Can anyone help me join a coven or practice necromancy?

[witchhaven16]

I really want to learn. I know we might be far away but we can keep in touch or meet up one day. I'll take it as serious as needed

[planewalker]

Necromancy - Death Magic. Why do you want to study necromancy? The repercussions can be quite drastic. How old are you?

[SpiritTalker]

Erm, joining a coven & necromancy aren't the same thing. You might do better with psychic study groups.

More info please. What do you include in your definition of "necromancy"? Just communicating with the dead, or fortune telling thru the dead? How much basic ground work have you done already? The three basics of grounding, centering and shielding would be appropriate before venturing deeper, to cover your butt. And a dedicated, daily practice of meditation is absolutely essential to the path you seek. You have to prepare yourself well before tackling such a broad subject by teaching yourself to do light,meditative trance, and to communicate with your spirit guide through this trance state. So start with all that. And research.

Additionally, religious beliefs we might not know we had can pop up unexpectedly, as can superstitions. Get a good grasp of your present beliefs so your imagination won't interfere with your interest. Journal about it so you know the ins and outs of your thinking. The more you understand your own thinking, the less vulnerable you will be to outside influences. It's a good investment in self protection.

If you could narrow it down to a specific part of necromancy you seek, you'd benefit. Do that by deciding what you want to accomplish by that study. And then research and make a plan. Nobody is going to pour it into your head because it cant work that way. Usually if we prepare ourselves, when we're ready for a teacher one shows up, drops a hint, and leaves again. We have to have the wits to decipher the hint. That's why it's called "occult knowledge". This is especially true with spirits who can tell everything and reveal nothing.

I'd recommend you set a regular schedule, like once or twice a week, and set a time of day, to meditate 30 minutes just with the spirit guide. Keep the appointment because you can bet the guide will. This spirit will make an effort to communicate at that time and day as long as you do. But first, learn to ground your energy (it will stabilize you), center (to learn communicating), and shield (to C.Y.A.) and then meditate with only your guide (not any disincarnate spirit that wanders in out of curiosity). It's a gradual training process and you should be willing to commit 2 years at the least to learning the skill, when starting with no prior experience.

A non-invasive contact method is using a pendulum - use discretion with spirit communications.

When seeking a coven, check at local bookstores & Witchvox for open meetings in your area. If you want to meet witches, go to where they are likely to hang out, like book store, ren- fairs, public pow wows, or wherever booths appear and talk to the sellers. If you are under 18 they may not respond.

[SpiritTalker]

BEGINNING MEDITATION

It starts with breathing. The breath carries the will. Since everybody does this, it's not that hard. Honest. And it's pretty much the starting place for anything a witch might do. Basically we have three bodies: the dense, physical body intermingled with the less dense energy body and spirit body. You can find the rest of this guide in Wicca and Witchcraft 101 section Under the topic Getting Started.

BREATH

The easiest breathing is slow, timed rhythmic in-and-out, at a comfortable level. Inhale, counting one-to-four, hold-in four counts, exhale and hold-out, each for the same number of counts. So it's: in-2-3-4, hold-2-3-4, out-2-3-4, hold-2-3-4, repeat. (Improve on it by breathing 2-counts into the belly, then 2-counts into the chest.) This is done for just a few minutes to calm ourselves. Don't strain at it because straining is counter-productive.

GROUNDING

Grounding is a term that refers to Earthing the energy body to stabilize us. It's simply being in touch with the Earth. While you're doing the four-count breathing is a good time to be grounding. Visualize your energy along your spine extending from the tail-bone into the Earth like a tap root on a tree, sinking into the ground to absorb nutrients and vitality on the inhales, as well as to carry away distress and anxiety on the exhales. If it's easier to see the roots going down from your feet, then do it. You control your visualization.

CENTERING

I think of centering as locking in our position in time and space like the GPS, Global Positioning Satellite mapping. Stand facing north, and imagine the vertical line of the energy body extending along the spine, both as high as it is deep. This automatically combines grounding with centering in the same exercise. Then imagine a horizontal line intersecting the 1st in front and behind you like a N-S axis. Then add a horizontal line passing through the others going E-W. They all connect at your center and move around with you.

Experiences vary. You might experience your connection at the abdomen or the chest. Women often sense theirs closer to their abdomen, and men, closer to their chest. You are already familiar with the location if you've been startled suddenly and felt like you drop and roll into your gut or feel smashed in the chest, and momentarily have all your senses on alert. That's where your energy body connects to the physical counterpart. In meditation we can work from the same space. When we're not startled we know it as a quiet, still space within the connection area. We naturally pull our power into ourselves when we center.

Within the still, quiet space there are no dimensions, or confinement. We can ask questions and get "knowing" as answers. Concepts rather than words get slotted into our awareness. Remain as non-judgemental as you can & evaluate the thoughts afterwards, so as not to interrupt the process. This would be an important part of necromancy, aiding spirit contacts.

SHIELDING

Shielding is basic psychic protection from negative thoughts, and energy-sucking people. Ground your tap root. Imagine a golden glow radiating out from the belly to completely surround you and out-line your body. Every breath strengthens the shield. It stays in place and reinforces itself as you breathe.

You can push outward from your navel area and shoulder blades to cover front and back. To seal the aura, briefly see it hardened like a fighter jet's plexiglass cockpit canopy, reflecting the sky. Blue is a good spiritual protection color.

[SpiritTalker]

Next suggestion: read thru the Topics under spirits-ghosts, etc. PlaneWalker knows what he is talking about. Any notion that you might have about commanding spirits to do your bidding - which is one form of necromancy - is not going to be discussed.

Necromancy's dictionary definition is simply consulting spirits to foretell the future. There's a heap of difference between the practices used for summoning & commanding spirits with the 72 names of God and spirit sigils, and the lighter weight spirit guide consulting I'm familiar with. If you just want to foretell the the future, use divination methods like cards, dice or a pendulum that are non invasive.

[planewalker]

Thanks Spirit, I just dropped something quick to see if I could start a dialogue. You've put together a beautiful introduction for any not yet initiated to the Craft. That should probably be put permanently in this topic. Sometimes I think having a practice and doing the other things I'm doing is gonna' have me talking to myself - more than I already do. I think whoever wrote the first post went on to one of those; "You can be a witch in three easy lessons!" forums.

[SpiritTalker]

Hey Witchhaven, are you still with us?