I
have a friend who occasionally asks me questions about magic. While
talking the other night when we got to the subject of conjuration he
noted that he didn't really feel he had the position or connections
to get heavy into spirit work yet, and so I of course asked “do you
have any dead people?” I think a big hurdle for people with
ancestor work is needing to have someone die. If you're not brought
up in a culture of acknowledging your ancestors, it might be a little
foreign to think of if you don't have your own dead people. In any
case, he responded with a few questions about necromancy and the
religious affiliations of the dead. Now the great thing about him
asking questions, is I'm rather fond of him and enjoy talking with
him, and so I tend to answer his questions by rambling out short
extemporaneous essays...which...sometimes become blog posts. So what
follows is me being pretty candid about different elements of
different modes of work with the dead, with some of it expanded or
clarified. I hope you enjoy it and it's useful to you.
I
run a bit beyond the questions, but what kicked if off was
essentially this:
“Concerning
necromancy, what's your opinion when it comes to dealing with
ancestors who in life would be completely opposed to the idea of
magic and especially necromancy? Do you think those feelings would
continue after death? Or do you think the rite of passing itself
would distance them from their worldly dispositions and opinions? Or
even simpler they'd have no care for religious matters?”
So
there is a bit to unpack there...first...necromancy...and
ancestors...and the rights of spirits to have opinions...
If
you're working necromancy, it can often be more coercive, but doesn't
have to be. So it depends a bit on the spirit and the relationship.
If it's a random dead person then their views don't matter so much.
If it's an ancestor that you're contacting through more necromantic
means then you might use a method familiar to their religious view
out of respect and to help maintain the relationship.
To
really answer these questions we have to look at the particular sort
of relationship we're dealing with. I would distinguish between
necromancy -- ancestor work -- ancestor worship
Necromancy
is ritual magic where you conjure and empower the dead with life and
magical force and request that they perform tasks or provide
information you need. Alternatively you can descend to the underworld
to speak with them. But necromancy is largely associated with raising
the dead because its mode of spirit magic involves bringing them into
this world and feeding them with elements to enliven them to bolster
their ability to interact with you or perform tasks for you.
A
lot of time you'll use gods or spirits to exert authority, such as
requesting access from Hades and then commanding that spirit in Hades
name, or in a Christian context perhaps using Azazel. Similarly you
might make a pact with the dead. You could gain access, feed them,
and then ask them to do something with the offer that you might do
something else for them or continue feeding them. Reginald Scot gives
examples of procuring a pact with a dead person and then sending that
now bound dead spirit to fetch and command other spirits for you. All
of this falls under necromancy.
Ancestor
worship is performing rights to honor the dead, or having meals with
them to maintain a relationship so they look out for you and don't
fuck shit up for you. A lot of traditional religion and magic
recognizes that restless dead can be problematic and so you recognize
and make offerings to them to help keep them from messing with you,
or maybe to purge out missteps you've engaged in which might bring
their ire. This is a sort of pagan version of “cooling the dead,”
not so much removing the suffering or torment of purgatory, but
soothing the difficulty an impact of being dead and displaced. There
is a similar component with ancestors who have gone on to where they
need to be. Ancestors want to be part of the family, they don't want
to be forgotten, and they want to help their family continue well.
But they also don't want you to do stupid shit, or mistreat what
they've left behind. Ancestor worship maintains and strengthens the
bond between living and dead members of the family so the dead ones
stay happy, retain power and influence, and focus on having your
back.
In
my view ancestor working or ancestral magic is somewhere between
ancestor worship and necromancy and has elements of both, but it also
drops features from each. For example it isn't coercive like
necromancy but it isn't passive like ancestor worship either. It kind
of looks like ancestor worship but with a more direct expectation
that they will help with specific things you ask for, introduce you
to spirits or help keep good relations with you and spirits, assist
in your magical work and maybe help guide spirits to outcomes you
need. So you build a relationship like in ancestor worship and
empower them like in Necromancy and they look out for you like in
ancestor worship but they also do specific stuff for you like in
Necromancy.
But
the interaction differs, at least in my view. Both in terms of
methods and the way each one feels as far as the interaction with the
spirits.
Like
when I work with my dead, I make offerings, set lights, ask Charon to
bring them, and thank them for stuff and ask for any help I need. If
I want their help in magic I tell them what spirits I'm working with
and ask them to help and maybe explain how. Alternatively I might
call on them before beginning a conjuration or magical rite and ask
for them to assist. Or I might leave a tool or object on their altar
and ask for their blessing or empowerment before I use it for magic.
When
I do necromancy it's got a more intense flavor. There's libations
poured out on the ground, coins thrown into cross roads, chthonic
gods called with Orphic hymns, maybe stuff involving blood and meat,
or food abandoned in the night. Going to places where people died or
where the dead are resting, or other liminal places at liminal times.
If
I'm honoring an ancestor for like a birthday or holiday it's kind of
like having dinner with them and is pretty laid back, and can also be
pretty personal and emotional. There's some prayers and then we eat
and I tell them what's new in my life or other family members. We
maintain a familial relationship and connection the same way you
would with living relatives, you basically visit with them, and keep
them feeling like they're part of the living family.
Ancestral
magic is kind of the daily traditional household magic, necromancy is
intense goetic sorcery, and ancestor worship is visiting the dead for
thanksgiving style catching up.
As
to the religion thing...if they're Christian none of this will be
familiar to them. Except in some traditional folk Catholic contexts,
but anyone who is a product of a few generations of life in America
as a Christian probably wouldn't die with the expectation that their
relatives do this stuff. But once they're on the other side...maybe.
So
I don't think it matters because for MOST people I don't think their
expectations impact their afterlife. They get their and they find out
what's what. At least the part of them that remains as that person
continuing on.
If
they weren't magical you probably want to talk with them about magic
first and make sure they agree to help you with magic before you call
on them to help with magic. You could still call on them to look out
for you, and help you fix problems in your life. That's a little more
of a hit the ground running kind of thing than being like “Hey,
Aunt Judy, I know you didn't do magic...but I'm going to make this
sweetening jar and I need you to help empower it, and maybe introduce
me to a spirit who can help accomplish it's work.” I feel like it's
like talking to a living person. You don't want to catch them off
guard with a request. But just because it might catch them off guard
if it wasn't discussed before that requests like that might happen,
doesn't mean that they won't be cool with the request if they know
it's coming. Make some offerings, have a conversation with them about
the relationship you want, and what kind of help with magic you will
want, listen for what they're cool with too, they should be talking
back, it should be a conversation. Let them know you'll be working
magic and you want them to be a part of it. I think most will be ok
with that. Since you talking to them is kind of magic already.
But
that said, they keep their opinions and ideas, at least on some
level.
Like
not 100% but if they were about helping people they still are, if
they were about what's yours is yours they still are. Like basic core
elements of how they saw things. But family is also important to them
and contact and interaction and offerings and physical stuff, because
that's what attaches them to our world, so it helps them maintain a
piece of that existence. Even if it wasn't stuff that they'd be into
when they were alive, the elements of this connection should become
important to them now. But their thoughts and feelings and
personality should also be similar to what it was in life.
These
offerings, and this relationship isn't just important to them though,
it should be important to you. It strengthens them to help us. So if
you want the relationship to be useful to you this stuff needs to be
there.
But
yeah, as far as whether or not you need to call them within the
context of their religion. Call them under the power of the gods who
rule the world of the dead. They live in their kingdom now, whoever
where their gods when they were living, the gods of the land of the
dead are their gods while they're dead.
Unless
it's like a Saint or a Blessed. If you're asking one of them to be in
your ancestor court they're specifically empowered by Christian
ritual and belief already. So it's like working with a god or mighty
dead spirit from a religion, you contact them within that religious
context. Part of what you're drawing on is the power associated with
their religious role, so call on that within the context of that
power. They're built into a different spiritual structure, and you're
not working on the personal identity of that individual so much as
that identity empowered with a religious iconography and spiritual
power fed by a tradition of religious veneration. You're approaching
a legend as much as a person.
So
Azazel, Azrael, St. Peter, probably St. Christopher, St. Cyprian, St.
Benedict, maybe St. Nicholas or some Saint associated with the dead
or funeral customs would be the authority or the gate keeper, or
assisting spirit to call upon when trying to access the spirit of a
Saint or Blessed canon figure to work with in the context of your
ancestors.
Otherwise,
regular dead people, call them how you'd call them and talk with them
about what you'd want and see if they're good with it.
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