Necromancy oil

What necromancy means here

Necromancy, in the older sense, is work with the dead: with ancestors, with the departed, and with the spirits of those who have gone before. It is not, in that sense, a single technique, but a field of practice, covering remembrance, communication, guidance, and the honouring of the dead, as well as the more dramatic workings that popular imagination associates with the word.

That phrase, strengthen the dead you are working with, deserves attention, because it frames necromancy not as commanding the dead, but as supporting a relationship with them. A relic, a photograph, a kept object, a grave good, or any item that connects you to a particular dead person, is anointed, so that the connection it carries is strengthened, and the working done through it is clearer. The oil is a medium for that strengthening, in the same way oil in other workings is a medium for anointing and marking.

This article is about that work: how to approach it with care, how the oil is used, and how to keep it within bounds that honour both the dead and the living, without turning it into a performance or a shortcut.

Relics, and why they are anointed

A relic, in magical practice, is not necessarily a saint's bone or a museum piece. It is any object that carries a connection to a dead person: a photograph, a letter, a piece of jewellery they wore, a tool they used, a stone from a place they loved, or an item made for the working itself, to represent them. The power of a relic, in practice, lies in that connection. It gives the practitioner something concrete to hold, to look at, and to work with, when the person themselves is no longer present in the ordinary sense.

Anointing a relic with oil is a way of marking it for the working, and of strengthening the connection it carries. Oil stays. It does not evaporate in a moment, and it does not wash off at the first touch. It remains on the object while you work, and that staying quality is part of how it functions in a ritual setting. You can smell it, you can feel it, and you are reminded, through the whole working, of the person and the purpose you are working with.

Anoint sparingly, and with attention to the object itself. A photograph, a letter, or a paper item will be damaged by oil, and should not be anointed directly. Anoint a case, a frame, a cloth beneath it, or a separate token made for the working, instead, and let the anointing mark the working, without destroying the relic it is meant to honour. A metal, stone, or wooden relic can be anointed directly, in a small amount, and wiped afterwards if needed. Care for the object is part of care for the dead, and a working that damages what it honours has missed its own point.

Working with the dead, with respect

Work with the dead begins, as all spirit work begins, with clarity about who you are addressing, and why. Are you working with a known ancestor, a family member, a teacher, or a particular dead person whose guidance you seek? Or are you working with the dead in general, as a class of spirits, for a purpose that requires their help? Those are different workings, and they require different preparation, different words, and different offerings. A vague address to the dead in general, when you mean a particular ancestor, will produce a vague working, and a vague working is hard to read afterwards.

Be specific, in your own record, about the person and the purpose. Name them, in writing, before the working. State, in one sentence, what you are asking, or what you are honouring, and what you will do yourself, in the ordinary world, as part of that honouring. That specificity is not a formality. It is what distinguishes a working with a particular dead person from a general atmosphere of gloom or fascination, and it is what makes the working observable afterwards.

Offerings, in necromancy as in other spirit work, are a matter of courtesy and completion. Food, drink, flowers, candles, and other offerings traditional to the dead you are working with, given with attention, and disposed of properly afterwards, are part of the working, not an extra.

Preparation, and the place of the work

Preparation for necromancy is, in practical terms, similar to preparation for other spirit work, with a few particular emphases. Choose a quiet place, and a quiet time, where you will not be interrupted. Clear the space, set out the relic or token, the oil, and any other tools you will use, and give yourself time to settle before you begin. Necromancy done in a hurry, in a distracted state, or as a party piece, is unlikely to teach much, and it risks trivialising a relationship that deserves seriousness.

Consider also the place of the dead in your own life, before you work. If you are grieving a recent loss, necromancy may not be the first work to do. Grief has its own time, and its own ordinary care, and a working attempted in the rawest part of grief can blur the line between honouring the dead and refusing to let them go. That is not a prohibition, but a reflection worth sitting with: are you working with the dead, or are you trying to hold onto a person who has gone, in a way that prevents your own life from moving forward? Honest answers to that question, in private, are part of good practice.

If the working involves a graveyard, or a place of burial, go with respect, and within the law and the rules of the place. Do not disturb graves, do not take things that are not yours to take, and do not work in a way that would distress other visitors, or the keepers of the place. Graveyard work, in the traditions that practise it, has its own etiquette, its own offerings, and its own permissions, and those should be learned from a teacher in the tradition, not improvised on the spot. The oil offered here is for anointing relics and the like, in your own working space, and that is where this article places it.

How the oil is made, and how to use it

This oil is hand made, in small batches, when you order, unless a batch has just recently been made, in the same way as the other oils offered here. The oils made here are of a quality Athena uses herself for magical work, and they work well enough, in her words, that she uses them successfully for spirit work, work for clients, as well as her own spellwork. That made to order point matters for necromancy work, as for other spirit work: the oil has not been sitting, opened and closed, through other people's orders. It is made for your order, and then blessed before it is sent out.

Use it sparingly, and only for anointing, as described above. A little oil on a relic, a token, a candle, or a tool used in the working, is enough. Do not use the oil internally, and do not use it on broken skin. It is made for anointing and ritual use, from essential oils, roots and herbs, and it should be treated as a ritual oil, not as a food, a medicine, or a skin treatment. If you have sensitivities to essential oils, test a small amount first, or do not use it on skin at all, and anoint a tool or a token instead.

Keep the oil with your other working oils, in a cool, dark place, with its cap closed, so that it does not evaporate or pick up other scents. A ritual oil kept well will last, and will be ready when the working requires it, rather than having to be replaced in a hurry, which is rarely the best time to prepare for work with the dead.

After the working, and the record

After a necromancy working, close properly, in whatever way your practice requires. Thank the dead, in your own words, put the relic and the tools away in their proper place, and dispose of offerings properly. Then return to ordinary life: food, water, rest, and the people around you. A working that leaves you unable to return to ordinary life has not been closed properly, and that is worth noting, and learning from, rather than repeating.

Write down what you did, when you did it, and what you noticed, in plain language. Note the person addressed, the purpose in one sentence, the relic anointed, and what happened afterwards, over days and weeks, not just on the night itself. Did you receive guidance, in a dream, in a thought, in a conversation, or in a change of circumstance, that you can fairly connect to the working? Did nothing change, and what does that tell you about the request, the timing, or the appropriateness of the working? That record is how you will learn, over time, whether your work with the dead is deepening, or merely repeating itself.

Do not repeat the same necromancy working endlessly, in the hope that repetition alone will force a result. Do the work properly, once, observe, and then decide, calmly, whether a second working, a different approach, or no further working is the right next step. Repetition without reflection is not persistence. It is noise, and with the dead, as with the living, noise is a poor way to hold a conversation.

A note on results, plainly put

No guaranteed magical result is promised for this oil, and that is as it should be. An oil can anoint a relic, and strengthen a connection, but the relationship with the dead, and what follows from it, are yours to observe, not mine to guarantee. That wording is about the magical work itself, not about delivery dates for a physical bottle of oil.

Ancestors, and the wider dead

Work with the dead takes two broad forms, and it helps to know which form you are practising, because their preparation and their record differ. Work with known ancestors, family, teachers, and particular dead people you have known, is personal work. It draws on memory, on relationship, and on the particular history you shared with that person, in life. Its offerings, its words, and its relics will be particular to that person, and its results, if any, will be felt in the context of that relationship, in dreams, in memories surfacing, in a sense of guidance, or in a change in how you carry their loss.

Work with the dead in general, as a field of spirits, is different. It is less personal, and more formal, and it requires clearer boundaries, because you are not addressing a person you knew, but a class of beings whose individual histories you do not know. That work belongs, in most traditions, to more experienced practitioners, with teachers, protections, and a clear system, rather than to beginners working alone from a general article. If you are new to necromancy, begin with known ancestors, with remembrance and honouring, and let the wider work wait until you have a teacher, a system, and a record of steady, respectful work with the dead you already know.

Either form, done well, shares a common discipline: clarity about who is addressed, a purpose stated in one sentence, a relic or token that carries the connection, an anointing done with care, a closing done properly, and a record kept afterwards. Without those disciplines, necromancy drifts into atmosphere, and atmosphere, however impressive on the night, teaches little, and can leave a practitioner unsettled, without knowing why. With them, even a simple working, a candle, a relic anointed with a little oil, and a few honest words, can be a serious and steady piece of practice, worth repeating, and worth learning from, over years.

Necromancy oil, and Necromancy incense to go with it

If you want an oil for anointing relics and working with the dead, this is the one offered here: Necromancy oil, $54 CAD, hand made in small batches when you order, for placing upon relics and so forth to help strengthen the dead you are working with. View the product

For a fuller working, the matching incense is also offered: Necromancy incense, $54 CAD. View the product

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