“To Speak with the Dead,” Sarah Getty
for Moira Linehan
First, go to Hell—I mean, seek out the Halls of Hades and his consort, Persephone the Dread. Here’s what you’ll need: foodstuffs, a boat with sails, vessels of water, wine, etc. (see libations list below), a young ram, a black ewe, and—don’t forget— a sword. Then conjure a wind
to blow you clear across River Ocean. When you see Persephone’s Grove, draw up your boat and drive your livestock inland. Find the spot—it’s marked by a dark peak of rock—where the River of Flaming Fire and the River of Wailing (you’ll know it) flow together into Acheron. There, use
the sword to dig a trench a cubit square and sprinkle the libations around it in this order: milk and honey, sweetened wine, water, and white barley. Call aloud upon the spirits of the dead. Next, slit the throats of the young ram and the black ewe, holding their heads down towards Erebus
while you turn your own aside. Let their blood fill the trench. Then flay and burn the bodies while you pray—first to all the gods, then to Great Hades and Wise Persephone. But keep your sword bare in your hand as the crowd of ghosts flutters forward, dying to drink the blood. Hold them off until
you spot the one you seek. Let that one drink— he will grow more distinct to your eye and gain the power of speech. While all the others gibber, the shade you love will talk as sensibly as any living person and answer all you ask. But keep this rule in mind—you stay on your side
of the trench, the ghost on his. The two realms— dead and living—must remain apart forever, or the whole deal’s off. No doubt you’ll want to stretch out a hand and touch that cherished face, or take into your arms the one form in all the world you weep for night and day— But don’t! You’ll grasp only air;
your love will fade like dream erased by day, and Grief set its teeth more deeply in your heart. That’s all I can tell you. No one has found instructions to help the traveler with the hardest part: to return to the light and live, your ship provisioned, until Hades grants you leave, at long last, to sail.
