From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordApparent command of spirits, condemned as harmful to those who exercise it.
- In the bookNecromancy centres on bringing the dead into appearance and obtaining answers.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 35; facsimile PDF page 363.
Historical definition
Nigromancy is a wicked and execrable art in which devils and evil spirits allow themselves to be commanded by human beings and obey them, but only to their harm.
Meaning
The grammar gives the spirits an active role: they allow themselves to be commanded. Their obedience is therefore not presented as evidence that the practitioner has secured an unrestricted beneficial power. The final qualification makes the result harmful, within the compiler’s strongly condemnatory account.
Use in the book
Necromancy centres on bringing the dead into appearance and obtaining answers. Magia distinguishes a lawful natural branch from a diabolical one. The entries belong to a related moral classification, but their particular actions and objects are not identical.
Places to read
- NigromancyRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- NecromancyA condemned art defined by the appearance and interrogation of the dead.
- MagiaMagic divided into lawful natural wisdom and forbidden knowledge through evil spirits.
In this edition
The historical judgement is preserved as the dictionary’s account. The edition does not neutralise the definition into a general name for any inquiry into hidden things.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 35; facsimile PDF page 363 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 363, Nigromancy