Misinterpretations often extend the prohibition beyond occult practices like necromancy to ban all supernatural encounters, psychotherapy, or even vivid dreams, ignoring the specific context of forbidden divination; others apply it legalistically to demand immediate excommunication in modern churches without grace or repentance, disregarding Israel's unique theocratic setting and New Testament emphases on restoration.
Leviticus 20:6
King James Version (1769)
6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Leviticus 20:6 warns that anyone who turns to mediums or spiritists for guidance commits spiritual infidelity against God, likened to prostitution, prompting divine opposition and exclusion from the covenant community to preserve Israel's holiness and exclusive loyalty to Yahweh amid surrounding pagan influences.