Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
NECRONOMICON

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ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

durabo, without whose help the presentation of this book would have been impossible. blessed be! table of contents introduction introductory essay prefatory notes chart of comparisons supplementary material to 777 notes on pronunciation the spells (translated) common sumerian words and phrases in english a word concerning the original manuscript banishings bibliography& suggested reading list the necronomicon the testimony of the mad arab of the zonei and their attributes the book of entrance, and of the walking the incantations of the gates the conjuration of the fire god the conjuration of the watcher the maklu text the book of calling the book of fifty names the magan text the urilia text the testimony of the mad arab, the second part preface to the second edition there are three major

e book of entrance, and of the walking the incantations of the gates the conjuration of the fire god the conjuration of the watcher the maklu text the book of calling the book of fifty names the magan text the urilia text the testimony of the mad arab, the second part preface to the second edition there are three major individuals who must share the credit for the astonishingly good reception the necronomicon has enjoyed over the last two years since its publication. l.k. barnes was lured into the magickal childe bookstore in manhattan one day by an incarnated thoughtform we may only refer to by his initials, b.a.k. both were in search of some casual amusement from the slightly distorted version of the supernatural intelligence-dissemination that usually took place on those premises. l.k

place on those premises. l.k. barnes, publisher of this tome, has probably come to regret ever setting foot or tentacle inside those clammy precincts, for the crazed proprietor of that institution commenced to wave before him the manuscript copy of this book, thereby securing his soul forever in the service of the elder gods. needless to say, l.k- a longtime pilgrim in the search for the genuine necronomicon which he knew, since childhood, really existed- was suitably impressed. shocked, actually. he asked to see the dubious personality who claimed responsibility for the editing and general research work that went into the volume. this exotic individual, simon by name, appeared suddenly one day in the living quarters of l.k. barnes attired in a beret, a suit of some dark, fibrous material

esearch work that went into the volume. this exotic individual, simon by name, appeared suddenly one day in the living quarters of l.k. barnes attired in a beret, a suit of some dark, fibrous material, and a attache case which contained- besides correspondence from various balkan embassies and a photograph of the f-104 fighter being crated up for shipment to luxembourg- additional material on the necronomicon which proved his bona fides. also at that meeting was the third member of the unholy trinity, james wasserman of studio 31 who- according to a south american cult leader- died during the last year, but who has been able with assistance from the stone of the wise and certain of the formulae in this book, to go on about his business like unto a living man. with simon's manuscript, barne

wasserman of studio 31 who- according to a south american cult leader- died during the last year, but who has been able with assistance from the stone of the wise and certain of the formulae in this book, to go on about his business like unto a living man. with simon's manuscript, barnes' occult vision and aesthetic scruples, and wasserman's production experience and tireless labour, the abhorred necronomicon began to take shape and the first edition smote the stands on december 22, 1977- the ancient pagan feast of yule, the winter solstice. yet, not without a number of bizarre occurrences that more than once threatened the lives, the sanity, and the astral bodies of the three individuals most deeply involved. jim wasserman was subjected to what we may vaguely refer to as "poltergeist" act

in loathsome purposes, was always kept locked was found one day to have been opened- from the inside. in the same building, just below his loft, the typesetters were set upon by swarms of rats. the discovery of a small hindu idol that had been lost signalled the end to the plague, and the rats disappeared. simon usually lives in fear of his life, for reasons that do not always have to do with the necronomicon. however, he has been subject to constant surveillance by the ancient ones as they await one slip, the single misstep, that will provide for them the entry they earnestly desire into this world. l.k. barnes, on the other hand, has had no rest whatever from the signals and messages from the extraterrestrial intelligences that were the overseers and the guardians of the book's publicati

the book's publication. he has been plagued by an unremitting chain of numerological events which he cannot ignore. the predominance of the numbers 13,333,555,666 and others too arcane to bear mentioning have been made his life a demonstration (read, demon-stration) of jungian synchronicity patterns. also, his printing of the beautiful, full-colour denderah zodiac on the first anniversary of the necronomicon's publication in 1978 precipitated a rash of ufo sightings in australia and new zealand- in which one pilot has disappeared. bizarre occurrences and humorous coincidences aside for the moment, the necronomicon has caused changes in the conscience of those people most intimately involved with it, as well as many strangers who simply bought the book through the mail or at their bookstor

nerally considered never have existed- and then found to exist after all- is itself a powerful psychic influence. a fantasy come true. a dream realised in waking life. the quest for a lifetime search come to an end. the ultimate book of spells. the godfather of grimoires. therefore it is with awe, and with something akin to dread, that i address this second edition to the courageous reader of the necronomicon. the beast has told us "i am the warrior lord of the forties: the eighties cower before me& are abased (al, iii:46) this edition of the necronomicon is scheduled for early delivery in january-february 1980, making it possibly the first occult book of the eighties. a herald of doom? or a harbinger of fate? since the publication of this book in december, 1977, the ancient forces of erst

ch test the strength and resourcefulness of the 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, gr

errors in a treatise on his subject. therefore it was (and is) insanity for the tyro to pick up a work on ceremonial magick like the lesser key of solomon to practise conjurations. it would also be folly to pick up crowley's magick in theory and practise with the same intention. both books are definitely not for beginners, a point which cannot be made too often. unfortunately, perhaps, the dread necronomicon falls into this category. crowley's magick was a testimony of what he has found in his researches into the forbidden, and forgotten, lore of past civilisations and ancient times. his book of the law was written in cairo in the spring of 1904, when he believed himself to be in contact with a praeter-human intelligence called aiwass who dictated to him the three chapters that make up th

aiwass who dictated to him the three chapters that make up the book. it had influenced him more than any other, and the remainder of his life was spent trying to understand it fully, and to make its message known to the world. it, too, contains the formulae necessary to summon the invisible into visibility, and the secrets of transformations are hidden within its pages, but this is crowley's own necronomicon, received in the middle east in the shadow of the great pyramid of gizeh, and therein is writ not only the beauty, but the beast that yet awaits mankind. it would be vain to attempt to deliver a synopsis of crowley's philosophy, save that its 'leitmotif' is the rabelaisian do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. the actual meaning of this phrase has taken volumes to explain

aration 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 of the cthulhu mythos, and appears in the necronomicon as azag-thoth, a combination of two words, the first sumerian and the second coptic, which gives us a clue as to its identity. azag in sumerian means "enchanter" or "magician; thoth in coptic is the name given to the egyptian god of magick and wisdom, tahuti, who was evoked by both the golden dawn and by crowley himself (and known to the greeks as hermes, from whence we get "hermetic

nter" or "magician; thoth in coptic is the name given to the egyptian god of magick and wisdom, tahuti, who was evoked by both the golden dawn and by crowley himself (and known to the greeks as hermes, from whence we get "hermetic. azag-thoth is, therefore, a lord of magicians, but of the "black" magicians, or the sorcerers of the "other side. there is a seeming reference to shub niggurath in the necronomicon, in the name of a sumerian deity, the "answerer of prayers, called ishnigarrab. the word "shub" is to be found in the sumerian language in reference to the rite of exorcism, one of which is called nam shub and means "the throwing. it is, however, as yet unclear as to what the combination shub ishnigarrab (shub niggurath) might actually mean. there was a battle between the forces of "l

d nam shub and means "the throwing. it is, however, as yet unclear as to what the combination shub ishnigarrab (shub niggurath) might actually mean. there was a battle between the forces of "light" and "darkness (so-called) that took place long before man was created, before even the cosmos as we know it existed. it is described fully in the enuma elish and in the bastardised version found in the necronomicon, and involved the ancient ones, led by the serpent mummu-tiamat and her male counterpart absu, against the elder gods (called such in the n) led by the warrior marduk, son of the sea god enki, lord of magicians of this side, or what could be called "white magicians- although close examination of the myths of ancient times makes one pause before attempting to judge which of the two war

rents, male and female, gives the researchers a more complex picture. the green dragon and the red dragon of the alchemists are thus identified, as the positive and negative energies that compromise the cosmos of our perception, as manifest in the famous chinese yin-yang symbol. but what of inanna, the single planetary deity having a female manifestation among the sumerians? she is invoked in the necronomicon and identified as the vanquisher of death, for she descended into the underworld and defeated her sister, the goddess of the abyss, queen ereshkigal (possibly another name for tiamat. interestingly enough, the myth has many parallels with the christian concept of christ's death and resurrection, among which the crucifixion (inanna was impaled on a stake as a corpse, the three days in

forms: the ancient one, goddess of the dragon-like telluric power which is raised in magickal rituals, and the elder goddess, defeater of death, who brings the promise of resurrection and rejuvenation to her followers those who must reside for a time after death and between incarnations in what is called the "summerland. sumer-land? another hallmark of the craft of the wise is evident within the necronomicon, as well as in general sumerian literature, and that is the arrangement of the cross-quarter days, which make up half of the craft's official pagan holidays. these occur on the eves of february 2nd, may 1st, august 1st, and november 1st, and are called candlemas, beltane, lammas and samhain (or hallows, respectively. the name lammas has a curious origin in the dunes at sumer. it is no

urse- 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 power and responsibility, and will leave him knocking on the dread doors of the azonei, the igigi, approaching the barrier that keeps out the absu. and one day, without the benefit of necronomicon, the race of man will smash the barrier and the ancient ones will rule once more. an alternative possibility exists: that, by landing on the moon, we have come to reinstate the ancient covenant and thereby assure our protection against the outside. since "the gods are forgetful, buy treading on their celestial spheres we are reminding them of their ancient obligations to us, their cre

durabo, without whose help the presentation of this book would have been impossible. blessed be! table of contents introduction introductory essay prefatory notes chart of comparisons supplementary material to 777 notes on pronunciation the spells (translated) common sumerian words and phrases in english a word concerning the original manuscript banishings bibliography& suggested reading list the necronomicon the testimony of the mad arab of the zonei and their attributes the book of entrance, and of the walking the incantations of the gates the conjuration of the fire god the conjuration of the watcher the maklu text the book of calling the book of fifty names the magan text the urilia text the testimony of the mad arab, the second part preface to the second edition there are three major

e book of entrance, and of the walking the incantations of the gates the conjuration of the fire god the conjuration of the watcher the maklu text the book of calling the book of fifty names the magan text the urilia text the testimony of the mad arab, the second part preface to the second edition there are three major individuals who must share the credit for the astonishingly good reception the necronomicon has enjoyed over the last two years since its publication. l.k. barnes was lured into the magickal childe bookstore in manhattan one day by an incarnated thoughtform we may only refer to by his initials, b.a.k. both were in search of some casual amusement from the slightly distorted version of the supernatural intelligence-dissemination that usually took place on those premises. l.k

place on those premises. l.k. barnes, publisher of this tome, has probably come to regret ever setting foot or tentacle inside those clammy precincts, for the crazed proprietor of that institution commenced to wave before him the manuscript copy of this book, thereby securing his soul forever in the service of the elder gods. needless to say, l.k- a longtime pilgrim in the search for the genuine necronomicon which he knew, since childhood, really existed- was suitably impressed. shocked, actually. he asked to see the dubious personality who claimed responsibility for the editing and general research work that went into the volume. this exotic individual, simon by name, appeared suddenly one day in the living quarters of l.k. barnes attired in a beret, a suit of some dark, fibrous material

esearch work that went into the volume. this exotic individual, simon by name, appeared suddenly one day in the living quarters of l.k. barnes attired in a beret, a suit of some dark, fibrous material, and a attache case which contained- besides correspondence from various balkan embassies and a photograph of the f-104 fighter being crated up for shipment to luxembourg- additional material on the necronomicon which proved his bona fides. also at that meeting was the third member of the unholy trinity, james wasserman of studio 31 who- according to a south american cult leader- died during the last year, but who has been able with assistance from the stone of the wise and certain of the formulae in this book, to go on about his business like unto a living man. with simon's manuscript, barne

DEMONIC BIBLE

torture. the demonic bible has been revealed, at least in part, to those sorcerers and magicians throughout history who have walked the dark path. these magicians have translated passages from the demonic bible into various languages, often changing certain words in order to hide the true nature of the work. the grimoire of abramelin the mage, the clavicula solomonis, the book of shadows, and the necronomicon are among the many books transcribed from the dread pages of the demonic bible. the demonic bible was shown to the magician john dee. dee translated eighteen of the "demonic" keys from the strange demonic language in which the demonic bible is written. when dee translated his keys from the demonic bible he named them the enochian keys. they are not, as is commonly believed, named for

can be easily adapted to function with rituals from other sources. the magician could, for example, extend the invocation of his unholy guardian demon so that it takes place over a six month period of time beginning immediately after easter as described in the grimoire of abramelin the mage, or he could replace the rituals for crossing the seven planetary spheres with the rituals described in the necronomicon. while carrying out these rites he might also perform rituals from the satanic bible, the satanic rituals, the crystal tablet of set, and other satanic texts, or might simultaneously perform the pathway working of the ona septenary system. it is possible that the magician may dedicate a lunar month to forming each of the alignments described in the demonic bible. the magician may adap

sly perform the pathway working of the ona septenary system. it is possible that the magician may dedicate a lunar month to forming each of the alignments described in the demonic bible. the magician may adapt the demonic bible as he feels is appropriate so that it is harmonious with his past magical workings and comes naturally to him. the rituals of the demonic bible are similar to those of the necronomicon or the sacred magic of abramelin the mage in that, unlike a mere book of spells for love, power, wealth, or the destruction of one s enemies, the demonic bible presents a series of rituals that the magician can use to initiate himself. all of the rituals in the demonic bible form a single ritual working which the magician may spend a lifetime performing. the goal of the working is to

wide thy gate that i may ascend the planetary spheres. come forth, cronus, and manifest thyself. come forth, cronus, and manifest thyself (drink from chalice, then say) i have crossed the sanguine sphere. planetary demonic spirits once the magician has crossed the planetary spheres, he may wish to invoke demonic spirits associated with each of these spheres. the 50 names of marduk, listed in the necronomicon and refered to in sumerian and babylonian mythology, are an example of spirits associated with the jovial sphere. i have invoked these spirits using the formula given in this book. the first name is marduk the lord of lords, master of magicians. his name should not be called except when no other will do, and it is the most terrible responsibility to do so. the word of his calling is d

DONALDTYSON NOMICON

red and condemned. if for no other reason, it should be outlawed because it desecrates the remains of the departed and causes grief to the families of the disinterred or otherwise 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 necrono

mour that the soul of the devil-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

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 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

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 because of the terrible things it hints about

ce did millions of years ago. certain locations on the earth where the veil between dimensions is thin, such as the frozen plateau of leng in antarctica, or irem, the arabian desert city of pillars, or the drowned r'lyeh, are particularly 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 cho

ythic 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. perceiving that so many gullible human beings were willing to believe that such a book as the necronomicon existed, writers came along who wrote collections of quasi-occult gibberish and titled them the necronomicon. there is nothing particularly wrong with this sort of harmless fun, provided those who buy these books realize that they are concoctions of the imagination

gullible human beings were willing to believe that such a book as the necronomicon existed, writers came along who wrote collections of quasi-occult gibberish and titled them the necronomicon. there is nothing particularly wrong with this sort of harmless fun, provided those who buy these books realize that they are concoctions of the imagination. i have two of them in my own library. one is the necronomicon: the book of dead names "edited" by george hay and introduced by colin wilson, first published by neville spearman in 1978- and i do mean "first published" the other is the necronomicon, edited with an introduction by simon, copyrighted in 1977 by schlangekraft inc, and published by avon in 1980- i am honored to own the first printing of the avon edition. it seems to me that at some t

by george hay and introduced by colin wilson, first published by neville spearman in 1978- and i do mean "first published" the other is the necronomicon, edited with an introduction by simon, copyrighted in 1977 by schlangekraft inc, and published by avon in 1980- i am honored to own the first printing of the avon edition. it seems to me that at some time in the past i read a third version of the necronomicon, but i cannot locate this book in my library and cannot remember how i may have come across it. most likely i read it in a dream, which is not too unusual an occurrence for me- i've written numerous books in repeating dreams, and often find myself in strange libraries reading curious old texts while i lie asleep. other published versions of the necronomicon exist. they numbered around

ished versions of the necronomicon exist. they numbered around half a dozen or so, the last time i checked. but i've only read the two in my library, and the one in my dream. both of the published 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

nies, 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 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

zabethan 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 is a graphic symbol composed of five interlocking line segments in the shape of a five-pointed star. it was also known as the pentalpha because

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

led to a number of reprintings of older editions. there have also been effort to create new 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

, 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 group, 1979. simon, ed. the necronomicon. new york: schlangekraft/ barnes graphics, 1877. reprint, new york: avon books, 1977. the sword book of honourius the magician. translated and edited by daniel j. driscoll. gilette, n.j: heptangle books, 1977. the grimorium verum a grimoire, or textbook of magic instructions, first published in 1517 and purported to be translated from the hebrew. it is based to some extent upon the ke

new york city, also a writer, but the marriage only lasted a couple of years and he was later divorced, returning to providence where he wrote late 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 pre

thos 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 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 horro

ity, 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: schjangekraft, 1977. lubin the fish whose gall was used by tobias to restore his father s sight. it was said to be very powerful against ophthalmia, and the fish s heart potent in driving away demons. the account of tobias can be found in the extra-biblical book of tobit in the apocrypha. luce e ombra (light and shade (journal) the principal italian spiritualist monthly, fo

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

or, henry thompson, and elihu rich. the occult sciences. london and glasgow: richard griffin, 1855. waite, arthur e. the book of ceremonial magic. london: william 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

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 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

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 inserted an index card for the book in the files of the 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 s

in various stories by lovecraft and gradually acquired a spurious life of its own. for example, someone inserted an index card for the book in the files of the 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. st

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 researching in the british museu

cronomicon 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 researching in the british museum necronomicon encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1098 library, claimed that the alkindi work was known to the magician john dee (1527.1608, who had a copy in cipher manuscript. this book, known as liber logaeth, was recently examined by computer analysis, and so the necronomicon: the book of dead names has now been researched, edited, and published (neville spearman, u.k, 1978. no d

occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 1098 library, claimed that the alkindi work was known to the magician john dee (1527.1608, who had a copy in cipher manuscript. this book, known as liber logaeth, was recently examined by computer analysis, and so the necronomicon: the book of dead names has now been researched, edited, 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

ng 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 necronomicon. philadelphia: owlswoch, 1973. hay, george, ed. the necronomicon: the book of dead names. uk: neville spearman, 1978. reprint, london: corgi, 1980. simon, ed. the necronomicon. new york: schlangekraft, inc; barnes graphics, 1977. reprint, new york: avon books, 1977. necronomicon spellbook. new york: magickal childe, 1986. nederlandse vereniging voor parapsychologie the nederlandse ver

FRATER TENEBROUS CULTS OF CTHULHU

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-related mythology which later became known as the cthulhu mythos. in these stories, he describes various rites surviving on earth since the primordial reign of the old ones, and preserved in more recent times in esoteric grimoires such as the necronomicon through which the evocation of the alien gods could be effected. 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

dzyan, and identifies the eastern shrine with shamballah. madame blavatsky died on may 8, 1891, of bright s disease a condition from which lovecraft also suffered, and which contributed to his early death. one explanation of the many occult correspondences found in lovecraft s fiction has been supplied by kenneth grant in his typhonian trilogies. grant suggests that the lovecraftian grimoire, the necronomicon, actually exists within the akasha, or field of astral light. this is an etheric reservoir said to surround the earth, and which retains within its structure the imprint of every event which has occurred since the formation of the planet. it can be accessed at will by those individuals who possess the necessary psychic ability, and may be manipulated to provide positive images. it was

alem in 1692. the titles of these volumes are echoed in those which were created by lovecraft and his fellow contributors to the cthulhu mythos: de vermis mysteriis, the pnakotic manuscripts, les cultes des ghoules, and the book of eibon. however, the most important of these imaginary tomes is lovecraft s own creation, the al azif of the mad arab, abdul alhazred, or, to employ its latin name, the necronomicon. this title, which occurred to lovecraft during the course of a dream, translates as, nekros, corpse; nomos, law; eikon, image- an image (or picture) of the law of the dead. in a brochure entitled, chronology of the necronomicon, published in 1936, lovecraft gives a suggested history of the damned book. according to this essay, the original text was transcribed by the poet alhazred at

o be inhabited by evil spirits. he had explored the ruins of babylon and the subterranean tombs of memphis, and visited the forbidden city of hem. beneath the remains of a nameless desert town, he discovered the annals of a race older than mankind, which he set down in the azif. in 950 a.d, the book was secretly translated into greek by theodorus philetas of constantinople, under the title of the necronomicon, and in 1228, olaus wormius made a latin transcription. this text was printed twice, once in 15th century germany, in black letter, and once in the 17th century, in spanish. shortly after its translation into latin, the necronomicon was banned by pope gregory ix, and there is said to have been no sight of the greek copy since the burning of a library in salem in 1692. a translation ma

latin texts now existing, one is supposed to be held by the british museum, and the other by the biblioth que nationale in paris. a 17th century copy is in the widener library collection at harvard. numerous other copies probably exist the book being rigidly suppressed by the authorities of most countries, and by all branches of organised religion. the mention of dee s name in connection with the necronomicon is interesting in that he was one of the few magical adepts of the past who can present us with practical evidence of communication with non-human entities. dr. john dee was the astrologer to queen elizabeth i, and worked with a number of scryers, or seers, the most talented of which was the irishman, sir edward kelly. through the use of a magic mirror of mayan origin, kelly made cont

contemporary magical and occult groups and organizations. anton la vey, head of the california-based church of satan, published his satanic rituals in 1972, and devoted a whole chapter to the metaphysics of lovecraft, including detailed descriptions of two lovecraftian rituals, the ceremony of the nine angles and the call to cthulhu. these rituals were transcribed in the original language of the necronomicon, and translated into english by lavey s fellow satanist, michael aquino9. another group which employs lovecratian elements in their workings is the black snake cult, or la couleuvre noire, a voodoo coven which combines the rites of the left-hand path with archetypes from the cthulhu mythos. its leader, michael bertiaux, is one of the chief adepts of the ordo templi orientis antiqua an

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

forces were kept in a spiritual dimension called tartaros. this is the meaning of verses six and seven in the new testament book of jude, these uniquely destructive demons are chained until the last days. this story may seem unbelievable, but the strange thing is that it is not just found in biblical literature. 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 ac

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 embody a mythos he seemed to be consciously unaware of. it was the tale of the necronomicon. i certainly do not aim to spend much time outlining the necromonicon myth, however, a basic summary will give you the drift. the necronomicon outlines a period in time when savage and heartless gods ruled the earth, these were violent and malefic entities who were called the old ones (archons. at some time in the dim reaches of the past they caused so much havoc on earth that the eld

nicon myth, however, a basic summary will give you the drift. the necronomicon outlines a period in time when savage and heartless gods ruled the earth, these were violent and malefic entities who were called the old ones (archons. at some time in the dim reaches of the past they caused so much havoc on earth that the elder gods locked them away in another dimension and sealed the gateway. modern necronomicon tales discuss how atomic energy and the decay of modern society has eroded the seals and that the old ones are returning. legend has it that man will have to decide on which side to fight in a cosmic battle of frightening proportions. another modern link with this myth is the work of occultist kenneth grant, a enigmatic figure who originally carried on the research of aleister crowley

GRERALD SCHUELER AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO ENOCHIAN MAGICK

n god thoth, who gave language, law, 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

HINE P OVEN READY CHAOS

ng 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, tantra, ct

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

ones, too, he curiously declined to mention. of the cult, he said that he thought the centre lay amid the pathless desert of arabia, where irem, the city of pillars, dreams hidden and untouched. it was not allied to the european witch-cult, and was virtually unknown beyond its members. no book had ever really hinted of it, though the deathless chinamen said that there were double meanings in the necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred which the initiated might read as they chose, especially the much-discussed couplet: that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. legrasse, deeply impressed and not a little bewildered, had inquired in vain concerning the historic affiliations of the cult. castro, apparently, had told the truth when he said that it w

; so at length he set out in person, shabby, dirty, bearded, and uncouth of dialect, to consult the copy at miskatonic, which was the nearest to him geographically. almost eight feet tall, and carrying a cheap new valise from osborne's general store, this dark and goatish gargoyle appeared one day in arkham in quest of the dreaded volume kept under lock and key at the college library- the hideous necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred in olaus wormius' latin version, as printed in spain in the seventeenth century. he had never seen a city before, but had no thought save to find his way to the university grounds; where indeed, he passed heedlessly by the great white-fanged watchdog that barked with unnatural fury and enmity, and tugged frantically at its stout chaim. wilbur had with hi

ings not of earth- or at least not of tridimensional earth- rushed foetid and horrible through new england's glens, and brooded obscenely on the mountain tops. of this he had long felt certain. now he seemed to sense the close presence of some terrible part of the intruding horror, and to glimpse a hellish advance in the black dominion of the ancient and once passive nightmare. he locked away the necronomicon with a shudder of disgust, but the room still reeked with an unholy and unidentifiable stench 'as a foulness shall ye know them' he quoted. yes- the odour was the same as that which had sickened him at the whateley farmhouse less than three years before. he thought of wilbur, goatish and ominous, once again, and laughed mockingly at the village rumours of his parentage 'inbreeding' ar

r armitage set about to collect all possible data on wilbur whateley and the formless presences around dunwich. he got in communication with dr houghton of aylesbury, who had attended old whateley in his last illness, and found much to ponder over in the grandfather's last words as quoted by the physician. a visit to dunwich village failed to bring out much that was new; but a close survey of the necronomicon, in those parts which wilbur had sought so avidly, seemed to supply new and terrible clues to the nature, methods, and desires of the strange evil so vaguely threatening this planet. talks with several students of archaic lore in boston, and letters to many others elsewhere, gave him a growing amazement which passed slowly through varied degrees of alarm to a state of really acute spi

about the lurking terrors of the upper miskatonic valley, and about the monstrous being known to the human world as wilbur whateley. vi. the dunwich horror itself came between lammas and the equinox in 1928, and dr armitage was among those who witnessed its monstrous prologue. he had heard, meanwhile, of whateley's grotesque trip to cambridge, and of his frantic efforts to borrow or copy from the necronomicon at the widener library. those efforts had been in vain, since armitage had issued warnings of the keenest intensity to all librarians having charge of the dreaded volume. wilbur had been shockingly nervous at cambridge; anxious for the book, yet almost equally anxious to get home again, as if he feared the results of being away long. early in august the half-expected outcome developed

hind it. as the presence of the three men seemed to rouse the dying thing, it began to mumble without turning or raising its head. dr armitage made no written record of its mouthings, but asserts confidently that nothing in english was uttered. at first the syllables defied all correlation with any speech of earth, but towards the last there came some disjointed fragments evidently taken from the necronomicon, that monstrous blasphemy in quest of which the thing had perished. these fragments, as armitage recalls them, ran something like 'n'gai, n'gha'ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y'hah: yog-sothoth, yog-sothoth' they trailed off into nothingness as the whippoorwills shrieked in rhythmical crescendos of unholy anticipation. then came a halt in the gasping, and the dog raised its head in a long, lugub

all animal and vegetable life from the earth by some terrible elder race of beings from another dimension. he would shout that the world was in danger, since the elder things wished to strip it and drag it away from the solar system and cosmos of matter into some other plane or phase of entity from which it had once fallen, vigintillions of aeons ago. at other times he would call for the dreaded necronomicon and the daemonolatreia of remigius, in which he seemed hopeful of finding some formula to check the peril he conjured up 'stop them, stop theml' he would shout 'those whateleys meant to let them in, and the worst of all is left! tell rice and morgan we must do something- it's a blind business, but i know how to make the powder. it hasn't been fed since the second of august, when wilbu

y were the black, forbidden things which most sane people have never even heard of, or have heard of only in furtive, timorous whispers; the banned and dreaded repositories of equivocal secret and immemorial formulae which have trickled down the stream of time from the days of man's youth, and the dim, fabulous days before man was. he had himself read many of them- a latin version of the abhorred necronomicon, the sinister liber ivonis, the infamous cultes des goules of comte d'erlette, the unaussprechlichen kulten of von junzt, and old ludvig prinn's hellish de vermis mysteriis. but there were others he had known merely by reputation or not at all- the pnakotic manuscripts, the book of dzyan, and a crumbling volume of wholly unidentifiable characters yet with certain symbols and diagrams

bertus magnus, raymond lully's ars magna et ultima in zetsner's edition, roger bacon's thesaurus chemicus, fludd's clavis alchimiae, and trithemius's de lapide philosophico crowding them close. mediaeval jews and arabs were represented in profusion, and mr. merritt turned pale when, upon taking down a fine volume conspicuously labelled as the qanoon-e-islam, he found it was in truth the forbidden necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred, of which he had heard such monstrous things whispered some years previously after the exposure of nameless rites at the strange little fishing village of kingsport, in the province of the massachussetts-bay. but oddly enough, the worthy gentleman owned himself most impalpably disquieted by a mere minor detail. on the huge mahogany table there lay face d

salem-village. certainely, there was noth'g but ye liveliest awfulness in that which h. rais'd upp from what he cou'd gather onlie a part of. what you sente, did not worke, whether because of any thing miss'g, or because ye wordes were not righte from my speak'g or yr copy'g. i alone am at a loss. i have not ye chymicall art to followe borellus, and owne my self confounded by ye vii. booke of ye necronomicon that you recommende. but i wou'd have you observe what was told to us aboute tak'g care whom to calle upp, for you are sensible what mr. mather writ in ye magnalia of, and can judge how truely that horrendous thing is reported. i say to you againe, doe not call up any that you can not put downe; by the which i meane, any that can in turne call up somewhat against you, whereby your pow

n tenor of some of my reading- for the consulltation of rare books at libraries cannot be effected secretly. there is tangible proof- in the form of marginal notes- that i went minutely through such things as the comte d'erlette's cultes des goules, ludvig prinn's de vermis mysteriis, the unaussprechlichen kulten of von junzt, the surviving fragments of the puzzling book of eibon, and the dreaded necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred. then, too, it is undeniable that a fresh and evil wave of underground cult activity set in about the time of my odd mutation. in the summer of 1913 i began to display signs of ennui and flagging interest, and to hint to various associates that a change might soon be expected in me. i spoke of returning memories of my earlier life- though most auditors j

ories that could be eradicated were eradicated, so that in most cases only a dream-shadowed blank stretched back to the time of the first exchange. some minds recalled more than others, and the chance joining of memories had at rare times brought hints of the forbidden past to future ages. there probably never was a time when groups or cults did not secretly cherish certain of these hints. in the necronomicon the presence of such a cult among human beings was suggested- a cult that sometimes gave aid to minds voyaging down the aeons from the days of the great race. and, meanwhile, the great race itself waxed well-nigh omniscient, and turned to the task of setting up exchanges with the minds of other planets, and of exploring their pasts and futures. it sought likewise to fathom the past ye

as i have said, their wings are not much use for short flights on earth. i am on the very brink of deciphering that stone- in a very terrible way- and with your knowledge of folklore you may be able to supply the missing links enough to help me. i suppose you know all about the fearful myths antedating the coming of man to the earth- the yog-sothoth and cthulhu cycles- which are hinted at in the necronomicon. i had access to a copy of that once, and hear that you have one in your college library under lock and key. to conclude, mr. wilmarth, i think that with our respective studies we can be very useful to each other. i don't wish to put you in any peril, and suppose i ought to warn you that possession of the stone and the record won't be very safe; but i think you will find any risks wor

its cutting- for artificially cut it surely was- i could not even begin to guess; and never before had i seen anything which struck me as so strangely and unmistakably alien to this world. of the hieroglyphics on the surface i could discern very few, but one or two that i did see gave rather a shock. of course they might be fraudulent, for others besides myself had read the monstrous and abhorred necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred; but it nevertheless made me shiver to recognise certain ideographs which study had taught me to link with the most blood-curdling and blasphemous whispers of things that had had a kind of mad half-existence before the earth and the other inner worlds of the solar system were made. of the five remaining pictures, three were of swamp and hill scenes which

s that i had heard elsewhere in the most hideous of connections- yuggoth, great cthulhu, tsathoggua, yogsothoth, r'lyeh, nyarlathotep, azathoth, hastur, yian, leng, the lake of hali, bethmoora, the yellow sign, l'mur-kathulos, bran, and the magnum innominandum- and was drawn back through nameless aeons and inconceivable dimensions to worlds of elder, outer entity at which the crazed author of the necronomicon had only guessed in the vaguest way. i was told of the pits of primal life, and of the streams that had trickled down therefrom; and finally, of the tiny rivulets from one of those streams which had become entangled with the destinies of our own earth. my brain whirled; and where before i had attempted to explain things away, i now began to believe in the most abnormal and incredible

e the waters. they ve been inside the earth, too- there are openings which human beings know nothing of- some of them in these very vermont hills- and great worlds of unknown life down there; blue-litten k n-yan, red-litten yoth, and black, lightless n kai. it s from n kai that frightful tsathoggua came- you know, the amorphous, toad-like god-creature mentioned in the pnakotic manuscripts and the necronomicon and the commoriom myth-cycle preserved by the atlantean high-priest klarkash-ton "but we will talk of all this later on. it must be four or five o clock by this time. better bring the stuff from your bag, take a bite, and then come back for a comfortable chat" very slowly i turned and began to obey my host; fetching my valise, extracting and depositing the desired articles, and finall

the magellanic clouds and globular nebulae, and the black truth veiled by the immemorial allegory of tao. the nature of the doels was plainly revealed, and i was told the essence (though not the source) of the hounds of tindalos. the legend of yig, father of serpents, remained figurative no longer, and i started with loathing when told of the monstrous nuclear chaos beyond angled space which the necronomicon had mercifully cloaked under the name of azathoth. it was shocking to have the foulest nightmares of secret myth cleared up in concrete terms whose stark, morbid hatefulness exceeded the boldest hints of ancient and mediaeval mystics. ineluctably i was led to believe that the first whisperers of these accursed tales must have had discourse with akeley s outer ones, and perhaps have vi

HP LOVECRAFT AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

and half-sentient musical piping, with notes extending over a wide range, and which for some subconscious mnemonic reason seemed to me disquieting and even dimly terrible. something about the scene reminded me of the strange and disturbing asian paintings of nicholas roerich, and of the still stranger and more disturbing descriptions of the evilly fabled plateau of leng which occur in the dreaded necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred. i was rather sorry, later on, that i had ever looked into that monstrous book at the college library. on the 7th of november, sight of the westward range having been temporarily lost, we passed franklin island; and the next day descried the cones of mts. erebus and terror on ross island ahead, with the long line of the parry mountains beyond. there now

rel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. lateral breakages, as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. in furrows between ridges are curious growths- combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans. all greatly damaged but one, which gives almost seven-foot wing spread. arrangement reminds one of certain monsters of primal myth, especially fabled elder things in necronomicon "their wings seem to be membranous, stretched on frame work of glandular tubing. apparent minute orifices in frame tubing at wing tips. ends of body shriveled, giving no clue to interior or to what has been broken off there. must dissect when we get back to camp. can t decide whether vegetable or animal. many features obviously of almost incredible primitiveness. have set all hands cu

e 's essential up-and-down structure rather than animal s fore-and-aft structure. fabulously early date of evolution, preceding even simplest archaean protozoa hitherto known, baffles all conjecture as to origin "complete specimens have such uncanny resemblance to certain creatures of primal myth that suggestion of ancient existence outside antarctic becomes inevitable. dyer and pabodie have read necronomicon and seen clark ashton smith s nightmare paintings based on text, and will understand when i speak of elder things supposed to have created all earth life as jest or mistake. students have always thought conception formed from morbid imaginative treatment of very ancient tropical radiata. also like prehistoric folklore things wilmarth has spoken of- cthulhu cult appendages, etc "vast f

cripts, and have suggested that the devotees of tsathoggua were as alien to mankind as tsathoggua itself. leng, wherever in space or time it might brood, was not a region i would care to be in or near, nor did i relish the proximity of a world that had ever bred such ambiguous and archaean monstrosities as those lake had just mentioned. at the moment i felt sorry that i had ever read the abhorred necronomicon, or talked so much with that unpleasantly erudite folklorist wilmarth at the university. this mood undoubtedly served to aggravate my reaction to the bizarre mirage which burst upon us from the increasingly opalescent zenith as we drew near the mountains and began to make out the cumulative undulations of the foothills. i had seen dozens of polar mirages during the preceding weeks, so

astic phrases sprang to our lips as we looked dizzily down at the unbelievable spectacle. i thought again of the eldritch primal myths that had so persistently haunted me since my first sight of this dead antarctic world- of the demoniac plateau of leng, of the mi-go, or abominable snow men of the himalayas, of the pnakotic manuscripts with their prehuman implications, of the cthulhu cult, of the necronomicon, and of the hyperborean legends of formless tsathoggua and the worse than formless star spawn associated with that semientity. for boundless miles in every direction the thing stretched off with very little thinning; indeed, as our eyes followed it to the right and left along the base of the low, gradual foothills which separated it from the actual mountain rim, we decided that we cou

certain traces in rocks even then laid down well nigh a thousand million years- rocks laid down before the true life of earth had advanced beyond plastic groups of cells- rocks laid down before the true life of earth had existed at all. they were the makers and enslavers of that life, and above all doubt the originals of the fiendish elder myths which things like the pnakotic manuscripts and the necronomicon affrightedly hint about. they were the great "old ones" that had filtered down from the stars when earth was young- the beings whose substance an alien evolution had shaped, and whose powers were such as this planet had never bred. and to think that only the day before danforth and i had actually looked upon fragments of their millennially fossilized substance- and that poor lake and

e thing on other planets, having manufactured not only necessary foods, but certain multicellular protoplasmic masses capable of molding their tissues into all sorts of temporary organs under hypnotic influence and thereby forming ideal slaves to perform the heavy work of the community. these viscous masses were without doubt what abdul alhazred whispered about as the "shoggoths" in his frightful necronomicon, though even that mad arab had not hinted that any existed on earth except in the dreams of those who had chewed a certain alkaloidal herb. when the star-headed old ones on this planet had synthesized their simple food forms and bred a good supply of shoggoths, they allowed other cell groups to develop into other forms of animal and vegetable life for sundry purposes, extirpating any

t place we examined in detail, since what we found there gave us a fresh immediate objective. certainly, we were in one of the strangest, weirdest, and most terrible of all the corners of earth s globe. of all existing lands, it was infinitely the most ancient. the conviction grew upon us that this hideous upland must indeed be the fabled nightmare plateau of leng which even the mad author of the necronomicon was reluctant to discuss. the great mountain chain was tremendously long- starting as a low range at luitpold land on the east coast of weddell sea and virtually crossing the entire continent. that really high part stretched in a mighty arc from about latitude 82, e. longitude 60 to latitude 70, e. longitude 115, with its concave side toward our camp and its seaward end in the region

e coating found on certain incomplete and prostrate old ones- those whom the frightful shoggoths had characteristically slain and sucked to a ghastly headlessness in the great war of resubjugation. they were infamous, nightmare sculptures even when telling of age-old, bygone things; for shoggoths and their work ought not to be seen by human beings or portrayed by any beings. the mad author of the necronomicon had nervously tried to swear that none had been bred on this planet, and that only drugged dreamers had even conceived them. formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes- viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells- rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinitely plastic and ductile- slaves of suggestion, builders of cities- more and more sullen, more and mor

white jelly "the color out of space "the wings "the eyes in darkness "the moon-ladder "the original, the eternal, the undying" and other bizarre conceptions; but when he is fully himself he repudiates all this and attributes it to his curious and macabre reading of earlier years. danforth, indeed, is known to be among the few who have ever dared go completely through that worm-riddled copy of the necronomicon kept under lock and key in the college library. the higher sky, as we crossed the range, was surely vaporous and disturbed enough; and although i did not see the zenith, i can well imagine that its swirls of ice dust may have taken strange forms. imagination, knowing how vividly distant scenes can sometimes be reflected, refracted, and magnified by such layers of restless cloud, might

HP LOVECRAFT HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON

west; not that, nor 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 cor

ars alone in the great southern desert of arabia- the roba el khaliyeh or "empty space" of the ancients- and "dahna" or "crimson" desert of the modern arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death. of this desert many strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have penetrated it. in his last years alhazred dwelt in damascus, where the necronomicon (al azif) was written, and of his final death or disappearance (738 a.d) many terrible and conflicting things are told. he is said by ebn khallikan (12th cent. biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. of his madness many things are told. he claimed to have seen fabulous irem, or ci

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. in a.d. 950 the azif, which had gained a considerable tho' surreptitious circulation amongst the philosophers of the age, was secretly translated into greek by theodorus philetas of constantinople under the title necronomicon. 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 germany) and once in the seventeenth (pro

eek 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. an english translation made by dr. dee was never printed, and exists only in fragments recovered from the original manuscript [this sentence does not occur in the first draft of the essay. it was added later, after frank belknap long had quoted from "john dee's necronomicon" in his tale "the space eaters (1928] of the latin texts now existing one (15th cent) is known to be in the british museum under lock and key, while another (17th cent) is in the bibliothque nationale 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

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. chronology al azif written circa 730 a.d. at damascus by abdul alhazred tr. to greek 950 a.d. as necronomicon by theodorus philetas burnt by patriarch michael 1050 (i.e, greek text. arabic text now lost. olaus translates gr. to latin 1228 1232 latin ed (and gr) suppr. by pope gregory ix 14. black-letter printed edition (germany) 15. gr. text printed in italy 16. spanish reprint of latin text- this should be supplemented with a letter written to clark ashton smith for november 27, 1927: i have

dition (germany) 15. gr. text printed in italy 16. spanish reprint of latin text- this should be supplemented with a letter written to clark ashton smith for november 27, 1927: i have had no chance to produce new material this autumn, but have been classifying notes& synopses in preparation for some monstrous tales later on. in particular i have drawn up some data on the celebrated& unmentionable necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred! it seems that this shocking blasphemy was produced by a native of sana, in yemen, who flourished about 700 a.d& made many mysterious pilgrimages to babylon's ruins, memphis's catacombs& the devil-haunted& untrodden wastes of the great southern deserts of arabia- the roba el khaliyeh, where he claimed to have found records of things older than mankind& t

ul's old age, which was spent in damascus& the original title was al azif- azif (cf. henley's notes to vathek) being the name applied to those strange night noises (of insects) which the arabs attribute to the howling of daemons. alhazred died- or disappeared- under terrible circumstances in the year 738. in 950 al azif was translated into greek by the byzantine theodorus philetas under the title necronomicon& a century later it was burnt at the order of michael, patriarch of constantinople. it was translated into latin by olaus in 1228, but placed on the index expurgatorius by pope gregory ix in 1232 [note that this does not appear in the final version of the essay. the explanation is that the index did not exist at this time, as further research must have revealed to lovecraft] the origi

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 kerwin chua's necronomicon faq with further annotation by dan clore (note: i hav

ersion 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 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 per

ars alone in the great southern desert of arabia- the roba el khaliyeh or "empty space" of the ancients- and "dahna" or "crimson" desert of the modern arabs, which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death. of this desert many strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have penetrated it. in his last years alhazred dwelt in damascus, where the necronomicon (al azif) was written, and of his final death or disappearance (738 a.d) many terrible and conflicting things are told. he is said by ebn khallikan (12th cent. biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. of his madness many things are told. he claimed to have seen fabulous irem, or ci

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 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

ion, 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 circulation amongst 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, w

d 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 lists of the era. but do consider that paper records from the 13th century are incomplete and unpreserved, to say the least. kkc 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 appe

ted 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's son, requires the complete edition housed in the miskatonic university library to fill in the gaps in the fragmentary dee vers

ary 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 preservation of a sixteenth-century greek text in the salem famil

ral 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 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 rw

HP LOVECRAFT THE CALL OF CTHULHU

ones, too, he curiously declined to mention. of the cult, he said that he thought the centre lay amid the pathless deserts of arabia, where irem, the city of pillars, dreams hidden and untouched. it was not allied to the european witch-cult, and was virtually unknown beyond its members. no book had ever really hinted of it, though the deathless chinamen said that there were double meanings in the necronomicon of the mad arab abdul alhazred which the initiated might read as they chose, especially the much-discussed couplet: that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. legrasse, deeply impressed and not a little bewildered, had inquired in vain concerning the historic affiliations of the cult. castro, apparently, had told the truth when he said that it w

HP LOVECRAFT THROUGH THE GATES OF THE SILVER KEY

without any clear consciousness of the way in which he received them. by the time the rite was over, carter knew that he was in no region whose place could he told by earth's geographers, and in no age whose date history could fix; for the nature of what was happening was not wholly unfamiliar to him. there were hints of it in the cryptical pnakotic fragments, and a whole chapter in the forbidden necronomicon of the mad arab, abdul alhazred, had taken on significance when he had deciphered the designs graven on the silver key. a gate had been unlocked- not, indeed, the ultimate gate, but one leading from earth and time to that extension of earth which is outside time, and from which in turn the ultimate gate leads fearsomely and perilously to the last void which is outside all earths, all

to the last void which is outside all earths, all universes, and all matter. there would he a guide- and a very terrible one; a guide who had been an entity of earth millions of years before, when man was undreamed of, and when forgotten shapes moved on a steaming planet building strange cities among whose last, crumbling ruins the first mammals were to play. carter remembered what the monstrous necronomicon had vaguely and disconcertingly adumbrated concerning that guide "and while there are those" the mad arab had written "who have dared to seek glimpses beyond the veil, and to accept him as guide, they would have been more prudent had they avoided commerce with him; for it is written in the book of thoth how terrific is the price of a single glimpse. nor may those who pass ever return

to an order of beings far outside the merely physical in organization and faculties. a moment later carter knew that this was so, for the shape had spoken to his mind without sound or language. and though the name it uttered was a dreaded and terrible one, randolph carter did not flinch in fear. instead, he spoke back, equally without sound or language, and made those obeisances which the hideous necronomicon had taught him to make. for this shape was nothing less than that which all the world has feared since lomar rose out of the sea, and the children of the fire mist came to earth to teach the elder lore to man. it was indeed the frightful guide and guardian of the gate 'umr at-tawil, the ancient one, which the scribe rendereth the prolonged of life. the guide knew, as he knew all thing

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

emphasize what was once considered well-rounded literacy. a broad knowledge and application of art, architecture, geography, literature, music, world history, cinema, languages, mathematics, theatre, sciences, etc, is vastly more important to a satanic priest than lessons in multicultural sensitivity. or, for that matter, memorizing the lesser key of solomon and tracing the sigils from avon books necronomicon. a classical curriculum might revive in us some of the magical powers of discernment and discrimination most of us have lost. don t tolerate pretentiousness. when a woman brags that she s getting a degree in women s studies, you can smile sweetly and say (as one of our priestesses did recently, oh great you mean like cooking and cleaning and balancing a budget. i m so glad modern wome

RUBY TABLET OF SET

rpretation as to what lovecraft is about. what we find interesting about lovecraft is his ability to extract and draw forth these archetypes, these features of the psyche, that people do not ordinarily speak of, are not conscious of- and to project these in a way that is compelling. and lovecraft did this so well that the stories themselves have strange effects. my favorite example of this is the necronomicon. this was an imaginary book, based on both the actual existence of mysterious grimoires and forbidden books (some word of such things had reached the west) and on other fictional magical and "channeled" spiritual books that were known at the time. he did such a good job with it- although the book didn't exist, he frequently quoted the most tantalizing fragments from it- that it almost

ooksellers (particular editions were listed for large amounts of money. of course, the people who were doing this were hoaxing, but it was so plausible, so evocative, that people had no trouble believing that such a thing might be so. in the end, it was so compelling that people decided they had to make money on it, and so pseudo-necronomicons were published. you can go to new york city and buy a necronomicon accessory spell kit. lovecraft would surely be amused to hear that it has gotten to this stage. yet he managed to evoke this book into existence. was this lesser black magic, that his grasp of what humans found mysterious and inspiring was so good that he was able to trigger this in other people? was it a kind of poorly-understood greater black magic on his part, that he changed the f

vecraft studies, vol. 1, no. 2 (spring 1980. grant, kenneth. the magical revival, ny: sam weiser, 1973. holub, allen "the second book of the forgotten ones, the cincinnati journal of ceremonial magick, vol. ii, issue vi (1988. joshi, s.t "lovecraft's ethical philosophy, lovecraft studies, vol. 21 (spring 1990. joshi, s.t (ed) the h.p. lovecraft centennial conference proceedings, west warwick, ri: necronomicon press (published march 1991. lovecraft, h.p. the notes& commonplace book, west warwick, ri: necronomicon press, 1978. lovecraft, h.p& raven, anthony. the occult lovecraft. saddle river, nj: gerry de la ree, 1975. mariconda, steven j "lovecraft's concept of 'background, lovecraft studies, vol. 5, no. 1 (spring 1986. olbrys, stephen c.g "another history of the necronomicon: a look at th

es from the cthulhu mythos? there are plenty of possibilities for an inventive mind to rehabilitate the golden dawn enochian teachings. one aspect of enochiana that hardly anybody at all seems to have touched upon are its planetary correspondences and deities, as set down in dee's heptarchia mystica. i did at one point loosely integrate these with the sumerian zone from the simon "version" of the necronomicon. it was a tradition in the church of satan to always include an appropriate enochian key in a ritual working, and magus lavey codified each key in the satanic bible according to its application in either operative or illustrative magic. this is a tradition i have adhered to since enochiana interests me so much (and because, through work, i have basically made the system my own and int

SATANGEL

1665. what remains specifically interesting is that these rites combined diabolist formula with folkloric content, so that the practitioner was provided with classically christianised goetic style sorcery, with its planetary tables and circles of evocation, combined 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 vari

the cthulhu mythos, spliced with these basic techniques of sorcery, yields 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 simi

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

rowley defines klippoth as "shells or demons, the excrement of ideas, and it is this definition that has permeated the workings of such groups as the typhonian ordo templi orientis with respect to the klippoth. indeed, in recent publications by the head of that order, kenneth grant, the klippoth are associated with the "shades of the dead whose names appear in the books of dyzan, or thoth, of the necronomicon" and other such fictional works. the organisation of these entities into hierarchies is post-zoharic, and found popularity with the publication of francis barrett's "the magus" in 1801, which was composed of many tables indicating the structure of the universe. the kabbalist z'ev ben shimon halevi points out that any event or being can become klippothic if its central axis or reason f

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

fter spending a lifetime in egyptian tombs, among the crumbling temples of india and the lamaseries of the himalayas, endless nights in cemeteries, gravel pits, and hilltops everywhere, i have seen much and my childish sense of wonder remains unshaken. but charles fort's question always haunts me "if there is a universal mind, must it be sane- fortean organizations (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 t

ch test the strength and resourcefulness of the 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, gr

errors in a treatise on his subject. therefore it was (and is) insanity for the tyro to pick up a work on ceremonial magick like the lesser key of solomon to practise conjurations. it would also be folly to pick up crowley's magick in theory and practise with the same intention. both books are definitely not for beginners, a point which cannot be made too often. unfortunately, perhaps, the dread necronomicon falls into this category. crowley's magick was a testimony of what he has found in his researches into the forbidden, and forgotten, lore of past civilisations and ancient times. his book of the law was written in cairo in the spring of 1904, when he believed himself to be in contact with a praeter-human intelligence called aiwass who dictated to him the three chapters that make up th

aiwass who dictated to him the three chapters that make up the book. it had influenced him more than any other, and the remainder of his life was spent trying to understand it fully, and to make its message known to the world. it, too, contains the formulae necessary to summon the invisible into visibility, and the secrets of transformations are hidden within its pages, but this is crowley's own necronomicon, received in the middle east in the shadow of the great pyramid of gizeh, and therein is writ not only the beauty, but the beast that yet awaits mankind. it would be vain to attempt to deliver a synopsis of crowley's philosophy, save that its 'leitmotif' is the rabelaisian do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. the actual meaning of this phrase has taken volumes to explain

aration 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 of the cthulhu mythos, and appears in the necronomicon as azag-thoth, a combination of two words, the first sumerian and the second coptic, which gives us a clue as to its identity. azag in sumerian means "enchanter" or "magician; thoth in coptic is the name given to the egyptian god of magick and wisdom, tahuti, who was evoked by both the golden dawn and by crowley himself (and known to the greeks as hermes, from whence we get "hermetic

nter" or "magician; thoth in coptic is the name given to the egyptian god of magick and wisdom, tahuti, who was evoked by both the golden dawn and by crowley himself (and known to the greeks as hermes, from whence we get "hermetic. azag-thoth is, therefore, a lord of magicians, but of the "black" magicians, or the sorcerers of the "other side. there is a seeming reference to shub niggurath in the necronomicon, in the name of a sumerian deity, the "answerer of prayers, called ishnigarrab. the word "shub" is to be found in the sumerian language in reference to the rite of exorcism, one of which is called nam shub and means "the throwing. it is, however, as yet unclear as to what the combination shub ishnigarrab (shub niggurath) might actually mean. there was a battle between the forces of "l

d nam shub and means "the throwing. it is, however, as yet unclear as to what the combination shub ishnigarrab (shub niggurath) might actually mean. there was a battle between the forces of "light" and "darkness (so-called) that took place long before man was created, before even the cosmos as we know it existed. it is described fully in the enuma elish and in the bastardised version found in the necronomicon, and involved the ancient ones, led by the serpent mummutiamat and her male counterpart absu, against the elder gods (called such in the n) led by the warrior marduk, son of the sea god enki, lord of magicians of this side, or what could be called "white magicians- although close examination of the myths of ancient times makes one pause before attempting to judge which of the two warr

rents, male and female, gives the researchers a more complex picture. the green dragon and the red dragon of the alchemists are thus identified, as the positive and negative energies that compromise the cosmos of our perception, as manifest in the famous chinese yin-yang symbol. but what of inanna, the single planetary deity having a female manifestation among the sumerians? she is invoked in the necronomicon and identified as the vanquisher of death, for she descended into the underworld and defeated her sister, the goddess of the abyss, queen ereshkigal (possibly another name for tiamat. interestingly enough, the myth has many parallels with the christian concept of christ's death and resurrection, among which the crucifixion (inanna was impaled on a stake as a corpse, the three days in

forms: the ancient one, goddess of the dragon-like telluric power which is raised in magickal rituals, and the elder goddess, defeater of death, who brings the promise of resurrection and rejuvenation to her followers those who must reside for a time after death and between incarnations in what is called the "summerland. sumer-land? another hallmark of the craft of the wise is evident within the necronomicon, as well as in general sumerian literature, and that is the arrangement of the cross-quarter days, which make up half of the craft's official pagan holidays. these occur on the eves of february 2nd, may 1st, august 1st, and november 1st, and are called candlemas, beltane, lammas and samhain (or hallows, respectively. the name lammas has a curious origin in the dunes at sumer. it is no

urse- 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 power and responsibility, and will leave him knocking on the dread doors of the azonei, the igigi, approaching the barrier that keeps out the absu. and one day, without the benefit of necronomicon, the race of man will smash the barrier and the ancient ones will rule once more. an alternative possibility exists: that, by landing on the moon, we have come to reinstate the ancient covenant and thereby assure our protection against the outside. since "the gods are forgetful, buy treading on their celestial spheres we are reminding them of their ancient obligations to us, their cre

he ecclesiastic phenomenon, the "wandering bishops. just such an "unorthodox" prelate was fr. montague summers, who wrote numerous books on demonology, witchcraft, and the like. suffice it to say, we were rather doubtful as to the authenticity of the work before us. in the first place, it was in greek and for quite awhile it was difficult to ascertain what it might actually be, save for the title necronomicon and the many weird drawings. in the second place, after translation, we found several internal inconsistencies and some evidence that would suggest we did not possess the entire work. there may still be some missing or the irregular monastic might have withheld certain of the chapters. as the chapters are not numbered, it is too difficult to day. a great deal of misfortune accompanied

aneous pages in translation (including some dummies, which we were in the habit of giving potential publishers for our protection) and went off, and has not been heard from again. at a crucial stage in the preparation of the manuscript, the editor was stricken with a collapsed lung and had to undergo emergency surgery to save his life. but, let us proceed with a description of the contents of the necronomicon: within these pages a series of myths and rituals are presented that have survive the darkest days of magick and occultism. the exorcisms and bindings of the famous maqlu text are here presented for the first time in english, although not completely: for the originals in their entirety were evidently not known to the author of the necronomicon, nor are they to present scholarship; the

nal ms, a common incantation would look something like this (using roman characters for the greek 'o kakos theos 'o kakos daimon 'o daimon pneuma tou ouranou thumethere! pneuma tes ges thumethate (o wicked god o wicked demon o demon spirit of the sky, remember! spirit of the earth, remember) yet, a word like shammash, the name of the solar deity, would read samas or sammas, and in the text of the necronomicon we would make the 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

ction 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 time, this muchrumoured exorcism is available in full and in english. after this, the "book of calling" needs little explanation. it is the grimoire of the necronomicon, containing the formulae of ritual conjuration, as well as the seals and diagrams to accompany the rites. it is followed by "the book of fifty names" being fifty separate powers of the god marduk, defeater of chaos. this is interesting, in that the names seem to come from the enuma elish, in which the elder gods confer these fifty names upon marduk as titles, in their appreciation of

at first, to familiarise oneself with the tongue-twisting phrases. a mistake may prove fatal to the work the spells (translated) where possible, the editor has taken every opportunity to find the original sumerian or akkadian translation of a given greek charm of conjuration. these will be given here. also, the reader will find english translations of the sumerian charms as they are given in the necronomicon. not al of the charms are available this way, and sometimes we have had to make do with near misses. much of what is found here has come from the maklu text, of which the only extant translation is in the german of tallqvist("die assyrische beschworungsserie maqlu nach dem originalen im british museum herausgegeben" acta societatis scientiarum fennicae, tomm. xx, no. 6, helsingforsiae

lla xul evil devil rabishu (same as maskim xul) telal wicked demon (warrior) uggae god of death uruku larvae utuk xul evil spirit zi dingir anna kanpa! spirit, god of the sky, remember! zi dinger kia kanpa! spirit, god of the earth, remember! a word concerning the original manuscript the editor and the publishers anticipate that there will be a demand at first for privileged views of the original necronomicon, whether out of curiosity's sake, or by nervous experimenters who will be certain that we did not copy a sigil correctly, etc. let us hasten to state at this point that the original ms. is neither the property of the editor, nor the publishers. we were given the right to translate and publish this work, with as much additional and explanatory material as needed, but not the right to h

ter of the work involved. perhaps one day a book will be written on the hazards of possessing such an original work in one's home or office, including the fearful hallucinations, physical incapacities, and emotional malaise that accompanied this work from the onset of the translation to the end of its final published form. therefore, as a matter of policy, we cannot honour any requests to see the necronomicon in its original state. banishings read this section carefully. in the interim period between the translation and the publication of this work, the editor, along with a circle of initiates in another discipline, undertook to experiment with the rituals and forces outlined in the necronomicon. in using the material alone, or within a western ceremonial structure (such as the golden dawn

nd the publication of this work, the editor, along with a circle of initiates in another discipline, undertook to experiment with the rituals and forces outlined in the necronomicon. in using the material alone, or within a western ceremonial structure (such as the golden dawn system) we came upon startling discoveries in both cases: there are no effective banishings for the forces invoked in the necronomicon itself! the rituals, incantations, formulae of this book are of ancient origin, comprising some of the oldest written magickal workings in western occult history. the deities and demons identified within have probably not been effectively summoned in nearly six thousand years. ordinary exorcisms and banishing formulae have thus far proved extremely inadequate: this, by experienced mag

exorcisms and banishing formulae have thus far proved extremely inadequate: this, by experienced magicians. hence, the following recommendations. the religion of the ancient sumerian peoples seems to have been lunar-oriented, a religion- or religion- magickal structure- of the night, of darkness in a sense. invocations using solar formulae have proved thus far effective in successfully banishing necronomicon demons and intelligences. for instance, the kaddish prayer of the jewish faith contains some solar elements that have proved resilient to inimical genii, and the vibration of the lord's prayer for christians is also a workable method. we suggest that individual operators utilise an equivalent solar (i.e, positive light) invocation from their own religion or the religion of their ances

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