Thread: Necromancy

I'm always interested to learn how others preform their own rites. So In this thread I'm opening the floodgates of conversation, specifically on the topic of necromancy. (listed under Ceremonial magick because necromancy is in fact a form of high magick)

The kind of necromancy I'm referencing here is where you provide contact to a deceased person. And to those of you unawares, there is apparently at least one other form of necromancy. Infernal Necromancy is one I've heard of but not read up on (see "The book of Black Magick" by Arthur Edward Waite if I'm not mistaken) another deals with actually raising the soul or body of one dead. This I've only heard speculation about from someone who I have no reason to believe. Also, there is room for discussion on magick that have to do with the soul of either a living or deceased person ( On more than one occasion I've preformed a ritual that I've named "Soul Fusion" that involves the binding of two or more different souls together. The reasons for which vary)

I guess I'll begin by sharing a ritual I preformed off the top of my head to contact my grandfather.
I have two chalices (antique metal chalices), One dedicated to the moon, the other to the sun. I took the one dedicated to the moon, filled it with water about halfway and merged with the essence of the land of the dead. I took a quarter and cleansed it. Calling to the spirit of my grandfather and tapping the side of the cup 3x with my wand, I tossed the coin lightly into the cup. As the ripples faded, I saw the face of my grandfather in the waters. The waters essentially became a window to him. When we were finished talking, I thanked him and "closed" the window by once again, tapping my wand three times on the side of the cup.

It's a simple ritual to converse with those passed. Best to do when you have some alone time.

Greetings Saeiane,

Necromancy is a topic that I am very interested in.

Much of my theoretical framework for working with spirits of the dead comes from Martin Coleman's work "Communing with the Spirits." Though out of print now, and thus an expensive item, it is one which I think anyone interested in the art of Necromancy should aquire. It sells now for 100-200 dollars, however there are sometimes those who sell it on ebay for much much less, or at least those who do not know what it is worth. At any rate Mr. Coleman provides quite a bit of theoretical and practical knowledge that relates to the framework the Necromancer should use. Basically he gives his readers an entire system to work with, which is something very rare as most of the info on Necromancy is about how to simply call a spirit, and not much else.

While I use his theoretical framework; and that is to say that I use his precautions, his way of viewing death, his advice on how to actually work with spirits of the dead, etc. I use a different method of actually calling dead spirits. His method instructs the user to work closely with their ancestoral spirits for about 6 months, calling them and getting to know them, then using them to find a working spirit. That is to say a spirit that the Necromancer uses as his or her main spirit to contact others. The Necromancer's "right hand man" if you will. He says to use that method unless one is initiated into another system, which I am. Much of my work deals with the Simon Necronomicon.

While the simon edition is not in itself a system of Necromancy, it does provide at least two various methods of call spirits of the dead. The first is to summon the spirit, or God depending on how you view it, Namtillaku who is a sort of Death Spirit and use him to call for you a particular spirit of the dead for you to communicate with. This method I like because Namtillaku can verify the authenticity of a dead spirit with much ease. For those interested in Necromancy as a system this is very important, no matter how it is done, because it is much easier for a malevolent entity to immitate a spirit of the dead than it is or them to immitate a deity or angelic being. The second method is to open the Underworld through a series of rituals and call the spirit from the Underworld. This has its benefits, however it is a lot of work and can be somewhat dangerous. For most purposes the Namtillaku method works best.

I have used other methods and working with ancestral spirits can be very rewarding, however I mostly stick to the methods outlined in my own system.

Your using of a bowl to scyre with is not so different from methods employed by medieval magickians and various other systems. All and all I like your method. Indeed from my point of view you build a very good ritual. The scyring devise was previosly related to darker, or night, magick and so is Necromancy in general. The opening and closing. The use of the wand was a very good idea as the wand is generally regarded as the instrument of calling. The coin in the water seems like it served as a mechanism to shift your view from physical to astral. Good ritual I would say.

Infernal Necromancy as outlined by Waite is called infernal, and this is my opinion here, because wherever Waite got that ritual from, it was probably very illegal to practice and any act of performing a ritual intended to summon a spirit of the dead would have been seen as an infernal, or demonic, practice by the European Churches of the day.

Here are some quotes from Waite regarding Infernal Necromancy:

"It is only within recent times that the attempt to communicate with the dead has been elevated to the dignity of White Magic. Here it is necessary to affirm that the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism are to be distinguished clearly from those of old Necromancy...Ancient Necromany was barbarous and horrible in its rites; it is only under the auspices of Eliphas Levi and Pierre Christian that it has been purged and civilised,but in the hands of these elegant magicians it has become simply a process of auto-hallucination, having no scientific consequence whatever...In any case, the Necromancy of the Rituals is, properly speaking, a department of Black Magic, and for this reason no doubt it was excluded from the theurgic scheme of the "Arbatel" [as well as from other solomic grimories and indeed Waite is correct here in the claim that most, though not all, of medieval necromancy appears only in grimoires with the most diabolical, heretical, and satanic overtones]...It was lawful apparently for the Magus to conjure and compel the deviles, to rack the hierarchy of Infernus by the agony of Divine Names, but he must leave the dead to rest...it is confined to the evocation of those souls who might be reasonably supposed to be damned and it involves revolting rites."

Indeed the word we now use for communing with spirits of the dead, "Necromancy," was in medieval times interchangable with the word "Nigromancy," which basically means "black magick." With this in mind we might call infernal necromancy a system or ritual of necromancy that was employed at a time when Necromancy was seen as severe black magick.

It is also interesting to note that according the ritual Waite includes in his work, his form of "infernal necromancy," the body of the dead, if you read the ritual litteraly, is supposed to come forth not as a hallucination but has something corporeal. Medieval texts and Modern period texts basing themselves on medieval works, and Waites work is a prime example of that, often speak of Necromancy as something involving what you mentioned as the third form, that is to say the actual raising of, for a period of time, a corporeal version of a dead person. I am not quite sure if the original authors of those texts meant it to be taken literally or not. I have done some of those types of experiments and have known others to do so as well and the results have always been similar. A spirit appears, and on lucky occasions it appears in the physical, however there is no meaty rotting corpse that rises from the ground. Make of that what you will

I look forward for more discussion of this topic as it is thoroughly enjoyable.
-Ashnook

I've never had any reason to summon the dead. When I do I'll try your method. As for now I enjoy reading the works of this site from time to time.

Originally Posted by Ashnook

Your using of a bowl to scyre with is not so different from methods employed by medieval magickians and various other systems. All and all I like your method. Indeed from my point of view you build a very good ritual. The scyring devise was previosly related to darker, or night, magick and so is Necromancy in general. The opening and closing. The use of the wand was a very good idea as the wand is generally regarded as the instrument of calling. The coin in the water seems like it served as a mechanism to shift your view from physical to astral. Good ritual I would say.

Aye, the basic format was drawn from medieval sources, the coin also serves as a "passing" toll if you would- if taken from the point of view of a Hellenic (proper word for Greek) magickian. A way to ease the portal to the world of the dead.

As for the rest of your post, thank you. Your knowledge on the subject is impressive and I myself have an extreme interest in it too, which quite obviously was my starting point for this thread. I've recently started working in high magick, and I'm more partial to the Egyptian pantheon- which means I would more likely call upon Anubis (a duel purpose, protection and entry to the land of the dead. ) Osiris ( Best to travel with the permission of the king ) and Thoth ( a patron of mine, and he did have a role in the process of death ) I've found as well that this has been basically a detached form of magick from the 'normal' occult. Which actually saddens me, because aside from the obvious divination purposes, it to me is a way of ancestral communication and honoring the memory of the dead (I myself plan on having at least one piece of my skeleton reserved and decontaminated after death to give to my family for religious purposes, I'd explain but it'd draw out my post twice as long lol..) which is something that creates a bond between your present and your past. Which means a lot to me. One of my books has a big chapter that deals with the subjects of necromancy, ghosts, vampires etc. But the information provided, barely gives me a passing knowledge of the subject (and hardly any, when compared to yours- and me being me. I need to learn, "want" is only the initial spark)

If I had to imagine a baseline for my ritual. It would be more or less the same as linear high magick, with the exception that I would use a scrying tool (cup/bowl of water, or my crystal ball, it's citrine so it disperses negative energy- which would help to prevent malevolent entities using the gate) to help open the gates to the otherworld after evoking the previous Gods mentioned. Once the gate(s) are opened, call the spirit forth making sure of it's identity with the help of the gods and sending pranic energy into the spirit, helping to "materialize" it. Sort of a mix up between the two ways you mentioned. As I've stated, I'm more "Self-sufficient" and opening the gates myself would pose not only a good challenge, but also reinforce that self-sufficient. Of course I could use the second baseline and use the Akasha to verify, but still that runs a certain risk.

A beautifully researched history friend!
Though I meant the raising of a dead body as USE of a dead body in some form to contact the dead- which in itself with some tweaking.. Seems quite possible, plus if you take the history around how bodies were so highly regarded and taken care of in the process of death. It's quite possible a medieval necromancer might make use of an actual body. Which throughout history might have evolved into poppet magick or some other ritual form- although this is all speculation. What I can tell you about is the rituals of zombification .. Which- I will admit. Was part of what interested me in necromancy

There are two different types of zombifications, one that is done on a living person, using powerful poison, either put into the food or an open wound, the formula for which I would probably not disclose- even if I fully knew. Though someone with experience in the practice might ( a Bokor priest for example, may know. ) anyhow, this poison mimics death, then they raise the "Dead" person and they're fed another composition which causes hallucinations and disorientation. The person doing the ritual announces a new name, and life. The person, quite unable to think or speak, follows. Apparently they require little food, but must not be given salt for obvious reasons. Also, there seems to be no 'cure' for the zombie poison, since it's components have no recourse.. But the Voudoun preparers can make what they call an antidote.

The other method requires the "Little good angel" or Ti bon ange which hovers over the dead body for 7 days after death. And the Bokor may capture it, which allows the Bokor to make an "astral zombie" that carries out his or her wishes... Also, the Ti Bon Ange is also the part of the soul used in astral projection and I have knowledge that it (As well as the entirety of the soul) can be stolen from an infant child- but the ritual needs beforehand preparation of a (certain) wood poppet to be placed at a (specified) part of the subjects home. And requires coaxing every day. Once finished, the ti bon ange will go into the poppet making the child increasingly frail and sickly, but should the child die. The whole soul goes into the poppet.

All three are rather vile procedures if at all credible.. ( I assume them more than mere probabilities, from the sources cited in my information ) The last most of all. But are extremely interesting to me. In theory if not in practice.

Again- thank you for the info. I hope also that this thread continues. So people might share and learn about the magick of necromancy.

does anyone know anything about katabasis?

What do people think of the the direct magic system in regards to Necromancy? It is where you forgo the use of rituals and concentrate directly on manipulating death energy.

The main thing the comes to mind is the worry that direct magic has less protection against the damaging affects of death energy that other ritual based methods as well as there being less protection from aggressive entities. Are these worries unfounded? It does seem like a good system,so that is why I am so curious.

I have worked with death energy during shamanic trance, which is my preferred method and I haven't had any issues. however I work with direct magic so much in other styles that that may have lessened the chance of something bad happening. i think it will depend heavily on the person, their personal path, level of experience, and the type of magic in general.

there must be some way other than vampirism to get that energy back, I'm going to look into it. another method that may help is earthing the energy after a ritual, sending that energy back into the ground. it helps to make sure nothing is getting bottled up, but it may not be enough when working with death energy and things of that nature.

here's another method I use, and I'm really not sure if this is going to help you (might as well write it). I will meet with my shamanic spirit guide and ask him for healing, and he has led me to a natural spring and I have drank the water that comes out of it as a kind of replenishing ritual. I'm pretty sure it could be changed easily for a more ritualistic framework. this would come after an evocation in my case.

I am not a dualist, so at least in my opinion, there is no black or white magic. There is only magic, and the intentions behind out use of it. I have not had to perform ceremonial magic to contact the dead. I do it without going through all of that. I have had experiences and performed necromancy, but this was on the other side of that magic; dealing with so-called demonic spirits. Not the same necromancy you speak of.

There are some very well researched books on contacting the dead through necromancy, but these relate to the art historically through the necromantic practices of the ancient romans and greeks. I have found them very useful using that vibe of energy, but did not use it for myself, but rather someone else.