transformation · 38 entities
Conducts Souls
Takes souls at death or leads them onward.
Held by
- Disputed33
- Celestial4
- Infernal1
Attributed across 15 cultures
Which spirits are credited with it?
Each card names the texts that make the attribution. Where several texts credit the same figure with the same office, that is worth more than any one of them saying so alone.
Aker
Egyptian
Anubis
Egyptian
Azrael
Charon
Greek
Ereshkigal
Mesopotamian
Freyja
Norse
Geb
Egyptian
Hades
Greek
Hathor
Egyptian
Hecate
Greek
Hel
Norse
Hermes
Greek
Ishtar
Mesopotamian
Izanagi
Japanese
Izanami
Japanese
Michael
Later tradition; Jude has him disputing over Moses' body.
Mictlantecuhtli
Mesoamerican
Mot
Canaanite
Nephthys
Egyptian
Nergal
Mesopotamian
Nut
Egyptian
Odin
Norse
Osiris
Egyptian
Oya
Yoruba
Persephone
Greek
Pluto
Roman
Remiel
Samael
Sraosha
Persian
Tammuz
The Four Sons of Horus
Egyptian
The Morrígan
Celtic
The Ten Kings
Chinese
Tlaloc
Mesoamerican
Veles
Slavic
Wepwawet
Egyptian
Yama
Vedic
Yanluo Wang
Chinese
The texts that attribute this power
Oldest first. An office claimed by one late grimoire and an office claimed across two thousand years are different kinds of claim.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Anonymous; tr. E. A. Wallis Budge · c. 1550 BCE onward · Egyptian
Read The Egyptian Book of the Dead in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Hunefer · Wikimedia file page
Rigveda
Anonymous; multiple rishi families · c. 1500-1200 BCE · Vedic Sanskrit
Read Rigveda in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Unknown author · Wikimedia file page
The Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets)
Anonymous; recovered at Ras Shamra · c. 1400-1200 BCE · Ugaritic
Read The Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets) in full ↗Cover: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unknown artist · Wikimedia file page
Egyptian Hymns, Stelae & Temple Inscriptions
Various; tr. E. A. Wallis Budge and others · c. 2000 BCE - 300 BCE · Egyptian
Read Egyptian Hymns, Stelae & Temple Inscriptions in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · Wikimedia file page
The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld
Anonymous Akkadian; earlier Sumerian recension of Inanna · c. 1000 BCE, from older Sumerian material · Akkadian
Read The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld in full ↗Cover: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gennadii Saus i Segura · Wikimedia file page
The Avesta
Attributed to Zarathustra and later priests · c. 1000-400 BCE · Avestan
Read The Avesta in full ↗Cover: CC0 · Daderot · Wikimedia file page
Theogony & Works and Days
Hesiod · c. 700 BCE · Ancient Greek
Read Theogony & Works and Days in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Hesiod · Wikimedia file page
Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon
Various · c. 900–100 BCE · Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek
Read Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon in full ↗Cover: Public domain · see en:Aleppo Codex; scanned by · Wikimedia file page
1 Enoch (The Book of Enoch)
Anonymous; tr. R. H. Charles · c. 300–100 BCE · Ge'ez (from Aramaic)
Read 1 Enoch (The Book of Enoch) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
The Aeneid
Virgil; tr. John Dryden · c. 19 BCE · Latin
Read The Aeneid in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Federico Barocci · Wikimedia file page
New Testament
Various · c. 50–110 CE · Koine Greek
Read New Testament in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
Qur'an & Hadith
Various · 7th c. CE onward · Arabic
Read Qur'an & Hadith in full ↗Cover: Public domain · AnonymousUnknown author · Wikimedia file page
Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters)
Ō no Yasumaro · 712 CE · Old Japanese
Read Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
The Scripture of the Ten Kings
Anonymous Chinese Buddhist · 9th-10th c. CE · Classical Chinese
Read The Scripture of the Ten Kings in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Jonathan D. Spence. God's Chinese Son. New York 1996. Page 40. Copied without permission from · Wikimedia file page
Lebor Gabála Érenn & the Mythological Cycle
Anonymous Irish monastics · 11th c., from older oral material · Middle Irish
Read Lebor Gabála Érenn & the Mythological Cycle in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Áed Ua Crimthainn et al (12th century) · Wikimedia file page
The Primary Chronicle & Slavic Folk Record
Attributed to Nestor and later compilers · c. 1113, describing earlier practice · Old East Slavic
Read The Primary Chronicle & Slavic Folk Record in full ↗Cover: Public domain · from the Middle Ages, unknown · Wikimedia file page
The Poetic Edda
Anonymous; compiled in Iceland · 13th c., from older oral material · Old Norse
Read The Poetic Edda in full ↗Cover: Public domain · The Elder or Poetic Edda; commonly known as Sæmund's Edda. Edited and translated with… · Wikimedia file page
Florentine Codex
Bernardino de Sahagún with Nahua informants · 1545-1590 · Nahuatl and Spanish
Read Florentine Codex in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Bernardino de Sahagún · Wikimedia file page
The Odu Ifá
Oral; transmitted by babalawo · Oral tradition, first transcribed 19th-20th c. · Yoruba
Read The Odu Ifá in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Toluaye · Wikimedia file page