Psychopomp

Appearing frequently on funerary art, psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows, and cuckoos.

Heibai Wuchang, literally "Black and White Impermanence", are two deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld.

[5] In the Persian tradition, Daena, the Zoroastrian self-guide, appears as a beautiful young maiden to those who deserve to cross the Chinvat Bridge or a hideous old hag to those who do not.

[8] In Islam, Azrael plays the role of the angel of death who carries the soul up to the heavens, acting by the permission of God.

The spirits, who traditionally wait at the foot of the death-bed, retrieve (Tagalog: sundô) the soul soon after death and escort it into the after-life.