E. A. Koetting - staticfly.net

CHAPTER TEN
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
Necromancy has been one of the most taboo occult practices in
nearly all places and at all times in human history. It has existed as an
undercurrent throughout the world, its subterraneous presence
infecting every culture of antiquity. Just as it has always existed, it
has always remained a scorned practice. Religions have feared the art
of speaking with the spirits of dead because of the knowledge that it
might bring the Necromancer, because of the unrest it might cause the
ancestor to rouse him from his peace, because of the possibility of demonic
meddling, or due to the simple and innate human fear of the unknown
and the inevitable.
A word of warning is also given to the aspiring Necromancer
from the majority of ritual Magicians: you become that which you
surround yourself with. One who aspires to become more godly and
Divine should evoke angelic beings and powers; one who lusts for power
and autonomous control over his world should deal with the devils and
the darkness that brings such control; and only he who would lust for
death and atrophy of the body, mind and Eternal essence would hold
company with the dead. Necromancy is an art that is shunned by
students and Masters of every alignment and alliance.
As the biblical King Saul realized, even after his own capital
treatment of witches and soothsayers, a situation may arise when only
the dead will do. Most often, the spirits of the dead are summoned and
constrained to provide information that is specific to the knowledge
possessed by the spirit, or more accurately, the knowledge that was
possessed by the individual before his or her translation beyond the
flesh. Ancient prophets and learned men are risen from the grave to
continue their teachings, advise their students, to clarify points made
centuries ago, or to continue their prophecies from the grave. In the
past century it has become increasingly popular to contact a relative
that has passed on in order to find some sort of closure, or sometimes to
seek a closeness with a loved one that has died, such practices being the
sole financial support for psychic mediums and professional channelers.
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