Bede : And Saul said to his servants: Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, etc. Denied an answer by the Lord, Saul sought a woman with an unclean spirit, through whom he might inquire; and with the cessation of the prophets and the ceremonies of old after the Lord's passion, the people of the Jews consult and frequent the synagogue of Satan, such as today is their synagogue, having a familiar spirit, which in their language signifies the mouth of the abyss. Nor is anything understood better than entrance into eternal punishments. But even the name itself, customary from the meaning of the perfidious faction, does not differ. For it is said to be derived from Apollo Pythius, who was a diligent practitioner of these arts, who himself is said to have borrowed such a name from that place, because he struck the serpent Python in vengeance for his son being killed by him. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : And his servants said to her, etc. Correctly it is narrated that the woman with a familiar spirit, whom some call a ventriloquist, lived in Endor, which means in the fountain or eye of generation, so that the very place of her habitation bears witness to the already lost Synagogue, which, deceived by the serpent's conversation, feigns to give light and the cup of wisdom to its listeners. — Commentary on Samuel