The Witch Of Endor
- Caitlin Willis
- May 20, 2021
- 2 min read
What do the old testament and the Lord of The Rings have in common?
Probably more than you think, in this post it's just the word Endor.
In my fumbling research on the internet, I came across The Witch of Endor, one of the earliest mentioned witches in documented literature. The story itself can be found the book of Samuel in the old testament, a biblical story about the history of Israel.
The Witch of Endor (anyone else immediately think of Star Wars?) was a sorceress and ‘mistress of necromancy’ visited by the first king of Israel, Saul. Saul himself had banished all sorcerers and enchantresses from his kingdom (much like the plot of BBCs Merlin).
Concerned with an upcoming battle with the Philistines and feeling abandoned by God, he seeked out the services of someone with a ‘familiar spirit’ and travelled to Endor where he found the witch. Disguising himself, he asks her to conjure up the spirit of the prophet Samuel to hear of his fortunes.
The medium initially refused to help, citing his own laws back to him. Saul promised protection to the woman and spoke to the spirit of Samuel that she conjured, learning of his and his son’s demise in the upcoming battle. Israelites would fall to the philistines.
The Witch of Endor is not a well-known story, situated in the old testament rather than the new one, yet more recent authors have dubbed her a pithonesse and associated her heavily with necromancy demonising her from the medium many texts portray her as.
The representation here is quite muddied; witchcraft is banned through the land and yet despite knowing this and knowing he is the king that banned this, the witch helped him. An ally to God, she summoned the spirit of Samuel to help guide the king; painting Saul himself in a more negative light than she.
And again, in a contradiction to this, she is practicing necromancy, bringing back a shade of the dead, what Saul is asking is wrong perhaps, and his foreknowledge did not help him in the battlefield. Was seeking her help what condemned him to death?
The witch herself wasn’t given with many details and was perhaps a character simply used to show the depths Saul had sunk to in his desperation for answers, but for many interested in documented witchcraft she is a starting point. many original stories like this decline to share details, preferring the reader to conjure a monstrous image of their own.
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