Necromancy: flesh or soul?

[Ithir]

I love how I randomly come here to WF once every 6 months and it’s always with the weirdest stuff.

Anyways, I have a curiosity to ask to anyone who may be into “necromancy” (in honor of halloween season, and yes I know it was 10 days ago, stfu).

When it comes down to necromancy, I’m fairly certain that everyone thinks of zombies and walking skeletons, but my personal opinion is that it’s just a super basic thing, since it’s not actual resurrection nor real life (unless someone here successfully resurrected someone, in that case, i apologize).
What I find much more intriguing and/or academically fascinating and useful is “binding” souls.
They have a much larger utility, practically speaking.

But this is enough as an ice breaker, I’d like to hear your opinions on the matter.

Over and out.

 

[HellenaHex]

I practice necromancy. Zombies and walking skeletons are definitely not involved in my practice. I think morality is important when it comes to this topic because I personally don’t think one should bind just any soul/spirit to do their bidding. If a person wants to bind a spirit or soul I suggest a malicious one since they aren’t going around doing good deeds it is best someone limit their ability to cause problems. I only ever bind what one would call evil or malicious spirits with a predatory nature. I do this through the master of death and when they aren’t with me they are serving him unless he sees fit to completely destroy them. (If you work with any death gods or goddesses, most have collections of unpleasant dead that they have bound to prevent them from causing problems without their say.) Which has happened a couple times but that isn’t a huge problem since we can always just summon a new one to us from his collection or find one outside like we’re playing Pokémon go with dead creeps.

Since I’m also a psychopomp I usually help human and animal spirits find their proper afterlife or at least get them to understand they are dead, but it’s rare I don’t just help them cross over. They need a very good reason to just linger since if they do it for too long it can mess with their minds. Meaning that is why some ghosts act hateful in death even though in life they were kind and wonderful. It’s not healthy for them to linger forever amongst the living.

What is too long, great question…. Too long can be anywhere between 7-1000 years. Usually most ghosts can linger for at least fifty years before suffering mental health issues other than depression from what I’ve experienced. Mental problems they can develop include obsessive compulsive behaviors, delusions, aggression problems, memory problems, and identity problems. Though some spirits will carry over mental health concerns from their lives in some cases. Eventually these issues build until the spirit becomes other and no longer can be identified as a human soul. If this happens in the realm of the living the change is usually negative and they become more like a fear eater, hungry spirit, or stereotypical concepts of demons. If you have ever wondered why spirits of the dead crave blood it is because blood is life force. It helps them remember their lives more clearly and can empower them.

So binding the dead is not something I do often. I only use that technique when I want to remove a problem spirit and think it would either please the master of death to add to his collection or use it as a curse almost. I’ll elaborate. By using it as a curse almost I mean that I bind it to an object and if a spirit is powerful enough some of them can still cause things to happen even when bound if they are not stored properly. With that in mind one could easily put such an item in their enemies possession and they would suffer from poltergeist type phenomena, nightmares, seeing the spirits ability to project images (usually frightening.), and hearing it mimic voices. Not all bound spirits are able to do that, this is an example of a particularly powerful one that I trapped. This one is still in my possession and waiting for me to find the perfect place to bury him.

In my practice a large part of necromancy is honoring the dead and treating them with respect. I have a crystal bowl of clean water with a clear quartz crystal tower in the center that I keep on a Sigil that lets spirits of the dead know my home is a place they can refresh themselves and that they are welcomed so long as they obey the house rules. I also honor my ancestors on my altar and have a jar I keep with grave yard dirt in it from family members, my blood, crystals, some baby teeth from deceased members, and some hair from my grandfather who passed away. On important holidays I invited my dead ancestors and those aligned with my path to eat with us and I set a place for the dead as well as offer them the opportunity to taste the first bite of the meal through me. If done properly this should feel interesting and their taste preferences can affect how you perceive flavor while it is happening.

 

[Morell]

I have yet to find a serious practicing necromancer that thinks about zombies and walking skeletons.