Necromancy

The term necromancy comes from the Greek words nekros – meaning death, and manteia – meaning divination.
This is a method of divining the future that’s also known as nigromancy and is based on the invocation of the dead and inspection of their corpses to find revelations.
 
It was also practiced with animal corpses.

This art is thought to be one of the most ancient divination methods that people have used to get answers to questions about the future.

The tessalits would spread warm blood on a corpse to divine questions about their future. First they would do expiation, as advised by a sorcerer, and then they would dedicate sacrifices to the recently passed person. It was thought that if these two things were not performed, the person’s soul would not attend to any question. With this done, they would spread the warm blood and interpret the future.

The Romans would exhume a cadaver and perform a ceremony around it. The cadaver’s spirit was invoked and questions were formulated.

The Assyrians and ancient Jews also practiced necromancy. They would typically kill a goat by breaking its neck, then cut its head off and embalm it in salt. Later, on a golden plate, the name of the spirit to whom the sacrifice was dedicated would be engraved. The head of the animal was then placed on the plate and it was surrounded by burning ritual candles. The head was adored as an idol to elicit answers from it.

American Indians from the east coast of North America also practiced necromancy. One legend tells that it was practiced when an Indian chief died and his corpse was stolen just a few hours after his death. A circle was drawn on the ground and the chief’s corpse was placed on top. Then questions about where to find hunting game were asked – this was of interest due to the fact that it was the time of the year when game was scarce – and also questions about the general future of the tribe were asked.

The fundamental belief in necromancy is that the dead are capable of seeing the future and they can be conjured to describe what they see.

The tools for divination in necromancy are not mundane – such as stones, clouds or bones – but it is a practice based on actual descents into the other world, rituals, and visits by the recently dead.

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