Saul, the Witch of Endor, and the Crowing-Rooster Parable

"A man or a woman in whom there is a ghost or a familiar spirit shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:27). Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Hama bar Rabbi Hanina [said]: "A man" — this is Saul; "a woman" — this is the mistress of the ghost (ba'alat ov). Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: It would have been better for him to inquire of the Urim and Tummim that are above, and not of the ghost and the familiar spirit that are below. "And Saul said to his servants: Seek for me a woman who is a mistress of a ghost, etc." (1 Samuel 28:7). And to what was Saul like at that hour? To a ruler who entered a province; he decreed and said: Let all the male roosters that are here be slaughtered. In the morning he said: Is there no rooster to crow? His servants said to him: But was it not you who decreed that they all be slaughtered? So too: "And Saul had put away the ghosts and the familiar spirits from the land" (1 Samuel 28:3), and yet he says: "Seek for me a woman who is a mistress of a ghost, etc." "And Saul disguised himself" (1 Samuel 28:8) — "vayitchapes" is written: he made himself free (chofshi) from the kingship. "And he put on other garments" (ibid.) — secular garments (mani'in paganika).