Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
LOVECRAFT

Return to Occult Library Index

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

rediscovery of the sumerian tradition- aleister crowley introduction in the mid- 1920's, roughly two blocks from where the warlock shop once stood, in brooklyn heights, lived a quiet, reclusive man, an author of short stories, who eventually divorced his wife of two years and returned to his boyhood home in rhode island, where he lived with his two aunts. born on august 20, 1890, howard phillips lovecraft would come to exert an impact on the literary world that dwarfs his initial successes with weird tales magazine in 1923. he died, tragically, at the age of 46 on march 15, 1937, a victim of cancer of the intestine and bright's disease. though persons of such renown as dashiell hammett were to become involved in his work, anthologising it for publication both here an abroad, the reputatio

tion of a man generally conceded to be the "father of gothic horror" did not really come into its own until the past few years, with the massive re-publication of his works by various houses, a volume of his selected letters, and his biography. in the july, 1975, issue the atlantic monthly, there appeared a story entitled "there are more things, written by jorge luis borges "to the memory of h.p. lovecraft. this gesture by a man of the literary stature of borges is certainly an indication that lovecraft has finally ascended to his rightful place in the history of american literature, nearly forty years after his death. in the same year that lovecraft found print in the pages of weird takes, another gentleman was seeing his name in print; but in the british tabloid press. new sinister revel

took this appellation to heart. he changed his name to aleister crowley while still at cambridge, and by that name, plus "666, he would never be long out of print, or out of newspapers. for he believed himself to be the incarnation of a god, an ancient one, the vehicle of a new age of man's history, the aeon of horus, displacing the old age of osiris. in 1904, he had received a message, from what lovecraft might have called "out of space, that contained the formula for a new world order, a new system of philosophy, science, art and religion, but this new order had to begin with the fundamental part, and common denominator, of all four: magick. in 1937, the year lovecraft dies, the nazis banned the occult lodges of germany, notable among them two organisations which crowley had supervised:

l restrictions concerning its adherents, which lead to various types of lunacies and "hangups" that characterised many of the reich's leadership. yet, there can be perhaps little doubt that the chaos which engulfed the world in those years was prefigured, and predicted, in crowley's liber al vel legis; the book of the law. the mythos and the magick we can profitably compare the essence of most of lovecraft's short stories with the basic themes of crowley's unique system of ceremonial magick. while the latter was a sophisticated psychological structure, intended to bring the initiate into contact with his higher self, via a process of individuation that is active and dynamic (being brought about by the "patient" himself) as opposed to the passive depth analysis of the jungian adepts, lovecr

s a sophisticated psychological structure, intended to bring the initiate into contact with his higher self, via a process of individuation that is active and dynamic (being brought about by the "patient" himself) as opposed to the passive depth analysis of the jungian adepts, lovecraft's cthulhu mythos was meant for entertainment. scholars, of course, are able to find higher, ulterior motives in lovecraft's writings, as can be done with any manifestation of art. lovecraft depicted a kind of christian myth of the struggle between opposing forces of light and darkness, between god and satan, in the cthulhu mythos. some critics may complain that this smacks more of the manichaen heresy than it does of genuine christian dogma; yet, as a priest and former monk, i believe it is fair to say that

stantly strive to break into our world through a gate or door that leads from the outside, in. there are certain people, among us, who are devotees of the ancient ones, and who try to open the gate, so that this evidently repulsive organisation may once again rule the earth. chief among these is cthulhu, typified as a sea monster, dwelling in the great deep, a sort of primeval ocean; a being that lovecraft collaborator august derleth wrongly calls a "water elemental. there is also azazoth, the blind idiot god of chaos, yog sothot, azathoth's partner in chaos, shub niggurath, the "goat with a thousand young, and others. they appear at various times throughout the stories of the cthulhu mythos in frightening forms, which test the strength and resourcefulness of the protagonists in their atte

protagonists in their attempts to put the hellish things back to whence they came. there is an overriding sense of primitive dear and cosmic terror in those pages, as though man is dealing with something that threatens other than his physical safety: his very spiritual nature. this horror-cosmology is extended by the frequent appearance of the book, necronomicon. the necronomicon, is according to lovecraft's tales, a volume written in damascus in the eighth century, a.d, by a person called the "mad arab, abdhul alhazred. it must run roughly 800 pages in length, as there is a reference in one of the stories concerning some lacunae on a page in the 700's it had been copied and reprinted in various languages- the story goes- among them latin, greek and english. doctor dee, the magus of elizab

that a reclusive author of short stories who lived in a quiet neighbourhood in new england, and the manic, infamous master magician who called the world his home, should have somehow met in the sandy wastes of some forgotten civilisation seems incredible. that they should both have become prophets and forerunners of a new aeon of man's history is equally, if not more, unbelievable. yet, with h.p. lovecraft and aleister crowley, the unbelievable was a commonplace of life. these two men, both acclaimed as geniuses by their followers and admirers, and who never actually met, stretched their legs across the world, and in the seven league boots of the mind they did meet, and on common soil. sumeria. sumeria is the name given to a once flourishing civilisation that existed in what is now known a

lly religious rituale. magick, as well in history, begins at sumer for the western world, for it his here, in the sand-buried cuneiform tablets that recorded an age, that the first creation epic is found, the first exorcism, the first ritual invocations of planetary deities, the first dark summonings of evil powers, and ironically, the first "burnings" of people the anthropologists call "witches. lovecraft's mythos deals with what are known chthonic deities, that is, underworld gods and goddesses, much like the leviathan of the old testament. the pronunciation of chthonic is 'katonic, which explains lovecraft's famous miskatonic river and miskatonic university, not to mention the chief deity of his pantheon, cthulhu, a sea monster who lies "not dead, but dreaming" below the world; an ancie

r. the underworld in ancient sumer was known by many names, among them absu or "abyss, sometimes as nar mattaru, the great underworld ocean, and also as cutha or kutu as it is called in the enuma elish (the creation epic of the sumerians. the phonetic similarity between cutha and kutu and chthonic, as well as cthulhu, is striking. judging by a sumerian grammar at hand, the word kutulu or cuthalu (lovecraft's's cthulhu sumerianised) would mean "the man of kutu (cutha; the man of the underworld; satan or shaitan, as he is known to the yezidis (whom crowley considered to be the remnants of the sumerian tradition. the list of similarities, both between lovecraft's creations and the sumerian gods, as well as between lovecraft's mythos and crowley's magick, can go on nearly indefinitely, and in

idered to be the remnants of the sumerian tradition. the list of similarities, both between lovecraft's creations and the sumerian gods, as well as between lovecraft's mythos and crowley's magick, can go on nearly indefinitely, and in depth, for which there is no space here at present. an exhaustive examination of crowley's occultism in light of recent findings concerning sumeria, and exegesis on lovecraft's stories, is presently in preparation and is hoped to be available shortly. until that time, a few examples should suffice. although a list is appended hereto containing various entities and concepts of lovecraft, crowley, and sumeria cross-referenced, it will do to show how the editor found relationships to be valid and even startling. azatot is frequently mentioned in the grim pages o

the deserts and marshes of mesopotamia. side by side with the worship of the moon, nanna, there was fear of the demon, pazuzu, a genie so amply recreated in the book and the movie by blatty, the exorcist, and similarly recognised as the devil himself by the church. pazuzu, the beast, was brought to life by aleister crowley, and the demon walked the earth once more. with publicity provided by h.p. lovecraft. the devil pazuzu was a prime example of the type of devil of which the sumerians were particularly aware, and which they depicted constantly in their carvings and statues. the purpose of this iconography was to ward off the spiritual- and psychic- circumstances which would precipitate a plague, or some other evil "evil to destroy evil" although the ancient people of the world were consc

the pope has ridden in aircraft. cardinals have flown in 'choppers' over battlefields in southeast asia, urging technological eco-side, invoking christ; pronouncing damnation and the devil on the industrially inferior man. ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. and a rock group from england, home of the anglican heresy, sings of "sympathy" for the devil. pazuzu. tiamat. the seven deadly sins. the fear of lovecraft. the pride of crowley. the lunar landing was the symbolic manifestation of man's newly acquired potential power to alter the nature- and perhaps, via nuclear weapons, the course- of the heavenly bodies, the zonei, the elder gods. it has a power the ancient ones have been waiting for, for millennia, and it is now within their grasp. the next century may deliver unto mankind this awesome p

umanity, which will bring it one step closer to a beneficial force that resides beyond the race of the "cruel celestial spirits, past the abyss of knowledge. yet, he must remember that the occult powers that accompany magickal attainment are ornamental only, indications of obstacles overcome on the path to perfection, and are not to be sought after in themselves, for therein lies the truth death. lovecraft saw this evil, as the world passed from one war and moved menacingly towards another. crowley prepared for it, and provided us with the formulae. the mad arab saw it all, in a vision, and wrote it down. he was, perhaps, one of the most advanced adepts of his time, and her certainly has something to say to us, today, in a language the intuition understands. yet they called him "mad. accom

to various diagrams found in the ancient arabic texts of the last millennium. although some of the characters found in these pages can be traced to mandaic and demotic sources, and are evidently of a much later date than the rites of sumer, the overall appearance of the seals is quite unusual, almost surreal. the book begins with an introduction by the alleged author, the mad arab (the name that lovecraft made famous 'abdul alhazred' does not appear in our copy of the ms, and ends with a sort of epilogue by the same arab. we have called the first part "the testimony of the mad arab" and the latter "the testimony of the mad arab, the second part" the second part if the most chilling. the author has, by this stage in the writing of his opus, become fearful for his soul and begins to repeat

word read like its original. the "conjuration of the watcher" follows the fire god conjuration. the word "watcher" is sometimes used synonymously with "angel, and sometimes as a distinct race, apart from angelos: egragori. the race of watchers are said not to care what they watch, save that they follow orders. they are somewhat mindless creatures, but quite effective. perhaps they correspond toe lovecraft's shuggoths, save that the latter become unweildly and difficult to manage. after the watcher, comes the maklu text, which appears to be a collection of exorcisms, which includes the famous "xilka xilka besa besa" incantation, in the original, to which a translation has been appended in this work- a translation evidently not at hand when the author compiled the ms. thus, for the first ti

an arrow (bullet) in after it to explode her. surely, the two or three most box-office successful films of the past few years, jaws, the exoricst and, perhaps, the godfather, are an indication that the essence of sumerian mythology is making itself felt in a very real way in this, the latter half of the twentieth century? after the long and poetic magan text, comes the urillia text which might be lovecraft's r'lyeh text, and is subtitled "abominations. it has more specifically to do with the worship of the serpent, and the nature of the cults that participate in the concelebration of sin. again, more conjurations and seals are given, even though the reader is charged not to use them; an inconsistency that is to be found in many grimoires of any period and perhaps reveals a little of the ma

py. perhaps the arab was privy to some other-worldly secret that he could not reveal. perhaps he had opened the door by mistake, his own personal gate to the abyss, and was forced to cross its threshold into the unknown. we may never know. or, we may wish we never had. the editor new york, new york october 12, 1975 chart of comparisons (showing some relationships to be found between the mythos of lovecraft, the magick of crowley, and the faith of sumer) lovecraft crowley sumer cthulhu the great beast as represented in "cthdh 666" ctha-lu, kutulu the ancient ones satan; teitan tiamat azathoth aiwass) azag-thoth the dunwich horror choronzon pazuzu shub niggurath pan sub ishniggarab) out of space the abyss absu; nar mattaru ia! io! iao! ia (jah; ea; lord of waters) the five-pointed grey star

sign; the original pentagram and the sign of the aryan race) vermis mysteriis the serpent erim (the enemy; and the sea as chaos; gothic; orm, or worm, great serpent) this is, of course, by no means a complete list but rather an inspirational sampling. meditation upon the various things mentioned in the mythos will permit the scholar to draw his own conclusions; research upon the etymology of both lovecraft's and crowley's respective literature enables the occultist to discover the ancient names and numbers for much of his own, familiar, material (note: that lovecraft may have head or crowley is hinted at darkly in his short story "the thing on the doorstep" in which he refers to a cult leader from england who had established a covenstead of sorts in new york. in that story, published in we

igion oklahoma, 1975 middle eastern mythology new york, 1975 king, l. babylonian magic and sorcery london, 1896 kramer, s.n. history begins at sumer new york, 1959 mythologies of the ancient world (ed) new york, 1961 sumerian mythology pennsylvania, 1972 laurent la magie et la divination chez les chaldeo-assyriennes paris, 1894 lenormant, f. science occult; la magie chez les chaldeens paris, 1874 lovecraft, h.p. tales of the cthulhu mythos new york, 1973 at the mountains of madness new york, 1973 the dunwich horror new york, 1963 the lurker at the threshold (with august derleth) new york, 1971 mason, h. gilgamesh (ed) new york, 1972 neugebauer, o. the exact sciences in antiquity new york, 1969 pritchard, j. near eastern texts relating to the old testament princeton, 1958 the chaldean oracl

COMMENTARY ON THE SEAL OF THE NINE ANGLES

otality of existence. note that this does not admit to monotheism (except in the sense of deism, because there is no room for conceptual distance between a god and a worshipper. the "laughing one" is azathoth, who is "blind" and an "idiot" because in a condition of perfect unity there is naught else to see, not any knowledge of anything else possible [understand, of course, that i was taking h.p. lovecraft's gods rather beyond his story-telling version of them. i don't in the least represent these as lovecraft's own ideas, although i rather think that he would not have found fault with such elaborations] in geometry a singularity identifies a locus only; there is no extension in any direction. even the locus is "both there and not, since it has no dimensions at all. hence there are an infi

DONALDTYSON NOMICON

ise disturbed bodies. it is one of the darker and more sinister branches of western magic, best left sleeping in the past beside the shades of the dead. return h hhome resources demons bios fiction tyson the truth about the necronomicon (head and tail of the dragon, used with incantations to yog-sothoth) thenecronomicon is a supposedly ancient book, invented by the fantasy and horror writer h. p. lovecraft (1890-1937) as a plot device for some of his stories. lovecraft first used the title in his story the festival, written in 1923, but two years earlier he had included the name of the imaginary author of the necronomicon, the "mad arab" abdul alhazred, in his story the nameless city, in connection with a couplet from the dread text "that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange

evice for some of his stories. lovecraft first used the title in his story the festival, written in 1923, but two years earlier he had included the name of the imaginary author of the necronomicon, the "mad arab" abdul alhazred, in his story the nameless city, in connection with a couplet from the dread text "that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die" when lovecraft was five years old, he read an edition of the arabian nights and developed a passion for persian things. he made his mother decorate a corner of his bedroom with oriental hangings and an incense burner. one of his adult relatives suggested as a joke that he should start calling himself abdul alhazred. the name stuck in lovecraft's nearly photographic memory, and later found use in his fi

, he read an edition of the arabian nights and developed a passion for persian things. he made his mother decorate a corner of his bedroom with oriental hangings and an incense burner. one of his adult relatives suggested as a joke that he should start calling himself abdul alhazred. the name stuck in lovecraft's nearly photographic memory, and later found use in his fiction. in the nameless city lovecraft wrote "remote in the desert of araby lies the nameless city, crumbling and inarticulate, its low walls nearly hidden by the sands of uncounted ages. it was of this place that abdul alhazred the mad poet dreamed on the night before he sang his unexplained couplet" the protagonist of the story has a predictably horrifying experience in the city, and falls to babbling the couplet over and o

il-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws: till out of corruption horrific life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl" the reputation of the necronomicon rests both upon lovecraft's power as a storyteller, and on the fanciful history he concocted for the book, which is interwoven with true elements. for example, there really was an historical figure named "olaus wormius" as unlikely as this name sounds. according to lovecraft's own fictional history, the book was written around the year 730 at damascus by the arab poet abdul alhazred, who had been born at sana in

historical figure named "olaus wormius" as unlikely as this name sounds. according to lovecraft's own fictional history, the book was written around the year 730 at damascus by the arab poet abdul alhazred, who had been born at sana in yemen. the original arab title for the work was al azif. in 950 it was translated into greek by theodorus philetas, and received the greek name necronomicon, which lovecraft translated as "the book of dead names" all copies of the greek text were ordered burned by the patriarch michael in the year 1050- by this time the arab text had been lost. some greek copies escaped, however. in 1228 olaus wormius translated the greek text into latin. both the latin and greek editions were suppressed by the papal censors at the command of pope gregory ix in 1232. a germa

the greek text into latin. both the latin and greek editions were suppressed by the papal censors at the command of pope gregory ix in 1232. a german black letter edition appeared around 1440, and sometime in the first half of the next century (1500-1550, the greek text was reprinted in italy. the final known version of the work was a spanish translation from the latin text, made around 1600. in lovecraft's tales, those interested in the necronomicon can always consult the copy kept under lock and key in the library of miskatonic university, a center of study that lovecraft also invented. considering how dangerous the book is, his characters find it surprisingly easy to gain access to it. and just why is the necronomicon so dangerous? not so much for anything specific it contains, but bec

ity, a center of study that lovecraft also invented. considering how dangerous the book is, his characters find it surprisingly easy to gain access to it. and just why is the necronomicon so dangerous? not so much for anything specific it contains, but because of the terrible things it hints about, matters better left undisturbed in the mud at the bottom of the subconscious sea of the human race. lovecraft's cthulhu mythos is a group of stories, poems and novels written by him and by other writers centered around the premise that at some dim time in prehistory the earth was ruled by a race of monstrous and evil entities known as the great old ones. they were cast down from their seats of power and driven from our world, but they did not cease to exist. they continue between the dimensions

s ruled by a race of monstrous and evil entities known as the great old ones. they were cast down from their seats of power and driven from our world, but they did not cease to exist. they continue between the dimensions of normal time and space, dreaming and waiting for the time when they shall be able to rule the earth once again, as they did in days of old. on the matter of the great old ones, lovecraft wrote in his story the call of cthulhu "in the elder time chosen men had talked with the entombed old ones in dreams, but then something had happened. the great stone city r'lyeh, with its monoliths and sepulchers, had sunk beneath the waves; and the deep waters, full of the one primal mystery through which not even thought can pass, had cut off the spectral intercourse. but memory never

rly favorable for making this unholy contact. hints of their existence, and of how they may be contacted, are sometimes recorded in obscure occult texts such as the necronomicon. this is why the book is supposed to be so powerful, and so evil. for if the old ones succeed in forcing a doorway permanently open onto our time and space, they will destroy and enslave the world. the underlying theme of lovecraft's cthulhu mythos has many powerful echoes in the mythologies of ancient cultures around the world. it is probably for this reason that it struck such a chord of response in readers. we find in it similarities to the myth of the archons of gnosticism, who together with the arch devil and god, yaldabaoth, gave shape to the material world and rule over the human race. there are also echoes

sm, who together with the arch devil and god, yaldabaoth, gave shape to the material world and rule over the human race. there are also echoes of the jewish myth of the fall of the angels, and more specifically of the watchers who descended to earth to sin with the daughters of mankind, and to teach their offspring forbidden arts and sciences. the legend of the fall of atlantis is in harmony with lovecraft's mythos as well, as are the more modern enochian communications of the elizabethan magician dr. john dee. the other day while i was reading the magic arts in celtic britain by lewis spence (first published in london by rider in 1945, i happened across this passage, which has bearing on the general topic of mythic correspondences with lovecraft's great old ones "but i must not close this

cery (spence. magic arts in celtic britain. new york: dover, 1999, pages 25-6) these tales are so primal, so ancient, that they may well be part of our racial memory, just as is the myth of the great flood. if credence is given to the notion that an individual human being can draw upon this racial memory, as the psychologist carl jung believed, then it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that lovecraft in his frequent strange dreams and nightmares glimpsed something true about the distant past of the universe, perhaps so far back in the past that the human race had not even begun to take the shape we know. there are numerous intelligent, educated individuals who entertain this possibility. notable among them is kenneth grant, who is arguably the rightful head of the ordo templi orienti

them is kenneth grant, who is arguably the rightful head of the ordo templi orientis, and the author of many books on magic and the occult. those interested in the reality that may underlie the cthulhu mythos should study grant's outer gateways and his nightside of eden, both recently reprinted by skoob books. a very clear distinction must be made between the underlying mythic current that lends lovecraft's stories their intuited sense of plausibility, and the actual details contained in the stories, most of which are completely fictional and had no existence outside of lovecraft's fertile imagination. the actual names and characteristics of the great old ones are fictional. the places associated with them, such as the plateau of leng, are fictional. the book the necronomicon is fictional

hed texts are of limited interest- the dream text was somewhat better, as i recall. by all means, purchase, read, study, memorize and take to heart any and all of the books sold in the stores with the title necronomicon, but for heaven's sake remember as you do so that they are phonies, each and every one. the only genuine necronomicon is the one you will read in your own dreams, as i did, and as lovecraft did. those seeking serious information about the necronomicon should consult the necronomicon files, a comprehensive and surprisingly sane examination of the necronomicon phenomenon. here you will find a link to the complete text of lovecraft's brief bogus history of the necronomicon. concerning the curious connnecting thread that links gnostic theology, the book of enoch, the new testam

nomicon. concerning the curious connnecting thread that links gnostic theology, the book of enoch, the new testament book of revelation, the elizabethan magician dr. john dee and his communications with the enochian angels, the victorian era secret society of practical magic known as the hermetic order of the golden dawn, the magician and great beast aleister crowley, the dreamer and writer h. p. lovecraft, and the writer and magician kenneth grant (and perhaps i should not exclude myself from this list) read the essay "dr. john dee, the necronomicon, and the cleansing of the world- a gnostic trail" by colin low, to be found at a miscellany of essays. return h ahome resources demons bios fiction tyson the truth about pentagrams (eliphas levi's interpretation of the pentagram) the pentagram

EMPERORS NEW RELIGION CHURCH OF SATAN

f passage intended to rid the follower of catholic christian dogma. 2. l air epais an initiation ritual in which the participant symbolically dies and is reborn as a satanist. 3. das tierdrama a reminder of one s animal heritage. 4. homage to tchort draws inspiration from russian folklore of various demons, which are summoned during the ritual. 5. the ceremony of the nine angles inspired by h. p. lovecraft, it is intended to emphasize potential. 6. the call to cthulhu also inspired by h. p. lovecraft, it reflects the dimness of an almost forgotten past. 7. the satanic baptisms baptism rituals for children and adults. rituals 4, 5, and 6 have no clear purpose. michael aquino, the author of rituals 5 and 6, explains that the fledgling organization s theory regarding rituals was not all that

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

ylvania. crystaphile term used to indicate a lover of crystal who believes that it may have occult applications (see also crystal healing) csa see christian spiritual alliance, church of the csar see center for scientific anomalies research csicop see committee for the scientific investigation of claims of the paranormal cthulhu mythos term coined by august derleth, biographer and editor of h. p. lovecraft, writer of supernatural fiction. the term denotes the mythology invented by lovecraft for a group of horror stories. according to derleth, lovecraft once told him, all my stories, unconnected as they may be, are based on the fundamental lore or legend that this world was inhabited at one time by another race who, in practicing black magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live

ecraft for a group of horror stories. according to derleth, lovecraft once told him, all my stories, unconnected as they may be, are based on the fundamental lore or legend that this world was inhabited at one time by another race who, in practicing black magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live on the outside, ever ready to take possession of this earth again. sources: carter, lin. lovecraft: a look behind the cthulhu mythos. new york: ballantine books, 1972. schweitzer, darrell. the dream quest of h. p. lovecraft. san bernardino, calif: borgo press, 1978. cuadernos de parapsicologia journal quarterly journal of parapsychology published in argentina. address: zabala 1930, 1712 castelar, prov. buenos aires, argentina. cuchulain legendary hero warrior of irish romance, son of

worlds was j. r. r. tolkien (1892.1973) with his famous the lord of the rings trilogy: the fellowship of the ring (1954, the two towers (1955, and the return of the king (1955. these books involve a fictitious mythology reminiscent of arthurian romance and generated a worldwide cult following. there is a strong element of fantasy mythology in some of the short stories of the american writer h. p. lovecraft (1890.1937, who appears to have been strongly influenced by machen and lord dunsany. lovecraft s style is uneven and mannered, but his stories of ancient evil, monsters, and horror have secured a cult following. many of his stories were originally published in magazines like weird tales; others were collected and published posthumously through the initiative of fantasy writer august derl

w grimoires, such as the master grimoire of magickal rites& ceremonies (1982, by nathan elkana, which integrates material from the older works into a modern perspective with little mention of spirits and demons. a few completely new grimoires have appeared, and there have been several attempts to create the necronomicon (1977, the book first mentioned in the fictional works of horror writer h. p. lovecraft. sources: barett, francis. the magus. london: lackington, allen, 1801. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1967. the grimoire of raphael. edited by fra. zarathustra [nelson white. pasadena, calif: the technology group, 1987. lemegeton; clavicula salomonis: or, the complete lesser key of solomon the king. edited by nelson white and anne white. pasadena, calif: the technology gr

om the order, being punished with perpetual imprisonment in an underground dungeon with only bread and water three days of the week. she died soon afterward in 1647. father picard had died in 1642, but his corpse was exhumed and excommunicated. father thomas boulle was imprisoned for three years, tortured, then burned alive in 1647. the remaining nuns of louviers were sent away to other convents. lovecraft, h(oward) p(hillips (1890.1937) celebrated american writer of macabre supernatural fiction. he was born august 20, 1890, in providence, rhode island. his father died of syphilis in 1898 and his grandfather, who was the dominant intellectual influence in his life, died in 1904. lovecraft himself grew up as a lonely neurasthenic with a love of eighteenth-century english literature. he was

y neurasthenic with a love of eighteenth-century english literature. he was also strongly influenced by the fantasy fiction of edgar allan poe. he began writing stories at the age of five, and as a young man became something of an eccentric recluse. at the age of sixteen, he contributed a series of articles on astronomy to the providence tribune. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. lovecraft, h(oward) p(hillips) 939 a shy, imaginative, and delicate individual, he was much influenced in his own stories by such fantasy authors as algernon blackwood, lord dunsany, arthur machen, and walter de la mare. his own somewhat augustan prose style and highly individual preoccupation with fantasy and horror themes remained too specialized for conventional literary outlets, and much of hi

ate into the night at his stories. his most impressive creation was the cthulhu mythos, involving a group of stories about entities from another time and space. part of the myth was a fictitious grimoire, or magical instruction and ritual book, called the necronomicon, also referred to as the book of dead names compiled by the mad arab abdul alhazred. in spite of his considerable literary output, lovecraft made very little money out of his fiction, which he supplemented by editing and ghost-writing. he died from cancer march 15, 1937. after his death, his friend and biographer august derleth revived and reissued his stories through arkham house press, arkham being a fictional city in lovecraft s stories. it has been suggested that some of the fantasy inventions of lovecraft may have had so

in lovecraft s stories. it has been suggested that some of the fantasy inventions of lovecraft may have had some real existence in some other plane of reality, contacted through his subconscious mind. a small group of magicians have explored the possibility of the cthulu mythos for the working of magic. no less than three necronomicons have been written and published. sources: burleson, donald r. lovecraft: disturbing the universe. lexington: university press of kentucky, 1990. de camp, l. sprague. lovecraft: a biography. garden city, n.y: doubleday, 1975. derleth, august. h.p.l: a memoir. ben abramson, 1945. joshi, s. t. h. p. lovecraft: a life. west warwick, r.i: necronomicon press, 1996. long, frank belknap. howard phillips lovecraft: dreamer on the nightside. sauk city, wis: arkham hou

disturbing the universe. lexington: university press of kentucky, 1990. de camp, l. sprague. lovecraft: a biography. garden city, n.y: doubleday, 1975. derleth, august. h.p.l: a memoir. ben abramson, 1945. joshi, s. t. h. p. lovecraft: a life. west warwick, r.i: necronomicon press, 1996. long, frank belknap. howard phillips lovecraft: dreamer on the nightside. sauk city, wis: arkham house, 1975. lovecraft, howard phillips. at the mountains and other novels. sauk city, wis: arkham house, 1964. collected poems. sauk city, wis: arkham house, 1963. the dunwich horror and others. sauk city, wis: arkham house, 1963. haunter of the dark, and other tales of horror. london: gollancz, 1950. supernatural horror in literature. new york: b. abramson, 1945. simon, ed. the necronomicon. new york: schjan

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

liam rider& son, 1911. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1961. reprinted as the book of black magic and ceremonial magic. new york: causeway books, 1973. the occult sciences. 1891. reprint, secaucus, n.j: university books, 1974. necronomicon a grimoire, or textbook of black magic for evoking demons, supposedly compiled by the mad arab abdul alhazred, but in fact an invention of h. p. lovecraft, early twentieth-century writer of supernatural and fantasy fiction. the name abdul alhazred was adopted playfully by lovecraft around the age of five, after he read an edition of the arabian nights. he later used it in his fiction. it may also refer to an old rhode island family name, hazard. in 1936 lovecraft wrote a pseudoscholarly essay titled a history of the necronomicon, which cla

may also refer to an old rhode island family name, hazard. in 1936 lovecraft wrote a pseudoscholarly essay titled a history of the necronomicon, which claimed that its original title was al azif, derived from the word used by arabs to designate the nocturnal sound of insects resembling the howling of demons. there followed an account of various editions of the necronomicon, beginning in 730 c.e. lovecraft claimed that there was a copy of the work in the equally fictional library of miskatonic university, in arkham (a city he invented in his fiction. lovecraft s essay was published in leaflet form by wilson h. shepherd in 1938 and has since been reprinted. the necronomicon was cited in various stories by lovecraft and gradually acquired a spurious life of its own. for example, someone inse

yale university library. a new york bookseller could not resist inserting an entry for a latin edition in one of his sale catalogs. eventually a group of writers and researchers headed by occult scholar colin wilson solemnly presented the necronomicon: the book of dead names as a newly discovered lost masterpiece of occult literature. in an introduction to this publication, wilson suggested that lovecraft s invention may have had some substance in fact, perhaps revealed through lovecraft s subconscious mind. wilson told a story as fabulous as that of the origin of the golden dawn cipher manuscript. wilson s story concerned a dr. stanislaus hinterstoisser, president of the salzburg institute for the study of magic and occult phenomena, who was said to have claimed that lovecraft s father w

have had some substance in fact, perhaps revealed through lovecraft s subconscious mind. wilson told a story as fabulous as that of the origin of the golden dawn cipher manuscript. wilson s story concerned a dr. stanislaus hinterstoisser, president of the salzburg institute for the study of magic and occult phenomena, who was said to have claimed that lovecraft s father was an egyptian freemason. lovecraft sr. saw a copy of the necronomicon in boston (where he worked, which was a section of a book by alkindi (d. 850 c.e) known as the book of the essence of the soul.so the story went. science fiction writer l. sprague de camp (who published a biography of lovecraft in 1975) is said to have acquired an arabic manuscript from baghdad titled al azif. the british occultist robert turner, after

ited, and published (neville spearman, u.k, 1978. no doubt other recensions of the necronomicon will be discovered in the course of time. it might seem inevitable that once the necronomicon appeared, a group accepting it as a valid magic text would soon follow. in the 1980s there surfaced on campuses across the united states flyers from what was termed the campus crusade for cthulhu, drawing upon lovecraft in a parody of the evangelical christian organization, campus crusade for christ. while the organization appears to be based in satire, it nevertheless demonstrates the comprehensive nature of the mythology created by lovecraft and the seriousness with which some of his readers have taken the idea of the old gods enunciated therein. sources: de camp, l. sprague, ed. al azif (the necronom

FRATER TENEBROUS CULTS OF CTHULHU

we all round that first corner by choice- and then we are lost. you too. t you must decide what is false and what is true, and what is true for me but not for you. we are wandering the mazes, all of us, and we cannot hope to escape until we learn to tell the difference between what is real and what is real for someone else. t t there lies the madness, and truth as well- p.o.pciauthor named h. p. lovecraft. as his contributions to the magazine grew more regular, the stories began to form an internally consistent and self-referential mythology, created from the literary realisation of the author s dreams and intuitive impulses. although he outwardly espoused a wholly rational and sceptical view of the universe, his dream-world experiences allowed him glimpses of places and entities beyond t

reams and intuitive impulses. although he outwardly espoused a wholly rational and sceptical view of the universe, his dream-world experiences allowed him glimpses of places and entities beyond the world of mundane reality, and behind his stilted and often excessive prose there lies a vision and an understanding of occult forces which is directly relevant to the magical tradition. howard phillips lovecraft was born on august 20, 1890, in providence, rhode island, at 454 angell street the house of his maternal grandfather, whipple v. phillips. his parents, winfield scott lovecraft and sarah susan phillips, were of english descent, and throughout his life lovecraft remained a devoted anglophile. winfield lovecraft, a commercial traveller, spent much of his time away from the family home, and

dence, rhode island, at 454 angell street the house of his maternal grandfather, whipple v. phillips. his parents, winfield scott lovecraft and sarah susan phillips, were of english descent, and throughout his life lovecraft remained a devoted anglophile. winfield lovecraft, a commercial traveller, spent much of his time away from the family home, and as a result had little influence on the young lovecraft. three years after his son s birth, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he died in 1898 of general paralysis of the insane, the final stage of syphilis. as a result, lovecraft spent the remainder of his formative years under the guidance of his mother and two maiden aunts, who shielded him completely from the rigours and demands of everyday life, whilst at the same time torm

he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he died in 1898 of general paralysis of the insane, the final stage of syphilis. as a result, lovecraft spent the remainder of his formative years under the guidance of his mother and two maiden aunts, who shielded him completely from the rigours and demands of everyday life, whilst at the same time tormenting him because of his supposed ugliness. lovecraft soon began to show signs of being different he could read fluently at the age of four, and would spend hours in his grandfather s extensive library, studying volumes of history and mythology. his grandfather also introduced him to local folk tales and myths which he would later draw upon in his evocations of the imaginary new england landscapes of arkham, dunwich and innsmouth. he began

ced his first horror story, the beast in the cave by 1914, he had submitted a series of articles to the united amateur press association and to local newspapers, ranging in content from astronomy and philosophy, to his early stories of the occult and the supernatural. also at this time, he began the epistolary communications which were to become one of the main pleasures of his life (at one time, lovecraft had over a hundred regular correspondents, and in fact, his extant letters considerably outweigh his fiction- one estimate puts the total number of letters written by lovecraft at over 100,000) however, it was not until 1917 that lovecraft seriously considered writing in earnest. the family had been forced to leave the house in angell street due to financial difficulties, and lovecraft s

ifficulties, and lovecraft soon discovered that he was incapable of earning a living (indeed, he was to spend the best part of his life in a state of financial deprivation and semi-starvation, surviving on as little as 15 dollars a week) his mother s mental and physical condition declined rapidly, and in 1919 she entered the butler hospital, where she died in may, 1921 after a protracted illness. lovecraft s short story, dagon, written in 1917, was published by weird tales in october, 1923, flue year of the magazine s appearance. in the same year, he made his first trip to new york to visit with the poet samuel loveman, and also to meet with sonia h. greene, a fellow member of the amateur press association. lovecraft had been corresponding with sonia, a woman several years his elder, since

sit with the poet samuel loveman, and also to meet with sonia h. greene, a fellow member of the amateur press association. lovecraft had been corresponding with sonia, a woman several years his elder, since 1921, and had also worked on revisions of some of her own writings. following their meeting, their friendship deepened and they were married on march 3, 1924. this new life proved too much for lovecraft, however, and they separated after only two years. lovecraft found the urban metropolis of new york unbearable, and his feelings of revulsion for the city provided the inspiration for his story, the horror at red hook. after the break up of his marriage, lovecraft returned to providence, where he lived as a semi-recluse in the house of his surviving aunt, anne phillips gamwell. with the

amwell. with the exception of expeditions of antiquarian exploration to various parts of the country (including visits to boston, quebec, new orleans and philadelphia, and short trips to examine historical sites within new england (such as the prehistoric megaliths at shutesbury, massachusetts, he was to remain in providence for the rest of his life. following his return to the city of his birth, lovecraft concentrated exclusively on writing, working through the night and sleeping during the day, his shutters closed. embarking upon long nocturnal ramblings, he would visit the scenes of his childhood where he had composed his first stories, and which held a deep, nostalgic fascination for the adult writer. in the winter, he seldom left the confines of the house due to a pathological horror

as writing i had very little idea, and after a time i desisted and bathed my head. when fully awake i remembered all the incidents but had lost the exquisite thrill of fear the actual sensation of the presence of the hideous unknown. looking at what i had written i was astonished by its coherence. it comprises the first paragraph of the enclosed manuscript, only three words having been changed. 1 lovecraft is a particularly interesting case of the transmission of occult knowledge via dream, in that he was one of the few authors to write effectively on the supernatural without conscious belief in the material which he was conveying. on the contrary, he violently denied the possibility of the existence of occult phenomena, though he was willing to employ their manifestation as a fictional de

a fictional device. nevertheless, this intellectual denial, expressed in his letters and in conversations with friends, is belied by the subjective certainty with which he wrote of such matters, as evidenced in his fiction indicating a dynamic dichotomy between the rational and intuitive aspects of his psychology. with the appearance of subsequent stories, an underlying pattern began to appear in lovecraft s work. in the central theme of the call of cthulhu, written in 1926, this design is clearly revealed. the subject of the story is the suggestion that, at certain times when the conjunctions of the stars assume the correct aspect, certain dark forces can influence sensitive individuals, giving them visions of the great old ones, godlike aliens of extraterrestrial origin. these entities e

ecombines after his apparent destruction at the conclusion of the tale. the narrative also gives evidence, drawn from various archaeological and mythological sources, of the continuing existence of a cult dedicated to the return of the old ones, its exponents ranging from inhabitants of the south seas islands to the angakoks of greenland, and practitioners of voodoo in the southern united states. lovecraft also gives a brief description of the world after its re-inheritance by the great old ones: the time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the great old ones; free and wild beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling injoy. then the liberated old ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel an

the liberated old ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. 2 there is a marked similarity between this passage and the teachings of many actual secret societies of the past, including the assassins, the gnostics, and the templars, but in particular to the law of thelema, as expounded by lovecraft s contemporary, aleister crowley. the main distinction is one of moral interpretation whereas lovecraft regarded his ancient gods as essentially evil, crowley saw the return of such atavistic deities as being in full accord with the progression of the aeons. following the call of cthulhu, lovecraft produced a series of a dozen or more stories which contain the central core of the inter-r

ffected. in the case of charles dexter ward, he suggests that the very roots of the magical arts lie in the ritual veneration of these trans-dimensional beings, attributing a common and unifying source to the many and diverse strands of occult belief. over the centuries, these ceremonies have been observed and mis-interpreted in terms of black magic and devil worship. a point to note here is that lovecraft never actually used the term cthulhu mythos, which was introduced after his death by his protege, august derleth. cthulhu is only one of a pantheon of deities which includes yog-sothoth, azathoth, nyarlathotep, and shubniggurath, amongst others. the manifestations of these beings varies from story to story sometimes they are described as purely supernatural, while at other times they app

d as purely supernatural, while at other times they appear as extraterrestrials with concrete physical existence and sometimes, a particular deity may be referred to in both ways within the same text. by comparing the references to each of these deities in the mythos stories, it is possible to reconstruct their inter-relationship in terms of a hierarchy, and to examine the correspondences between lovecraft s imaginary pantheon and those of pre-existing religious and mythological systems. basically, the gods of the cthulhu mythos fall into two groups, the great old ones and the elder gods, though of the latter, only nodens is mentioned by name. between ultimate chaos and the physical world stand yog-sothoth and azathoth, who share dominion over the lesser deities, pre-human races, and manki

fall into two groups, the great old ones and the elder gods, though of the latter, only nodens is mentioned by name. between ultimate chaos and the physical world stand yog-sothoth and azathoth, who share dominion over the lesser deities, pre-human races, and mankind. yog-sothoth is the outer manifestation of the primal chaos, the gate though which those outside must enter. in the dunwich horror, lovecraft writes, the old ones were, the old ones are, and the old ones shall be. not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. yog-sothoth knows the gate. yog-sothoth is the gate. yag-sothoth is the key and the guardian of the gate. past, present, future, all are one in yog-sothoth. he knows where the old ones broke through of old, and w

ssed in black, with jet black skin but caucasian features. in this form he is recognisable as the black man of the witches sabbath an incarnation commonly associated with satan. he is depicted in seventeenth century tracts on witchcraft as a creature with ebony skin, the long black robe of a priest, and a conical hat a description substantiated by the testimonies of individuals in both europe and lovecraft s own new england. nyarlathotep s physical appearance also compares quite strikingly to that of the astral entity, aiwaz, who communicated the text known as the book of the law to aleister crowley in cairo, 1904, thus inaugurating the present aeon of horus. crowley describes aiwaz as, a tall dark man in his thirties, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should

az as, a tall dark man in his thirties, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw. according to grant, the cult of aiwaz can be traced to a period that inspired the age-long draconian tradition of egypt, which lingered on into the dark dynasties, the monuments of which were laid waste by opponents of the elder cult. it is interesting to note that lovecraft himself specifically linked the worship of nyarlathotep to pre-dynastic egypt, in the eponymously titled prose poem. the elemental aspect of nyarlathotep is aether, the communicating medium of interstellar space (or in lovecraft s terminology, the audient void. shub-niggurath is the black goat of the woods with a thousand young a title inferring the geometric proliferation of creatures u

god had pre-dated christianity by at least a thousand years. in 1919, aleister crowley published a poem entitled a hymn to pan, in which he evoked this current of sexual energy as it pertains to ceremonial magic, and which he often incorporated into his own magical workings. the exclamation, io pan, which concludes the poem, corresponds to the cry of ai! shub-niggurath, which occurs in several of lovecraft s stories in relation to the worship of the goat-god. this similarity raises the question of lovecraft s familiarity with crowley s work he could have seen a copy of the equinox, the volume of collected essays in which-the hymn to pan first appeared, in the widener library at harvard, which obtained a copy in december 1917. however, from passing references to crowley in one of lovecraft

ecraft s familiarity with crowley s work he could have seen a copy of the equinox, the volume of collected essays in which-the hymn to pan first appeared, in the widener library at harvard, which obtained a copy in december 1917. however, from passing references to crowley in one of lovecraft s letters, identifying him with a character in a story by h. r. wakefield6, it would appear unlikely that lovecraft knew much of the great beast, except by reputation. the elemental nature of shub-niggurath is that of earth, symbolized by the sign of taurus. his station is the north. hastur is the voice of the old ones an elemental deity assigned to the air, or the void of outer space. on earth, the station of hastur is the east, and his sign is aquarius. the god dagon was appropriated by lovecraft fr

lord of the amphibious deep ones. his elemental attribution is water, and his number is 777. cthulhu himself is referred to as the high priest of the great old ones. his other titles include, he who is to come, lord of r lyeh, and lord of the watery abyss. cthulhu is the initiator of the dream-visions sent forth to mankind from the tomb-city of r lyeh. the formula of his invocation is supplied by lovecraft in the curious ritual phrase, of non-human origin, which is chanted by the worshippers of the cthulhu cult: ph nglui mglw nafh cthulhu r lyeh wgah nagl fhtagn. cthulhu represents the abyss of the subconscious or dreaming mind, and astrologically by the sign of scorpio. ceremonially, he is referred to the west (amenta, or the place of the dead in ancient egyptian religion, and geographica

cious or dreaming mind, and astrologically by the sign of scorpio. ceremonially, he is referred to the west (amenta, or the place of the dead in ancient egyptian religion, and geographically, to the site of r lyeh in the south pacific (the exact coordinates for which are to be found in the call of cthulhu) as already stated, nodens is the only member of the elder gods to be mentioned by name, and lovecraft gives no further information concerning him. the sign of the elder gods is described as an upright pentagram containing an eye-shaped sigil. the points of the pentagram symbolize the four elements, plus that of spirit, the fifth or hidden element. combined, they balance the mono-elemental nature of the old ones, suggesting that the elder gods may exist on a higher plane the eye suggests

FRATER U D PRACTICAL SIGIL MAGIC

eer in the arts. disgusted by commercialism, he retreated from the artistic scene soon afterwards, though he still continued editing various magazines for quite a while. austin osman spare and his theory of sigils/ 3 from 1927 until his death, he virtually lived as a weird hermit in a london slum, where he sometimes held exhibitions in a local pub. people have compared his life with that of h. p. lovecraft and certainly he too was an explorer of the dark levels of the soul. around the beginning of the first world war, he released some privately published editions, and today one can acquire.at least in great britain.numerous, usually highly expensive reprints of his works. however, we are primarily interested in two volumes, namely his well-known book of pleasure (se1f-love: the psychology

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

another source of this legend is found in the old arab mythology which centres on the necronomicon. this unusual tale is central to many modern science fiction mythologies as well as to several occult orders. yet when we examine modern renditions of the tale they have much in common with the biblical epic. probably one of the better known modern adaptations of the tale is found in the work of h.p lovecraft. he is one of the more unusual observers of the new aeon in that he never accepted his experience of the spiritual world. his childhood gnostic theurgy page 219 was marred by neurosis and his view of the world alternated between that of an overman and an neurotic invalid. he had little financial success, working as a ghost writer for most of his early life. many of his tales came to embo

GOETIA LUCIFERIAN

limitless light. one should remember, it is the limitless light from which azazel lucifer sought to be independent from. the goetia is indeed a tough, powerful and to some a dreadful real grimoire. those who have hissed and vibrated the sacred names and candle lit summons of the demons of this book have empowered it to heights which revival the legends of faust and even horror fiction author h.p. lovecraft and his tales of the macabre. with aleister crowley, whom, in his youth brought forth the shades of the goetia into boleskine and other homes, he did so in an experiment of will. while on the surface, he had appeared to consciously evoke the goetic spirits to appease his carnal desires, and other material quests; subconsciously he was breaking ground for the development of the will. the

GREENFIELD ALLEN SECRET CIPHER OF THE UFONAUTS

us look at the alphabet and recognized he was on to something. either richard shaver, or whoever (or whatever) his source was, appears to have been attempting to introduce the cipher of the ufonauts to certain scattered initiates through amazing stories and related publications. the base readership certainly overlapped with that of weird tales and other followers of the fantastic occultism of the lovecraft circle. the new readership, which came and went with the shaver material were prime candidates for introduction. mantong is not the cipher of the ufonauts in its current form, but many key names and words used in the shaver material, sometimes capitalized for emphasis, yield startling results for the ufologist and occultist when reduced to cipher and decoded, using the methods outlined i

ew age centers that teach nothing useful, ufo message-oriented cults waving flashlights on mountains, and, as i have shown end-of-the-world doomsayers touting this or that grand cosmic alignment, harmonic convergence or polar shift. the ufo cults have clearly influenced even kenneth grant s so-called typhonian oto, which appears to use valid magical currents to pursue the hideous old ones of h.p. lovecraft s fictional cthulhu mythos. phil dick s last efforts were marred by insipid trivial ufo cult channelings- the kind of stuff that was old hat to hardened ufologists by the late 1950s. compare phil dick s musings in the last testament with, for example, the mark probert or dick miller or gloria lee bird materials of ufo contactee lore. the magick of the black lodge can be defined and thus

GRERALD SCHUELER AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO ENOCHIAN MAGICK

medicine, and science to man. the term 'enoch' meant seer or adept of the secret wisdom. thus enochian magick was not created by a single individual but evolved gradually over time which is now lost in history. the enochian alphabet and language may in fact be nearly as old as man, at least in this hemisphere. certainly they bear striking similarities with the necronomicon and with names used by lovecraft and others, whose origins are now lost in our early history. at the turn of this century, one of the golden dawn's members, aleister crowley, published some of the order's magical papers dealing with enochian magick as well as some original work. crowley acting as kelly (a skryer, together with his associate, victor neuburg, who acted as dee (a scribe, traveled through the sahara desert

HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

mythology has. egyptian funerary religion and archaeology have provided more inspiration to writers than egyptian myths. the reanimated mummy is the image that has captured the modern imagination, but the deities of ancient egypt have appeared as peripheral characters in horror stories by writers such as th ophile gautier, arthur conan doyle, edgar allen poe, h. rider haggard, bram stoker, h. p. lovecraft, and sax rohmer (see egyptian myth: annotated print and nonprint resources).116 the sensational discovery of the tomb of tutankhamun in 1922 encouraged the cinema s fascination with the curse of the mummy. 117 the plot of the re- introduction 47 cent hollywood blockbuster the mummy, in which a mercenary searches for a magical golden book in a haunted city, is very close to that of the se

HINE PHIL ASPECTS OF EVOCATION

possible methodology by which entities such as yog-sothoth can be contacted, drawing together research in different fields of enquiry, and exploring how they relate to the cthulhu mythos. i feel that, rather than exploring lovecraftian themes using traditional magical systems such as the qabalah (though obviously, it may provide a useful parallel, the most obvious place to look for guidelines is lovecraft.s fiction itself. from this, we find that for example, in the dunwich horror, lovecraft clearly illustrates that .hilltop rites, associated with stone circles and strange geophysical phenomena, are a key when approaching entities such as yog-sothoth. bringing the great old ones into our dimension requires some form of .gate, which in mythos tales, is often a wild outdoor site, a stone ci

that for example, in the dunwich horror, lovecraft clearly illustrates that .hilltop rites, associated with stone circles and strange geophysical phenomena, are a key when approaching entities such as yog-sothoth. bringing the great old ones into our dimension requires some form of .gate, which in mythos tales, is often a wild outdoor site, a stone circle, tower, or a similar type of power spot. lovecraft is also careful to point out that such sites have, in historical terms, a long history of strange manifestations associated with them. again and again, he places great emphasis on the folklore of those who live on the borders of such areas; that .locals. have traditions that the educated sceptics appearing in the tales scoff at. the theme of specific regions which have a long history of

d geological faulting. while many ufologists reject the earth lights theory which in part explains ufo encounters as a purely terrestrial phenomena, earth mysteries research is continuing 29 to document evidence to support and further edify deveraux.s ideas. reading accounts of earth light sightings and their relationship to specific regions and underground activity is for me, very reminiscent of lovecraft.s accounts of the activities associated with the great old ones. what is perhaps also significant for the modern magician is that very often, stone circles and other sacred sites are situated in regions where geological faulting takes place. deveraux proposes that the sites perhaps served to amplify and focus the natural occurrence of light phenomena. there is a wealth of folklore worldw

s, not from any kind of self-referential intelligence on the part of the earth lights, but from the principle (from systems theory) that some energy forms are attracted towards structures of higher cohesiveness, such as the information field generated by the human brain, or possibly the electro-magnetic field generated by cars, power lines, etc. all of which leads us slowly back to stone circles; lovecraft.s .frienzied rites on the hilltops, and the role that sound plays in all of this. there is a great deal of magical literature available exploring the dynamics of sound, particularly different vocal techniques used to produce an altered state of consciousness(asc. one of the key factors seems to be rhythm. rhythms carry our consciousness along, from heartbeats, to cycles of breathing, sle

ain function, giving rise to a wide variety of .experienced. phenomena. if we can accept this (and there is a growing body of research that bears this out, then suddenly fra. choronzon.s ideas about electro-magnetic structures which have the capacity to order themselves by, and retain information over time, don.t sound so far-fetched, do they? coming back to the cthulhu mythos, it seems then that lovecraft was on the right track with his themes of weird hillregions, stone circles, barbarous words of power, and .frienzied rites. the work of paul deveraux and other researchers points to the conclusion that some sacred sites at least, are power spots which predisposed the users towards obtaining an asc whereby they could interact with energy forms of an electromagnetic nature, doubtless aided

this passage brings to mind the .timeslip. phenomena discussed above. what is equally, if not more interesting in the light (no pun intended) of the present discussion is that in other mythos tales, yog-sothoth is described as a conglomerate of iridescent globes- in other words, a light form phenomena! the entity is also associated with strange atmospheric effects such as freak winds and storms (lovecraft is known to have carefully related some of his fictional events with floods, earthquakes, and other such occurrence)s. to me, this stresses further the validity of lovecraft.s dream-inspired fiction as a valid source of magical ideas. the guidelines to evoking yog-sothoth appear, at least as far as the dunwich horror sets them forth, to be quite clear and operationally valid. investigati

HINE P OVEN READY CHAOS

ually anything on to the tree of life, and much theorising/woffle (delete as appropriate. there s nothing wrong with this- again, its often a useful exercise. it can also be fun, especially if you come up with a plausible explanation for something which is based on made-up or dodgy facts, and loads of people go hey wow, that s really amazing (a few years ago an occult author released a version of lovecraft s necronomicon that sounded good, but which in fact was spurious. so he got loads of letters from people who had done the rituals and wanted to chat about their results. this is also important when looking at beief as a magical tool, and i ll get on to that later. personally, i like to use lots of different systems, and use them as seems appropriate. i tend to flip between d.i.y, qabalah

of two sigils back, driving a porsche and asking you how far you want to go. maddening isn t it? but sigilisation often seems to work like that. 35 oven-ready chaos belief- a key to magick one aspect of chaos magick that seems to upset some people is the chaos magician s (or chaoist, if you like) occasional fondness for working with images culled from non-historical sources, such as invoking h.p lovecraft s cthulhu mythos beings, mapping the rocky horror show onto the tree of life, slamming through the astral void in an x-wing fighter, and channeling communications from gods that didn t exist five minutes ago. so you might see why using this sort of thing as a basis for serious magical work raises one or two eyebrows in some quarters. isn t after all, the lovecraft stuff fiction? what abo

mself to concentrate his mind on programming. mercury? hermes? and then he hit on it- the most powerful mythic figure that he knew could deal with computers was mr. spock! so he proceeded to invoke mr. spock, by learning all he could about spock and going round saying i never will understand humans until he was thoroughly spock-ified. and he got an a, so there! and so, back to the cthulhu mythos. lovecraft himself was of the opinion that fear, particularly fear of the unknown, was the strongest emotion attached to the great old ones. the reason why i like to work with that mythos occasionally is that the great old ones are outside most human mythologies, reflecting the shadows of the giants in norse myths, the pre- olympian titans in greek myths, and other groups of universebuilders who ar

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

e alchemist of the golden dawn friends' example and laboriously transcribe ancient documents. he died on i january 1909, a legendary and even revered figure among such occultists who had known him. a. e. waite, shadows oflife and thought (1938, p. 228. 2 the letters of ra dark lore an essential call of cthulhu primer stories to help you understand the background of call of cthulhu howard phillips lovecraft 1890 1937 the call of cthulhu by h. p. lovecraft written summer 1926 published february 1928 in weird tales, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 159-78, 287. of such great powers or beings there may be conceivably a survival. a survival of a hugely remote period when. consciousness was manifested, perhaps, in shapes and forms long since withdrawn before the tide of advancing humanity. forms of which poet

ight and frenzy. who knows the end? what has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. a time will come- but i must not and cannot think! let me pray that, if i do not survive this manuscript, my executors may put caution before audacity and see that it meets no other eye. the dunwich horror by h. p. lovecraft written summer 1928 published april 1929 in weird tales, vol. 13, no. 4, 481-508. gorgons and hydras, and chimaeras- dire stories of celaeno and the harpies- may reproduce themselves in the brain of superstition- but they were there before. they are transcripts, types- the archtypes are in us, and eternal. how else should the recital of that which we know in a waking sense to be false co

hateleys raised it for a terrible part in the doings that were to come. it grew fast and big from the same reason that wilbur grew fast and big- but it beat him because it had a greater share of the outsideness in it. you needn't ask how wilbur called it out of the air. he didn't call it out. it was his twin brother, but it looked more like the father than he did' the haunter of the dark by h. p. lovecraft written nov 1935 published december 1936 in weird tales, vol. 28, no. 5, p. 538-53. i have seen the dark universe yawning where the black planets roll without aim, where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name. cautious investigators will hesitate to challenge the common belief that robert blake was killed by lightning, or by some profound nervous shock de

i am it and it is i- i want to get out. must get out and unify the forces. it knows where i am. i am robert blake, but i see the tower in the dark. there is a monstrous odour. senses transfigured. boarding at that tower window cracking and giving way. i. ngai. ygg. i see it- coming here- hell-wind- titan blue- black wing- yog sothoth save me- the three-lobed burning eye. the lurking fear by h. p. lovecraft written november 1922 published january-april 1923 in home brew i. the shadow on the chimney vol. 2, no. 6 (january 1923, p. 4-10; there was thunder in the air on the night i went to the deserted mansion atop tempest mountain to find the lurking fear. i was not alone, for foolhardiness was not then mixed with that love of the grotesque and the terrible which has made my career a series o

eyes had the same odd quality that marked those other eyes which had stared at me underground and excited cloudy recollections. one eye was blue, the other brown. they were the dissimilar martense eyes of the old legends, and i knew in one inundating cataclysm of voiceless horror what had become of that vanished family; the terrible and thunder-crazed house of martense. the shunned house by h. p. lovecraft written october 16-19, 1924 published in the shunned house, athol, ma: the recluse press, 1928, pages 9-59. i from even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent. some times it enters directly into the composition of the events, while sometimes it relates only to their fortuitous position among persons and places. the latter sort is splendidly exemplified by a case in the ancient ci

d carring ton harris rented the place. it it still spectral, but its strangeness fascinates me, and i shall find mixed with my relief a queer regret when it is torn down to make way for a tawdry shop or vulgar apartment building. the barren old trees in the yard have begun to bear small, sweet apples, and last year the birds nested in their gnarled boughs. the case of charles dexter ward by h. p. lovecraft written january 1 to march, 1927 published may and july 1941 in weird tales, vol. 35, no. 9 (may 1941, 8-40; vol. 35, no. 10 (july 1941, 84-121 'the essential saltes of animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious man may have the whole ark of noah in his own studie, and raise the fine shape of an animal out of its ashes at his pleasure; and by the lyke method from the ess

e case of charles dexter ward was closed. opening his eyes before staggering out of that room of horror, dr. willett saw that what he had kept in memory had not been kept amiss. there had, as he had predicted, been no need for acids. for like his accursed picture a year before, joseph curwen now lay scattered on the floor as a thin coating of fine bluish-grey dust. the shadow out of time by h. p. lovecraft written nov 1934-mar 1935 published june 1936 in astounding stories, vol. 17, no. 4, p. 110-54. i after twenty-two years of nightmare and terror, saved only by a desperate conviction of the mythical source of certain impressions, i am unwilling to vouch for the truth of that which i think i found in western australia on the night of 17-18 july 1935. there is reason to hope that my experi

nt of man to this planet. and yet, when i flashed my torch upon it in that frightful abyss, i saw that the queerly pigmented letters on the brittle, aeon-browned cellulose pages were not indeed any nameless hieroglyphs of earth's youth. they were, instead, the letters of our familiar alphabet, spelling out the words of the english language in my own handwriting. the shadow over innsmouth by h. p. lovecraft written nov- 3 dec 1931 published 1936 in the shadow over innsmouth, everett, pa: visionary publishing co, p. 13-158. i during the winter of 1927-28 officials of the federal government made a strange and secret investigation of certain conditions in the ancient massachusetts seaport of innsmouth. the public first learned of it in february, when a vast series of raids and arrests occurred

- i cannot be made to shoot myself! i shall plan my cousin's escape from that canton mad-house, and together we shall go to marvel-shadowed innsmouth. we shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to cyclopean and many-columned y'ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the deep ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever. the whisperer in darkness by h. p. lovecraft written 24 feb-26 sept 1930 published august 1931 in weird tales, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 32-73 i bear in mind closely that i did not see any actual visual horror at the end. to say that a mental shock was the cause of what i inferred- that last straw which sent me racing out of the lonely akeley farmhouse and through the wild domed hills of vermont in a commandeered motor at night- is to ign

HP LOVECRAFT AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

r, emissary, changeling, outsider. that hideous repressed buzzing. and all the time in that fresh, shiny cylinder on the shelf. poor devil "prodigious surgical, biological, chemical, and mechanical skill. for the things in the chair, perfect to the last, subtle detail of microscopic resemblance- or identity- were the face and hands of henry wentworth akeley hat the mountains of madness by h. p. lovecraft written feb-22 mar 1931 published february-april 1936 in astounding stories, vol. 16, no. 6 (february 1936, p. 8-32; vol. 17, no. 1 (march 1936, p. 125-55; vol. 17, no. 2 (april 1936, p. 132-50. i i am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. it is altogether against my will that i tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invas

HP LOVECRAFT BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP

- and, of course, danforth did not hint any of these specific horrors till after his memory had had a chance to draw on his bygone reading. he could never have seen so much in one instantaneous glance. at the time, his shrieks were confined to the repetition of a single, mad word of all too obvious source "tekeli-li! tekeli-li" document modified: 03/10/2000 09:27onbeyond the wall of sleep by h.p. lovecraft written 1919 published october 1919 in pine cones, vol. 1, no. 6, p. 2-10 i have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences- freud to

HP LOVECRAFT CELEPHAIS

was discovered by doctor anderson of edinburgh, not very far from algol. no star had been visible at that point before. within twenty-four hours the stranger had become so bright that it outshone capella. in a week or two it had visibly faded, and in the course of a few months it was hardly discernible with the naked eye" 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45odcelephais by h.p. lovecraft written early nov 1920 published may 1922 in the rainbow, no. 2, p. 10-12. in a dream kuranes saw the city in the valley, and the seacoast beyond, and the snowy peak overlooking the sea, and the gaily painted galleys that sail out of the harbour toward distant regions where the sea meets the sky. in a dream it was also that he came by his name of kuranes, for when awake he was called by

HP LOVECRAFT COOL AIR

des played mockingly with the body of a tramp who had stumbled through the half-deserted village at dawn; played mockingly, and cast it upon the rocks by ivy-covered trevor towers, where a notably fat and especially offensive millionaire brewer enjoys the purchased atmosphere of extinct nobility. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43:0the road to madness: the transition of h. p. lovecraft by h. p. lovecraft publication date: october 1996 in trade paperback compilation copyright 1996 by arkham house publishers, inc. permission to download this sample for personal use only is hereby granted by del rey books. it is illegal to reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retri

HP LOVECRAFT DAGON

there was a gradual deterioration i had not foreseen. dr. torres knew, but the shock killed him. he couldn't stand what he had to do -he had to get me in a strange, dark place when he minded my letter and nursed me back. and the organs never would work again. it had to be done my way--preservation--for you see i died that time eighteen years ago" back to del rey's sample chapter lledagon by h.p. lovecraft written jul 1917 published november 1919 in the vagrant, no. 11, 23-29. i am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight i shall be no more. penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone, makes life endurable, i can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. do not think from my slavery t

HP LOVECRAFT EX OBLIVIONE

king talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind- of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium. the end is near. i hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. it shall not find me. god, that hand! the window! the window! 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43 1ex oblivione by h.p. lovecraft 1920 when the last days were upon me, and the ugly trifles of existence began to drive me to madness like the small drops of water that torturers let fall ceaselessly upon one spot of their victims body, i loved the irradiate refuge of sleep. in my dreams i found a little of the beauty i had vainly sought in life, and wandered through old gardens and enchanted woods. once when the wind w

HP LOVECRAFT FROM BEYOND

ies were at an end; for in that new realm was neither land nor sea, but only the white void of unpeopled and illimitable space. so, happier than i had ever dared hope to be, i dissolved again into that native infinity of crystal oblivion from which the daemon life had called me for one brief and desolate hour. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43:2from beyond by howard phillips lovecraft in 1920, and first published in "the fantasy fan" june 1934. horrible beyond conception was the change which had taken place in my best friend, crawford tillinghast. i had not seen him since that day, two months and a half before, when he told me toward what goal his physical and meta-physical researches were leading; when he had answered my awed and almost frightened remonstrance's by d

HP LOVECRAFT HERBERT WEST REANIMATOR

if i could dismiss what i now have to think of the air and the sky about and above me. i never feel alone or comfortable, and a hideous sense of pursuit sometimes comes chillingly on me when i am weary. what prevents me from never' g the doctor is this simple fact- that the police never found the bodies of those servants whom they say crawford tillinghast murderr herbert west: reanimator by h.p. lovecraft written sep 1921-mid 1922 published in five parts, february-july 1922 in home brew, vol. 1, nos. 1-6. i. from the dark published februrary 1922 in home brew vol. 1, no. 1, p. 19-25. of herbert west, who was my friend in college and in after life, i can speak only with extreme terror. this terror is not due altogether to the sinister manner of his recent disappearance, but was engendered

HP LOVECRAFT HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON

the men with the box, whose existence they deny. i told them of the vault, and they pointed to the unbroken plaster wall and laughed. so i told them no more. they imply that i am either a madman or a murderer- probably i am mad. but i might not be mad if those accursed tomb-legions had not been so silent. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43 ihistory of the necronomicon by h.p. lovecraft (1927 (there has been some difficulty over the date of this essay. most give the date as 1936, following the laney-evans (1943) bibliography entry for the pamphlet version produced by the rebel press. this date, as can easily be ascertained from the fact that this was a "limited memorial edition, is spurious (lovecraft died in 1937; in fact, it dates to 1938. the correct date of 1927 com

be ascertained from the fact that this was a "limited memorial edition, is spurious (lovecraft died in 1937; in fact, it dates to 1938. the correct date of 1927 comes from the final draft of the essay, which appears on a letter addressed to clark ashton smith("to the curator of the vaults of yoh-vombis, with the concoctor's] comments. the letter is dated april 27, 1927 and was apparently kept by lovecraft to circulate as needed- original title al azif- azif being the word used by arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos'd to be the howling of daemons. composed by abdul alhazred, a mad poet of sana, in yemen, who is said to have flourished during the period of the ommiade caliphs, circa 700 a.d. he visited the ruins of babylon and the subterranean secrets of memphis

ation, which called attention to it. the arabic original was lost as early as wormius' time, as indicated by his prefatory note [the rebel press edition adds paranthetically "there is, however, a vague account of a secret copy appearing in san francisco during the present century, but later perished in fire- a transparent reference to clark ashton smith's tale "the return of the sorcerer. indeed, lovecraft says in a letter to richard f. searight (1935 "this 'history' must be modified in one respect- since klarkash-ton's 'return of the sorceror (pub in strange tales 3 yrs. ago) tells of the survival of an arabic text until modern times] and no sight of the greek copy- which was printed in italy between 1500 and 1550- has been reported since the burning of a certain salem man's library in 16

1692. the work was printed in the 15th, 16th& 17th centuries, but few copies are extant. wherever existing, it is carefully guarded for the sake of the world's welfare& sanity. once a man read through the copy in the library of miskatonic university at arkham- read it through& fled wild-eyed into the hills. but that is another story- in yet another letter (to james blish and william miller, 1936, lovecraft says: you are fortunate in securing copies of the hellish and abhorred necronomicon. are they the latin texts printed in germany in the fifteenth century, or the greek version printed in italy in 1567, or the spanish translation of 1623? or do these copies represent different texts? note that this is not entirely consistent with the accounts given earlier- annotated version from kendrick

y in 1567, or the spanish translation of 1623? or do these copies represent different texts? note that this is not entirely consistent with the accounts given earlier- annotated version from kendrick kerwin chua's necronomicon faq with further annotation by dan clore (note: i have substituted the corrected text for the older, corrupt text used in the faq- d.c "history of the necronomicon, by h.p. lovecraft, written in 1937 with footnotes and references by kendrick kerwin chua, 1993. see above for the date of this essay. original title al azif- azif being the word used by arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos'd to be the howling of daemons. composed by abdul alhazred, a mad poet of sana, in yemen, who is said to have flourished during the period of the ommiade cal

el press edition adds this editor's note "a full description of the nameless city, and the annals and secrets of its one time inhabitants will be found in the story the nameless city, published in the first issue of fanciful tales, and written by the author of this outline] he was only an indifferent moslem, worshipping unknown entities whom he called yog- sothoth and cthulhu (9) note already how lovecraft skirts the fine line between campy parody and seriousness. in lovecraft at last, conover writes that lovecraft wrote the history in order to allow people with any understanding of arab studies to see through the mock scholarship. note also the inconsistencies here with the description of al-hazred in the simon necronomicon. al-hazred there supposedly witnessed the horrible rituals at mas

in order to allow people with any understanding of arab studies to see through the mock scholarship. note also the inconsistencies here with the description of al-hazred in the simon necronomicon. al-hazred there supposedly witnessed the horrible rituals at masshu, a mythical island at the mouth of the euphrates upon which utnapishtim, the babylonian noah, supposedly still resides today. whereas lovecraft describes the crimson desert as the place where al-hazred witnessed much of what he wrote down. note also that in the simon version, al-hazred warns against worshipping "iak-sakkak" and "kutulu, whereas lovecrafts claims he did just that. note also the improper use of the a.d. prefix until the next paragraph. kkc in a.d. 950 the azif, which had gained a considerable tho' surreptitious ci

the philosophers of the age, was secretly translated into greek by theodorus philetas of constantinople under the title necronomicon (10) another inconsistency. simon claims that al-hazred rendered the necronomicon in greek first, rather than arabic. kkc i haven't been able to find this claim in simon's text, but he does claim that the manuscript he translated is a greek version. as noted below, lovecraft states that the greek version was lost. for a century it impelled certain experimenters to terrible attempts, when it was suppressed and burnt by the patriarch michael. after this it is only heard of furtively, but (1228) olaus wormius made a latin translation later in the middle ages, and the latin text was printed twice- once in the fifteenth century in black-letter (evidently in germa

ly heard of furtively, but (1228) olaus wormius made a latin translation later in the middle ages, and the latin text was printed twice- once in the fifteenth century in black-letter (evidently in germany) and once in the seventeenth (prob. spanish- both editions being without identifying marks, and located as to time and place by internal typographical evidence only (11) interesting to note that lovecraft does not say outright that someone in our time had apparently found and identified these renditions of the book. kkc the work both latin and greek was banned by pope gregory ix in 1232, shortly after its latin translation, which called attention to it (12) the archivist has thusfar been unable to find al azif, necronomicon, or anything even remotely similar on any of the forbidden book l

ale "the return of the sorcerer] and no sight of the greek copy- which was printed in italy between 1500 and 1550- has been reported since the burning of a certain salem man's library in 1692 (13) again, simon claims to have translated a greek edition. kkc an english translation made by dr. dee was never printed, and exists only in fragments recovered from the original manuscript (14) an internal lovecraft inconsistency. in his short story "the dunwich horror, the old wizard called whately utilizes a dee translation of the necronomicon in order to produce children for yog-sothoth. a complete listing of john dee's books reveals none titled necronomicon. kkc this is not an inconsistency, as old wizard whateley uses an incomplete manuscript of the dee translation. wilbur whateley, yog-sothoth

ale at paris. a seventeenth-century edition is in the widener library at harvard, and in the library of miskatonic university at arkham. also in the library of the university of buenos ayres (15) other than the harvard copy, which the archivist knows for sure does not exist, and the fact that miskatonic university is totally fictional, i cannot say with absolute certainty that the other locations lovecraft lists do not have some copy of a book they may call the necronomicon. interested parties may contact the archivist to confirm or deny posession of the book, if they wish. kkc they don't. numerous other copies probably exist in secret, and a fifteenth-century one is persistently rumoured to form part of the collection of a celebrated american millionaire. a still vaguer rumour credits the

ok is rigidly suppressed by the authorities of most countries, and by all branches of organised ecclesiasticism. reading leads to terrible consequences. it was from rumours of this book (of which relatively few of the general public know) that r.w. chambers is said to have derived the idea of his early novel the king in yellow (16) much of the latter part of this paragraph is in fact derived from lovecraft's own short stories, most notably "the picture in the house, which featured the sadistic robert pickman character. also, lovecraft repeatedly cites chambers' book as his main inspiration, although he created the necronomicon before he first read chambers. kkc the story featuring robert upton pickman is, of course "pickman's model, not "the picture in the house. see above on chambers. i a

tably "the picture in the house, which featured the sadistic robert pickman character. also, lovecraft repeatedly cites chambers' book as his main inspiration, although he created the necronomicon before he first read chambers. kkc the story featuring robert upton pickman is, of course "pickman's model, not "the picture in the house. see above on chambers. i am unaware of any serious statement by lovecraft attesting to any significant influence from chambers' work. oe. u m a x s- 6 t x. i c m. ur. re( profsync. n> z .y 6..e b c b c b.1. oe. h8c4. styl bsoup ntabs zwdth fjstf rwrct slct .prop. ey i. eyy i eyy..l eyy. eyy. eyy. eyy. ey ffthypnos by h.p. lovecraft written mar 1922 published may 1923 in the national amateur, vol. 45, no. 5, pages 1-3. apropos of sleep, that sinister adventure

HP LOVECRAFT NYARLATHOTEP

with the youth that is outside time, and with beauteous bearded face, curved, smiling lips, olympian brow, and dense locks waving and poppy-crowned. they say that that haunting memory-face is modeled from my own, as it was at twenty-five; but upon the marble base is carven a single name in the letters of attica-hypnos. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:444:nyarlathotep by h.p. lovecraft written early dec 1920 published november 1920 in the united amateur, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 19-21. nyarlathotep. the crawling chaos. i am the last. i will tell the audient void. i do not recall distinctly when it began, but it was months ago. the general tension was horrible. to a season of political and social upheaval was added a strange and brooding apprehension of hideous physical dange

HP LOVECRAFT POETRY AND THE GODS

ening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate gods the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is nyarlathotep. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:4499poetry and the gods by h.p. lovecraft and anna helen crofts written 1920 published september 1920 in the united amateur, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 1-4. a damp gloomy evening in april it was, just after the close of the great war, when marcia found herself alone with strange thoughts and wishes, unheard-of yearnings which floated out of the spacious twentieth-century drawing room, up the deeps of the air, and eastward to olive grove

HP LOVECRAFT POLARIS

with eagerness asks a verdict, yet what can marcia say but that the strain is "fit for the gods? and as she speaks there comes again a vision of parnassus and the far-off sound of a mighty voice saying, by his word shall thy steps be guided to happiness, and in his dreams of beauty shall thy spirit find all that it craveth" 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:4419polaris by h.p. lovecraft 1918 into the north window of my chamber glows the pole star with uncanny light. all through the long hellish hours of blackness it shines there. and in the autumn of the year, when the winds from the north curse and whine, and the red-leaved trees of the swamp mutter things to one another in the small hours of the morning under the horned waning moon, i sit by the casement and watch tha

HP LOVECRAFT THE ALCHEMIST

unnatural dream of a house of stone and brick south of a sinister swamp and a cemetery on a low hillock, the pole star, evil and monstrous, leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45:4the alchemist by h.p. lovecraft 1908 high up, crowning the grassy summit of a swelling mount whose sides are wooded near the base with the gnarled trees of the primeval forest stands the old chateau of my ancestors. for centuries its lofty battlements have frowned down upon the wild and rugged countryside about, serving as a home and stronghold for the proud house whose honored line is older even than the moss-grown ca

HP LOVECRAFT THE BEAST IN THE CAVE

will which has through six long centuries fulfilled the dreadful curse upon the house? have i not told you of the great elixir of eternal life? know you not how the secret of alchemy was solved? i tell you, it is i! i! i! that have lived for six hundred years to maintain my revenge, for i am charles le sorcier' 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:4299the beast in the cave by h.p. lovecraft april 21, 1905 the horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. i was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recess of the mammoth cave. turn as i might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. that

HP LOVECRAFT THE CATS OF ULTHAR

fright and frenzy. who knows the end? what has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. a time will come- but i must not and cannot think! let me pray that, if i do not survive this manuscript, my executors may put caution before audacity and see that it meets no other escthe cats of ulthar by h.p. lovecraft written 15 jun 1920 published november 1920 in the tryout, vol. 6, no. 11, p. 3-9. it is said that in ulthar, which lies beyond the river skai, no man may kill a cat; and this i can verily believe as i gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. for the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. he is the soul of antique aegyptus, and bearer of tales from fo

HP LOVECRAFT THE CRAWLING CHAOS

the doings of the cats on the night the caravan left, and of what was later found in the cottage under the dark trees in the repellent yard. and in the end the burgesses passed that remarkable law which is told of by traders in hatheg and discussed by travelers in nir; namely, that in ulthar no man may kill a cat. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:46:0the crawling chaos by h.p. lovecraft and elizabeth berkeley written 1920/21 published april 1921 in the united co-operative, vol. 1, no. 3, p. 1-6. of the pleasures and pains of opium much has been written. the ecstasies and horrors of de quincey and the paradis artificiels of baudelaire are preserved and interpreted with an art which makes them immortal, and the world knows well the beauty, the terror and the mystery of th

HP LOVECRAFT THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH

ing holocaust of fire, smoke, and thunder that dissolved the wan moon as it sped outward to the void. and when the smoke cleared away, and i sought to look upon the earth, i beheld against the background of cold, humorous stars only the dying sun and the pale mournful planets searching for their sister. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43fithe doom that came to sarnath by h.p. lovecraft written 3 dec 1919 published june 1920 in the scot, no. 44, p. 90-8. there is in the land of mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no stream, and out of which no stream flows. ten thousand years ago there stood by its shore the mighty city of sarnath, but sarnath stands there no more. it is told that in the immemorial years when the world was young, before ever the men of sarnath came to

HP LOVECRAFT THE LURKING FEAR

mained. doom had come to sarnath. but half buried in the rushes was spied a curious green idol; an exceedingly ancient idol chiseled in the likeness of bokrug, the great water-lizard. that idol, enshrined in the high temple at llarnek, was subsequently worshipped beneath the gibbous moon throughout the land of mnar. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45:2the lurking fear by h.p. lovecraft written november 1922 published 1923 in home brew, 2, no. 6 (january 1923: 4-10; 3, no. 1 (february 1923: 18-23; 3, no. 2 (march 1923: 31-37, 44, 48; 3, no. 3 (april 1923: 35-42. i. the shadow on the chimney there was thunder in the air on the night i went to the deserted mansion atop tempest mountain to find the lurking fear. i was not alone, for foolhardiness was not then mixed with th

HP LOVECRAFT THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN

ch had stared at me underground and excited cloudy recollections. one eye was blue, the other brown. they were the dissimilar martense eyes of the old legends, and i knew in one inundating cataclysm of voiceless horror what had become of that vanished family; the terrible and thunder-crazed house of martense. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:4499the music of erich zann by h.p. lovecraft written dec 1921 published march 1922 in the national amateur, vol. 44, no. 4, p. 38-40. i have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never again found the rue d auseil. these maps have not been modem maps alone, for i know that names change. i have, on the contrary, delved deeply into all the antiquities of the place, and have personally explored every region, of wh

HP LOVECRAFT THE NAMELESS CITY

t all the lights of the city twinkled. despite my most careful searches and investigations, i have never since been able to find the rue d auseil. but i am not wholly sorry; either for this or for the loss in undreamable abysses of the closely-written sheets which alone could have explained the music of erich zann. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:43:1the nameless city by h.p. lovecraft written january 1921 published november 1921 in the wolverine, no. 11: 3-15. when i drew nigh the nameless city i knew it was accursed. i was traveling in a parched and terrible valley under the moon, and afar i saw it protruding uncannily above the sands as parts of a corpse may protrude from an ill-made grave. fear spoke from the age-worn stones of this hoary survivor of the deluge, th

HP LOVECRAFT THE OUTSIDER

s the wind died away i was plunged into the ghoul-pooled darkness of earth's bowels; for behind the last of the creatures the great brazen door clanged shut with a deafening peal of metallic music whose reverberations swelled out to the distant world to hail the rising sun as memnon hails it from the banks of the nile. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:44ifthe outsider by h. p. lovecraft unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness. wretched is he who looks back upon lone hours in vast and dismal chambers with brown hangings and maddening rows of antique books, or upon awed watches in twilight groves of grotesque, gigantic, and vine-encumbered trees that silently wave twisted branches far aloft. such a lot the gods gave to me- to me, the da

HP LOVECRAFT THE PICTURE IN THE HOUSE

ost welcome the bitterness of alienage. for although nepenthe has calmed me, i know always that i am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men. this i have known ever since i stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glaisthe picture in the house by h.p. lovecraft written 12 december 1920? published july 1919 in the national amateur, vol. 41, no. 6, p. 246-49. searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. for them are the catacombs of ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries. they climb to the moonlit towers of ruined rhine castles, and falter down black cobwebbed steps beneath the scattered stones of forgotten cities in a

HP LOVECRAFT THE QUEST OF IRANON

ng a large irregular spot of wet crimson which seemed to spread even as i viewed it. i did not shriek or move, but merely shut my eyes. a moment later came the titanic thunderbolt of thunderbolts; blasting that accursed house of unutterable secrets and bringing the oblivion which alone saved my mind. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:44 sthe quest of iranon a short story by h.p.lovecraft into the granite city of teloth wandered the youth, vine-crowned, his yellow hair glistening with myrrh and his purple robe torn with briers of the mountain sidrak that lies across the antique bridge of stone. the men of teloth are dark and stern, and dwell in square houses, and with frowns they asked the stranger whence he had come and what were his name and fortune. so the youth answer

HP LOVECRAFT THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH

sh a radiance like that which a child sees quivering on the floor as he is rocked to sleep at evening, there walked into the lethal quicksands a very old man in tattered purple, crowned wiht whithered vine-leaves and gazing ahead as if upon the golden domes of a fair city where dreams are understood. that night something of youth and beauty died in the elder worbethe shadow over innsmouth by h.p. lovecraft i during the winter of 1927-28 officials of the federal government made a strange and secret investigation of certain conditions in the ancient massachusetts seaport of innsmouth. the public first learned of it in february, when a vast series of raids and arrests occurred, followed by the deliberate burning and dynamiting- under suitable precautions- of an enormous number of crumbling, w

HP LOVECRAFT THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER

annot be made to shoot myself! i shall plan my cousin's escape from that canton mad-house, and together we shall go to marvel-shadowed inns-mouth. we shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to cyclopean and many-columned y'ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the deep ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for evnothe statement of randolph carter by h.p. lovecraft 1919 again i say, i do not know what has become of harley warren, though i think--almost hope--that he is in peaceful oblivion, if there be anywhere so blessed a thing. it is true that i have for five years been his closest friend, and a partial sharer of his terrible researches into the unknown. i will not deny, though my memory is uncertain and indistinct, that this witness of yours ma

HP LOVECRAFT THE STREET

ry in the hollow, amidst the crumbling stones and the falling tombs, the rank vegetation and the miasmal vapors- heard it well up from the innermost depths of that damnable open sepulcher as i watched amorphous, necrophagous shadows dance beneath an accursed waning moon. and this is what it said "you fool, warren is dead" 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45m the street by h.p. lovecraft written 1920? published december 1920 in the wolverine, no. 8, p. 2-12. there be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; i dare not say, myself, but i will tell of the street. men of strength and honour fashioned that street: good valiant men of our blood who had come from the blessed isles across the sea. at first it was but a path trod

HP LOVECRAFT THE TERRIBLE OLD MAN

wonted stench there lingered a delicate fragrance as of roses in full bloom. but are not the dreams of poets and the tales of travelers notoriously false? there be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; i dare not say, myself, but i have told you of the street. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45:3the terrible old man by h.p. lovecraft written 28 jan 1920 published july 1921 in the tryout, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 10-14. it was the design of angelo ricci and joe czanek and manuel silva to call on the terrible old man. this old man dwells all alone in a very ancient house on water street near the sea, and is reputed to be both exceedingly rich and exceedingly feeble; which forms a situation very attractive to men of the profes

HP LOVECRAFT THE THING IN THE MOONLIGHT

but in this idle village gossip the terrible old man took no interest at all. he was by nature reserved, and when one is aged and feeble, one s reserve is doubly strong. besides, so ancient a sea-captain must have witnessed scores of things much more stirring in the far-off days of his unremembered youth. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:44:4the thing in the moonlight by h. p. lovecraft and j. chapman miske written november 24, 1927 published the following is based, in places word for word, on a letter lovecraft wrote to donald wandrei on november 24, 1927. the first three and last five paragraphs were added by j. chapman miske; the remainder is almost verbatim lovecraft. in the letter, lovecraft reveals that his "dreams occasionally approach'd the phantastical in chara

HP LOVECRAFT THE TOMB

night takes me always to that place of horror. i have tried not moving, with the coming of nightfall, but i must walk in my slumber, for always i awaken with the thing of dread howling before me in the pale moonlight, and i turn and flee madly. god! when will i awaken? that is what morgan wrote. i would go to 66 college street in providence, but i fear for what i might find thed the tomb by h.p. lovecraft 1917 in relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, i am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative. it is an unfortunate fact that the bulk of humanity is too limited in its mental vision to weigh with patience and intelligence those isolated phenomena, seen and felt only by a psycho

HP LOVECRAFT THE TREE

ory. a week ago he burst open the lock which chains the door of the tomb perpetually ajar, and descended with a lantern into the murky depths. on a slab in an alcove he found an old but empty coffin whose tarnished plate bears the single word: jervas. in that coffin and in that vault they have promised me i shall be buried. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:455:the tree by h.p. lovecraft 1920 on a verdant slope of mount maenalus, in arcadia, there stands an olive grove about the ruins of a villa. close by is a tomb, once beautiful with the sublimest sculptures, but now fallen into as great decay as the house. at one end of that tomb, its curious roots displacing the time-stained blocks of panhellic marble, grows an unnaturally large olive tree of oddly repellent shape; s

HP LOVECRAFT THE UNNAMABLE

le commemorating the gifts, virtues, and brotherly piety of musides. but the olive grove still stands, as does the tree growing out of the tomb of kalos, and the old bee-keeper told me that sometimes the boughs whisper to one another in the night wind, saying over and over again "oida! oida -i know! i know" 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:45:4the unnamable by; howard phillips lovecraft 1923- first published in the vagrant not dated. we were sitting on a dilapidated seventeenth- century tomb in the late afternoon of an autumn day at the old burying ground in arkham, and speculating about the unnamable. looking toward the giant willow in the cemetery, whose trunk had nearly engulfed an ancient, illegible slab, i had made a fantastic remark about the spectral and unmentio

HP LOVECRAFT THE WHITE SHIP

hat was it? those scars- was it like that" and i was too dazed to exult when he whispered back a thing i had half expected "no- it wasn't that way at all. it was everywhere- a gelatin- a slime yet it had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. there were eyes- and a blemish. it was the pit- the maelstrom- the ultimate abomination. carter, it was the unnamablyethe white ship by h.p. lovecraft written november 1919 published november 1919 in the united amateur, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 30-33. i am basil elton, keeper of the north point light that my father and grandfather kept before me. far from the shore stands the gray lighthouse, above sunken slimy rocks that are seen when the tide is low, but unseen when the tide is high. past that beacon for a century have swept the majestic b

HP LOVECRAFT THROUGH THE GATES OF THE SILVER KEY

the azure sky, and a single shattered spar, of a whiteness greater than that of the wave-tips or of the mountain snow. and thereafter the ocean told me its secrets no more; and though many times since has the moon shone full and high in the heavens, the white ship from the south came never again. 1998-1999 william johns last modified: 12/18/1999 18:4618through the gates of the silver key by h.p. lovecraft written 1932- first published in weird tales, july 1934. chapter one in a vast room hung with strangely figured arras and carpeted with bonkhata rugs of impressive age and workmanship, four men were sitting around a documentstrewn table. from the far corners, where odd tripods of wrought iron were now and then replenished by an incredibly aged negro in somber livery, came the hypnotic fu

HP LOVECRAFT WHAT THE MOON BRINGS

signs on randolph carter's estate. but the autopsy said that aspinwall had died of shock. was it rage alone which caused it? and some things in that story. in a vast room hung with strangely figured arras and filled with olibanum fumes, etienne laurent de marigny often sits listening with vague sensations to the abnormal rhythm of that hieroglyphed, coffin-shaped cloocwhat the moon brings by h.p. lovecraft written 5 june 1922 published may 1923 in the national amateur, vol. 45, no. 5, page 9 i hate the moon- i am afraid of it- for when it shines on certain scenes familiar and loved it sometimes makes them unfamiliar and hideous. it was in the spectral summer when the moon shone down on the old garden where i wandered; the spectral summer of narcotic flowers and humid seas of foliage that b

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

traditional rituals or create new ones, as she or he wishes, the only requirement being that it works. chaos magic begins with the assumption that the proper field of magic is the subconscious mind, and makes use of whatever evokes a charge from the subconscious during magical operations. chaos magic 43 thus one could, for instance, invoke spirits from completely fictional mythologies (e.g, h. p. lovecraft s fictional demons, as long as they evoke the proper state of mind. although it does not exclude the dimension of producing external effects, the focus of most chaos magic is the individual magician, approaching the ritual as psychodrama rather than worship. first coming into general view in the 1970s via the very loosely organized illuminates of thanateros, chaos magic had become a sign

s not exclude the dimension of producing external effects, the focus of most chaos magic is the individual magician, approaching the ritual as psychodrama rather than worship. first coming into general view in the 1970s via the very loosely organized illuminates of thanateros, chaos magic had become a significant strand of occultism by the 1980s. drawing heavily pen drawing by dave carson of h.p. lovecraft (1890 1937, surrounded by his creations (fortean picture library) 44 charleroi case from the thinking of spare and kenneth grant (the latter was responsible for disseminating spare s writings, the esoteric order of dagon emerged in 1980. this group conjured the dark demons created by h. p. lovecraft. a more significant new group to grow out of the chaos base was thee temple ov psychick y

LIBER 777

is the secret name of yetzirah (vide col. lxiv. 2 i.e, the hebrew word for ten. 3 the g.d. qliphoth lecture as published by zalewski, etc) has wdba, abaddon; crowley s reading matches that in kabbala denudata (tom. i. pars. iv. fig. xvi (y; although this entity is there described as innominatus, nameless or unnamed; unnamable would be innomindandus (cf. the magnum innominandum mentioned by h. p. lovecraft in the whisperer in darkness) 4 possibly an error for hmun, naamah or nahemah. the g.d. qliphoth lecture as printed by zalewski (1994) has maamah which itself may be a misprint. von rosenroth (loc. cit) which is the source for this as for so much else in 777 has hmun. 5 rosicrucian chess is also known as enochian chess although its connection with dee and kelly s magick is tenuous at bes

MICHAEL FORD WITCHMOON

in essence the end result of controlling a part of this energy. vampiric sorcery is the mastery of the elementals of the deep subconscious. are all vampire spirits merely elementals which exist at deep levels of the mind? well, my experience is no, they are not. some are pre- created spirits, long dead ghosts who seek some sort of revenge or those who have lost their battles with choronzon or as lovecraft called "azathoth (1) and drank too deeply from the mother of abominations. choronzon could be considered the same as the egyptian apep, whom is a demon of chaos. the lord of the luciferian witchcraft cultus is set, the prince of darkness, is known for his battle with apep and by destroying the demon, he becomes the master of chaos. in the sorcerer s life, he or she would seek to become s

1997 michael was based in indianapolis again during which workings were undertaken which involved ceremonial magick practice, the ritual of the bornless one to contact ones holy guardian angel, astral travel and dream projection, vampiric and lycanthropic sorcery, qlipothic workings and later ghost research. the coven maleficia is currently in operation in houston, texas usa. chapter two 1. h.p. lovecraft, the father of the cthulhu mythos. 145 145 2. thelema is greek for will, see magick in theory and practice by aleister crowley, also by the same author liber al vel legis also known as the book of the law. 3. chaos magic is a development of austin osman spare s sorcery as defined in the book of pleasure. see also peter carroll and his books, among others, liber null/psychonaut and liber

MICHAEL WYNN THE SOUL TRAVELERS

o literal 24 hour periods. there are more scientific traces of a beastly race who were destroyed by a large falling rock, and this race we call the dinosaurs. perhaps these monsters of the past aren t the bumbling creatures we take them for, but an intelligent and powerful race that ruled and desecrated the earth. one of the best retellings of this story can be found in the literary works of h.p. lovecraft, who used the terms ancient ones and elder gods to refer to the titans and angels, respectively. a fact related in his novels, and echoed by a few in the occult, is that the ancient ones are chained in darkness, and that there is a certain celestial radiation arriving from space that is utterly toxic to these titans. there is a day coming, however, when the rays of the stars will no long

n she restored the city to its ancient glory. i can t believe it s not fiction: tiamat queen of the damned (2002) hades [5.5] hades is the lord of the underworld. although greek mythology does not depict hades as a villain, modern satanists( and a little common sense) have confirmed to me that he is god s greatest enemy today. in rome, he was known as pluto and the hebrews knew him as mot. in the lovecraft mythos he is azag-thoth, and to many occults he is called coronzon; just like hades, who is considered both a character and a location, coronzon is also considered a character and a location. the egyptians call this demon apep. the greeks and christians know the location of hades as sheol, or the land of the dead, but the hebrews knew it as da ath, and the author h.p. lovecraft called it

torn off his phallus; but against the kingdom of the holy ghost shall i strive and not prevail. as stated earlier, satanists make numerous references to a devilish force stealing the creative power of the most high god, and this has given birth to much phallic symbolism. subservient to hades are many lesser demons, some of which are merely empty shells with little intellect. for the novelist h.p. lovecraft, hades went by the name azag-thoth, the mad blind god. azag-thoth is presented as the leader of the demons and resides at the center of the universe in a dark underworld called the igigi. azag-thoth is described as the embodiment of chaos, extremely powerful, and rendered sightless in some battle. the mad god sits upon a black throne, where he rules the dead spirits of the outer void. th

MICHAEL W FORD NOX UMBRA

h you, or you may stay near a sleeping place for after the ritual. the rise of the lilitu facing the black mirror "o' friend and companion of the night, thou who rejoicest in the baying of dogs and spilt blood who wanderest in the midst of shades among thetombs, who longest for blood and bringest terror to mortals, gorgo, mormo, thousand faced moon, i open the gates to thy realm(-inspired by h.p. lovecraft "lilith, mother of vampyres, mother of harlots -patron of shades and the altar of the infernal sabbat -j summon thee "vultures of the black earth, eaters of the dead, allow me entry into the realm of twilight from which i shall become as my mother, lilith" focus now on the mantra of lil-ka-litu, recite slowly and build with repetitive vibrations, taking a quick and steady breath inbetwee

ONYX TABLET OF SET

t she or he has a clue where to begin their quest for self- transformation. if they start their quest because of a iii 's questions, they will come to love and protect the system that awakened them. most will however go elsewhere, where life is easier and magic remains an entertainment. 1. discernment. they should know the difference between a good book (te velde) and a book read for inspiration (lovecraft. this ends super-subjectivity, or as my friend and teacher james lewis is fond of rightly condemning as "mysticism" 2. intellectual commitment. the initiate must view initiation as a lifetime pursuit. in the time of our ancestors' ancestors we had schools that were deeply connected with the culture, both on a linguistic and material culture basis, that taught sovereignty. some of these w

RUBY TABLET OF SET

s more interesting (1) one works for the school to assure the school's continued existence as a useful entity for oneself (2) one must understand the work of the school to understand why one should have a desire to work for the school (3) one may work on projects of the school of a long-term nature once he realizes that these are of a distinct future benefit to himself. the cthulhu worshippers in lovecraft's stories are to be despised if they were merely worshiping powerful forces and helping to bring them into more direct power for their own sake; but they may be admired if they had reason to believe that they would obtain personal power or gratification through the bringing into being of these forces. devil worship isn't viable, but devil mastery. or even negotiation with a devil. may ha

fore dying "he rama (0 god. thus ended the journey through life for mohandas k. gandhi, statesman, lawyer, philosopher, and master of the temple there is wisdom in the teachings of such beings and whether they emerge in our own aeon or are names in history, they have deposited keys for the opening of new doors. it is in such a way that we xeper and remanifest ourselves. the magical legacy of h.p. lovecraft i felt compelled to say a word or two about lovecraft's importance to the temple of set, because this is the centennial of his birth. he has had an impact on many people, including members of the church of satan and the temple of set. his imagination influenced a variety of literary and artistic creations, and that influence has spilled over into the area of the occult. i think there may

o about lovecraft's importance to the temple of set, because this is the centennial of his birth. he has had an impact on many people, including members of the church of satan and the temple of set. his imagination influenced a variety of literary and artistic creations, and that influence has spilled over into the area of the occult. i think there may be a question, for setians who have not read lovecraft: why is this author who is not an occultist, not a magician- why are his stories on the reading list? anyone who does read them will intuit the answer. some haven't. one member of the kaliyuga pylon asked me "what about this lovecraft guy? was he a satanist" well, no- he wasn't. but he was a philosopher. he created extremely evocative and powerful fiction, a kind of fiction that does not

o does read them will intuit the answer. some haven't. one member of the kaliyuga pylon asked me "what about this lovecraft guy? was he a satanist" well, no- he wasn't. but he was a philosopher. he created extremely evocative and powerful fiction, a kind of fiction that does not fit into neat categories, though it has been classed as science fiction or horror. one literary critic who has analyzed lovecraft's work describes it as "cosmic fiction. i'd like to talk a bit about what cosmic fiction is, about lovecraft's approach to the subjective and objective universes, how his innate talents and the constraints of his environment came to produce a unique perspective, and how this found manifestation in his writing. then i'll talk about what uses people have put this to, and how we see it with

ey their philosophy- it is always present in what they write. but cosmic fiction is distinct in that it is concerned with the psyche, with meaning and the place of humans as generators of meaning in a cosmos which seems to be beyond all our comfortable categories- about the confrontation with the beyond, the other, the unknown. cosmic fiction is not just horror, because there is something more in lovecraft's stories than merely the evocation of fear. it is not science fiction or fantasy, because the things lovecraft classification: v2- 92i.l- 1 author: pat hardy iii date: october, xxv html revision: september 2, xxxiii subject: h. p. lovecraft; magic and fiction reading list: 7a, 7b, 7f, 6l was trying to work with are reflections of the structure of the psyche, and in that sense they are n

use the things lovecraft classification: v2- 92i.l- 1 author: pat hardy iii date: october, xxv html revision: september 2, xxxiii subject: h. p. lovecraft; magic and fiction reading list: 7a, 7b, 7f, 6l was trying to work with are reflections of the structure of the psyche, and in that sense they are not merely his own subjective creations. they are explorations into the nature of the psyche, and lovecraft pursued this exploration to create certain effects. i should point out that his philosophy is one we would regard as anti-setian. he was a materialist, a mechanist. as far as lovecraft was concerned, not only was the universe devoid of any supernatural element, but human beings were the puppets of this cosmos. in a muchquoted statement, he refers to "the merciful inability of the human m

rs to "the merciful inability of the human mind to correlate its contents" he believed that if humans realized they were puppets and blind images of the forces around them, it would be shattering. now as setians we say, surely the very insight into this would indicate that the human was not part of that cosmos. how could you realize that you were a robot? to us this seems like an obvious paradox. lovecraft didn't address this problem. as a philosopher, he rejected human explanations of the role of humanity in the cosmos. he rejected traditional religion utterly- he regarded it (as we do) as a purveyor of soothing fictions. in letters to correspondents, he wrote that he viewed the cultivation of personal values, aesthetic values, and the derivation of ethics that made life an affair as comf

hing fictions. in letters to correspondents, he wrote that he viewed the cultivation of personal values, aesthetic values, and the derivation of ethics that made life an affair as comfortable a possible given its essential meaninglessness, these were legitimate areas for humans to delve into. but the universe itself was ultimately unfathomable, and human consciousness was like foam on a wave. yet lovecraft was a remarkable example of what humans can do in transcending the obvious limits. he did not seem to recognize this. his subjective universe was extraordinary, so extraordinary that it produced literature which had a powerful effect on others. it is worth looking at the facets of this subjective universe. as far as innate factors went, lovecraft was an extremely intelligent individual

nd told his parents that he was starting to have serious doubts about god. at seven he immersed himself in greek and roman myth, feeding his subjective universe with these images of beauty and power. he found these images so vastly enlivening and enriching, compared to the spiritual atmosphere of his surroundings, that he imagined that he must be surely be a pagan. l. sprague de camp reports that lovecraft began to think that horns and pointed ears were sprouting, and he was disappointed that wishing did not turn his feet into hooves. nevertheless, in addition to this rich aesthetic source, he also turned to the sciences. at this time he lived in the house of his grandparents. they gave him a chemistry set, and he set out straightaway to making explosions and strange smells in the basement

horns and pointed ears were sprouting, and he was disappointed that wishing did not turn his feet into hooves. nevertheless, in addition to this rich aesthetic source, he also turned to the sciences. at this time he lived in the house of his grandparents. they gave him a chemistry set, and he set out straightaway to making explosions and strange smells in the basement. his grandfather encouraged lovecraft's scientific pursuits and his taste for the weird, telling him horror tales and folk legends. lovecraft received his first telescope in 1903 at the age of 13; shortly thereafter he began writing and publishing an astronomy newsletter. he had an intense lust for knowledge. this translated into precise thinking, yet he had a powerful imagination. there are elements of his innate nature, an

for sugar. he was nocturnal all of his life, at his liveliest at night. this is not uncommon for writers, but in him it was very pronounced. he had bursts of manic energy. there were occasions when, as an adult, he went to visit correspondents; they found him full of energy, enthused, running around for two days at a time without sleep. this behavior fascinated them, because of the contrast with lovecraft's description of himself as very retiring, and with other reports describing him as a semi-invalid. it's hard to say if this was psychosomatic. he was immune to poison ivy. and he had total recall. one thing historians have focussed on is that both his parents died violently insane in asylums. some have suggested that lovecraft's extreme moodiness and cycles of ill health were due to syp

e. according to this test, he did not suffer from syphilis. we may be able to infer some hereditary component to his nervous sensitivity, and there is probably a powerful psychological effect associated with the early stages of dementia in his parents. this added a further element for him to contend with in the formation of his psyche and his view of the world. the death of his grandfather forced lovecraft's family into a smaller flat in providence. his father had already been hospitalized, and his mother moved in with two aunts. he regarded this as the end of a golden age in his childhood. he dropped out after two years of high school, had a nervous breakdown, and never returned to his studies. he regretted this later; in his letters he wrote of his regret that he had not pursued his acad

ters he wrote of his regret that he had not pursued his academic studies. for the rest of his life he never held a job, living almost all of his life with his two aunts. he briefly lived outside providence, having gotten married and gone to live in new york city. however, he despised new york city, moved back to providence, and got divorced. if this was all there was to say about the life of h.p. lovecraft, there would be nothing to talk about. however, his writing, and his creativity, proved to be the key. it brought him into contact with others, and caused him to have an effect on the objective universe- it became the basis of a legacy both literary and magical. now writing, and artistic creation generally, is a kind of mirror of the soul. you will find in art the specific characteristic

ave an effect on the objective universe- it became the basis of a legacy both literary and magical. now writing, and artistic creation generally, is a kind of mirror of the soul. you will find in art the specific characteristics of the artist's subjective universe, not only in the themes pursued, but in the structure of the work, in the way that those themes are expressed and presented to others. lovecraft's tales show a number of features that are very tightly keyed to his subjective universe. lovecraft tales focus on mood: the building and cultivation of moods in his stories is the important thing. he's not concerned with plot as we generally understand it; his stories are remarkably consistent- to the extent that a plot exists at all, almost all of his stories possess the same plot: a r

the area he describes is actually in clinton, the next town over. i know it well, because i live in bolton, and i have seen the very neighborhood where the notorious dr. west supposedly made off with the corpses of mill workers for his experiments. there's a dam and a textile mill there. i know that a train line once ran through this area. it's now gone. the only thing that i can conclude is that lovecraft must have at some have point passed through the region on that train line. another example is "pickman's model. the ghouls that pickman portrayed were found in certain tunnels under boston. those tunnels existed. they were smugglers' tunnels dating from colonial days that were unearthed during subway construction at the time lovecraft was writing. he apparently read about them, and decid

tunnels existed. they were smugglers' tunnels dating from colonial days that were unearthed during subway construction at the time lovecraft was writing. he apparently read about them, and decided to incorporate this detail. perhaps he found a ghoulish amusement in the fact that these smuggler's tunnels linked some of the colonial mansions in the vicinity, and ran alongside an old burying ground. lovecraft's social alienation was profound. this shows in his tales as a complete lack of regard for what people expect in a story. there are never any romantic interests in his tales; he's writing philosophy. this is one thing that has kept his writing out of the mainstream. literary people who think of the ordinary details of human life- marriage, birth, death, the prom, what have you- as the st

ack of regard for what people expect in a story. there are never any romantic interests in his tales; he's writing philosophy. this is one thing that has kept his writing out of the mainstream. literary people who think of the ordinary details of human life- marriage, birth, death, the prom, what have you- as the stuff of which great literature is made, can't understand why anyone would read h.p. lovecraft. this is even worse than the hardware fixation of hard science fiction, and of course science fiction is not accepted as part of the literary mainstream either. there is also an element of temporal dislocation in lovecraft's stories. lovecraft seemed to practice a life-long eci working. he didn't like his surroundings. he regarded himself as a gentleman of the 1700s, a displaced tory, a

tters must have shaken their head in disbelief. yet he pursued this fantasy. what is curious is that he got other writers to play along with this, in terms of his personal correspondence. he gained contacts within the amateur press associations, and people there could see beyond the superficial aspect of his life and enjoy the vividness of his imagination. this was what they saw as the real h. p. lovecraft. these subjective features translate into things like the documentary style of his work, the first person narrative- a disproportionate number of his stories are in the first person. again it is lovecraft himself who is mirrored in this: he is describing an image of his own realization that everyone around him was asleep, wrapped in comforting fantasies, and he himself possessed piercing

ings. he, as the narrator of such stories, suffered the blinding revelation of the true nature of the cosmos and the disintegration of conventional sanity as a result of this delving into the unknown. but he never portrayed such narrators as deluded or damned. they were always people who, by their drive to know the truth, encountered the otherness of the universe. many people have complained that lovecraft overuses adjectives. i call this the eldritch and blasphemous factor. some critics conclude that he couldn't actually describe the monster, so he copped out by writing that it was eldritch and blasphemous and loathsome and horrible. now if you look at his stories- the precision of his descriptions, the care in constructing moods, the clarity and detail of travel reports in his letters- i

s adjectives. i call this the eldritch and blasphemous factor. some critics conclude that he couldn't actually describe the monster, so he copped out by writing that it was eldritch and blasphemous and loathsome and horrible. now if you look at his stories- the precision of his descriptions, the care in constructing moods, the clarity and detail of travel reports in his letters- it's certain that lovecraft is perfectly capable of describing intricate detail. if a particularly entity was a twenty-foot bloodsucking and bristling tick, he could describe it in exhaustive clinical detail. but that would miss the point! the point about the stories is that what makes these beings eldritch and blasphemous is not any feature of their physical form, but that by their very existence they strike at hu

people have about what is out there. lovecraftian tales are not ooga-booga monster stories. they are meant to disquiet the reader with the implications, not with the forms of these entities. what he's trying to get at is indeed supernatural horror, even though he did not believe in the supernatural. turning to the question of why this is relevant to occultists. people make wild claims about h.p. lovecraft. some say that he was a medium for the true gods, the forces from beyond- that these fictional entities actually exist, and he was channeling them. others claim that he was indeed initiated into occult secrets; but at the moment of passing the portal of initiation he was eaten by the dweller on the threshold, and so could not accept the reality of these strange creatures, yet was compell

SATANGEL

ombined with phaerie lore. it is thus unsurprising that it should have become such an influential text to the practitioners of its day. the necronomicon "la mayyitan ma qadirun yatabaqa sarmadi fa itha yaji ash-shuthath al-mautu qad yantahi" that is not dead which can eternal lie, and in strange aeons even death may come to die. this grimoire has its origins in the fictional horror stories of h.p.lovecraft, published in the 1920s. strangely, various claims have been made that the book has been discovered. it has been published in various editions, and modern practitioners of the arts of delusion and illumination have performed successful sorceries based on these fictional ideas. it has thus become an issue of some controversy. yet, from another perspective, we know little of the true histo

lds results. something very strange has happened here, illustrating a basic principal of the cunning; just because a belief brings results in the objective world, does not necessitate the objectivity of that belief. the key to this mystery may lie in the sorcerer's arte of dreaming. aside from theories as to the source of the necronomicon in a document of esoteric freemasonry owned by his father, lovecraft was himself a very strange man. the ideas he expressed as fiction originated in the nightmares he was plagued with. through dreaming, fiction, speculation, and magick, this infamous grimoire has earthed itself. this is purely in keeping with the goetic tradition, and many sorcerers strive to manifest material by similar means. the spirits speak to us through our dreaming minds, this they

SATANIC RITUALS

ns, for even an "impersonal" device will respond better to a conscientious and respectful user. this principle is accurate for operating automobiles and power tools, as well as demons and elementals. it will be apparent to some readers that satanic rites of the type contained in this book can act as catalysts for the actions of great numbers of people, and indeed they have-acting, in the words of lovecraft, as the mind that is held by no head. whenever reference in this book is made to a priest, the role may also be taken by a woman who can serve in the capacity of priestess. it must be clarified, however, that the essence of satanism-its dualistic principle-necessarily imposes an active/ passive dichotomy upon the respective roles of celebrant and altar. if a woman serves as a celebrant

kawwals take up their instruments and resume playing. the congregants remain seated, allowing themselves to absorb the essence of what has been said and the atmosphere which prevails. individually, the congregants silently respond to their innermost feelings, not speaking to another. each, when his fulfillment has been effected, leaves the chamber as unobtrusively as possible. the metaphysics of lovecraft even to his most intimate acquaintances, howard phillips lovecraft (1890-1937) remained frustratingly enigmatic. from the pen of this ingenious new englander came a collection of the most convincing and thoroughly terrifying works of macabre fiction in modern times. his tales were uniquely embellished with painstaking pseudo-documentation and meticulous description of character and setti

howard phillips lovecraft (1890-1937) remained frustratingly enigmatic. from the pen of this ingenious new englander came a collection of the most convincing and thoroughly terrifying works of macabre fiction in modern times. his tales were uniquely embellished with painstaking pseudo-documentation and meticulous description of character and setting. it is frequently said that, once one has read lovecraft, one disdains the efforts of the competition. this statement has been consistently difficult to refute. as might be expected, lovecraft was lionized and extensively imitated by a number of writers whose imaginations were sparked by his celebrated "cthulhu mythos"-a term commonly given to a series of stories based upon a supernatural pantheon of lovecraft's own invention. he had a firm co

aft was lionized and extensively imitated by a number of writers whose imaginations were sparked by his celebrated "cthulhu mythos"-a term commonly given to a series of stories based upon a supernatural pantheon of lovecraft's own invention. he had a firm conviction that reference to the classical mythologies would undermine the atmosphere of cyclic and spatial disorientation he sought to create. lovecraft created his own beings, whose prehistoric activities on earth set in motion the forces of man's civilization and genius, as well as the horrors of his educated imagination. while freud and einstein wrestled with their respective disciplines in the isolation of academic specialization, lovecraft was describing the astonishing influence of physical and geometric law on the psyche. while he

ated imagination. while freud and einstein wrestled with their respective disciplines in the isolation of academic specialization, lovecraft was describing the astonishing influence of physical and geometric law on the psyche. while he might have hesitated to style himself a master of scientific speculation, he a no less deserving of that title than are asimov and clarke. what has puzzled many of lovecraft's admirers is the author's almost casual attitude towards his work. he repeatedly referred to it as a mere means of financial subsistence. to people who suspected that he entertained a private belief in the mythos, he would reply that an objective detachment from one's material was necessary for effective writing. he was wont to mention the most nightmarish of his narratives with a levit

it as a mere means of financial subsistence. to people who suspected that he entertained a private belief in the mythos, he would reply that an objective detachment from one's material was necessary for effective writing. he was wont to mention the most nightmarish of his narratives with a levity bordering upon scorn, as though he did not consider them of genuine literary substance. as an author, lovecraft enjoys an established reputation, but what of lovecraft the philosopher? perhaps the most significant clues to the philosophy in the cthulhu mythos derive from the author's fascination with human history, particularly that of the classical eras. that much of his work used material taken from egyptian and arabian legends is well known. there is evidence that he was acutely aware of civili

llectual excellence, he seemed to say, is achieved in concert with cataclysmic terror -not in avoidance of it. this theme of a constant interrelationship between the constructive and destructive facets of the human personality is the keystone of the doctrines of satanism. theism argues that the integrity of the individual can be increased by a rejection of the carnal and an obedience to morality. lovecraft recorded bis aversion to conventional religious dogma in the silver key, and he regarded with a similar scorn those who, rejecting religion, succumbed to a controversial substitute, i.e. the popular notion of witchcraft. the concept of worship per se is strikingly absent from the cthulhu mythos. nyarlathotep, shub- niggurath, yog-sothoth and cthulhu are all honored through bizarre festiv

ingly absent from the cthulhu mythos. nyarlathotep, shub- niggurath, yog-sothoth and cthulhu are all honored through bizarre festivals, but their relationship to their followers is invariably that of teacher to students. compare the description of a lovecraftian ceremony to that of a christian mass or a voodoo rite, and it is clear that the element of servility is definitely lacking in the first. lovecraft, like the miltonian satan, chose to reign in hell rather than to serve in heaven. his creatures are never conclusive stereotypes of good or evil; they vacillate constantly between beneficence and cruelty. they respect knowledge, for which the protagonist of each story abandons every prudent restraint critics who consider the old ones as aristotelian elementals-or as a collective influenc

is creatures are never conclusive stereotypes of good or evil; they vacillate constantly between beneficence and cruelty. they respect knowledge, for which the protagonist of each story abandons every prudent restraint critics who consider the old ones as aristotelian elementals-or as a collective influence of malignancy which man must destroy if he is to prevail-suggest a philistine disposition. lovecraft, if he tolerated such analyses, can hardly have been impressed by them. assuming that lovecraft was an advocate of satanic amorality, what might have been the content of the ritual observances in innsmouth, r'lyeh, or leng? in his work he only goes as far as an occasional lurid line from some "nameless rite" or "unspeakable orgy" celebrated by grotesque apparitions amidst sulphurous cave

orescent, decaying fungi, or against titanic monoliths of disturbing aspect. perhaps he thought understatement to be more effective in freeing the imaginations of his readers, but clearly, he had been influenced by very real sources. whether his sources of inspiration were consciously recognized and admitted or were a remarkable "psychic" absorption, one can only speculate. there is no doubt that lovecraft was aware of rites not quite "nameless" as the allusions in his stories are often identical to actual ceremonial procedures and nomenclature, especially to those practiced and advanced around the turn of the last century. the innsmouths and arkhams of lovecraft have their counterparts in seaside hamlets and forlorn coastal areas all over the world, and one has but to use his senses to sp

the english channel; the cornish coast west of exmouth, and numerous points along the coast of brittany in france. the list is endless. where men have stood at earth's end contemplating the transition from sea to land with mingled fear and longing in their hearts, the lure of cthulhu exists. any offshore oil drilling platform or "texas tower" is a potential altar to the spawn of the watery abyss. lovecraft seems to have correlated the monsters of the canvasses of a hundred pickmans-the great symbolist painters of the 1890's-into a twentieth century scenario. his fantasies may well have been a conscious projection of the idea expressed so eloquently by charles lamb in his witches and other night fears "gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras may reproduce themselves in the brain of superstition-b

SATANICON

s shown me the value of evil and who has been my guide; my personal source of inspiration. to the devil s own: anton szandor lavey, friedrich nietzsche, marquis de sade, wilhelm reich, lord byron, boris karloff, mikail bakunin, edgar allen poe, mary and percy shelley, grigori rasputin, cornell woolrich, herbert spencer, charles darwin, basil zaharoff, johann most, jack london, vincent price, h.p. lovecraft, count cagliostro, h.l. mencken, sigmund freud and all others who have, and will, live within a most certain aspect of the infernal light -v- contents prelude to evil: hell..iii preface to the original edition..vi book i: the writ of an antichrist..1 the denouncement of theism: diabolical and xian..2 the doctrine of antichrist..4 the ascension of satan in the third year of the age of evi

SORCERIES OF ZOS

nearthly- derived from extra-spatial dimensions. they impregnated the aura of the earth with the magical seed from which the human foetus was ultimately generated. arthur machen was, perhaps, near the truth of the matter when he suggested that the fairies and little people of folklore were decorous devices concealing processes of non-human sorcery repellent to mankind. machen, blackwood, crowley, lovecraft, fortune, and others, frequently used as a theme for their writings the influx of extra-terrestrial powers which have been moulding the history of our planet since time began; that is, since time began for us, for we are only too prone to suppose that we were here first and that we alone are here now, whereas the most ancient occult traditions affirm that we were neither the first nor ar

ance of primal symbols is fathomed at the draconian level, the systme of sorcery which spare evolved through contact with 'witch' paterson becomes explicable, and all magical circles, sorceries, and cults, are seen as manifestations of the shadow. footnotes (1) see the white people, the shining pyramid, and other stories. this theme is a frequent one with machen. the hideous atavisms described by lovecraft in many of his tales evoke even more potently the atmosphere of cosmic horror and 'evi l' peculiar to the influx of extra-terrestrial powers (2) see the confessions, moonchild, magick without tears, and other works by crowley (3) frederick muller, 1975 (4 'the body considered as a whole i call zos (the book of pleasure, p.45. the kia is the 'atmospheric i. the 'i' and the 'eye, being int

THE BOOK OF PLEASURE

d of communicating with the denizens of other worlds. spare maintained that he was in communication with extra-terrestrial intelligences and conscious forces possessed of superhuman power and knowledge. he referred frequently to black eagle,(note 6) who inspired many of his 'magical' drawings. black eagle seems to have been a concentration of sinister trans-cosmic current which, according to h.p. lovecraft (note 7, had been tapped in its primordial phase by the witch cults of new england. perhaps black eagle was the alter ego of mrs paterson, for it was not long after her death that this current began to manifest in spare's work. whatever the identity of spare's genius- mrs paterson, black eagle, or one of the 'host of familiars' by which he was habitually surrounded- the fact remains that

inox "the encyclopaedia of initiation, appeared in eleven numbers, ten of which were published between the years 1909 and 1913. two only of spare's drawings were reproduced. see the equinox, vol. 1, number 2, pages 140 and 161. 6. see the magical revival (frederick muller ltd. 1972, plate facing page 149, for a reproduction of spare's impression of black eagle, painted in 1946. 7. howard phillips lovecraft (1890-1937. the new england writer whose tales of terror involve traffic with extra-terrestrial entities. 8. see crowley's confessions. 7 8 definitions the words god, religions, faith, morals, woman, etc (they being forms of belief, are used as expressing different "means" as controlling and expressing desire: an idea of unity by fear in some form or another which must spell bondage-the

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

ganizations (removed) ic the complete simon necronomicon introduction in the mid- 1920's, roughly two blocks from where the warlock shop once stood, in brooklyn heights, lived a quiet, reclusive man, an author of short stories, who eventually divorced his wife of two years and returned to his boyhood home in rhode island, where he lived with his two aunts. born on august 20, 1890, howard phillips lovecraft would come to exert an impact on the literary world that dwarfs his initial successes with weird tales magazine in 1923. he died, tragically, at the age of 46 on march 15, 1937, a victim of cancer of the intestine and bright's disease. though persons of such renown as dashiell hammett were to become involved in his work, anthologising it for publication both here an abroad, the reputatio

tion of a man generally conceded to be the "father of gothic horror" did not really come into its own until the past few years, with the massive re-publication of his works by various houses, a volume of his selected letters, and his biography. in the july, 1975, issue the atlantic monthly, there appeared a story entitled "there are more things, written by jorge luis borges "to the memory of h.p. lovecraft. this gesture by a man of the literary stature of borges is certainly an indication that lovecraft has finally ascended to his rightful place in the history of american literature, nearly forty years after his death. in the same year that lovecraft found print in the pages of weird takes, another gentleman was seeing his name in print; but in the british tabloid press. new sinister revel

took this appellation to heart. he changed his name to aleister crowley while still at cambridge, and by that name, plus "666, he would never be long out of print, or out of newspapers. for he believed himself to be the incarnation of a god, an ancient one, the vehicle of a new age of man's history, the aeon of horus, displacing the old age of osiris. in 1904, he had received a message, from what lovecraft might have called "out of space, that contained the formula for a new world order, a new system of philosophy, science, art and religion, but this new order had to begin with the fundamental part, and common denominator, of all four: magick. in 1937, the year lovecraft dies, the nazis banned the occult lodges of germany, notable among them two organisations which crowley had supervised:

l restrictions concerning its adherents, which lead to various types of lunacies and "hangups" that characterised many of the reich's leadership. yet, there can be perhaps little doubt that the chaos which engulfed the world in those years was prefigured, and predicted, in crowley's liber al vel legis; the book of the law. the mythos and the magick we can profitably compare the essence of most of lovecraft's short stories with the basic themes of crowley's unique system of ceremonial magick. while the latter was a sophisticated psychological structure, intended to bring the initiate into contact with his higher self, via a process of individuation that is active and dynamic (being brought about by the "patient" himself) as opposed to the passive depth analysis of the jungian adepts, lovecr

s a sophisticated psychological structure, intended to bring the initiate into contact with his higher self, via a process of individuation that is active and dynamic (being brought about by the "patient" himself) as opposed to the passive depth analysis of the jungian adepts, lovecraft's cthulhu mythos was meant for entertainment. scholars, of course, are able to find higher, ulterior motives in lovecraft's writings, as can be done with any manifestation of art. lovecraft depicted a kind of christian myth of the struggle between opposing forces of light and darkness, between god and satan, in the cthulhu mythos. some critics may complain that this smacks more of the manichaen heresy than it does of genuine christian dogma; yet, as a priest and former monk, i believe it is fair to say that

stantly strive to break into our world through a gate or door that leads from the outside, in. there are certain people, among us, who are devotees of the ancient ones, and who try to open the gate, so that this evidently repulsive organisation may once again rule the earth. chief among these is cthulhu, typified as a sea monster, dwelling in the great deep, a sort of primeval ocean; a being that lovecraft collaborator august derleth wrongly calls a "water elemental. there is also azazoth, the blind idiot god of chaos, yog sothot, azathoth's partner in chaos, shub niggurath, the "goat with a thousand young, and others. they appear at various times throughout the stories of the cthulhu mythos in frightening forms, which test the strength and resourcefulness of the protagonists in their atte

protagonists in their attempts to put the hellish things back to whence they came. there is an overriding sense of primitive dear and cosmic terror in those pages, as though man is dealing with something that threatens other than his physical safety: his very spiritual nature. this horror-cosmology is extended by the frequent appearance of the book, necronomicon. the necronomicon, is according to lovecraft's tales, a volume written in damascus in the eighth century, a.d, by a person called the "mad arab, abdhul alhazred. it must run roughly 800 pages in length, as there is a reference in one of the stories concerning some lacunae on a page in the 700's it had been copied and reprinted in various languages- the story goes- among them latin, greek and english. doctor dee, the magus of elizab

that a reclusive author of short stories who lived in a quiet neighbourhood in new england, and the manic, infamous master magician who called the world his home, should have somehow met in the sandy wastes of some forgotten civilisation seems incredible. that they should both have become prophets and forerunners of a new aeon of man's history is equally, if not more, unbelievable. yet, with h.p. lovecraft and aleister crowley, the unbelievable was a commonplace of life. these two men, both acclaimed as geniuses by their followers and admirers, and who never actually met, stretched their legs across the world, and in the seven league boots of the mind they did meet, and on common soil. sumeria. sumeria is the name given to a once flourishing civilisation that existed in what is now known a

lly religious rituale. magick, as well in history, begins at sumer for the western world, for it his here, in the sand-buried cuneiform tablets that recorded an age, that the first creation epic is found, the first exorcism, the first ritual invocations of planetary deities, the first dark summonings of evil powers, and ironically, the first "burnings" of people the anthropologists call "witches. lovecraft's mythos deals with what are known chthonic deities, that is, underworld gods and goddesses, much like the leviathan of the old testament. the pronunciation of chthonic is 'katonic, which explains lovecraft's famous miskatonic river and miskatonic university, not to mention the chief deity of his pantheon, cthulhu, a sea monster who lies "not dead, but dreaming" below the world; an ancie

r. the underworld in ancient sumer was known by many names, among them absu or "abyss, sometimes as nar mattaru, the great underworld ocean, and also as cutha or kutu as it is called in the enuma elish (the creation epic of the sumerians. the phonetic similarity between cutha and kutu and chthonic, as well as cthulhu, is striking. judging by a sumerian grammar at hand, the word kutulu or cuthalu (lovecraft's's cthulhu sumerianised) would mean "the man of kutu (cutha; the man of the underworld; satan or shaitan, as he is known to the yezidis (whom crowley considered to be the remnants of the sumerian tradition. the list of similarities, both between lovecraft's creations and the sumerian gods, as well as between lovecraft's mythos and crowley's magick, can go on nearly indefinitely, and in

idered to be the remnants of the sumerian tradition. the list of similarities, both between lovecraft's creations and the sumerian gods, as well as between lovecraft's mythos and crowley's magick, can go on nearly indefinitely, and in depth, for which there is no space here at present. an exhaustive examination of crowley's occultism in light of recent findings concerning sumeria, and exegesis on lovecraft's stories, is presently in preparation and is hoped to be available shortly. until that time, a few examples should suffice. although a list is appended hereto containing various entities and concepts of lovecraft, crowley, and sumeria cross-referenced, it will do to show how the editor found relationships to be valid and even startling. azatot is frequently mentioned in the grim pages o

the deserts and marshes of mesopotamia. side by side with the worship of the moon, nanna, there was fear of the demon, pazuzu, a genie so amply recreated in the book and the movie by blatty, the exorcist, and similarly recognised as the devil himself by the church. pazuzu, the beast, was brought to life by aleister crowley, and the demon walked the earth once more. with publicity provided by h.p. lovecraft. the devil pazuzu was a prime example of the type of devil of which the sumerians were particularly aware, and which they depicted constantly in their carvings and statues. the purpose of this iconography was to ward off the spiritual- and psychic- circumstances which would precipitate a plague, or some other evil "evil to destroy evil" although the ancient people of the world were consc

the pope has ridden in aircraft. cardinals have flown in 'choppers' over battlefields in southeast asia, urging technological eco-side, invoking christ; pronouncing damnation and the devil on the industrially inferior man. ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. and a rock group from england, home of the anglican heresy, sings of "sympathy" for the devil. pazuzu. tiamat. the seven deadly sins. the fear of lovecraft. the pride of crowley. the lunar landing was the symbolic manifestation of man's newly acquired potential power to alter the nature- and perhaps, via nuclear weapons, the course- of the heavenly bodies, the zonei, the elder gods. it has a power the ancient ones have been waiting for, for millennia, and it is now within their grasp. the next century may deliver unto mankind this awesome p

umanity, which will bring it one step closer to a beneficial force that resides beyond the race of the "cruel celestial spirits, past the abyss of knowledge. yet, he must remember that the occult powers that accompany magickal attainment are ornamental only, indications of obstacles overcome on the path to perfection, and are not to be sought after in themselves, for therein lies the truth death. lovecraft saw this evil, as the world passed from one war and moved menacingly towards another. crowley prepared for it, and provided us with the formulae. the mad arab saw it all, in a vision, and wrote it down. he was, perhaps, one of the most advanced adepts of his time, and her certainly has something to say to us, today, in a language the intuition understands. yet they called him "mad. accom

to various diagrams found in the ancient arabic texts of the last millennium. although some of the characters found in these pages can be traced to mandaic and demotic sources, and are evidently of a much later date than the rites of sumer, the overall appearance of the seals is quite unusual, almost surreal. the book begins with an introduction by the alleged author, the mad arab (the name that lovecraft made famous 'abdul alhazred' does not appear in our copy of the ms, and ends with a sort of epilogue by the same arab. we have called the first part "the testimony of the mad arab" and the latter "the testimony of the mad arab, the second part" the second part if the most chilling. the author has, by this stage in the writing of his opus, become fearful for his soul and begins to repeat

word read like its original. the "conjuration of the watcher" follows the fire god conjuration. the word "watcher" is sometimes used synonymously with "angel, and sometimes as a distinct race, apart from angelos: egragori. the race of watchers are said not to care what they watch, save that they follow orders. they are somewhat mindless creatures, but quite effective. perhaps they correspond toe lovecraft's shuggoths, save that the latter become unweildly and difficult to manage. after the watcher, comes the maklu text, which appears to be a collection of exorcisms, which includes the famous "xilka xilka besa besa" incantation, in the original, to which a translation has been appended in this work- a translation evidently not at hand when the author compiled the ms. thus, for the first ti

an arrow (bullet) in after it to explode her. surely, the two or three most box-office successful films of the past few years, jaws, the exoricst and, perhaps, the godfather, are an indication that the essence of sumerian mythology is making itself felt in a very real way in this, the latter half of the twentieth century? after the long and poetic magan text, comes the urillia text which might be lovecraft's r'lyeh text, and is subtitled "abominations. it has more specifically to do with the worship of the serpent, and the nature of the cults that participate in the concelebration of sin. again, more conjurations and seals are given, even though the reader is charged not to use them; an inconsistency that is to be found in many grimoires of any period and perhaps reveals a little of the ma

py. perhaps the arab was privy to some other-worldly secret that he could not reveal. perhaps he had opened the door by mistake, his own personal gate to the abyss, and was forced to cross its threshold into the unknown. we may never know. or, we may wish we never had. the editor new york, new york october 12, 1975 chart of comparisons (showing some relationships to be found between the mythos of lovecraft, the magick of crowley, and the faith of sumer) lovecraft crowley sumer cthulhu the great beast as represented in "cthdh 666" ctha-lu, kutulu the ancient ones satan; teitan tiamat azathoth aiwass) azag-thoth the dunwich horror choronzon pazuzu shub niggurath pan sub ishniggarab) out of space the abyss absu; nar mattaru ia! io! iao! ia (jah; ea; lord of waters) the five-pointed grey star

sign; the original pentagram and the sign of the aryan race) vermis mysteriis the serpent erim (the enemy; and the sea as chaos; gothic; orm, or worm, great serpent) this is, of course, by no means a complete list but rather an inspirational sampling. meditation upon the various things mentioned in the mythos will permit the scholar to draw his own conclusions; research upon the etymology of both lovecraft's and crowley's respective literature enables the occultist to discover the ancient names and numbers for much of his own, familiar, material (note: that lovecraft may have head or crowley is hinted at darkly in his short story "the thing on the doorstep" in which he refers to a cult leader from england who had established a covenstead of sorts in new york. in that story, published in we

and sorcery london, 1896 history begins at sumer new york, 1959 kramer, s.n. mythologies of the ancient world (ed) new york, 1961 sumerian mythology pennsylvania, 1972 laurent la magie et la divination chez les chaldeo- assyriennes paris, 1894 lenormant, f. science occult; la magie chez les chaldeens paris, 1874 tales of the cthulhu mythos new york, 1973 at the mountains of madness new york, 1973 lovecraft, h.p. the dunwich horror new york, 1963 the lurker at the threshold (with august derleth) new york, 1971 mason, h. gilgamesh (ed) new york, 1972 neugebauer, o. the exact sciences in antiquity new york, 1969 near eastern texts relating to the old testament princeton, 1958 pritchard, j. the chaldean oracles of zoroaster "sapere aude" new york seignobos, s. the world of babylon new york, 19

UNCLE SETNAKT SEZ PERFORM A RITUAL TOASTING

for this honor should be picked by the most personal of standards. it could be your father, or an egyptian pharaoh of the xxth dynasty. if it's someone you don't know personally, research your guy (or gal. this will acquaint you with the possibilities in the human psyche as well as the combination of method and persistence needed to achieve greatness. here's an example "i drink to howard phillips lovecraft, who remained true to the weird vision he created, and brought it forth in his own work and others that it might work upon the collective unconsciousness of mankind forever" 6. drink to your own accomplishment. now you are beginning to weave yourself into this strand. this accomplishes three things. first it helps you become prideful of real accomplishments. in our society, we are taught

Return to Occult Library Index



Related Matches
abyss aeon age air ancient beast birth black chambers chaos christian cosmic creation crowley cthulhu cult darkness dead death deities demon demons devil dreaming dream dreams earth egyptian elder elemental entities evil existence eye father fear five forces form forms gate god gods golden greek hades history human influenced key king knowledge london lord lovecraft magic magick magical magician manifestation material mind modern monster moon mother myth mythology mythologies nature necronomicon nyarlathotep occult order pazuzu people physical power powers psyche religion rites ritual rituals satan sea secret set shadow sorcery soul spirits spiritual stone sumerian supernatural temple thousand three tomb tradition truth underworld universe void water west white world worship youth


http://www.hollywoodinsiders.net
MWLibCreator Ver.2 By:Michael Wynn