Part 3- terms used in necromancy
In the last two posts in this series, we looked at the definition of necromancy, and saw some examples for different kinds of necromancy rituals as they're depicted in ancient writings. This time we'll go over some basic terms.
First, there are actually two forms of necromancers:
psuchagogos- “soul evocator” or “soul charmer” or “soul leader”.
nekuomantis- “prophet of the dead”, or “diviner of the dead”.
Psychagogy was viewed as the art of influencing the soul by the means of rhetoric. Could be done on tombs, ashes in urns, and on dead with an unknown burial place. It seem that the psuchgogos were called to banish spirits, to lay them to rest. They locate bodies that were not properly buried, and listen to the anger of the souls. They rebury them or use replacement figures instead, and set them free. Sort of psychologists for ghosts.
Nekuomantis is simply a term for a person that uses a method of divination from dead people. One way to define it is "the performances of rite of divination from the dead"
// The main different I see (I could be wrong) between those terms is the direction in which the conversation with the dead is going- the psuchagogos is trying to guide the soul, meaning it serve a function for the dead. While the nekuomantis is trying to get information from the dead regarding the living.//
A cave, a lake, or another place one will perform rites of necromancy at, then go to sleep, and hear the voices of the dead converse with him.
The grave attendees did not speak to the ghost right after the evocation and offerings, but went to sleep, either on the tomb itself, or somewhere else, while carrying something they shared with the ghost during the rite (a fleece, a blanket, or another object). The messages came to their dreams. The dead always tell the truth in dreams.
Different situations in a dream had different interpretations, like: dreaming of exchanging gifts with a dead person, kissing a dead person, sleeping on a grave, or a man dying twice= portend death. weeping over a corpse= successful business. dead returning to life= turmoils and losses.
contain a substance called L-dopa that can induce insomnia, and hallucinations. Used in rituals and on the Roman festival Lemuria when the father of the household threw beans over his shoulder, so that the dead would pick up the beans instead of the souls of the living. There is no consumption of beans if one wants to have prophetic dreams with the dead, other source suggest to use beans for this exact purpose.
The descending of the living downwards.
Those who died before their time, died violently, or those who were not buried properly, are more prone to be restless dead. Appear in the middle of day, not just the night.
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