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Necromancy (/ˈnɛkrəmænsi/)[1][2] is the practice ofmagic involving communication with thedead bysummoning their spirits asapparitions orvisions for the purpose ofdivination; imparting the means to foretell future events and discover hidden knowledge. Sometimes categorized underdeath magic, the term is occasionally also used in a more general sense to refer toblack magic orwitchcraft as a whole.[3][4]
The wordnecromancy is adapted fromLate Latinnecromantia: a loan word from thepost-Classical Greekνεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía, or 'divination through a dead body'), a compound ofAncient Greekνεκρός (nekrós, or 'dead body') andμαντεία (manteía, or 'divination').
The Koine Greek compound form was first documented in the writings ofOrigen of Alexandria in the 3rd century AD.[5][6][7] The Classical Greek term wasἡ νέκυια (nekyia), from the episode of theOdyssey in whichOdysseus visits the realm of the dead souls, andνεκρομαντεία in Hellenistic Greek;necromantīa inLatin, andnecromancy in 17th-century English.[8]
Early necromancy was related to – and most likely evolved from – forms ofshamanism or prehistoric ritual magic that calls upon spirits such as theghosts of deceased forebears. Classical necromancers addressed the dead in "a mixture of high-pitch squeaking and low droning", comparable to thetrance-state mutterings of shamans.[9]Necromancy was prevalent throughout antiquity with records of its practice inancient Egypt,Babylonia,Greece, ancientEtruria,Rome, andChina. In hisGeographica,Strabo refers toνεκρομαντία (nekromantia), or "diviners by the dead", as the foremost practitioners of divination among the people ofPersia,[10] and it is believed to have also been widespread among the peoples ofChaldea (particularly theHermeticists, or "star-worshipers") and Babylonia. The Babylonian necromancers were calledmanzazuu orsha'etemmu, and the spirits they raised were calledetemmu. TraditionalChinese folk religion involves necromancy in seeking blessing from dead ancestors through ritual displays offilial piety.
The oldest literary account of necromancy is found inHomer'sOdyssey.[11][12] Under the direction ofCirce, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to theunderworld (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 theshade ofTiresias in particular; however, he is unable to summon the seer's spirit without the assistance of others. TheOdyssey'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, involvingmagic circles,wands,talismans, andincantations. 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 ofinterment 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 hisMetamorphoses of a marketplace in the underworld where the dead convene to exchange news and gossip.[16][17]
There are also several references to necromancers – called "bone-conjurers" among Jews of the laterHellenistic period[18] – in theBible. TheBook of Deuteronomy (18:9–12[19]) explicitly warns theIsraelites against engaging in theCanaanite 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 thedeath penalty to practitioners of necromancy (Leviticus 20:27[20]), this warning was not always heeded. One of the foremost examples is when KingSaul had theWitch of Endor invoke the spirit ofSamuel, ajudge andprophet, fromSheol to divine the outcome of a coming battle (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 died the next day in combat, with Chronicles 10:13 implying this was due to the prohibition against necromancy.
Many medieval writers believed that actualresurrection required the assistance of God. They saw the practice of necromancy as conjuring demons who took the appearance of spirits. The practice became known explicitly asmaleficium, and the Catholic Church condemned it.[23] Though the practitioners of necromancy were linked by many common threads, there is no evidence that these necromancers ever organized as a group. One noted commonality among practitioners of necromancy was usually the utilization of certain toxic andhallucinogenic plants from thenightshade family such asblack henbane,jimson weed,belladonna ormandrake, usually in magic salves or potions.[24]
Medieval necromancy is believed[by whom?] to be a synthesis ofastral magic derived from Arabic influences andexorcism derived from Christian and Jewish teachings. Arabic influences are evident in rituals that involve moon phases, sun placement, day and time. Fumigation and the act of burying images are also found in both astral magic and necromancy. Christian and Jewish influences appear in the symbols and in the conjuration formulas used in summoning rituals.[25]
Practitioners were often members of the Christian clergy, though some nonclerical practitioners are recorded. In some instances, mere apprentices or those ordained to lower orders dabbled in the practice. They were connected by a belief in the manipulation of spiritual beings – especially demons – and magical practices. These practitioners were almost always literate and well educated. Most possessed basic knowledge of exorcism and had access to texts ofastrology and ofdemonology. Clerical training was informal and university-based education rare. Most were trained under apprenticeships and were expected to have a basic knowledge of Latin, ritual and doctrine. This education was not always linked to spiritual guidance and seminaries were almost non-existent. This situation allowed some aspiring clerics to combine Christian rites withoccult practices despite its condemnation in Christian doctrine.[26]
Medieval practitioners believed they could accomplish three things with necromancy: will manipulation, illusions, and knowledge:
The act of performing medieval necromancy usually involved magic circles, conjurations, and sacrifices such as those shown in theMunich Manual of Demonic Magic:
The rare confessions of those accused of necromancy suggest that there was a range of spell casting and related magical experimentation. It is difficult to determine if these details were due to their practices, as opposed to the whims of their interrogators.John of Salisbury is one of the first examples related byRichard Kieckhefer, but as a Parisianecclesiastical court record of 1323 shows, a "group who were plotting to invoke the demon Berich from inside a circle made from strips of cat skin" were obviously participating in what the Church would define as "necromancy".[29]
Herbert Stanley Redgrove claims necromancy as one of three chief branches of medievalceremonial magic, alongsideblack magic andwhite magic.[30] This does not correspond to contemporary classifications, which often conflate "nigromancy" ("black-knowledge") with "necromancy" ("death-knowledge").
In the wake of inconsistencies of judgment, necromancers and other practitioners of the magic arts were able to utilize spells featuring holy names with impunity, as any biblical references in suchrituals could be construed as prayers rather thanspells. As a consequence, the necromancy that appears in theMunich Manual of Demonic Magic is an evolution of these theoretical understandings. It has been suggested that the authors of theManual knowingly designed the book to be in discord withecclesiastical law. The main recipe employed throughout theManual used the same religious language and names of power alongside demonic names. An understanding of the names of God derived fromapocryphal texts and theHebrew Torah required that the author of such rites have at least a casual familiarity with these sources.
Within the tales related in occult manuals are found connections with stories from other cultures' literary traditions. For instance, the ceremony for conjuring a horse closely relates to the ArabicOne Thousand and One Nights and Frenchromances;Chaucer'sThe Squire's Tale also bears marked similarities.[31] This becomes a parallel evolution of spells to foreign gods or demons that were once acceptable, and frames them into a new Christian context, albeit demonic and forbidden. As the material for these manuals was apparently derived from scholarly magical and religious texts from a variety of sources in many languages, the scholars who studied these texts likely manufactured their own aggregate sourcebook and manual with which to work spells or magic.
In the notebooks ofLeonardo da Vinci, it is stated that "Of all human opinions that is to be reputed the most foolish which deals with the belief in Necromancy, the sister ofAlchemy, which gives birth to simple and natural things."[32]
In the present day, necromancy is more generally used as a term to describe manipulation of death and the dead, or the pretense thereof, often facilitated through the use of ritual magic or some other kind of occult ceremony. Contemporaryséances,channeling andSpiritualism verge on necromancy when supposedly invoked spirits are asked to reveal future events or secret information. Necromancy may also be presented as sciomancy, a branch oftheurgic magic.
As to the practice of necromancy having endured in one form or another throughout the millennia,An Encyclopædia of Occultism states:
The art is of almost universal usage. Considerable difference of opinion exists among modern adepts as to the exact methods to be properly pursued in the necromantic art, and it must be borne in mind that necromancy, which in the Middle Ages was called sorcery, shades into modern spiritualistic practice. There is no doubt, however, that necromancy is the touch-stone of occultism, for if, after careful preparation the adept can carry through to a successful issue, the raising of the soul from the other world, he has proved the value of his art.[33]
The archvillain in J.R.R. Tolkien'sLord of the Rings fantasy, Sauron, first reappears in the environs of Middle Earth as 'the Necromancer ofDol Guldur' in Tolkien's standalone prologue to the trilogyThe Hobbit. In fictional settings such asDungeons & Dragons, or fantasy video games, necromancy is associated with the reanimation of corpses often meant to be used as weapons. This tradition appears to combine associations of conjuring the dead from European and Mediterranean traditions with elements involving Zombies that seem to derive from Caribbean folklore and practice.[citation needed]
Necromancy is a form of magic in theSkulduggery Pleasant series, by Irish authorDerek Landy. This form of magic is mostly concerned with the manipulation of shadow, darkness and life energy. In the series the most famous Necromancer is Lord Vile.[34] The protagonist Valkyrie Cain deals with the allure of this form of magic and its consequences for much of her adult life.[35]
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