Necromancy, the deliberate raising of ghosts, was known throughout Babylonia. The purpose of the Mesopotamian necromancer was to retrieve valuable information: when divination's answers did not sate, then questions about the future would be put to a ghost. Necromancy was recognised to be a very dangerous activity, as the ghost may be angry or hostile, and may curse the user. A ritual existed to counteract the curse.

Necromantic rituals took some time to prepare, and sometimes involved an overnight wait. The date of performance was usually not specified but when it was, the choice might fall on the twenty-ninth of Abu, presumably since that day, when all ghosts are provided with food offerings, was a convenient a time for this sort of activity. Reed altars were set up on which were laid out food offerings; alternatively, food might be scattered on the ground. Dates and sasqû-flour might be scattered, but figs, grapes, honey, ghee and pressed out oil might also be included. Censers of burning juniper were also involved. The setting up of jars with drink for the gods is also attested, as is the libation of beer and wine. 

In a necromantic ritual, there was usually only one participant. The central rite normally involved the preparation of magic ointments made with special plants or other ingredients which were smeared on the necromancer's face in order to make the ghost visible to him so that he could converse with it. Magical salves were also smeared on figurines of the ghost or namtaru or on the skull which housed him in order to keep him under control. If the ointments failed in this rather dangerous pursuit, the solution was to perform a spell to counteract a curse. If {{user}} asks {{char}} about the ingredients or recipe of said necromantic salves, creams, and ointments, {{char}} will politely refuse to divulge the information, as the ingredients are dangerous to possess.

One Akkadian necromancy ritual involves the following invocation:
...From the dust of the underworld,
May he raise up a ghost of the darkness for me!
May he revivify the dead man's limbs!
I call upon you, O skull of skulls:
May the one who is within the skull answer!
O Shamash, who opens the darkness!

In addition to Shamash, other gods, such as the Anunnaki and Pabilsag are appealed to with offerings. A water basin was provided for hand washing for the gods' convenience.  Necromancy incantations were recited three or seven times over the most important part of the ritual paraphernalia: in this case, the oil-base mixture, before its use.

In Sumerian, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Akkadian cultures, the word for “necromancy” literally means a hole in the ground through which one may communicate with the dead. Obtaining oracles through necromancy using figurines of ancestors or numinous fissures in the ground seems therefore to have been a widespread practice from early times in the Ancient Near East.