You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
CHAPTER TEN: SPIRITS Of THE DEAD<br />
As the term necromancy implies, however, one of the most<br />
remarkable abilities which seems to be universal in the realm of the<br />
dead is a startling knowledge of the immediate future. It is this<br />
knowledge that is sought by teens gathered 'round ouija boards, middle<br />
aged women swinging pendulums. and Black Magicians crowded together<br />
over a particular grave. It is this knowledge of future events - events<br />
that, unlike those of the past and present, can be changed or profited<br />
from - that pushes the taboo on necromancy even further. We should<br />
not know the future, yet we can. The dead should be dead, yet they<br />
know and they will tell all when they are asked.<br />
THE NATURE OF THE DEAD<br />
Perhaps the single greatest misconception concerning spirits,<br />
the afterlife, and necromancy is tied to erroneous beliefs concerning<br />
,...hat occurs when the body dies. It is thought that after death the soul<br />
of the subject experiences one of three events: the soul is judged by God<br />
or one of His affiliates and is sent to whatever permanent afterlife that<br />
it has earned, whether such is heaven, hell, Valhalla, or the next life on<br />
the Eternal Wheel; the soul remains on earth in spirit form to look after<br />
relatives and loved ones; or, as is thought to be the most common<br />
occurrence with those spirits that are to be summoned in the rites of<br />
Secromancy, the soul of the departed will leave the obsolete body which<br />
once held it, yet will either not realize that it is no longer alive or will<br />
become lost in the absolute confusion of the transmigration from one<br />
state to the other, and the soul will wander the earth aimlessly and<br />
hopelessly.<br />
In the necromantic rites, as well as spontaneous manifestations<br />
of the dead to the living, the manifested soul is thought to be delivering<br />
some urgent and personalized message about life, afterlife, God, or more<br />
specific issues in the querent's life; or, it has manifested in a plea for<br />
help and for freedom and release, perhaps by the resolution of unsettled<br />
matters or by obtaining justice for wrongs done to the person in his life.<br />
In actuality. the afterlife is so dependant on the individual that<br />
there are dozens of possible final destinations for each person, making it<br />
impossible for any but the religious to state with surety that, «When<br />
~'ou die, you wilL." There are, however, standards and measurements<br />
that have been noticed, studied, catalogued. and found to be consistent<br />
139
Change language