Autumn Calends and Other Musings

Warm autumn days that made the scarlet and golden colors of falling leaves such a fantastic vista of warmth and earthiness are already past. Yesterday, we had our first snow fall, and although it didn’t stick to the ground, it is sign that winter is nigh at hand, once again. I had one day to take care of the yard and the grove, and it was so balmy that I almost took my shirt off. Now, the nights are freezing cold and it has been raining and sleeting the last couple of days. I have to believe that we are now entering into the narrow corridor that leads from autumn to winter, and it begins with what I call the autumn calends.

Highlighting this narrow boundary between autumn and winter is the celebration of Samhain, or Halloween, as it is popularly known. This has always been my favorite time of the year, although up here in the northern Midwest it can be quite cold and even frigid. Long time residents have regaled me with stories of snow-covered Halloween nights, so I have those legends to give me a sober reflection on living so far north that it can snow on Halloween. Still, there was so much that I wanted to do during the warm months and most of it had to be deferred. Hopefully, such impositions will not occur during the next year.

The massive project that I have been slaving away for my mundane job has finally come to an end, although I didn’t install the last few pieces until nearly the middle of this week. These last couple of days I have been on a forced vacation - my boss told me to take some well earned time off. As of Wednesday, I had just completed every task on my working list, which was a list that seemed at times never to dwindle much and had new tasks constantly assigned to it. Then, before I knew it, I just finished the last set of scripting work and the pause nearly took my breath away.

You can't imagine how difficult it is taking an old antiquated data warehouse system and porting onto a completely new environment, including a new O/S and storage foundation. The old server was split into new application and database servers, but the old application software, most of which is already way out of date, was moved into the new environment instead of being upgraded and rebuilt. Needless to say, I got everything to work just as it does on the old server environment - a feat not be lightly scoffed at.

It had been six months of constant work, including weekends. I am glad that I will finally get my life back and be able to have a social life and all that entails. It seems like it's been a very long period where I was stuck at my desk looking wistfully at the world outside my window. I blew the whole summer working and I didn't get to enjoy very much of it, but now, at least I will be able to enjoy the end of autumn. So, the autumn calends is becoming for me a time when I will actually resurface and become, as it were, socially reborn. I also have around three weeks in December to look forward to, enjoying a long period of paid vacation and relaxation. It has been well earned, and I have to take it or lose it in the coming year. The holidays will be quite enjoyable this year, even though the days and nights will be cold and seemingly lifeless outside.

Autumn calends also means politics, particularly during the four year presidential election cycle. I have been something of a political junky reading over the various election poles when time has permitted me to do so. While it might be possible for Mitt Romney to be elected president of the U.S., it seems rather remote when examining the battle-ground states’ poles. I am hoping that Obama gets reelected, since although he is not a great president in my estimation, he is at least a good president. I can trust that he will do mostly as he says he will do, even though I might disagree with some of his decisions. There is something comforting about knowing that a politician has some foundational principles that drive him or her. I don’t feel that way about Mitt Romney at all, and in fact, I see him as a rich arrogant plutocrat opportunist who will say just about anything or take all sides of a policy argument to get elected. He pretended to be severely conservative during the primaries, and now he is pretending to be a moderate.

However, such a weak and unprincipled man would likely do as his party directs him to do, and their positions are starkly ultra-conservative. I just don’t trust him and I loath everything that he stands for, so there is no mystery about whom I will be voting for on November 6th. I hope that Obama manages to put his opposition down hard so that I don’t ever again have to hear Mitt Romney’s outrageous lies or see his simpering and condescending smiles. That would be a pleasant Solstice present indeed! I am reminded of what “Humble Bellows” in the 50's movie “The Crimson Pirate” said to his captain, whom he had just “sold” to the authorities for a barrel of rum: “And there’ll be no more of thee and thy pirate capers.” One can only hope for such a happy outcome.

My forthcoming book (Magical Qabalah for Beginners) is proceeding through the final editing phases, having gone through the production editor, copy editor, and now a second and final copy editor. As I have said previously, the manuscript layout is scheduled to be sent to the printers later next week. I have had the pleasure of looking over that layout in a PDF file, and I have seen all of the diagrams, tables and illustrations that the staff artist at Llewellyn has produced for this book. The editing has made my wordy and somewhat cumbersome prose into a very readable and accessible text, so I am looking forward to finally seeing this work in printed form. The book is being sold at a modest price ($15.99) and I believe that I have at least produced what I consider to be a potential classic amongst the books written about the Qabalah. We shall see if the public at large agrees with my assessment. While it is a book written for beginners, there is enough new material to make it worthwhile for a more advanced student to purchase it. I might be able to actually see my first imprint perhaps as early as December, but the scheduled release date is mid January, 2013. You can find a link for this book on the Llewellyn Worldwide website here.


Another task that I have recently completed is the talismanic working that I began in February for my own version of the Portae Lucis working. I had to generate four four-fold talismanic elemental talismans for the planets of the ancients of Sun, Moon, Saturn and Mercury. In August, I continued this work and generated four-fold talismanic elemental talismans for the planets Venus and Jupiter. Then, last night, I generated the final four-fold talismanic elemental talisman for Mars. The iron metallic talisman for Mars is presently undergoing its three day period of incubation, so on Monday morning I will have all seven of these metallic talismans fully charged and activated.

During the working that I performed last night, I experienced a fair amount of resistance to completing this working. I felt a certain amount of lethargy and inertia dragging me down, and I had to overcome these feelings and sentiments in order to do the work. The ritual work seemed to weigh me down, and going through it was, at least initially, uninspiring and plodding. I had put off the magical Mass until the last day, so I had to perform an abbreviated version of that rite in order to properly consecrate the talisman and associated sigils before invoking the planetary intelligence and associated Enochian seniors. I stumbled through that rite and managed to complete everything, although it all seemed to be taking a long time to complete.

The actual invocation of the Olympian Spirit and subsequent Talismanic Elements seemed oddly arduous and difficult. I had to increase my resonant bodily energy and focus my will to get through this rite, as if the resistance to doing it would stop me in my tracks if I succumbed . I drew upon all of my resources and set my will to complete this working, even though the ritual execution was uneven and rough in a few places. I was amazed at these occurrences, since I have performed this working at least six other times in the last several months.

Still, I persevered and managed to get through it, but afterwards I felt completely exhausted by the ordeal. I may have started the working at 9:45 pm to lock in the hour of Jupiter, and then completed the working around 11:10, but it seemed like I had been working magic for hours. I found this whole process to be strange and remarkable, but I guess that Mars had one last hoop for me to jump through, and it was merely by the power of my will and my magical discipline that I managed to push the whole process to a successful completion. Whew! I am glad that I managed to complete this working, and I am surprised at the resistance that I encountered. All of these difficulties that I experienced could be considered as being related to Mars, and what I needed to complete was also very much in the domain of that planet.

My future plans for using all seven of these metallic planetary talismans is to perform a ritual known in the Order as the Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual, and to use each of these talismans to empower the seven points of this rite. I will then endeavor to incorporate them and this rite into another working for the talismanic Portae Lucis for the Winter Solstice. Even though Jean Dubius has stated that this rite is best performed when the light is at its greatest amplitude, as it is during the Summer Solstice, I have decided to try it during the Winter Solstice.

Since I have already performed this working for the previous Summer Solstice, I believe that it will continue to echo and reverberate for the following Winter and future Summer Solstices as well. I was told as much at the climax of that working in June, and although the light will be at its lowest point in December, it may also allow an opening and a gateway to greater spiritual realization. This is how I had interpreted what I was told during the last working of the Portae Lucis, so I will attempt to experience the opposite polarity, the Portae Tenebrae, or Gate of Darkness. Where the gate of light emanated its blessings and grace to me in the Summer, the gate of darkness will beckon me to enter into that spiritual domain of Saturn as Binah. I am looking forward to experiencing that just around the Winter Solstice.

Autumn is a time when I organize my research and study regimen and plan on acquiring new materials for future book projects. I am already engaged with this work, and I hope to share some of the things that I am learning as I go through this process. There’s too much to relate here at this time, but in the coming months, I hope to put some of my ideas and insights into articles that I can post on my blog. There are quite a few new topics that are crowding my to-do list, so you can expect some very interesting and in-depth articles to be posted in the next six months or so. Once we get snowed in up here, then folks tend to retreat indoors, and winter is usually a time when I think and reflect about the past. And there is much to think and reflect about this winter.

Happy Samhain, Halloween, and All Souls Day - be safe and enjoy the Calends of Autumn!

Frater Barrabbas

An Excellent Hallows 2011

I just wanted to thank everyone for their warm wishes and kind words regarding the passing of my mother on November 1. I took a week off from writing because I wanted some time reassess my life, but also because I was very busy with a lot of mundane things, such as work, business travel and feting guests from out of town.

It was a truly wonderful weekend for me and my lady, and one that I shall remember for some time. Not only did the presentation La Balle de la Danse Macabre turn out really well, but I had two good friends from out of town who also visited and took part in the presentation. We were gifted by the appearances of Frater Arjuna and Soror Rekhetra, and their company was well received and enjoyed. For those of you who might not know, I have known Frater Arjuna for many years, and he was one of the original members of the Isis-Sophia lodge in Kansas City, founded back in 1986. Frater Arjuna is still active in the Order, and in fact, he and I were for a while, the only active members left from what had once been a nice group of people. Soror Rekhetra is also a good friend and has done a fair amount of the artwork used by the Order to illustrate some of the more unusual ritual devices and other interesting diagrams. She is also one of my faithful students and a steadfast personal friend and spiritual ally. Both of these good friends are particularly important to my work, and I must confess, that they have, from time to time, been instrumental in aiding me in objectifying my thoughts and practices.

 

I must also mention my lady, Soror Grace, who was a great help to me during the tight weekend schedule, and who was the photographer and helped with the setup and break down of the lighting system that added tremendously to the ambience of the underworld. I truly cherish her as an able helpmate, muse, friend, peer and lover. I am blessed to have such a wonderful woman in my life, after all of the difficulties that I have had during the last few decades in finding someone to love and with whom to have a relationship. Spending quality time with her and my friends over the weekend makes me realize just how precious friends and lovers are in the life of an initiate, which can be typically a lonely and solitary existence.

The presentation and event turned out to be remarkably good as well. The acting ability of Steve Posch was fantastic, and he made a really incredible le Roi Morte. With his make-up fully applied, and ratty tuxedo coat and golden crown, he was arguably the Lord of Death in all his fearsome glory. The same could be said of the blue-skinned character Checher de la Morte (Seeker of Death), played by the artist and theater impresario, Paul Rucker. Paul also did the make up for Steve and others. The other characters were also brilliantly made up and played, especially the grand dame who played Madame de la Morte. There were a few glitches in the design and execution of the presentation, but overall, it went extremely well, and I was quite pleased with the results. Time was the great limiting factor, and the thin resources available were pushed to the very limits of practical allotment. Yet it was memorable and had quite an impact on me and everyone who either took a part in it, or who attended.

I guess you could say that sometimes real life has a way of following the currents of magick and mystery that one unwittingly projects into the world through an artistic presentation like the La Balle de la Danse Macabre. On November 1st in the evening, my mother passed away, so my presentation perhaps was a way to celebrate and also mourn her passing. She had been living nearly a vegetative state for the last couple of years in a nursing home, so it was a merciful and much needed passing on her part. I had also been mourning her passing out of my life ever since I last saw her in April of the previous year; but the long distance and a very busy life-style kept me from getting to see her again. I do regret that I didn’t get a chance to see her before she died, but my memory of her as a caring and compassionate mother will never die in my mind. In my heart she is still alive, and youthful in her middle years - as it should be.

The following weekend we were visited by two of my oldest friends from Milwaukee, Keith and Anita, and we had a truly wonderful time with them as well, culminating in a feast day on Sunday where two of the stars of the presentation also showed up. Keith and Anita are witches in the very old style that is beyond any tradition with its degrees and dogma. They are also culinary epicures, so we had some very interesting meals. I engaged in some very foundational discussions with Keith, seeking to bridge our differences in our perspectives and build on our mutual agreements. Because I respect Keith and value his opinions, I always find myself thinking about our discussions long after our visit is over.

One thing that we discussed, that has also been going around my mind lately, is that we each have within us a conceptual map of the Spirit world lying dormant in our deep minds. We might not be aware of what it is or that it has any kind of formulation, but when we work methods of mysticism or magick, that map comes out and determines what we experience in regards to our contacts with the Spirit world. This can account for the different experiences that individuals might have when even working with the same magickal system or grimoire. While some might experience demons as evil spirits, others might experience something that is more ambiguous or even reversed in a kind of antinomian perspective. I have written about this phenomenon previously and it has changed my opinion about the nature of spirits in a generalized manner. No longer can I take the word of the grimoires, theologians or various occult pundits. If I use a matrix to define the table of spirits, giving each one a specific definition, then that matrix will be the foundation for what I will experience, even if that foundation allows for quite a bit of variation in experience between operators.

What this means is that our interpretation of the Spirit world is based on something that already exists within us, waiting to be released. All it needs is a proper stimulus to trigger a full and comprehensive experience of that “map” actualized into our conscious beings. The map can have some considerable variances between individuals who have different predisposed beliefs and spiritual practices. A Christian magician will experience something quite different than a pagan or Thelemic magician, and a Theosophist would experience something entirely different. This map is not a static thing either, since it can change and evolve over time as a person’s beliefs and practices are evolved through their experiences.

Our ever present source for this map is based on our geographic location, our generational affiliation and our life experiences. If a culture develops certain ambiguities or uncertainties that impact religious organizations, forcing them to be either more liberal or conservative, that will certainly have quite an impact on what an individual will experience when they begin to perform ritual or ceremonial magick. The stuff of our culture (including all of the elements of pop culture and urban legends) is the ultimate source for all systems of magick, even if they are derived from apparent traditional sources. What is important to any budding magician is to somehow trigger that internal map and cause it to become exteriorized or projected into the magician’s conscious reality. Ecstasy helps, but it can’t be the sole source of that stimulus that triggers the map.

Chaos magickal methodology stipulates that what really stimulates a operating magician is the use of something unusual, sinister or even completely alien. Instead, I would say that novelty helps, but pure occult techniques and practices associated with a deep spiritual encounter would appear to cause this trigger to be activated. Using something deeply significant and meaningful would also be very helpful. Somehow, though, many years ago, I activated the trigger of my inner map of the world of Spirit, and once that happened, I was able to experience phenomenon that could be loosely defined as paranormal, perhaps even supernatural. Prior to that eventful (but barely remembered time), I only was able to sense or taste various vague impressions of that domain. I knew what I was looking for intuitively, but I couldn’t articulate what it was until it manifested to me in all of its wonder and terrible glory. Something blasted through those doors or perception, I believe that I recall what it was.

After thinking about it for a while, I have decided that the most powerful thing that had happened to me, which opened the doors to the spirit world for me, was when I ingested over a thousand micrograms of LSD-25 when I was a mere teenager of 15 years. I had only recently experienced alcohol, but had never gotten high on Pot or any other mild hallucinogenic. The results of that terrible and amazingly long arduous trip completely and irreparably changed my perception of reality and made the world of Spirit suddenly and easily accessible to me. I was, in a word, never the same after that event. I know that somehow that would make my long tenure as an occultist, witch and ritual magician somehow suspect or even detract from whatever I have previously written. I insist that I am not addicted to drugs nor was I ever predisposed to take drugs instead of adopting a spiritual discipline. The context of the times when this event occurred was a time when many young people were experimenting with drugs, occultism, magick, paganism and witchcraft. It’s just that event, which happened so many years ago, that triggered my internal map of the world of Spirit, even though it wasn’t something that I had planned or even guessed might happen. In fact, I was completely oblivious and naive about any consequences for my actions. I was just a young fool, but in some manner, wisely foolish. However, I would never advise anyone to do as I did, and in fact, I would request that anyone who sought to take any variety of powerful hallucinogens to carefully think about what they were about to do before committing to any action. I survived my experience, but it could have turned out bad for me as well. It’s the kind of gamble that I wouldn’t think of doing in my middle years.

My inner map was exteriorized on that summer day way back in 1970, and I was never the same carefree and oblivious youth ever again. I lost some of my innocence, and I acquired from it the knowledge of a kind of brave new world. Yet for me, it was not a world of fear or paranoia ruled by forces of evil and good, instead it was a complex world of forces and intelligences that could guide, help, aid, or even destroy me. Madness was always a potential possibility, but I was buoyed by a powerful optimism and a spiritual love whose source is a mystery to me even in this late time of my life. Perhaps it was intrinsic to my nature, or maybe it was due to the unfailing love and acceptance that I have always felt emanating from my mother. It might also be true that now that she has passed this world and into the next, I might discover the answer to this riddle.

Frater Barrabbas

Brief Sabbatical from Writing

To all my readers, I regret that I have not been writing much as of late. Life and its complexities has intervened to interrupt my typical regimen. It has been the happenstance of both happy events and also one that is very sad. The happy events have been the hosting of some of my closest friends over the last two weekends. However, on the first day of November, which is All Saints Day, my mother passed away from this world to the next. She was a very gentle and compassionate soul who taught me how not to judge people before knowing them. Her influence in my life had been very subtle but also very powerful. Perhaps one could say that my tacit love and respect for this woman had something to do with my search for a religion that would venerate and love the divine feminine. Although she has been in a nursing home for the last two years and under hospice palliative care, and has been unresponsive and barely conscious during much of that time, her passing has had its impact on me, even though I had already accepted her immanent passing as a likely occurrence. This is the sad event that I am dealing with, even though I am surrounded by friends who love and care about me.

Samhain was a wonderful experience for me. The presentation was performed better than I had hoped, and it was well attended. I was thrilled by the acting of the main members of the cast, and the attendees came dressed up and made up to look like the dead. There were a lot of made up skull faces, pale skin and hallow eyes absorbing all that happened. The dance portion was successful (even the children got involved) and the feast was well received. Even though we only had two and a half hours to finish all of the acts of this presentation, including the feast, we managed to complete it on time, and there were enough hands to straighten and tidy things up at the end. The critique of the rite that happened the next had a number of attendees and the negative criticism was light (some basic logistics) and the praise was heavy. I was delighted with the whole process and grateful for everyone who contributed to making this one of the best public rituals that I have ever developed, written and conducted. The brightness of that moment has not been dimmed by the death of my mother, and perhaps the one event presaged the other. In a sense, perhaps, I have acknowledged her passing with the presentation of a rite that glorifies living and honors death.

With all of these events unfolding and taking up so much of my time, I will likely not post very many articles in the next couple of weeks. I have many outlines and ideas for writing future blog articles, but I will just need some time to get all of the important mundane things in my life squared away. So please stay tuned to this blog and I promise you that there will be some very interesting articles coming later this month and throughout the winter. I am grateful for your reading and responses to my past articles. I hope that everyone had a great and wonderful Samhain, and that winter doesn’t come too early so that the fall may more gently descend into the coming months of darkness, cold and the soft covering of snow and ice.

Frater Barrabbas

La Balle de la Danse Macabre

“Death is a Cabaret old chum..”

            And

“Long Live Death and Equality!”

On October 29, this Saturday, I will be directing and performing as le Maitre des Ceremonies for a presentation and witches ball to be held in the Twin Cities at the Walker Methodist Church. This is a NordCOG gathering, and it is open to the public. You can find out information here, if you are interested in attending. Of course, I won’t spoil the event by telling you anything about it, so you will either have to attend or maybe, I will do a write up about it afterwards.

This gathering is to celebrate Samhain 2011, also known as Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, the day before the Christian feast day of All Hallows or All Saints Day. This has been a sacred time for many, many centuries, and was likely celebrated by Celtic and Germanic pagans before the advent of Christianity. However, it has become a secular autumn holiday when children, and more recently, adults, participate in wearing costumes and engaging in a lot of gothic hijinks. There are haunted houses, ghost tours, trick or treating, and many large and small costume parties - both private and public. In keeping with this theme, I decided that this year’s local COG gathering should be done differently than previous gatherings, and that it should be fun as well as thoughtful and informative. Since I volunteered to produce this presentation, then I could do something really special and memorable. Here are my notes regarding this ball and presentation.


I have always been intrigued by the music Danse Macabre, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns. This tune has been the subject of a few animations, representing as it does the dance of the skeletons. I have always associated this music (and the poem that it illustrates) with the season of Hallows, so it only seemed natural that I should seek someday to incorporate into a celebration for witches and pagans. I got my wish when I was chosen to produce a Samhain ceremony for the Twin Cities NordCog.

Therefore, for the upcoming NordCog Samhain gathering, I decided to put together a simple ceremony based in part on that music. This gathering is to be a costume ball where everyone gets involved. I wanted to have a gathering that was instructive and also fun! My assumption is that everyone will be wearing a costume, dressed up as one of the dead (but no zombies!), and if someone comes who isn’t costumed, someone will apply a little bit of make up or fake cobwebs to ensure that no one just comes as they are. Because the music and the tradition it represents is French, I decided to develop a theme that was also French and quite European. I hope that this very different and distinct theme and cultural coloring will be acceptable and enjoyable to the pagan and witchcraft community.

If you have never heard the tune Danse Macabre, then you should go and hear it, since that will be the music that all of the recently departed will dance to at the ball. I will also include the poem here for you to read, since that is also relevant.

The basic message of this ball is that, in my opinion,  people live as though they were dead. They rush around, pursuing their daily agenda, all the while ignoring the glory of life that is occurring at every moment. This is especially and painfully true for pagans and witches - we live ordinary lives and miss out on the really amazing concept that we are alive but for a short time, and then we die. Such a realization should make us all stop what we are doing and pay attention to the sacredness and blessedness of life itself, since that is the source of all mysteries and goodness, and we, as witches and pagans, should be strongly attuned to life. What I am asking is that folks who attend this ball should also be aware of what it means to be alive, and how precious life is whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick, fortunate or unfortunate. Life is a precious gift and must be lived to the fullest!

So while we eat, drink and are merry, so enjoying ourselves, we should remember that life is short, and tomorrow we might be dead. Enjoy life to its fullest at every moment of existence, or face the sad fact that in death, there is infinite time for regret and despair over lost opportunities.

In the mystery, we meet the King of Death (le Roi Mort), his mistress (la Dame de Mort), servant (le Serviteur de Mort), and the most mysterious of all, the Seeker (le Chercheur de la Mort), who leads us into the kingdom of Death and back again. We drink, eat and dance in the halls of King Death, but we can return, having learned that we must live life more fully than what we have been doing.

This is the theme that I have used to write this ceremonial ball, and I invite you to join me, since I will be your host and the Master of Ceremonies.

Frater Barrabas


Danse Macabre - poem by Paul Verlain

(translated from French)

    Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,
    Striking a tomb with his heel,
    Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,
    Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.
    The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;
    Moans are heard in the linden trees.
    White skeletons pass through the gloom,
    Running and leaping in their shrouds.
    Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,
    You can hear the cracking of the bones of the dancers.
    A lustful couple sits on the moss
    So as to taste long lost delights.
    Zig zig, zig, Death continues
    The unending scraping on his instrument.
    A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked.
    Her partner grasps her amorously.
    The lady, it's said, is a marchioness or baroness
    And her green gallant, a poor cartwright.
    Horror! Look how she gives herself to him,
    Like the rustic was a baron.
    Zig, zig, zig. What a saraband!
    They all hold hands and dance in circles.
    Zig, zig, zag. You can see in the crowd
    The king dancing among the peasants.
    But hist! All of a sudden, they leave the dance,
    They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.
    Oh what a beautiful night for the poor world!
    Long live death and equality!

Necromancy - Dark Art Exemplar?

This is an expanded article that appeared in the Samhain edition of Rending the Veil. I hope that you find the topic in keeping with the weekend celebrations.

Amongst all the various names for magical practices, the word necromancy is probably the most foreboding and sinister. No doubt that such a practice was diabolical and associated with the blackest forms of magic. Popular folklore and belief defines necromancy as divination performed through the conjuration and manipulation of the spirits of the dead. The most outrageous form was the exhumation and reanimation of a corpse, which many often think of today when defining this term.

Necromancy has a long history, but during the Christian era it became confused with the conjuration of demons, which was called nigromancy or black magic. Necromancy in the middle ages was defined as a system of sorcery that gained its power and knowledge from conjuring spirits, whether angels, demons or ghosts. Nigromancy, or goetic magic, was a term that meant working sorcery through the conjuration of demons. Christian leaders believed that since only the Lord had power over the dead, sorcerers who performed necromancy were actually conjuring demons. After a time the two were used almost interchangeably, which caused the practice of necromancy to lose its meaning. However, spiritualists and mediums who sought to contact the dead and gain from them information about the future were actually unwittingly practicing a form of necromancy. Yet no one ever called them necromancers, which would have meant that one was evil personified. This confusion has not helped to clarify or define this system of magic, instead it has become something of topic of horror stories and low budget films. 

The origins of necromancy occurred in the far distant past, long before the time of antiquity. It was a system of divination that was ultimately derived from the pious observances paid to the dead at their tombs. It isn’t hard to imagine a person going to the grave site of some great kinsman and in addition to giving offerings and oblations, to ask for assistance with some family crisis. So the practice of necromancy probably stemmed from a natural desire to seek help from one's departed ancestors. Thoughts about the value of advice or prophecy given by the dead varied considerably in antiquity. Some believed that the dead has resources beyond the ken of the living, others (like Homer) believed that the dead knew no more about things than when alive. Necromancy may have derived innocently enough from funeral observations, but it’s also possible that it had a separate shamanic origin. Shamans in primitive societies were reputed to not only be able to heal the sick, but also to enter into the underworld and talk to the departed ancestors - shamans were an important link between both worlds.

Necromancy in antiquity, although not considered a legitimate public procedure for gaining intimate knowledge, shadowed the greater centers of divination, such as the Oracle of Delphi and the Temple of Asclepias. It was based upon a number of procedures that were well represented in folk tradition and literature, going back to Homer's Odyssey. We will briefly look to the Obyssey for a classic example of the rite called nekuia.

The Greeks had terms for this kind of magic, they called it nekumanteia (rites of divination from the dead) and psuchomanteia (divination from souls). From the Greek word came the Latin version, necromantea, from which we get necromancy. Typical places where these rites were conducted were tombs, cemeteries or even old battlefields. Such locations were called psuchagogion, which were drawing places of ghosts. Individuals who summoned ghosts or shades were called psuchagogoi, or evocators of ghosts. (These and other quotes and information were distilled from the book Greek and Roman Necromancy, most notably, from the introduction.)

Greeks and Romans believed that the spirit or shade departed the body at death. It wandered around the burial site, visited places habituated in life or ended up in the underworld of Hades, or more rarely, the Eleusinian fields. These visitations of the dead to places of the living occurred only at certain times of the night, when most of the populace had gone to sleep. People of antiquity loved life, so the perception of death was dismal, lonely, a heartbreaking end to everything good. Shades of the dead often were harbingers of gloom and doom, sometimes directed to curse other living people with their unhappy blessings. The most accessible of the dead shades were those who were prone to restlessness, such as the ghosts of untimely or violent deaths.

Archaeological traces have been found at certain locations where necromancy was practiced as a kind of permanent oracle. These special places were called by the Greeks, nekuomanteion. They were usually located in places such as natural mephitic caves or lakes where water and brimstone appeared to mix; offering clues to an intrusion of the stygian underworld. Four famous locations were Acheron in Thesprotia, Avernus in Campania (Italy), Tainaron, which was located on the Mani peninsula of the southern Peloponnese, and Heracleia Pontica, located on the south coast of the Black Sea.  Two of these locations had caves, but Avernus was a deep lake formed by a volcanic cone and Acheron was a lakeside precinct with indications of vulcanism. Both lakes were reputed to be without birds, since the mephitic fumes would have killed or driven them away.

Petitioners who visited an oracle of the dead would undergo certain kinds of rites performed in dimly lit caves or at night next to turgid lakes, guided by a leader who would conduct the rituals and speak the incantations. Offerings were given and the petitioner would spend the night in that place to obtain what he sought through incubation, by dreams, visions, or a ghostly visitation. The guide also had the responsibility to explain the dreams and visions later on, helping the petitioner to understand their meaning. Incubation was only one of many different ways of contacting the dead, it was the most prevalent method.

In Homer's Odyssey, book 11, a classic rite of necromancy is performed by Odysseus under the direction of his lover, Circe. Odysseus and his men dig a pit with their swords, around it pour libations to the dead consisting of milk, honey, sweet wine, water and then sprinkling barley over the mixture. He prays to the dead and sacrifices a pair of black sheep so the blood collects in the pit. The carcasses of the sheep are flayed and burned, then he prays to Hades and Persephone. He and his men ward the pit with their swords keeping out any unwanted spirits who are drawn to the offerings. They allow only those to whom Odysseus wishes to speak a draft from the fresh blood. After drinking it, a shade can assume a temporary visible appearance and converse with the living. Odysseus talks to several ghosts, but the real purpose of the rite is to consult with the dead prophet Tiresias, seeking to learn the future and the way home. Circe is Odysseus's divine guide and instructor in the necromantic rite, she assists him in analyzing and deciphering the experience, acting as the archetypal witch. Also, the location of the rite is important, too, for it resides next to a cave leading into the underworld. Many other characters who acted as mediums of the dead in antiquity, both real and fictional, were female practitioners of witchcraft. Necromancy was not their specialty, it was rather one of many different techniques that they could use.

This tale was followed by other examples, but it would seem that the necromantic rite, as described by Homer, was already fully formed and traditionally established. By the 5th century, there were professional necromancers who were called goetes - sorcerers, derived from the Greek word goos, which was the mourning wail of the dead. Such individuals were reputed to have the ability to manipulate ghosts. Pythagoreans also had a reputation of being a kind of Greek shaman who not only used necromantic spells as their stock and trade, but could travel to the underworld themselves. Another kind of magic that was practiced and related to necromancy was a divination called lecanomancy, which was a ghostly scrying into a bowl of liquid.

The Greek Egyptian Magical Papyri also had some representations of necromancy, particularly papyrus PGM IV (Paris Papyrus), which contains a group of spells associated with an individual called 'Pitys.' These spells extracted prophecies from corpses or the heads of corpses, bringing to mind the kind of magic performed by the classic witch. Such an individual might have had skulls or heads that talked, but they would have been animated by one's familiar spirit rather than a spirit of the dead. There seemed to be some differences between the places and individuals who acted as oracles of the dead, and individuals who practiced sorcery and witchcraft. The latter typically acted in a manner that exploited the dead rather than treating them with reverence.

Finally, the actual description of necromancy as a method of reanimating and interrogating corpses was first introduced by the poet Lucan, who made it part of the repertoire of the evil Thessalian witch Erictho. She uses it to gain information from a hapless dead Pompeian soldier. Erictho first pours hot blood and a concoction of herbs into the dead body, and then conjures the shade of the soldier, forcing it to enter the corpse to question it. This was a fictitious literary work, and it was followed by others, most notably by Apuleius and Heliodorus. However, there seems to be little evidence that this type of working ever really occurred, that oracles of the dead and necromancy usually had much greater respect and veneration for the deceased than what is depicted in these satirical stories. Later on they may have become the primary impetus for judging the necromantic art as nothing more than the conjurations of demons. It passed into the Christian era completely debased and more the stuff of horror stories or propaganda against the practice of witchcraft.

So what would a modern practitioner of paganism, magic or witchcraft want with the magical system of necromancy? First of all, to a modern pagan, necromancy would represent a legitimate system of divination for the honored dead or ancestors. Secondly, one should consider that a magician will conjure whatever spirit serves his or her needs, but that it be done in fashion that doesn’t dishonor the dead. There isn’t any need for the use of actual bones and skulls, or exhuming some burial and pilfering body parts for use in magical spells. Scrying with magic mirrors or bowls filled with dark fluid would also be useful, as well as establishing a kind of temporary nukuomanteion or oracle of the dead at an appropriate place, such as at the entrance of a cave or in a cave, an underground grotto or a shallow and swampy lake. Learning to obtain visitations through incubation and the use of a conjuration language, like that found in the Greek Magical Papyri, would also be quite appropriate. Offers to the dead would be a requirement, although sacrificing animals could be replaced with food and drink offerings, perhaps given in a triple manner, through burial, burning in a fire and pouring libations into a lake, stream or river. There are many options available to the modern pagan who seeks to work necromancy as it was done in antiquity.

For this autumn season of All-Souls and Samhain, I leave it to the curious and the ambitious to discover the ancient means to contact the dead and to gain their wisdom. May the shadows bless you and fascinate you as they have me.


Bibliography -

Ogden, Daniel (2001) Greek and Roman Necromancy Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

Frater Barrabbas