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Necromancy

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the form of magic. For the film, see Necromancy (film).
"Necromancer" redirects here. For other uses, see Necromancer (disambiguation).
Part of a series on
Anthropology of religion
Endor.jpg
Illustration portraying a scene from the Bible wherein the Witch of Endor uses a
necromantic ritual to conjure the spirit of Samuel at the behest of Saul; from the
frontispiece of Sadducismus Triumphatus (1681) by Joseph Glanvill.
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Necromancy (/'n?kr?m�nsi/)[1][2] is the practice of magic or black magic involving

communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions,
or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell
future events; discovery of hidden knowledge; returning a person to life, or to use
the dead as a weapon. Sometimes referred to as "death magic," the term is used in a
more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft.[3][4]

The word necromancy is adapted from Late Latin necromantia: a loan word from the
post-Classical Greek ?e???�a?te?a (nekromante�a), a compound of Ancient Greek ?
e???? (nekr�s, or 'dead body') and �a?te?a (mante�a, or 'divination'). The Koine
Greek compound form was first documented in the writings of Origen of Alexandria in
the 3rd century CE.[5][6][7] The Classical Greek term was ? ?????a (nekyia), from
the episode of the Odyssey in which Odysseus visits the realm of the dead souls,
and ?e???�a?te?a in Hellenistic Greek; necromantia in Latin, and necromancy in
17th-century English.[8]
Antiquity
Main article: Magic in the Graeco-Roman world

Early necromancy was related to � and most likely evolved from � shamanism, which
calls upon spirits such as the ghosts of ancestors. Classical necromancers
addressed the dead in "a mixture of high-pitch squeaking and low droning",
comparable to the trance-state mutterings of shamans.[9] Necromancy was prevalent
throughout antiquity with records of its practice in ancient Egypt, Babylonia,
Greece, Rome, and China. In his Geographica, Strabo refers to ?e???�a?t?a
(nekromantia), or "diviners by the dead", as the foremost practitioners of
divination among the people of Persia,[10] and it is believed to have also been
widespread among the peoples of Chaldea (particularly the Hermeticists, or "star-
worshipers"), Etruria and Babylonia. The Babylonian necromancers were called
manzazuu or sha'etemmu, and the spirits they raised were called etemmu.
[clarification needed] Traditional Chinese folk religion involves necromancy in
seeking blessing from dead ancestors through ritual displays of filial piety.

The oldest literary account of necromancy is found in Homer's Odyssey.[11][12]

Under the direction of Circe, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to the
underworld (katabasis) in order to gain insight about his impending voyage home by
raising the spirits of the dead through the use of spells which Circe has taught
him. He wishes to invoke and question the shade of Tiresias in particular; however,
he is unable to summon the seer's spirit without the assistance of others. The
Odyssey's passages contain many descriptive references to necromantic rituals:
rites must be performed around a pit with fire during nocturnal hours, and Odysseus
has to follow a specific recipe, which includes the blood of sacrificial animals,
to concoct a libation for the ghosts to drink while he recites prayers to both the
ghosts and gods of the underworld.[13]

Practices such as these, varying from the mundane to the grotesque, were commonly
associated with necromancy. Rituals could be quite elaborate, involving magic
circles, wands, talismans, and incantations. The necromancer might also surround
himself with morbid aspects of death, which often included wearing the deceased's
clothing and consuming foods that symbolized lifelessness and decay such as
unleavened black bread and unfermented grape juice. Some necromancers even went so
far as to take part in the mutilation and consumption of corpses.[14] These
ceremonies could carry on for hours, days, or even weeks, leading up to the
eventual summoning of spirits. Frequently they were performed in places of
interment or other melancholy venues that suited specific guidelines of the
necromancer. Additionally, necromancers preferred to summon the recently departed
based on the premise that their revelations were spoken more clearly. This
timeframe was usually limited to the twelve months following the death of the
physical body; once this period elapsed, necromancers would evoke the deceased's
ghostly spirit instead.[15]

While some cultures considered the knowledge of the dead to be unlimited, ancient
Greeks and Romans believed that individual shades knew only certain things. The
apparent value of their counsel may have been based on things they knew in life or
knowledge they acquired after death. Ovid writes in his Metamorphoses of a
marketplace in the underworld where the dead convene to exchange news and gossip.
[16][17]
Prohibited among Israelites

There are also several references to necromancers � called "bone-conjurers" among

Jews of the later Hellenistic period[18] � in the Bible. The Book of Deuteronomy
(18:9�12[19]) explicitly warns the Israelites against engaging in the Canaanite
practice of divination from the dead:

9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10There shall
not be found among you any one who maketh his son or his daughter to pass through
the fire, or who useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a
witch, 11or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a
necromancer. 12For all who do these things are an abomination unto the LORD, and
because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee
(KJV).

Though Mosaic Law prescribed the death penalty to practitioners of necromancy

(Leviticus 20:27[20]), this warning was not always heeded. One of the foremost
examples is when King Saul had the Witch of Endor invoke the spirit of Samuel, a
judge and prophet, from Sheol using a ritual conjuring pit (1 Samuel 28:3�25[21]).
However, the so-called witch was shocked at the presence of a familiar spirit in
the image of Samuel for in I Sam 28:7 states "Behold, there is a woman that hath a
familiar spirit at Endor" and in I Sam 28:12 says, "when the woman saw Samuel, she
cried out in a loud voice." and the familiar spirit questioned his reawakening
asking as if he were Samuel the Prophet, "Why hast thou disquieted me?"[22] Saul
did not receive a death penalty (his being the highest authority in the land) but
he did receive it from God himself. 1 Chronicles 10:13 implies, "So Saul died for
his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the
LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar
spirit, to enquire of it" indicating that one of the reasons why Saul died was
because of the counsel of one that had a familiar spirit and for evoking it.