Edgar Allan Poe

Necromancy: The craft of raising death

Necromancy is a form of divination ( fortune-telling by using things) by using the dead. It belongs to the voodoo religion and is a form of black magic practiced by witches and magicians. Nowadays there are only a very few people who practice it and those who do have a bad reputation. Most magicians say that necromancy is evil and that it has absolutely no purpose. For necromancers death is the eternal blessing. They believe that when they die they will go to their god Elan. Necromancers want to be close to the dead so sometimes they even live at abandoned graveyards and steal corpses.

Necromancy has it's roots in many sources such as astral magick, Muslim mysticism, Hebrew traditions and Christianity. A classic case of Necromancy is the witch of Endoor. In the bible book 1 Samael 28 she calls upon the spirit of the death prophet Samael who then predicts the dead of Saul.

Necromancy is a Greek word meaning 'dead' and 'divination'. There are 2 forms of necromancy: divination with ghosts and divination with corpses. The Necromancer used the help of powerful spirits when he raised a dead person for his own protection and to put his will on the person he raised. This is what makes necromancy so dangerous because sometimes the spirit could take possession of his medium.

Necromancy comes from Persia, Greece and Rome. It was practiced most during the middle ages because it really flourished when the catholic church said it was forbidden to practice necromancy. It was considered as an act of witchcraft and a lot of necromancers were hanged or burned.

But the truth is that necromancy has nothing to do with summoning devils and demons. Necromancers just call the spirits of dead people to predict the future. They believe that once a person has died he no longer experiences the limits of an earthly body and he is able to look in the past and future and can get information which mortals can't.

How to raise a dead person 1

Necromancy has good purposes and bad purposes. It is bad when you want to raise someone to gain power or money and according to some necromancers these people should be banished but of course the choice is up to you. Yes, that's why death magick, or necromancy, is so great.

When you start a ritual your purpose is to get the ghost to appear in front of you. But of course you must make sure you are well protected during this ritual because an evil ghost might show up and you don't want to join the dead already now do you?.

When you perform a ritual you need an assistant, a good necromancer always has an assistant! Found an assistant? all right then we can start.

At first look for a good place to perform the ritual. It's best if you chose a magical spot such as a forest or a desert. But the best would be to chose a crossroads because there is always a lot of magic in the air at such places. The ritual has to be done at night between 24:00 and 1:00 and it' best when the moon is full. It's a positive sign if the elements such as wind are working that night because then it is much harder for a ghost to remain invisible.

After you found a spot you have to draw a circle on the ground and you and your assistant have to step inside that circle. These circle is full of of all kinds of signs en lines and is about 9 feet square. You nor your assistant should ever leave the circle before the ghost is sent away cause that could kill you. A lot of idiots who thought the ghost didn't appear stepped out and found out the evil ghost did appear but invisible and they got killed. That's why the ritual has to be performed very carefully because an evil ghost might appear.

So, the ritual is performed around midnight at the grave of the dead person if he has a grave. There are several reasons why you would want to raise a dead person but now I'm only going to teach you how to raise one of your beloved ones.

You must, in the first place, carefully collect the memorials of him (or her of course) whom you desire to behold, the articles he used, and on which his impressions ; we must also prepare an apartment in which the person lived, or otherwise, one of similar kind, and place his portrait veiled in white therein, surrounded with his favorite flowers, which must be renewed daily.

A fixed date must than be observed, either the birthday of the person, or that day which was most fortunate for his and your own affection, one of which we may believe that his soul, however blessed elsewhere, cannot lose the remembrance; this must be the day for the evocation and we must provide for it during the space of fourteen days. Throughout this period we must refrain from extending to anyone the same proofs of affection which we have the right to expect from the dead; we must observe strict chastity, live in retreat, and take only the modest and light collation daily. Every evening at the same memory of the lamented person, using only one small light, such as that of a funeral lamp or taper. This light should be placed behind us, the portrait should be uncovered and we should remain before it for an hour, in silence; finally, we should fumigate the apartment with a little good incense, and go out backwards.

On the morning of the day, fixed for the evocation,we should adorn ourselves as if for a festival, not salute anyone first, make but a single repast of of bread, wine, and roots, or fruits; the cloth should be white, two covers should be laid, and one portion of the bread broken should be set aside; a little wine should also be placed in the glass of the person we design to invoke. The meal must be eaten alone in the chamber of evocations, and in the presence of the veiled portrait; it must be all cleared away at the end, except the glass belonging to the dead person, and his portion of bread, which must be placed before the portrait.

In the evening, at the hour for the regular visit, we must repair in silence to the chamber, light a fire of cypress wood, and cast incense seven times thereon, pronouncing the name of the person whom we desire to behold. The lamp must then be extinguished, and the fire permitted to die out.

On this day the portrait must not be unveiled. When the flame is extinct, put more incense on the ashes, and invoke God according to the forms of the religion to which the dead person belonged, and according to the ideas which he himself possessed of God. While making this prayer you must identify yourself with the evoked person, speak as he spoke, believe in a sense as he believed; then call him thrice with with a loud voice, tarry on our knees, the eyes closed and covered,for some minutes; then call again thrice upon him in a sweet and affectionate tone, and slowly open the eyes. Should nothing result, the same experiment must be renewed in the following year, and if necessary a third time, when it is certain that the desired apparition will be obtained, and the longer it has been delayed the more realistic and striking it will be.

How to raise a dead person 2

This one is to get some of your questions answered; Approach the grave of the chosen corpse at sunset or midnight. Draw a circle around the grave; burn a mixture of henbane, aloe wood, hemlock, saffron, opium, and mandrake. With the coffin open, touch the corpse three times with a wand and tell it to rise. The corpse should be arranged with the head to the east and arms and legs in the position of Christ when he was crucified. Command the spirit to enter it' old body and to answer all questions put to it or else suffer torment and wandering thrice seven years. After your questions are answered burn the body.

How to raise a dead person 3

Apart from raising infernal or familiar spirits you can also exorcise the apparition or ghost of a departed person. In order to do this, the Magician and his assistant must first repair to the churchyard or tomb where the deceased was buried, exactly at midnight, as the ceremony can only be performed in the night between the hours of twelve and one. The grave is first to be opened, or an aperture made by which access may be had to the naked body. The magician having described the circle, and holding a magic wand in his right hand, while his companion or assistant beareth a consecrated torch, he turns himself to all the four winds, and, touching the dead body three times with the magical wand, repeats as follows:

• "By the virtue of the holy resurrection, and the torments of the damned, I conjure and exorcise thee, Spirit of N. deceased, to answer my liege demands, being obedient unto these sacred ceremonies, on pain of everlasting torment and distress.... Berald, Beroald, Balbin, Gab, Gabor, Agaba. Arise, arise, I charge and command thee!"

After these forms and ceremonies, the ghost or apparition will become visible, and will answer any questions put to it by the exorcist. But if it be desired to put interrogatories to the spirit of any corpse that has hanged, drowned or otherwise made away with itself, the conjuration must be performed while the body lies on the spot where it is first found after the suicide hath been committed, and before it is touched or removed. The ceremony is as follows. The exorcist binds upon the top of his wand a bundle of St. John's word of Millies perforatum, with the head of an owl; and having repaired to the spot where the corpse lies, at twelve o' clock at night, he draws the circle and solemnly repeats these words:

• "By the mysteries of the deep, by the flames of Banal, by the power of the east and the silence of the night, By the holy rites of Hecate, I conjure and exorcise thee, thou distressed spirit, to present thyself here and reveal unto me the cause of thy calamity why thou didst offer violence to thy own liege life, where thou art now in being, and where thou wilt hereafter be."

Then gently smiting the carcass nine times with the rod, he adds:

• "I conjure thee, thou spirit of this N. deceased to answer my demands that I propound unto thee, as thou ever hopest for the rest of the holy ones and ease of all the misery; by the blood of Jesus which he shed for thy soul, I conjure thee and bind thee to utter unto me what I shall ask thee."

Then cutting down the carcass from the tree, they shall lay its head towards the east; in the space that this following conjuration is repeating, they shall set a chafing-dish of fire at its right hand, into which they shall pour a little wine, some mastic and some gum-aromatic, and lastly (the contents of it) a vial full of the sweetest oil. They shall have also a pair of bellows and some unkindled charcoal to make the fire burn bright when the carcass rises. The conjuration is this:

• "I conjure thee, thou spirit of N. that thou do immediately enter into thy ancient body again and answer to my demands; by the virtue of the holy resurrection, and by the posture of the body of the savior of the world, I charge thee I conjure thee, I command thee, on pain of the torments and wandering of thrice seven years, which I, by the force of sacred magic rites, have power to inflict upon thee; by the sights and groans I conjure thee to utter thy voice."

This ceremony being thrice repeated, while the fire is burning with mastic and gun-aromatic, the body will begin to rise, and at last will stand upright before the exorcist, answering with a faint and hollow voice the questions propounded unto it: why it destroyed itself, where its dwelling is, what its food and life are, how long it will be ere it enter into rest, and by what means the magician may assist it to come to the rest; also of the treasures of this world, where they are hid. Moreover, it can answer very punctually concerning the places where ghosts reside, and of the manner of communicating with them, teaching the nature of Astral spirits and hellish beings so far as its capacity alloweth.

All this when the ghost hath fully answered, the magician ought out of commiseration and reverence to the deceased, to use what means can possibly be used for procuring rest unto the spirit, to which effect he must dig a grave, and filling the same half full of quicklime, with a little salt and common sulfur, must put the carcass naked into it. Next to the burning of the body into ashes, this is of great force to quiet and end the disturbance of the Astral Spirit.

But in this and in all cases where the ghosts or apparitions of deceased persons are raised up and consulted, great caution is to be observed by the Magician to keep close within the circle; for if, by the constellation and those who follow the Black art for iniquitous purposes, it is very dangerous to conjure any spirits without describing the form of the circle, and wearing upon the heart, or holding in the hand, the Pentacle of Solomon. For the ghosts of men deceased can easily effect sudden death to the magician born under such a constellation of the planets, even whilst in the act of being exorcised.