The subject says it all. Is this a typo? I checked the errata, but nothing there. The corresponding guideline ("Summon a ghost") does not mention this as a ritual effect. In fact, the closest effect I can think of, summoning a spirit of emotion, is not a ritual.
I have asked the same question a few times ago.
Check this link: https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/question-concerning-rituals/2374/6
Ah, I see. So it is officially a ritual. Thanks.
It is a ritual by canon, but I always rule it not to be in my sagas. No other Hermetic summonings are automatically rituals, and whilst the souls of humans are special and unique snowflakes in Ars Magica, their spirits are not. Making spirit summoning a ritual effectively cripples spirit masters and necromancers in any low to medium vis campaign. The requirement of an arcane connection and necessity for a decent penetration effectively make ceremonial casting more or less necessary and thematic enough anyway. I don't see being able to summon spirits back to their bones (though not necessarily to possess them) as being any more major than, for instance, touching a city wall and making it crumble to dust.
It's a legacy spell, pure and simple, much like the guideline which makes melting lead harder than, well, lighting a candle despite the latter requiring higher temperatures and medieval alchemists knowing that. The spell even has a redundant duration, Concentration, which serves no purpose but to raise the level. The spell summons the spirit and holds it in place for the duration, yes, but with Concentration you can't meaningfully negotiate with it without massively difficult concentration rolls, nor can you cast any other spells. A momentary duration spell to summon it into a Circle ward, followed by a lower level binding spell or simple friendly negotiation would be far easier to research, easier to cast and use, and more versatile.
Yeah, this spell is a good candidate for revision when a new edition finally comes along. Though probably we could argue six different ways about how it "should" be. 
IMO the level is too high, and as Fhtagn points out the Duration does not make a lot of sense.
1 Like
Ritual avoid also that any magus spont' it.
My necromancer could spont' this spell with a 1 or more on the die in any situation it with a decent penetration (because i have a big score in penetration...).
Being ritual, the spell must be learn. Then 8 pawns Mentem is not very difficult to have if you have sufficient motivation to summon a dead.
Frankly, at the point where your magus has a ReMe total of 65 or more, you should be able to spont such a spell. You could also invent it, and another for a different realm, in less than a season, at which point you can summon spirits with Might greater than 40 trivially.
I don't mind Incantation of Summoning the Dead being a Ritual, as others have pointed out the Concentration Duration is idiotic and the level should be lower. I'm going to spend two hours and eight pawns of vis on a spell that could end when I sneeze? I don't think so.
The spell that I do have a problem with being a Ritual is Whisper Through the Black Gates. I think it's one of the coolest plot advancement spells around, but it's a Ritual in RAW. Unless you're in a very vis rich saga, I don't know too many characters who are going to gamble the four pawns of vis on seeing whether some dead guy is going to have any good information. Can you imagine a player's reaction to blowing four pawns and getting an unresponsive corpse?
1 Like
Whisper to the black gate is not a ritual in my book... and it's a level 15.
Both of these spells have the "mouth feel" of rituals. Dealing with the dead screams for candles and circles and words of power. If you are going to house rule it, I think the "cleanest" solution is to make a new category, Vis-less Rituals. Spells that you need to know in a Formulaic sense, that require 15 minutes per magnitude, but don't need juice. Not canon in any sense, but I think canon doesn't want mages to teleport into a graveyard, question every spirit and teleport out in a diameter either.
1 Like
I think you're right, and I was confused. Never mind.
(Too many random details to remember. Just shake it off, move forward.)