Necromancy, also known as necromancy, necromancy or necromancy, alludes to a type of magic that implies communication with deceased persons; the term derives from an adaptation to the Latin voice "necromantīa" which in turn comes from the Greek "νεκρομαντεία" or "nekromanteía", an entry formed from "Nekros" which means "dead body" plus "manteia" or " μαντεία "which refers to" prophecy "or" divination ". Necromancy can then be described as that divinatory method or spell performed with the purpose of establishing a communication with the spirits or dead in order to influence the course of events or know what the future holds.
What is necromancy?
This word was incorporated years ago in the RAE, exposing it as "Superstitious practice that pretends to guess the future invoking the dead". Necromancy is very common in all of Western antiquity with records of its practice in Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome, known as a very intricate form of ritual magic, whose purposes are guided to summon demons with magic circles drawn in different places and long recitations full of Latin words such as spells and exorcisms. The Babylonian necromancers were called manzazuu or sha'etemmu, and the spirits they raised were called etemmu.
One of the oldest uses of necromancy in the literary field is found in Homer's Odyssey. Under the domination of Circe, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to the underworld (katabasis) in order to gain insight into his imminent journey home by raising the spirits of the dead through the use of spells that Circe has taught him; then this character wishes to invoke and question the shadow of Tiresias in particular; however, he is unable to gather the spirit of the seer without the help of others.
In various passages of the Odyssey you can find several descriptive references to necromantic rituals, there are rites that must be performed around a well with fire during the night hours, and the Odysseus character has to follow a particular recipe, which includes the blood of the animals for the sacrifice, to perform a libation to the ghosts while he recites prayers to the ghosts and gods of the underworld.
