Necromancy, the word conjures up in the mind of evil people talking to the dead for nefarious deeds and actions for the purpose of harm and havoc on the living in some way. This isn't exactly the case though. Necromancy is a touchy subject to a lot of non-Pagan people due to the fact that according to all of the faiths descended of Abraham that communication with the dead is absolutely forbidden according to teaching of the Torah, Bible, & Quran. Everything from before these faiths took hold in Western European society and later spread with westward expansion into North and South America, Asia, and Africa via missionary work or via conversion of rulers of people inhabiting the lands where Shamanistic Paganism and other forms of religious and spiritual practices were used in everyday life talking to the dead was acceptable and common place. But, some of the things we see in movies, TV, printed in books or even spoken by uneducated individuals speaking from an ignorant understanding of this spiritual practice have gotten it wrong in most cases.
What I'm going to try to explain is just two forms of practice of necromancy practices to show you who are skeptical of doing this by choice and how this practices is used in two paths of spirituality/faith. One will be the view of necromancy according the Norse practice of Galdr & Seidr and the other will be the practice of necromancy in Wicca which the majority of people who practice paganism claim as their form of practice.
In Norse practices of Galdr & Seidr the use of the dead for recalling the past and the possible future was even used by Odin and Frejya/Frigg themselves, also by others in the sagas and eddas. Note on the sagas and eddas: What you need to know is that these stores of the Gods & Goddesses were written down AFTER the age of the worship of the deities were outlawed or drove underground by the Christian expiation into the Germanic Tribal areas of what is now Scandinavia,Germany,Austria,etc. by either Christian scholars who were trying to make the practitioners of Galdr and Seidr as evil and the Gods and Goddesses as the Boogie Men of spirituality they believed in at the time the stories were pasted down orally or the person who wrote it down was a person who was a storyteller and the stories were pasted to them and they happened to be literate enough to write and read to put it down. Cautiously in fact, due to the subject matter that could be used against them as heretical if they were on the churches radar so to speak.
One of the stories in the sagas and eddas is the story of Odin raising a dead völva or seer/witch to get the information that she seeks and even though she does communicates with Odin she objects to being called upon to answer Odin's request and at some points refused to answer some of his questions and remained silent. One of the things she did reveal to him even though he wasn't actually asking directly for was the revelation of the death of Baldr would be the start of the end times in Norse as Ragnarok which a lot of people don't realize is actually a cycle that repeats on a endless loop, kind of like how the Hopi tribe sees their end times in many ways. Freyja/Frigg , but mostly in the sense Frigg is the see-stress more so than Freyja since she is the seer of everyone's fate she just doesn't divulge her findings to anyone because she would rather not mess with timeline as they were fixed points as to what will happen, especially when it come to Ragnarok.
Necromancy and rune casting went hand in hand as well when death came to everyone in the Norse/Germanic culture too. When a person was about to die or after they died they would have certain runes either placed on their body or in their mouth to take with them on the journey to Helheim or Hel so they can pass into that realm to be able to communicate with the living if they wished to do so to the person who practiced or even planted the runes on that person as they passed away. Necromancy in Galdr is calling up the spirit by a verbal incantation or request verbally to connect with that spirit while Seidr on the other hand is more by the way of written talismans,runes, or staves to be used in ceremonial tools to aid with verbal work or other types of physical ritual. When it comes to Norse/Heathen practices there's different ways of going about communicating with the dead and there are many books and videos that go over the subject in detail and two of my sources I use for references are on YouTube and they are Arith Härger and Freyia Norling who I think are very detailed and very informative in Norse/Heathen and Shamanic practices and historical information.
When it comes to Wicca, which in my opinion is a modern interpretation of the old ways it's similar and different at the same time. Similar in the fact that they respect and know about the Earth God and Goddess just like the old ways but, also take into consideration other influences from different cultural beliefs in some cases not just this basic Wicca beliefs and methods. Some Wiccan witches take influences from say the Norse or even Afro-American/Afro-Latin practices when it comes to necromancy it's just a matter of preference and possibly someones past influences before practicing Wicca that has stuck with them. It really all depends on either being self taught or being taught a method by a mentor. In Wicca communication can be done via psychically through different levels of mediumship or use of tools to aid them in communication with the dead such as Tarot,"Witches Board" commonly known as a Ouija Board, pendulum, etc. Also with both examples location may matter as well, a quiet dim lit room,grave yard, in the woods, holy scared place in their faith, where ever they feel comfortable doing such work. With all type of magickal or shamanic work you must protect yourself and others in your party if you do this as a group whether it's signs of protection with runic binding staves, sigils,protection oils or washes,etc. When reaching out to the dead you might have to try multiple times to get the right person and or may get interrupted by someone else who wants to come through either rudely or by chance, remember you have opened and now are that portal to communicate with the other side now. Always ask for permission to open a portal and once the session is over NEVER leave it open.
Now, what I say here is strictly MY opinion from this point forward and I know some who read this won't agree with my opinions, but it's that's OK. I enjoyed writing and sharing this with all of you and I hope you come back and visit me here for more blogs in the future.
With to do or do not on the subject of necromancy voluntarily is it's your choice, if you can switch it on and off like a light great, more power to you. But, there are some out there who can not control the ability to speak with the dead and instead of it being a blessing or gift it's a curse to them since they never known how to control it or never been taught how to. In some cases they came upon it by accident or it was forced onto them that they could communicate with the dead, then there are people who shouldn't be doing necromancy just yet. What I mean by just yet is discussed in a video on Necromancy & Spirit Work by Samantha Valens on Youtube where she talks about when people come to her for advice to start necromancy or spirit work AKA talking to the dead it's mostly 16,17,18 year olds and so on who haven't experienced life yet, let alone death or loss in away to understand the true meaning of both that want to start talking to the dead for no good reason other than "just because". You really need to know what you're in for, most people in their 20's who practice witchcraft haven't yet lost a friend or a close family member to rightfully know what kind of pain and suffering people go through with a loss like that, especially if they knew that person. For example, I'm 41 years old and my maternal Grandmother died 7 years before I was born. Since she died before I was born and never knew her I wouldn't try contacting her or any of my relations I never knew on a intimate level either by blood or friendship. If I myself were approached by someone who insisted on learning necromancy as young as some people are wanting to talk to the dead "Just Because." I'd politely say no, because they need to live a little more and also learn what life is & death is before helping them. Now, in the case of someone who can't control being in communication with the dead either by heredity gift they were never made aware of or just happened by chance and it's effecting their everyday life then yes, I would help. It's just a matter of know and being ready to do such things that matter. Because maturity of the mind matters so much more than maturity of the body. You honestly need to know thyself before taking on any “extracurricular activities” with in any form of witchcraft. So in my honest opinion I would only commit to necromancy if you've looked with in yourself first to know if that path is right for you, focus on who you want to communicate with as your spirit guide that you actually knew in life as long as they're willing to communicate back with you,and use the proper protections & procedures to open and close a session with them. Otherwise don't do it until you are mature enough in your spirituality to do so yourself, if you wish to speak to grandmother or someone close to you and you're not ready seek a professional necromancer or medium.
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