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The Psychopomp Sigil – To Ease The Passing

The Psychopomp Sigil – To Ease The Passing

Last updated on: April 24, 2020 at 10:58 am by Laura Tempest Zakroff

The Psychopomp Sigil – To Ease The Passing 2020-04-24T10:58:45-08:00 Laura Tempest Zakroff

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Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the “guide of souls”)[1] are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. – from Wikipedia

This morning the news reported that over 50,000 people have died in the US from COVID-19. 194,000 worldwide and counting. Every day I read about the loss of friend’s parents, grandparents, and other family from the virus. While death is simply part of life, experiencing it worldwide under these conditions can make even timely or expected passing even that much harder. It’s especially painful and traumatic when we can’t be there in person to say goodbye and most memorial services are being postponed.

In my Sigil Witchery workshops over the last month, we have created many sigils to help the living deal with the coronavirus: from getting needs met, and managing panic to protection for the vulnerable and feeding the body and soul. During an AMA with my Patreon folks via Zoom last week, the topic of death came up. The idea to create a sigil to help ease the passing of the dying and deceased (as well as those left behind) seemed to be the most appropriate sigil to create next. So during my 4/23 workshop, I proposed the idea, the class agreed, and the Psychopomp Sigil was created.

Sigil Witchery workshop whiteboard screenshot.

A psychopomp aids and accompanies the dying/deceased to crossover to the next world. They provide comfort and direction without judgment. Knowing that the dead are being comforted also aids with the grieving process of the living. It should be noted that this sigil was created during the darkest aspect of the New Moon – a time which many consider to be sacred to Hekate, goddess of the Crossroads, Keeper of Keys, she who illuminates the path to the Underworld.

Built Into This Sigil:
– peace
– lessening of fear (of death/transition)
– aid in crossing the threshold/passing the barrier between life and death
– love
– release of spirit
– forgiveness, letting go
– comfort, easing of pain
– emphasize connection
– for the dying to know they are not alone
– guidance and direction

The Psychopomp Sigil – high resolution black on white version.

How to Use This Sigil:
You are welcome to use this sigil however you see fit that is in alignment with the intent of the sigil.
Ideas for use:
– place on a candle (light or dark blue, white, silver, or gold are all good options)
– combine with mugwort workings (tinctures, infusions, etc)
– add to a memorial altar or an altar for the dying
– incorporate into a poppet or similar working to aid in peaceful transition/perform memorial or funerary rites by proxy

Please note: When sharing this sigil (or any other sigil you find on this blog), please be sure to include the link to the blog post. The sigil works best if people understand precisely what went into it, versus just sharing the image and telling people to use it.

The Psychopomp Sigil by Laura Tempest Zakroff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Psychopomp Sigil – high resolution inverted version.

More Sigils Like This One
This sigil joins the other recently crafted ones as tools to help us collectively address the ongoing challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Those include:
A Sigil To Feed the Body & Soul
The Immunity Booster Sigil
The Needs Met Sigil
A Sigil For Managing Panic
A Sigil For the Protection of the Vulnerable

To find out more about this method of crafting sigils, checking out Sigil Witchery.

laura tempest zakroff

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