The article gives an overview of the evolution of basic methods and tools in necromantic rituals, such as skulls, dead bodies, and letters to the dead. There are some changes in uses of some of these instruments in modern mystical and esoteric communities. Topicality of this research is connected with high popularity of necromancy in contemporary mystical and esoteric communities, and this aspect is underinvestigated with few works devoted to the problem. This is a major obstacle for understanding and studying internal process in these communities. Based on the analyses of the materials about the use of necromantic instruments in different cultures and different historical periods, the author has shown the way certain forms of necromancy and its instruments have been reconsidered in the modern world. The influences of dominating religious views, public morality, and conventional picture of the world have been determined as main factors influencing rethinking the properties and uses of the instruments. The author has come to the conclusion about the possibility of transformation of understanding of some properties and characteristics of a necromantic instrument. At the same time, despite specificity of a particular culture, there is a tendency for an individual to choose and use the same instruments to communicate with the dead, and similarly perceive their properties and functions.

Novikova Anastasia Aleksandrovna, Postgraduate, Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities, 15, Fontanka River emb., Saint-Petersburg, 191023, Russian Federation, tel.: 8(812)3341441, e-mail: 381838@rambler.ru

Novikova A.A. Tools of Necromantic Practices in History and Modern Times. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2019, vol. 29, pp. 77-90. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2019.29.77 (in Russian)

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