esotericisms
words that make me warm inside
kinemacolour, sardonic, entente, saturnine, ens, ensanguine, causa sui, entelechy, epicheirema, ex post facto, peccadillo, illation and 27 more...
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millette's list
Inventicons and other made up words.
inventicon, confelicity, confelicity, aleatory, psychopomp, milquetoast, zeptosecond, whiffletree, mudskipper, frogmarch, mooreeffoc
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Extrude
quondam, tchotchke, lugubrious, inspissated, fissiparous, vituperation, absolutisation, artisanal, funicular, sacerdotal, abstruse, oviparious and 38 more...
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logos's list
A poor pathetic thing, but mine own.
invidious, lugubriousness, vilify, noisome, synastry, front and center, declension, conjugation, regnal, diphthong, circumlocution, bishopric and 141 more...
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
tatterdemalion, panopticon, idioglossia, hypnagogue, hypnopomp, defenestration, anacoluthon, scofflaw, affront, edifying, palimpsest, naufrage and 475 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1402 more...
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Awesome Words, Part 2: More Common
pilgrim, indubitably, incorrigible, bombastic, histrionics, depredation, perspicuity, discombobulate, peregrination, ambulatory, redux, fractious and 164 more...
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Manji's Random Wordlist
The title says it all
velour, vivacity, subterfuge, sable, divination, gentry, vindication, compendium, pistons, metamorphosis, methodology, polyphony and 91 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for psychopomp.
Prolagus I actually like this word (soul-carrier), bilby, but using it many times in a novel is rather... psycho-pompous. Aug 21, 2008
apepch7 Sounds like - ostentatious and slightly mad (?) - who would want this guide in the otherworld? May 25, 2008
bilby This appears many times in the novel I cited. It's a silly word and deserves the pulp treatment. May 25, 2008
yarb Yes, dontcry - exactly - like psychopoop. May 23, 2008
reesetee Saaaayyy.... *thinking* May 23, 2008
dontcry When I first looked at this word I saw "psychopoop" (the "o's" played a trick on my eyes) and I thought that might be a handy substitute for calling someone a s**t-head. May 23, 2008
bilby "Rawlie led Thad back inside the office and picked up Barringer's Folklore of America. 'Sparrows, loons and especially whippoorwills are psychopomps,' he said, not without some triumph in his voice."
- 'The Dark Half', Stephen King. Dec 31, 2007