Past practices in the arts of necromancy where heavily influenced by complex rituals, and peculiar trinkets. The one found in almost all ancient practices is the corpse. The necromancers felt the spirit would return to fresh corpses (ones less than a year old) for the purpose of communication with the living. This was something the spirit never did by its own will, and had to be manipulated or forced to return to its former body.
Those that didn't care for the thought of hanging around places of death, or exhuming graves would use a skull during the ritual to summon the spirit. It was treated in the same manner as a corps for it was the spirit that the practitioner needed protection from not the container the spirit manifested in.
For the necromancers safety the circle was the prime means of defence. The circle had two purposes the first being a barrier to keep the summoned spirit inside, and the second being a protective circle surrounding the necromancer and assistant in case the spirit broke free from its barrier. The circles used in this art of raising the dead where constructed in the same manner as the protective circles found in the Keys of Solomon.
After the circles where constructed, and blessed the next tool to be employed by the necromancer was incense. A mixture of various narcotics where used including: belladonna, mandrake, henbane, opium, among others. This combination of herbs has no doubt been the cause of more practitioners of this art joining there sought after spirits than any means of death. For information on what the chemicals in these herbs are capable of see our Botany section. An in depth article on belladonna can be found under the flying potion link on that page.
Now that the practitioner, and his assistant have inhaled enough herbal smoke to put them literally on deaths door the next tool required is the wand. This item was generally made of bone, and serves two purposes the first is to conjure, or force the spirit back into its body so communication can commence. Secondly the wand acts as a blasting rod to send the spirit back to where it came from. This is used if the ceremony does not go as directed by the practitioner, or the spirit starts gaining control of the ritual.
The last main thing needed by practitioners of the ancient art of necromancy is wood, or quicklime. The necromancers of that time believed the spirit could only be summoned if there body was still intact. So if the spirit was particularly helpful in what the necromancer required from it, the corpse would either be burned, or buried in quicklime. This was to prevent any others from ever disturbing this particular spirit again.
