I originally posted this in coven forums and figured I would post it publicly as well. Hopefully this clears a few things up.
Many people think that necromancy is just working with spirits,medium work and divination. In reality its much richer and deeper than that. The path itself is highly misunderstood mainly due to the meaning of the name itself among its "dark" associations. Thanks to Hollywood ideas and the various versions of the "necronomican". Lovecraft and "Simon" are works of fiction and not completely idealistic to the actual path itself. No there's no set patheon of entities nor can you bring back the dead. So no zombies. Its a lot of path working, research, and being able to find the underlying connections from system to system. Much like Shamanism its found in every tradition in one form or another, and its just about as old as Shamanism. These two often intertwine especially with how to interact with nature and spirits. Another misconception about this particular is it's all about summoning. It does require working with guides from totems to divine. That's how the upper and lower keys comes in at. However its not just limited to working with angels, demons or the dead but other various ethereal beings I.e. dragons, fae, etc. The seals are mainly used to focus energy so you get the right entity. However just because you have the focused energy doesn't necessarily mean the entity will show up nor if they do, it could possibly go sour depending on their moods. So it's just best to ask for assistance instead of demanding for it. Always research an entity before inviting so you can get an idea of what exactly you're dealing with and that means all aspects of that entity. That's where you find the connections from path to path.
Energy work is really important, especially being able to channel various kinds. From elemental to death essence. (Death energies). Before jumping head first into this path you really need to have your fundamentals down to an art. Reason being you have to be able to identify types of energy and the vibrations that energy sits on sort of speak. Not just death energies. Also it's highly important to be able to read energy signatures, so you know or what ethereal being you're dealing with. For astral work and for various spell casting. Yes this path deals with both " low" and "high" magicks like any other magickal path. So energy manipulation is key to any magickal path. So remember with necromancy its asking the why's and how's and leaving no stone unturned and lots of research of both astral and physically.
