Editing Necromancy (section)

== Early and High Middle Age ==
{{Further|Medieval European magic}}
Many medieval writers believed that actual [[resurrection]] required the assistance of God. They saw the practice of necromancy as conjuring demons who took the appearance of spirits. The practice became known explicitly as [[maleficium (sorcery)|maleficium]], and the Catholic Church condemned it.<ref>Kieckhefer 2011, p. 152.</ref> Though the practitioners of necromancy were linked by many common threads, there is no evidence that these necromancers ever organized as a group. One noted commonality among practitioners of necromancy was usually the utilization of certain toxic and [[hallucinogenic]] plants from the [[nightshade family]] such as [[black henbane]], [[jimson weed]], [[Atropa belladonna|belladonna]] or [[mandrake]], usually in magic salves or potions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants: ethnopharmacology and its applications|last=Raetsch|first=Ch.|publisher=US: Park Street Press|year=2005|pages=277–282}}</ref>

Medieval necromancy is believed{{by whom|date=March 2015}} to be a synthesis of [[Astral plane|astral]] magic derived from Arabic influences and [[exorcism]] derived from Christian and Jewish teachings. Arabic influences are evident in rituals that involve moon phases, sun placement, day and time. Fumigation and the act of burying images are also found in both astral magic and necromancy. Christian and Jewish influences appear in the symbols and in the conjuration formulas used in summoning rituals.<ref>Kieckhefer 2011, pp. 165–166.</ref>

Practitioners were often members of the Christian clergy, though some nonclerical practitioners are recorded. In some instances, mere apprentices or those ordained to lower orders dabbled in the practice. They were connected by a belief in the manipulation of spiritual beings – especially demons – and magical practices. These practitioners were almost always literate and well educated. Most possessed basic knowledge of exorcism and had access to texts of [[astrology]] and of [[demonology]]. Clerical training was informal and university-based education rare. Most were trained under apprenticeships and were expected to have a basic knowledge of Latin, ritual and doctrine. This education was not always linked to spiritual guidance and seminaries were almost non-existent. This situation allowed some aspiring clerics to combine Christian rites with [[occult]] practices despite its condemnation in Christian doctrine.<ref>Kieckhefer 2011, pp. 153–154.</ref>

Medieval practitioners believed they could accomplish three things with necromancy: will manipulation, illusions, and knowledge:
* Will manipulation affects the mind and will of another person, animal, or spirit. Demons are summoned to cause various afflictions on others, "to drive them mad, to inflame them to love or hatred, to gain their favor, or to constrain them to do or not do some deed."<ref>Kieckhefer 2011, p. 158.</ref>
* Illusions involve reanimation of the dead or conjuring food, entertainment, or a mode of transportation.
* Knowledge is allegedly discovered when demons provide information about various things. This might involve identifying criminals, finding items, or revealing future events.

The act of performing medieval necromancy usually involved magic circles, conjurations, and sacrifices such as those shown in the ''[[Munich Manual of Demonic Magic]]'':
* Circles were usually traced on the ground, though cloth and parchment were sometimes used. Various objects, shapes, symbols, and letters may be drawn or placed within that represent a mixture of Christian and occult ideas. Circles were usually believed to empower and protect what was contained within, including protecting the necromancer from the conjured demons. A text known as the Heptameron explain the function of the circle thusly: "But because the greatest power is attributed to the Circles; (For they are certain fortresses to defend the operators safe from the evil Spirits;)..."
* Conjuration is the method of communicating with the demons to have them enter the physical world. It usually employs the power of special words and stances to call out the demons and often incorporated the use of Christian prayers or biblical verses. These conjurations may be repeated in succession or repeated to different directions until the summoning is complete.
* [[Sacrifice]] was the payment for summoning; though it may involve the flesh of a human being or animal, it could sometimes be as simple as offering a certain object. Instructions for obtaining these items were usually specific. The time, location, and method of gathering items for sacrifice could also play an important role in the ritual.<ref>Kieckhefer 2011, pp. 159–162.</ref>

The rare confessions of those accused of necromancy suggest that there was a range of spell casting and related magical experimentation. It is difficult to determine if these details were due to their practices, as opposed to the whims of their interrogators. [[John of Salisbury]] is one of the first examples related by [[Richard Kieckhefer]], but as a Parisian [[ecclesiastical court]] record of 1323 shows, a "group who were plotting to invoke the demon Berich from inside a circle made from strips of cat skin" were obviously participating in what the Church would define as "necromancy".<ref>Kieckhefer 1998, p. 191.</ref>

Herbert Stanley Redgrove claims necromancy as one of three chief branches of medieval [[ceremonial magic]], alongside [[black magic]] and [[Left-hand path and right-hand path|white magic]].<ref>Redgrove, p. 95.</ref> This does not correspond to contemporary classifications, which often conflate "nigromancy" ("black-knowledge") with "necromancy" ("death-knowledge").