- WBM Link
- https://web.archive.org/web/20171228125635/http://wizardforums.com/Thread-Necromancy-The-Ancient-Art
- Original WF Link
- http://wizardforums.com/Thread-Necromancy-The-Ancient-Art
This is the first thread in a series of threads concerning necromancy.
Necromancy in itself cannot be classed under any school of magic as it is a complete workable magic system by itself.
From ancient of cultures, necromancy has echoed through history and scratched arcane fears into the hearts and minds of the masses. From India to Egypt, this great art has been feared and adored by young and old alike.
Ancient cults such as the Virgen Naxyr cult, and even the Indian, African, Asian and Greek Death Cults, shares more than one common ground: The Dead are hungry, and walks umongst the living as tormentors, teachers, guardians and allies.
Can the DEAD be directed and controlled? To this we answer: Once the Necromantic Gate has been opened, it can NEVER be closed again, for the legions of the dead is waiting to rush forth and stream into the world of men...always patient, forever waiting.
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"The most important title given in Ancient Greek necromancy is given as: "Psuchagogos" this means "Evocator of Souls" used (known) in the 5th century B.C.E. Some of the Ancient Greek Necromancy was also influenced by the Persians as seen with Aeschylus. There existed an established Necromantic paradigm from around 700-650 B.C.E as seen in Homer's Odyssey. The poem's necromancy sequence, Nekuia, occupies book 11 .
- It is night. On Circe's instructions, Odysseus digs a pit (bothros). He pours libations around it to all the dead, first of a mixture of milk and honey, melikraton, second of sweet wine, and third of water, and then he sprinkles barley on top. He prays to the dead, promising to sacrifice to all of them on his return home the best sterile heifer of his herd and to burn treasures on a pyre for them. Nekuia is first attested as the ride of Mcnippus's account of his necromancy, written in the earlier third century B.C.E. It was presumably taken from a tide already acquired by the eleventh book of Homer's Odyssey although we wait until the first century B.C.E before Diodorus explicitly refers to this book under the name by which it is still known. The term is used as a common noun simply equivalent to "necromancy " by the mid-third century C.E. Hcrodian.
Nekuomanteia, "divination from the dead", the feminine-singular abstract, is found first in a Latinized form - Necyomantia, as the title of a mime by the first-century B.C.E. Laberius. In this century also, Cicero uses the Greek neutar-plural term nekuomanuia to mean "rites of divination from the dead" and attributes their practice to Appius Claudius.
In the next century, the elder Pliny knows the feminine word, now latinized as Necyotnantea, as an alternative title for Homer's eleventh book."
Places of Necromancy:
"The prime site for necromancy and its conceptual home in the Greek and Roman worlds was the tomb, which served the living as the home of the ghost. A ghost was often believed to hover in the vicinity of its corpse's place of burial.
The importance of tombs as sites for the exercise of control over ghosts is demonstrated by the many curse tablets (in Greek katadesmoi, in Latin defixiones) and voodoo dolls (in Greek kolossoi) deposited in them. The tablets were addressed to the ghosts within, who were required to achieve, by means direct or indirect, the curse described."
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Another common factor in universal Necromantic Paradigm and practice, as seen above, is places of Burial. Why places of burial? Places of burial serves as a place of great strength, for it contains amassed energies of Death and the dead.Graveyards and the likes is a gateway to the dead, where the dead has free roam to travel in between worlds. A supernatural express elevator of sorts. As seen with many African Based beliefs such as Palo, Santeria, Qumbanda, Voodoun etc, the Cemetary is one of the strong places of power, and Many followers go there to worship or give honor to the dead.
Death-Cults
In India, there is a religious sect called the Aghori. This is a very elusive Death-cult widely known and feared in India for their practices and beliefs. They primerily worship Shiva in one of the incarnations. These Aghori engage in post-mortem rituals, working with the Dead. Their holy grounds are cremation grounds and are known to smear the remains of the cremated dead over their bodies. They also consume the flesh of the dead - as do many other death-worshipping cultures worldwide. These Aghori perform their rituals in areas considered "haunted" - as these are their places of power. They are frowned upon by the mainstream Hindu's.
It is impossible to pin down the exact point in time that the worship of Death and Necromancy came into play. It is as old as human history itself. Throughout the ages and throughout different cultures, as mentioned before - the basic structure and beliefs stay the same.
As part of African necromantic beliefs, the ancestors play a great role in the necromantic dogma. This serves as a basis for religious beliefs throughout the continent and serves as the building blocks of their religion.
There are some schools of necromancy (as seen with the cult of Liber Falxifer) that weaves different traditional necromantic methods into their own form. These groups combine elements of santeria, Palo Mayombe and others to suit their own ideals - however, this is acutally an ancient practice of intermalgamating paradigms and beliefs.
Burying the deceases as soon as they pass over is actually a modern system brought over from Christianity. Traditionally, in many different cultures worldwide, the funeral can last anywhere from 7 days to a whole month or more. The reasons for this vary from culture to culture. The most "popular" reason for this is for the deceased to make peace with his/her death and to visit places and people dear to him/her before he/she moves on to the "Land of the Dead". During this time, it is common to "explain" to the newly deceased what they will encounter, what they can and cannot do etc as seen with the Tibetan and Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The most-used items concerning necromancy throughout all cultures are: bones and bodily remains of the dead, clothes and death-shrouds, grave sand and countless more. All of these can find it's place in the Nganga, Govi, Attua, bottle etc etc as a medium in contacting the spirits involved. As seen with the Nganga, this serves as a microcosm over which you as the practitioner presides.
There has been many books written on the subject of necromancy and it is up to the individual practitioner to go and see for themselves which culture's dogma suits their practices best. Necromancy is not for every practitioner, as some might find working with the dead against their own system of magick. Some even find this type of the Arts revolting and gory - however we've gotten our hands dirty many many time to persue the Art that we love.
- Here's a photo of Baronessa Araignee's skull pendant made from human bone. It's always good to have a collection of bones around as it strengthens the link with the dead or the chtonic forces:
- Here's a photo of Lord Death. An effigee of great power:
- And here's a photo of Lady Death. Another effigee of great power:
Necromancy in itself cannot be classed under any school of magic as it is a complete workable magic system by itself.
From ancient of cultures, necromancy has echoed through history and scratched arcane fears into the hearts and minds of the masses. From India to Egypt, this great art has been feared and adored by young and old alike.
Ancient cults such as the Virgen Naxyr cult, and even the Indian, African, Asian and Greek Death Cults, shares more than one common ground: The Dead are hungry, and walks umongst the living as tormentors, teachers, guardians and allies.
Can the DEAD be directed and controlled? To this we answer: Once the Necromantic Gate has been opened, it can NEVER be closed again, for the legions of the dead is waiting to rush forth and stream into the world of men...always patient, forever waiting.
-------
"The most important title given in Ancient Greek necromancy is given as: "Psuchagogos" this means "Evocator of Souls" used (known) in the 5th century B.C.E. Some of the Ancient Greek Necromancy was also influenced by the Persians as seen with Aeschylus. There existed an established Necromantic paradigm from around 700-650 B.C.E as seen in Homer's Odyssey. The poem's necromancy sequence, Nekuia, occupies book 11 .
- It is night. On Circe's instructions, Odysseus digs a pit (bothros). He pours libations around it to all the dead, first of a mixture of milk and honey, melikraton, second of sweet wine, and third of water, and then he sprinkles barley on top. He prays to the dead, promising to sacrifice to all of them on his return home the best sterile heifer of his herd and to burn treasures on a pyre for them. Nekuia is first attested as the ride of Mcnippus's account of his necromancy, written in the earlier third century B.C.E. It was presumably taken from a tide already acquired by the eleventh book of Homer's Odyssey although we wait until the first century B.C.E before Diodorus explicitly refers to this book under the name by which it is still known. The term is used as a common noun simply equivalent to "necromancy " by the mid-third century C.E. Hcrodian.
Nekuomanteia, "divination from the dead", the feminine-singular abstract, is found first in a Latinized form - Necyomantia, as the title of a mime by the first-century B.C.E. Laberius. In this century also, Cicero uses the Greek neutar-plural term nekuomanuia to mean "rites of divination from the dead" and attributes their practice to Appius Claudius.
In the next century, the elder Pliny knows the feminine word, now latinized as Necyotnantea, as an alternative title for Homer's eleventh book."
Places of Necromancy:
"The prime site for necromancy and its conceptual home in the Greek and Roman worlds was the tomb, which served the living as the home of the ghost. A ghost was often believed to hover in the vicinity of its corpse's place of burial.
The importance of tombs as sites for the exercise of control over ghosts is demonstrated by the many curse tablets (in Greek katadesmoi, in Latin defixiones) and voodoo dolls (in Greek kolossoi) deposited in them. The tablets were addressed to the ghosts within, who were required to achieve, by means direct or indirect, the curse described."
-------
Another common factor in universal Necromantic Paradigm and practice, as seen above, is places of Burial. Why places of burial? Places of burial serves as a place of great strength, for it contains amassed energies of Death and the dead.Graveyards and the likes is a gateway to the dead, where the dead has free roam to travel in between worlds. A supernatural express elevator of sorts. As seen with many African Based beliefs such as Palo, Santeria, Qumbanda, Voodoun etc, the Cemetary is one of the strong places of power, and Many followers go there to worship or give honor to the dead.
Death-Cults
In India, there is a religious sect called the Aghori. This is a very elusive Death-cult widely known and feared in India for their practices and beliefs. They primerily worship Shiva in one of the incarnations. These Aghori engage in post-mortem rituals, working with the Dead. Their holy grounds are cremation grounds and are known to smear the remains of the cremated dead over their bodies. They also consume the flesh of the dead - as do many other death-worshipping cultures worldwide. These Aghori perform their rituals in areas considered "haunted" - as these are their places of power. They are frowned upon by the mainstream Hindu's.
It is impossible to pin down the exact point in time that the worship of Death and Necromancy came into play. It is as old as human history itself. Throughout the ages and throughout different cultures, as mentioned before - the basic structure and beliefs stay the same.
As part of African necromantic beliefs, the ancestors play a great role in the necromantic dogma. This serves as a basis for religious beliefs throughout the continent and serves as the building blocks of their religion.
There are some schools of necromancy (as seen with the cult of Liber Falxifer) that weaves different traditional necromantic methods into their own form. These groups combine elements of santeria, Palo Mayombe and others to suit their own ideals - however, this is acutally an ancient practice of intermalgamating paradigms and beliefs.
Burying the deceases as soon as they pass over is actually a modern system brought over from Christianity. Traditionally, in many different cultures worldwide, the funeral can last anywhere from 7 days to a whole month or more. The reasons for this vary from culture to culture. The most "popular" reason for this is for the deceased to make peace with his/her death and to visit places and people dear to him/her before he/she moves on to the "Land of the Dead". During this time, it is common to "explain" to the newly deceased what they will encounter, what they can and cannot do etc as seen with the Tibetan and Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The most-used items concerning necromancy throughout all cultures are: bones and bodily remains of the dead, clothes and death-shrouds, grave sand and countless more. All of these can find it's place in the Nganga, Govi, Attua, bottle etc etc as a medium in contacting the spirits involved. As seen with the Nganga, this serves as a microcosm over which you as the practitioner presides.
There has been many books written on the subject of necromancy and it is up to the individual practitioner to go and see for themselves which culture's dogma suits their practices best. Necromancy is not for every practitioner, as some might find working with the dead against their own system of magick. Some even find this type of the Arts revolting and gory - however we've gotten our hands dirty many many time to persue the Art that we love.
- Here's a photo of Baronessa Araignee's skull pendant made from human bone. It's always good to have a collection of bones around as it strengthens the link with the dead or the chtonic forces:
- Here's a photo of Lord Death. An effigee of great power:
- And here's a photo of Lady Death. Another effigee of great power:
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