Necromancy

Necromancy is divination by raising the spirits of the dead. The word derives from the Greek nekros "dead" and manteia "divination". It has a subsidiary meaning derived from an alternative and archaic form of the word, nigromancy, (from the word niger, "black") in which the magical force of 'dark powers' is gained from or acting upon corpses. One who is a practitioner of necromancy is a necromancer.

The historian Strabo (Strabo, xvi. 2, 39, νεκρομαντεις) makes reference to necromancy as the principle form of divination amongst the people of Persia; and it is believed also to have been widespread amongst the peoples of Chaldea (particularly amongst the Sabeists or star-worshippers), Etruria and Babylonia. The Babylonian necromancers themselves were called Manzazuu or Sha'etemmu. The raised spirits in Babylon were called Etemmu.

In the Odyssey (XI), Ulysses makes a voyage to Hades, the Underworld, and raises the spirits of the dead using spells which he had acquired from Circe. His intention was to invoke the shade of Tiresias, but was unable to summon it alone without the accompaniment of others.

Biblical references abound. The Book of Deuteronomy (XVIII 9-12) explicitly warns the Israelites against the Canaanite practice of divination from the dead. This does not necessarily mean that all of the Israelites heeded this advice: King Saul asked the Witch of Endor to invoke the shade of Samuel, for example, and there are many other notable evocations of the dead within the Bible. Some might argue that Jesus Christ's raising of Lazarus from the dead was a prima facie case of necromancy.

Norse mythology also has incidences of necromancy such as that instanced in the Voluspa in which Odin summons a seeress from the dead to tell him of the future. In Grogaldr, the first part of Svipdagsmal, the hero Svipdag summons his dead volva mother, Groa, to cast spells for him.

The 17th century Rosicrucian Robert Fludd describes Goetic necromancy as consisting of "diabolical commerce with unclean spirits, in rites of criminal curiosity, in illicit songs and invocations and in the evocation of the souls of the dead".

Modern séances, channeling and Spiritualism verge on necromancy when the invoked spirits are asked to reveal future events.

Necromancy may also be dressed up as sciomancy, a branch of theurgic magic.

Necromancy is extensively practised in voodoo