OK,guys,so this is an update from me.I’m not much of a necromancer.Morbid fascinations with death,and the afterlife,aside,I have never been too fond of it.I have no fears of ghosts,or zombies,or anything like that.
My fears have been settle when experience in the magical arts either dispelled the fears,or made them a part of my life.I don’t practice necromancy for a whole variety of reasons.For starters,it seemed hardcore,and serious.
It seemed like something that would require me to go to graveyards at night(which in my present state is impossible),it seemed like something that would require devotion too much devotion,too much experience…and that would kill me in the long-term.
True,I have experienced,when working with the demons,that I become like them.That when I work with gods of old,I become like them.That’s why I so readily and willingly give my body and voice over to possession,because I know that such an act of invocation would only be a culmination of an already engaged chain reaction to let the currents of power infiltrate my life,and even more intimately,me.
The warning of not working with the dead has been following me from the first grimoire I’ve opened,from every word I’ve ever read on Necromancy,and the warnings were ubiquitous.I heeded them,and saw no need to work with the dead.I have few dead ancestors,soul travel and evocation did satiate my knowledge to know what lies beyond the veil even a bit,so really,besides needing to quench my curiosity to learn as much magic as possible,there was no reason for me to get into the arts of the dead.
My grandfather died,ten years ago.I went to the cemetery,and tried to talk to him.It was exciting,because prior to this,I had only evoked him once,through a picture.I had heard his voice.I told him everything he needed to know,everything good and bad that had happened to me,and his replies were hearthwarming.His presence was pleasing.And all I needed was to enter a TGS and call out to him,and he came.
Death has been following my family for the past year.Since February,three people on my dad’s side of the family perished.And I thought it was time to make a connection with my ancestors.
I did read some of Euoi’s post,that got me thinking that I really should try going into death magic at least a little bit.If I properly cleanse(which is very easy for me) then there’s no reason for a pinch of death essence to harm me.
I heard somewhere,from Dante Abiel I believe,that he thought Djehuty was a good psychopomp.This confused me.Djehuty has almost no associations to the dead,and minor ties to the moon.But as a lord of knowledge,he must be aware of them.It was worth a shot.I did use Baba Yaga and Hecate as my psychopomps as well.
What I came across was that Djehuty was so good because of his lunar ties,and because of the fact that he’s Egyptian.And the Egyptians had a very positive outlook on death,and the afterlife.The calm and predictable Nile made life in the desert much more fun,which meant to the ancients that the gods were phlegmatic and that the afterlife was wonderful.
This general sense of optimism is something I love.I connected to the first of the people that died this year,and I got into connection with my whole family.I have been giving them frequent offerings and calling on them.Today,though,I went to the mosque of Kemal-paša,and met the Gatekeeper(or as I like to refer to him,the Cryptkeeper).
This cemetery’s Cryptkeeper(a cemetery that is right next to me),was Kemal-paša himself.I’ve payed him,in exchange for him to help me by heeding my calls,and giving me a connection to the dead there.So that if I were to need any of them,I could just call on Kemal.
He agreed.
I’ve been doing Limpias,LBRPs,and a couple of other banishing rituals every time I’ve worked with the dead.It isn’t something that’s central to my system.But,I’ve been able to combine it with some of my core shamanism journeying,my work with Djehuty,and my work with Baba Yaga,and with Hekate,and with the demons…
This doesn’t seem like a practice I’ll get overly involved with,since I can’t make many of the commitments it’d require,or face the dangers of not honoring those commitments.But I can say,that the dead are great.