Please explain your statement about necromancy. Why does it end badly?
Necromancy has various definitions these days. One definition is 'a form of divination, where the dead are called and asked questions about the future'. Odd that someone should believe that people who lived in the past should know about the future, but there it is.
It's also used to describe practices like the reanimation of corpses, so those who produce zombies are often referred to as necromancers. In reality, zombies aren't dead, merely drugged, so the term is wrongly applied. I have seen no evidence to suggest that reanimation of a corpse has ever happened, nor that it could happen.
Necromancy, in its broadest sense, refers to any magical practice that involves dealing with the dead.
I don't consider mediumship as necromancy because there's no 'deal' involved. It's just conversation. A spirit happens along and has a chat with someone who can hear him. That's all there is to it. It's just like meeting someone in the street.
Where someone tries to contact a particular spirit, it's a little different. Instead of the 'meeting in the street' analogy, it's more like standing up in a crowded square and shouting 'Come to me. I'll let you in'.
There's no direct-link to an individual spirit. You can only find a particular one by sending out a general call like that, and hoping the right one answers. The problem is, you're open to any and all responses, friendly or otherwise. Friendly spirits might answer for free. Unfriendly ones will want something in return.
They won't necessarily tell you what that 'something' is. Once they've answered your call, they consider their side of the bargain completed. Now it's your turn to pay. You might have just acquired a particularly unpleasant house guest, and one that's difficult to remove because you invited them in.
That's why I consider necromancy dangerous. It's too easy to slip from general chats with the passing dead into trying to reach particular individuals. Once you start sending out general invitations, anyone can answer. It's like having an open-house party; it's inevitable that a few thugs will turn up. The standard call of 'Is anyone there?' has the same effect. You're inviting anyone to answer. Anyone at all.
Some years, hopefully many years, from now I'll be answering those calls. There'll be EVP's recorded saying 'You're an idiot', and less polite remarks.
Chatting with spirits who pass by is harmless. Calling out to spirits is risky. You might not realise it, but you're offering a trade, without specifying a limit to what you're willing to trade.
As in life, there are those who are only too keen to take advantage of that.
12 comments:
Hmm. Thank you for that reply.I guess you suspected it might lead to additional questons. I do have a few, if you don't mind.
I don't understand why calling out to a specific dead person is likely to be answered by someone else. If I'm on the street and someone yells, "Hey Fred!" I don't turn around because I'm not Fred. Or if I do turn around out of curiosity, I don't reply because I'm not Fred. I go on about my business.
Also, how is trying to speak to a specific person a "general invitation?" It's not as if I'd be saying, "Hey everybody, come over and haunt my house!" It would be more like, "Fred, can you hear me?" If ghosts are the same people they were before they died (and I wholeheartedly believe they are), why would John, Pete, and Sam care if I want to talk to Fred? Couldn't it be just as likely that one them turns to Fred and says, "Man, she's calling you again."
I can understand how it could become annoying to the ghost if the living abused the ability, like a stalker or something. They have things to do, people to see, tall buildings to leap in a single bound, one once told me. I know I abused it for a while. I always wanted more. Stay longer, tell me more, prove to me again that you're really here. That's annoying in life. I imagine it's not much different in death. I guess what I'm getting at is that if I pray for a specific person (and I caught on that you're not particularly religious, but cut me some slack for the sake of argument, okay?) not everyone will get the benefit of that prayer, but only the person for whom it's intended. Why would that be different than calling someone specific in the spirit world?
And for wanting something in return - what might they want? I had a ghost ask me for something once, and the object asked for was hilarious to me. But from what you're saying, I'm guessing the thing requested might not be so funny.
Okay, I have to go. I get to sleep for half an hour before I start my day. Woo. Thanks again for the information.
"I pray for a specific person... only the person for whom it's intended. Why would that be different than calling someone specific in the spirit world?"
I'll assume by 'pray' you mean simple common prayer and not something deeper (which can attract unfriendlies if you don't protect yourself properly).
When you pray, you're talking to the Alpha-Omega of the universe, who then answers (or doesn't). I'd be surprised if many other spirits would intercept that type of communication. Who wants to get on the wrong side of the Numero Uno?
But when you walk into a biker bar and yell 'Hey Sal', well...you may very well take somebody else's fancy. Dangerous.
When you call out to the spirit world, don't assume you're in spiritual equivalent of a Sunday school class. Maybe you are. Or maybe you're in the spiritual equivalent of a biker bar.
Sorry, Romulus. That question was addressed to you. I kind of barged in didn't I?
My apologies Southern Writer.
Off to sit quietly in the corner.
I'm not going to say 'this is how it is'. All I can say is 'this is how it looks to me'. There are no definitive answers in this subject as yet.
Having said that, I agree, essentially, with what Anonymous said. I can't claim any expertise in the subject of prayer, but is seems to me that prayer addresses whatever God you believe in, and affects (usually) a living person. Whether that's a form of faith-based healing, or whether it works through a supernatural intermediary, I can't say. Either it's a direct human-human link, which has nothing to do with the spirit world, or as Anonymous says, you're calling on something too powerful for a criminal spirit to interfere with.
I'm not religious, as I said, but I don't dismiss the possibility of a God. I often ridicule the religious who take things too literally, or too far, but not the religion itself. There are fewer ghosts around than there are corpses, so most of them are going somewhere. I'm not going to say there's no Heaven or Hell, because I have no way to prove or disprove either.
The afterlife is populated with people from this world. The con-men, the tricksters, the sly and the wantonly cruel are all there, along with the benevolent. The con-men have an advantage here, because they don't have to show their faces. If they intercept a call, they can answer and pretend to be someone else.
As to what they want, well, it varies. I don't believe you'll come across any red-faced men with horns who want your soul.
Many of the 'bad guy' spirits are as petty as they were in life. Some just want to come and live in your comfortable house, where they can be spiteful and vindictive to living people.
I think some of them resent being dead. They get angry about it, and since they were unreasonable people to begin with, they'll take out their anger on whoever they can get.
They can be smooth-talking and devious, until they've established a link with a place or person. Then they show their true colours.
I'm not sure this explanation is coming out clearly. I'll think about it and try again later.
As with any explanation in this (practically unexplainable) subject, I'm only able to say what I believe to be true, based on what I know so far. My opinion could change in an instant, whenever new evidence presents itself.
There's only one way to be absolutely certain what the afterlife is like, and I'm in no hurry!
I'll try another post later, when I've had time to arrange my thoughts into something coherent.
Thanks Professor and Anonymous. I agree with just about all of it.
I had a friend who technically passed on once, and was resuscitated. She said she had no fear, no sadness, nothing was wrong, everything was fine. I would love to tell you more about how she described it, but it's all in my book so I'm not ready to make that public info, just yet.
I also had an experience, but I can't tell you about it here and now, either. I will tell you I have absolutely no fear of death. And sometimes, I actually look forward to it. I always hesitate to say that because people tend to jump to conclusions and think I'm suicidal. I'm not. I wouldn't. But my friend was right. It was wonderful. That world was so much sharper, clearer, brighter, and more defined than ours. And filled with love, just the way we've been told to believe heaven is. For that reason, I began to believe that if there is a hell, this is it.
Think back to a time when you were a kid and had no worries. Pick a day that was the happiest of all, one so great that you still recall that feeling now. Maybe it was the first warm day of spring and you were coasting along on your bike, your arms in the air, the wind in your hair, your best friend by your side ... now multiply it by a hundred.
One of the things that struck me most, is that from the other side, the material world appears to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors, mere shades and shadows. We think we're real and they're ghosts, but in reality (at least from there), it's the other way around. They're the ones who are real, and we (and our world) are the ones made of gossamer.
I guess it's because of that experience and my own contacts with the deceased that I have trouble considering the reality of evil ghosts. Yes, a certain movie scared the holy hell out of me and I've never gotten over it, even 30+ years later, so I always tell myself it was only a movie. That kind of thing couldn't really happen. I am a person unafraid to go to the cemetery alone at 3 a.m., but from listening to y'all, I admit, I'm beginning to get a little nervous. What's to stop them from visiting me uninvited?
They do. And it's frightening. But they only show up once in a great while and you can get rid of it you refuse to interact with it from the first instant it appears.
A tip from my personal experience: Don't do deep meditative prayer inside your home. Do it at the park, in a church, on the bus.
Holy crap. Who are you? Are you saying if I'm in a heavy conversation with The Source, I'm vulnerable to those things? I didn't need to know this. And how, exactly, am I to know they're around if I don't see them? And don't they feed on fear? So if you scare me, you're putting me at risk. Gee, thanks.
Professor! Do you agree?
I considered the option to disallow anonymous posts, but decided against it. Since anyone can make up a name and post, anonymity is easy anyway. So it seemed pointless. Now it seems I can't differentiate one 'anonymous' from another.
Anyway, do I agree? Not entirely.
I don't believe evil ghosts 'feed' on fear. I do believe that, like schoolyard bullies, they are encouraged by a fearful reaction.
They want to scare you. You show fear. They enjoy that, and step up their activities.
I also differentiate prayer from an attempt to contact a spirit. Prayer, I think, is not directed at the spirits. I don't think they can answer.
Meditation is distinct from prayer (to me) and can result in opening yourself up to spirit communication. For some, that's the whole point of doing it.
So what stops the ruffians turning up when they like? Well, in the interests of keeping these comment threads manageable, I'll put up a post about what I believe to be the case.
I never said they fed on fear. I said don't interact with them and they will usually go away.
Stopped by earlier and typed a long comment here, then found out Blogger was down for maintenance and it wouldn't go through.
I'm glad you didn't disallow anonymous posts. Sometimes it's the best way to get people to discuss something they might not want the world to know they participate in - and be open and honest about them. It would be nice if the different Anonymous' gave themselves numbers, though, so we can tell them apart.
I guess what upsets me here - not that I'm freaking out or anything - is that y'all make it sound so common, like they're always lurking around, just waiting for us to let our guard down. And if we're vulnerable while meditating, how vulnerable are we while sleeping? I hate thinking about this. I can't live my life in fear. In this case, I think ignorance is bliss. I never gave them a thought before, and have had no problems with them. I don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder, afraid to be alone in the house at night, or to walk into a dark room. F**k that. I live in a city with one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. - more than NY, L.A., or Chicago, and my theory is that if I don't go looking for trouble, I won't find it. I guess that's the way I will have to handle this revelation, too.
Anonymous - no, you didn't say that, it's just a common theory. Since they go away when you don't interact, they do sound like schoolyard bullies. They're not getting the reaction they want so they move on.
SW - Ghosts are rare, and the bad ones are a subset of a rare group. You're much more likely to be attacked by the living than the dead. I don't worry about them. I worry more about muggers and drunken thugs. If I ever hear a thump in my house at night, I'd reach for a weapon, not a camera.
There are too many live bad people around for anyone to get too concerned about the dead bad ones. The live ones are far more dangerous, too.
Don't panic, they're not hiding in every shadow. Just be aware they're out there. It's the same as being careful when you answer your door; there probably isn't a robber on the other side, but everyone checks before they open it wide.
Thanks, Professor. That makes sense.
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