Necromancy

Necromancy, an ancient mode of divination by conjuring up the spirits of the dead to give answers about the future. A classical example is the Old Testament story of the witch of Endor. The eleventh book of Homer's Odyssey bears the title of Nekromanteia, and in it the shade of Tiresias is brought up and consulted by Ulysses. In most parts of Greece necromancy was practised by priests or consecrated persons in the temples; in Thessaly it was the profession of a distinct class of persons called Psychagogoi. See DIVINATION, and MAGIC.