Necromancy
The necromancy , also known as necromancy and oracle for the dead , is a form of spiritualism that is widespread worldwide , which starts from the assumption of the existence of the deceased or their souls after their death and, through rituals and direct conjuring of the deceased, strives for their resuscitation and the encounter with spirits of the deceased, which Bringing insights into the world beyond, problem solving or insights into future events ( mantic ). The scientific, literary or artistic occupation with it is called necromantic . The necromancy occurs in ethnic religions in which, in addition to an ancestral cult, there is also the idea that the ancestors are temporarily present among the living. Necromancy, for example, is an important part of the Yoruba religions (e.g. Voodoo ) and can also be part of crisis cults . Methods such as B. the back of glasses and the pendulum application, as well as the use of an ouija or a planchette .
Word meaning
The word necromancy is derived from ancient Greek. nekros (corpse) and von mantis ( diviner ). Since the 13th century, necromancy has been equated with nigromance and associated with black magic . For Paracelsus , nigromance means conjuring up the star spirits. The word nigromanty only describes the medieval word for necromancy. The word arose from a fusion of the old Greek-Latin. Term necromancy with Latin niger: "black". In the Middle Ages, the word niger was synonymous with “bad” or “terrible”, was ominous or a term used in the black arts (cf. black magic , black death ).
The incantation and divination practices practiced by the necromancers in the Middle Ages , which were described above all in Grimoires , were forbidden by the Christian doctrine as superstitious ( superstitious ).
Main groups of necromancy
Paracelsus names five types of necromancy: Cognitio mortalium spirituum , Tortura noctis , Meteorica vivens , Clausura nigromantica and Obcoecatio nigromantica . Agrippa von Nettesheim indicates two main groups:
- Scyomantie (also ski diamond and psychomancy ):
- In Scyomantie, an image of the deceased is conjured up, hoping to receive information about other people or to weaken the living or make them sick. In the knowledge system of the Middle Ages, these practices were classified as artes magicae (also artes incertae, artes inhibitae ) alongside the artes liberales and artes mechanicae . The boundaries between science and magic were fluid.
- Nekyomancy:
- The aim is to resuscitate a deceased. Allegedly successful attempts are called revenants . A revenant is said to have supernatural abilities, but is tied to his master for his second life. However, this second life usually ends quickly. Belief in revenants is rooted in the phenomenon of apparent death . There is also an explanation for the scraping and scratching in the graves. Often times people were buried alive during the plague. They desperately tried to get out of their prison until they were painfully suffocated. In general, necromancy, especially the animation of the dead, is counted as black magic and is therefore considered morally dubious.
Examples
Well-known examples of necromancy are King Saul , who had the shadow of Samuel conjured up from Sheol by the necromancer of Endor (1. Sam. 28, 7 ff.), Or Odysseus , who in the 11th book of the " Odyssey " created the spirit of the seer Teiresias conjured up from the underworld by the Necromanteion . Herodotus mentions this necromantism in connection with Periander , the tyrant of Corinth, who sent ambassadors who were supposed to get in touch with his dead wife Melissa in the oracle. The deed of Oedipus was also revealed through necromancy, since Teiresias summoned the dead Laios to find out the name of his murderer. In the Persians of Aeschylus , the spirit of the dead great king Darius is conjured up by his widow Atossa and the choir of the ancients. Especially places like ravines in volcanic areas, which were considered the entrances to the underworld and where the temples of Hades and Persephone were built, were intended for the oracles of the dead. In this cult, the shadows were supposed to drink from the blood of the animal sacrifices in order to receive the strength to answer the questions of the future. The Greeks also called necromancy the sacrifice made for this purpose. In the 15th century, the doctor Johannes Hartlieb treated nigramancia as one of seven mantic arts in his "Book of all forbidden arts" (1455/56) . Many scholars who are familiar with mathematics, astronomy, engineering, alchemy , medicine, etc. Ä. busy, those around them attached the wizard's label (e.g. Gerbert von Reims ). Even the poet Virgil has been ascribed technical marvels since the 12th century, stamping him as a necromancer . Even Faust , Trithemius and John Dee were to operate necromancy under suspicion.
Alleged necromancers also exist in some Christian movements. David Miranda, founder of the Pentecostal- fundamentalist sect Deus é Amor , which has numerous followers especially in Brazil, apparently brought the dead back to life in his events:
“The miracle healings involve trickery, all of which are pure stagings - crazy enough, it even wakes the dead again. He puts down a coffin, puts a supposedly dead bride in it, holds a wake - and then brings the bride back to life. "
literature
- Josef Tropper: Necromancy. Questioning the dead in the Old Orient and in the Old Testament . Series: Old Orient and Old Testament. Publications on the culture and history of the Old Orient and the Old Testament 223. Ed .: Kurt Bergerhof, Manfred Dietrich, Oswald Loretz, Verlag Butzon & Bercker, Kevaler and Neukircher Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1989, ISBN 3-7887-1312-7 .
- Martin Coleman: Introduction to Necromancy. German first edition. Ed .: Karolina Christ-Furrer, 2019, ISBN 978-0-244-73758-0
Web links
- Necromancy in Wilhelm Mannhardt's magic belief and secret knowledge in the mirror of the centuries , Leipzig 1896, pp. 265–284