Devotional Basis of my Necromancy

Necromancy 201

Since my previous threads on Necromancy, my practice has taken a different turn. I’m being lead towards a much more “Greek” practice, as I’ve taken The Hades and Persephone as my Necromantic patrons. I feel as if I should give everyone a better idea of what I’ve been doing.

I’ll make a brief list of the tools, which still hold their original powers/uses:
The Wand (made of wood or bone)
The Dagger
The Skull
The divination device
Incense (frankincense, myrrh)

The altar: This has changed. It is no longer an option. The altar of the Mighty Dead is where the Chthonoi (gods of the Underworld) are served, as well as other important spirits.

The foundation of this whole practice is the relationship with the Chthonoi. They are served weekly upon the altar, preferably on the same day and at the same time. For those who are genuine seekers, they will become great tutors of the Necromantic arte. Before you begin, you must know how to cast the circle and call the quarters:

Take your wand and cast a black circle around your ritual space three times going counterclockwise. Then turn to the west and draw a large, black equal armed cross saying the following call 3 times:
O Thou Lord of Death
King Hades of the Underworld
Zeus Khthonios
Thy sacred ear incline
And guard my holy circle in the western quarter!

Repeat the cross in each quarter making these calls:
South
Hermes Khthonios
Sacred guide of the dead
Come to guard my holy circle in the south

East
Kore Persephone
O Lovely Maiden
As you are queen of Hades, I pray
Guard my circle in the east

North
Mighty Thanatos
O winged death
Fly here and guard my circle in the north

This completes the circle. To UN do it, say farewell to each quarter and trace the circle three times clockwise.

Weekly Offerings

On the wall in back of the altar, mount images of the spirits that you shall call, who are Hades, Persephone, Hermes Khthonios, and Thanatos. On the altar, the skull is placed to the center back. In front of it, place a plate of bread, red others, and fruit. Around this, arrange four glasses for wine offerings. One glass per spirit. Next to the food, place a big wine glass filled with fresh water. You will also need a vessel to burn charcoal in, because you will be burning frankincense as part of the service.
To begin, you will cast the circle and call the quarters. Next, you kneel before the altar and recite the orphic hymn to Hades. Then you will pour some wine into the glass and offer it to him. Next you will recite the hymns to Persephone, Hermes Khthonios and Thanatos. Offer wine to each of them. When everyone has been given wine, kindle the charcoal and burn frankincense thereon. Stay in communion with them for as long as you wish. When you are done, give them thanks for their coming and close the circle.

This devotion is the basis of my Necromantic practices. For these are the gods invoked to compel the spirit to come.
Hymns

Plouton, magnanimous, whose realms profound are fixed beneath the firm and solid ground, in the Tartarean plains remote from sight, and wrapt for ever in the depths of night. Zeus Khthonios, thy sacred ear incline, and pleased accept these sacred rites divine. Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king, belong, its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong. ‘Tis thine abundant annual fruits to bear, for needy mortals are thy constant care. To thee, great king, all sovereign earth assigned, the seat of gods and basis of mankind. Thy throne is fixed in Haides’ dismal plains, distant, unknown to the rest, where darkness reigns; where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell, in endless, dire, inexorable hell; and in dread Akheron, whose depths obscure, earth’s stable roots eternally secure. O mighty Daimon, whose decision dread, the future fate determines of the dead, with Persephone captive, through grassy plains, drawn in a four-yoked car with loosened reins, rapt over the deep, impelled by love, you flew till Eleusinia’s city rose to view: there, in a wondrous cave obscure and deep, the sacred maid secure from search you keep, the cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display an entrance to the kingdoms void of day. Of works unseen and seen thy power alone to be the great dispending source is known. All-ruling, holy God, with glory bright, thee sacred poets and their hymns delight, propitious to thy mystics’ works incline, rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.

Daughter of Zeus, Persephone divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: only-befotten, Plouton’s honoured wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life: ‘tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell. Zeus’ holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, avenging Goddess, subterranean queen. The Eumenides’ source, fair-haired, whose frame proceeds from Zeus’ ineffable and secret seeds. Mother of Eubouleo, sonorous, divine, and many-formed, the parent of the vine. Associate of the Seasons, essence bright, all-ruling virgin, bearing heavenly light. With fruits abounding, of a bounteous mind, horned, and alone desired by those of mortal kind. O vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight: whose holy form in budding fruits we view, earth’s vigorous offspring of a various hue: espoused in autumn, life and death alone to wretched mortals from thy power is known: for thine the task , according to thy will, life to produce, and all that lives to kill. Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase of various fruits from earth, with lovely peace: send health with gentle hand, and crown my life with blest abundance, free from noisy strife; last in extreme old age the prey of death, dismiss me willing to the realms beneath, to thy fair palace and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Hades reigns.

Hermes I call, whom Fate decrees to dwell in the dire path which leads to deepest hell. O Bacchic Hermes, progeny divine of Dionysus, parent of the vine,And of celestial Aphrodite Paphian queen, dark eye-lash’d Goddess of a lovely mien:Who constant wand’rest thro’ the sacred featswhere hell’s dread empress, Persephone, retreats;To wretched souls the leader of thc way when Fate decrees, to regions void of day:Thine is the wand which causes sleep to fly, or lulls to slumb’rous rest the weary eye;For Persephone.thro’ Tart’rus dark and wide gave thee forever flowing souls to guide.Come, blessed pow’r the sacrifice attend, and grant our mystic works a happy end.

Hear me, O Thanatos, whose empire unconfin’d, extends to mortal tribes of ev’ry kind.On thee, the portion of our time depends, whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds, by which the soul, attracting body holds:Common to all of ev’ry sex and age, for nought escapes thy all-destructive rage;Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, vig’rous and strong, by thee untimely slain.In thee, the end of nature’s works is known, in thee, all judgment is absolv’d alone:No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage controul, no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul;O blessed pow’r regard my ardent pray’r, and human life to age abundant spare.

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Interesting, what about Tartarus?

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Tartarus is a pit/entity dwelling below Hades. It contains the dead who are punished for offenses to the gods. Not much you can do with it.

Tartarus is a primordial deity, no different than Chaos, Nyx, Erebus, etc…

From the Wiki on Echnidna:

According to Apollodorus, Echidna was the daughter of Tartarus and Gaia,[3]

I wouldn’t cast aside the possibility that one could work with this entity. I think people get a little disoriented when a deity is also a realm. We either separate them into an entity and its realm that it chose to name after itself…or a realm alone. In the case of Hades, we know that the realm and entity are both separate from one another…the deity choosing to name his realm after himself.

An entity of this magnitude, however, can be both simultaneously. The souls, therefor, reside within the belly of the beast…Tartarus. This makes sense, considering it’s a place of torture…and what’s more torturous than being spiritually digested for all of eternity? A ravenous entity feasting upon the misery of the dead…

I know that, hence why I said pit/entity. But it doesn’t figure much in my Necromancy because it’s technically not even part of Hades.
I just don’t see much use in it. I think most of the workings would be centered on the primordial darkness, interacting with it, etc. Not really my thing though.

[quote=“Euoi, post:5, topic:3722”]I know that, hence why I said pit/entity. But it doesn’t figure much in my Necromancy because it’s technically not even part of Hades.
I just don’t see much use in it. I think most of the workings would be centered on the primordial darkness, interacting with it, etc. Not really my thing though.[/quote]

I’m not sure; there’s so little known about the entity beyond its role as a place of torture for the dead. Still, it’s obviously associated with death as a devourer…so could it prove beneficial in Necromancy? Even Hades himself is only associated with death because he was appointed the position…rather than Thanatos: the personification of death alongside his sisters.

So, I’m left wondering…is Tartarus a death god as well? If Hades is a god of death through his appointed position…would not Tartarus be considered such through his association as a place for damned souls who have offended the gods? It’s more than likely that Tartarus has sway over those who reside within him, no?

If that’s the case…one would think that Tartarus holds far more power, as a primordial entity, than Hades. Though, that’s not to say that they both aren’t powerful in their own right…just that it could be prudent to explore what Tartarus is truly about and could, potentially, bring to the plate of those he favors.

Then again…it may be rather dangerous to work with an entity that could be perceived as a great devourer of pain and agony…swallower of souls. As an entity, there’s very little known about Tartarus, which I find fascinating in comparison to Hades, which has plenty of lore depicting his personality.

I don’t agree with JSK’s interpretations, but there is some helpful information in the first volume of Geosophia in the section, "The Dream of Ir."
and also on pp.17 of the GV.

Huh?

[quote=“Tenebrae Aeterna, post:6, topic:3722”][quote=“Euoi, post:5, topic:3722”]I know that, hence why I said pit/entity. But it doesn’t figure much in my Necromancy because it’s technically not even part of Hades.
I just don’t see much use in it. I think most of the workings would be centered on the primordial darkness, interacting with it, etc. Not really my thing though.[/quote]

I’m not sure; there’s so little known about the entity beyond its role as a place of torture for the dead. Still, it’s obviously associated with death as a devourer…so could it prove beneficial in Necromancy? Even Hades himself is only associated with death because he was appointed the position…rather than Thanatos: the personification of death alongside his sisters.

So, I’m left wondering…is Tartarus a death god as well? If Hades is a god of death through his appointed position…would not Tartarus be considered such through his association as a place for damned souls who have offended the gods? It’s more than likely that Tartarus has sway over those who reside within him, no?

If that’s the case…one would think that Tartarus holds far more power, as a primordial entity, than Hades. Though, that’s not to say that they both aren’t powerful in their own right…just that it could be prudent to explore what Tartarus is truly about and could, potentially, bring to the plate of those he favors.

Then again…it may be rather dangerous to work with an entity that could be perceived as a great devourer of pain and agony…swallower of souls. As an entity, there’s very little known about Tartarus, which I find fascinating in comparison to Hades, which has plenty of lore depicting his personality.[/quote]

To the best of my knowledge, tartarus is a place where disobedient angels are chained. It is a place, not a god. However, if you were to try to evoke Tartarus, you would probably be dealing with a demon calling himself tartarus, not a demon named tartarus.

[
… For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus
and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment … ]

http://biblehub.net/search.php?q=tartarus

However, in Greek mythology, Tartarus is also a deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus

[Tartarus is only known in Hellenistic Jewish literature from the Greek text of 1 Enoch, dated to 400–200 BC. This states that God placed the archangel Uriel “in charge of the world and of Tartarus” (20:2). Tartarus is generally understood to be the place where 200 fallen Watchers (angels) are imprisoned.[9] Tartarus also appears in sections of the Jewish Sibylline Oracles. E.g. Sib. Or. 4:186.] (Wikipedia)

Tartarus is from Greek mythology, and is a place and deity.

Euoi, well put ritual :). I can only imagine how deep you get into it while going through it lol. Makes my weekly to Lillith look a bit clinical lol. Thanks for sharing!

Best
Keez

[quote=“gvgjbune, post:9, topic:3722”][quote=“Tenebrae Aeterna, post:6, topic:3722”][quote=“Euoi, post:5, topic:3722”]I know that, hence why I said pit/entity. But it doesn’t figure much in my Necromancy because it’s technically not even part of Hades.
I just don’t see much use in it. I think most of the workings would be centered on the primordial darkness, interacting with it, etc. Not really my thing though.[/quote]

I’m not sure; there’s so little known about the entity beyond its role as a place of torture for the dead. Still, it’s obviously associated with death as a devourer…so could it prove beneficial in Necromancy? Even Hades himself is only associated with death because he was appointed the position…rather than Thanatos: the personification of death alongside his sisters.

So, I’m left wondering…is Tartarus a death god as well? If Hades is a god of death through his appointed position…would not Tartarus be considered such through his association as a place for damned souls who have offended the gods? It’s more than likely that Tartarus has sway over those who reside within him, no?

If that’s the case…one would think that Tartarus holds far more power, as a primordial entity, than Hades. Though, that’s not to say that they both aren’t powerful in their own right…just that it could be prudent to explore what Tartarus is truly about and could, potentially, bring to the plate of those he favors.

Then again…it may be rather dangerous to work with an entity that could be perceived as a great devourer of pain and agony…swallower of souls. As an entity, there’s very little known about Tartarus, which I find fascinating in comparison to Hades, which has plenty of lore depicting his personality.[/quote]

To the best of my knowledge, tartarus is a place where disobedient angels are chained. It is a place, not a god. However, if you were to try to evoke Tartarus, you would probably be dealing with a demon calling himself tartarus, not a demon named tartarus.

[
… For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus
and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment … ]

http://biblehub.net/search.php?q=tartarus

However, in Greek mythology, Tartarus is also a deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus

[Tartarus is only known in Hellenistic Jewish literature from the Greek text of 1 Enoch, dated to 400–200 BC. This states that God placed the archangel Uriel “in charge of the world and of Tartarus” (20:2). Tartarus is generally understood to be the place where 200 fallen Watchers (angels) are imprisoned.[9] Tartarus also appears in sections of the Jewish Sibylline Oracles. E.g. Sib. Or. 4:186.] (Wikipedia)[/quote]

I’m speaking of the Greek origin; I have no interest in the interpretation of biblical scripture.

Interesting

Is there an enn or something to call Thanatos?

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