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necromancy

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necromancy

Conjuring up the dead for divination or other purposes. In ancient times this was believed to be possible among many peoples. In Homer's Odyssey the shade of Tiresias is brought up and consulted by Odysseus; in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, Saul consults the witch, or medium, of Endor in order to speak to the spirit of Samuel. Numerous accounts of necromancy were written during the Middle Ages and later. The modern equivalent is spiritualism.

The sorcerer would stand in a magic circle, a small area marked out as a place of refuge. It commonly consisted of two or more concentric circles with a magical sign or shape in the middle. It was believed that to stand or sit within the centre of the circle was a protection against being carried away by demons while communicating with them.
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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
By his skill in necromancy he has a power of calling whom he pleases from the dead, and commanding their service for twenty-four hours, but no longer; nor can he call the same persons up again in less than three months, except upon very extraordinary occasions.
Gulliver's Travels by Swift, Jonathan View in context
There is a dread, unhallowed necromancy of evil, that turns things sweetest and holiest to phantoms of horror and affright.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Stowe, Harriet Beecher View in context
We ought to mention however, that the sciences of Egypt, that necromancy and magic, even the whitest, even the most innocent, had no more envenomed enemy, no more pitiless denunciator before the gentlemen of the officialty of Notre-Dame.
Notre-Dame de Paris by Hugo, Victor View in context
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