Necromancy And Its Practice., a full discussion of necromancy and what falls under the term. Options

So, alot of people have heard the term necromancy. Some have deemed it evil, some have thought it neutral, and some believe in it's practice with religious zeal. But one question remains, what really is necromancy?

Under the old terminology, necromancy is the calling of the dead for wisdom or of receiving wisdom from the dead. Usually this wisdom has to do with events of the future, but there have been linkings to the asking of past events, ect.
Nowandays, there are some who define necromancy by different terms:
-The summoning of the dead for gaining something (generally a material goal ex: women, money, a car, power)
-The calling forth and commanding of "death energies."
-The summoning of infernal forces to do ones bidding
-the forceful chaining of dead spirits
-the alignment with the angel of death, Azrael
(note- there is probably a dozen more, so go ahead and put them down yourself if you wish.)

A good site that lists off its own type of "modern" necromancy:
http://www23.brinkster.com/falcis/

So, do you agree and, if so or if not, which one do you agree with most/least?
How do you define necromancy?

I was wondering if any of you have used grave dirt.

There was a particular person that was giving quite a bit of trouble. I combined vodoo, necromancy, and my own personal twist.
Any way i put grave dirt on the front of the persons door and made a vodoo doll with the persons picture and true name (i even made her a sigil) and then needled up the doll. I then burnt her sigil. Well.... Her house burnt down after she suffred from masive headaches and she also suffred minor burnes in the "accident"

Do any of you see a problem with what i did? Please dont tell me it was immoral or whatever. I believe that we have a power over people that would be dubbed "normal".
and when they anger us, we should take equal measures to do what we will.

I wouldn't say it was immoral. What I would say is that it was a childish act, wrought from petty emotions overcoming your common sense. Unless this woman made an attempt on your life, this act was proportionatly unjust, she might have been killed. Morality is the code of beings incapable of judging the nature of their actions objectively, from a higher perspective, where morality is simply the material consequence of balanced forces in higher planes.

We should be able to transmute those negative energies directed towards us. You may feel you took your vengeance on this woman, but in reality she controlled you - her energy triggered a reactionary shift in your energy, and you gave into it. Whether this was her intended outcome or not is immaterial - the fact remains that you magically acted out the equivalent of punching her, which lacks couthe, civility, arte, or intellect.

You have a lot to learn.

As to the definition and use of necromancy - Personally I believe that if it does not include communion with departed spirits, or the various angels/spirits which facilitate the process of transformation we call Dying, then it is not necromancy. Death energy, from the perspective of an energy worker, is an erroneous term. Death is an operation of energy rather than a specific energy itself. Like the "minus" side of an electromagnetic bipole. You could say it is the energy of transition, but it is more broad and encompassing than 'death'. That's just my own perspective of course. Most necromancy still involved the invocation of higher forces via formulae, the exaltation of the appropriate reagents, etc., so to me it's always seemed to be just a division of ceremonial magic directed towards the underworld-equivalent planes rather than the elemental, or planetary planes.

However, my own experience with the practice of necromancy is severely limited - I dabbled briefly a few years ago and never found much need for it since.

peace