A Discussion of Lovecraftian Magic

[old book]

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RECOMMENDED READING AND RESEARCH GUIDE

ARAB MYTHOLOGY, MYSTICISM AND MAGICK

Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night translated by R. F. Burton. This is the huge 10 volume set. The Sufis and Muqarribun say these books contain many mystical and magickal secrets. A. Crowley calls them a "valuable storehouse of oriental magick-lore." VERY GOOD. Much of the material in this is very Lovecraftian.

Secret Lore of Magic by Idries Shaw. This is an interesting and very useful book if you can read BETWEEN THE LINES. Shaw almost never comes out directly to say anything of importance. He does hint in the right directions, though. Contains some good general information on Arab magick.

Muqarribun: Arab Myth and Magic by Steve Lock and Jamal Khaldun. This is a nice little source on Arab magick. Some of the material on Irem and the "abandoner" is relevant to HPL. This book's main drawback is that it is too short.

Fabled Cities, Princes and Jinn from Arab Myth by Khiray al Salem. Although this book is also short and for young readers, it contains some information that is hard to find elsewhere. It is most useful if you keep your eyes open for double meanings.

Notes on Arabian Night by Lane. This contains some information on the Jinn that is quite good.

Sufi Expressions of the Mythic Quest by Laleh Bakhtiar. This is an intriguing book that touches on such subjects as mystic poetry, dreams, the Dragon, the Jinn etc. The chapters are too short and it hints more than it says.

Sufis by Idries Shaw. This book contains scattered gems of information. Not very detailed. Shaw's attempt to show that every western mystical group was influenced by the Sufis is silly.

Way of the Sufi by Idries Shaw. This is a good book if you are interested in Arab mysticism per se. Otherwise don't bother.

Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisai by Muhhammad ibn abd Allah Kisai, 11th century. Good for its data on pre-Islamic prophets. Interesting stuff if you have enough background in Arab magickal studies.

Book of Annihilation, author unknown. This is a short Arabic book on magick. It is not of much use if you don't have a friend to translate. It is in general not unlike an HPL-style grimoire. No Yog-Sothoth or Azatoth here, though.

Making of the Last Prophet by Mohammad iIbn Ishaq. This book has some interesting material on pre-Islamic prophets.

Hajar bin Humeid by Gus Willa VanBeek. This is a good source on pre-Islamic culture in general.

Below are some resources on Near-Eastern mythology, etc., that might be useful in your research.

SUMERIA AND RELATED

Sumerian Mythology by S. N. Kramer
History Begins at Sumer by S. N. Kramer
Sumer by Andre Parrot
Cuneiform Texts by Giorgio Buccellat

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY AND MAGICK

Gods of the Egyptians volumes 1 and 2 by E. A. Budge
Isis and Osiris volumes 1 and 2 by E. A. Budge
Egyptian Magic by E. A. Budge
Egyptian Language by E. A. Budge
Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary by E. A. Budge.

PART FOUR

THE NECRONOMICON MYTHOS AND MODERN MAGICK

ALEISTER CROWLEY

Aleister Crowley's writings show many parallels to the Necronomicon mythos. Some of these parallels are listed below. Yog-Sothoth is coterminous with all time and space. (see Part One under Yog-Sothoth.) Crowley's Nuit is "infinite space," Azathoth is the infinitely compact "nuclear Chaos at the center of infinity." Crowley's Habit is "the infinitely small and atomic" point. Here we see that the two most important gods of the Necronomicon correspond exactly with Crowley's two most important gods. Crowley received the BOOK OF LAW, which foretold the return of the ancient deities, from the messenger of the gods, Aiwaz. The Necronomicon states that the return of the Old Ones will be heralded by Nyarlathotep the Mighty Messenger. Crowley states that the ascension and fall of deities is governed by a process he calls the Equinox of the Gods. The Necronomicon states that the rise and fall of the Old Ones is also governed by an aeon spanning cycle (After summer is winter. After winter, Summer). The Dragon (draconian current) is important in Crowley's magick. Cthulhu the dragon-like god is of great importance in the Necronomicon. Crowley sometimes referred to the Stele of Revealing as CTH^H666. Note the similarity between CTH^H and CTHULHU. There are a great many more similarities, but this should give you the general idea.

ANTON SZANDOR LAVEY

Anton LaVey is the head of the Church of Satan. In The Satanic Bible, LaVey asserts that the Shew Stone used by Dr. John Dee is the same as the Shining Trapezohedron of the Necronomicon mythos. Mr. LaVey also asserts in The Satanic Bible that the goat god worshipped through the aeons is the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young from the Necronomicon. In the sequel to the Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, Lavey presents two rituals concerned entirely with the HPL mythos. The first is the Call to Cthulhu. The second is the Cermony of the Nine Angels. Here is a brief quote from Ceremony of the Nine Angels.

CELEBRANT: Kzs'nath r'n As-Athoth bri'nwe sz'g elu'khnar rquorkwe w'ragu mfancgh' tiim'br vau. Januf a wrugh kod'rf kpra kybini sprn'aka ty'knu El-aka gryenn'h krans hu-ehn
TRANSLATED: Azathoth, great center of the Cosmos, let thy flutes sing unto us, lulling us against the terrors of thy domain; thy merriment sustains our fears, and we rejoice in the World of Horrors in thy name.

PARTICIPANTS: Ki'q Az-Athoth r'jyarh wh'fagh zhasa phr-tga nyena phragn'glu
TRANSLATION: Honor to Azathoth, without whose laughter this world should not be.

In the Laws of the Trapezoid LaVey mentions the "Hounds of Time" and in several rituals mentions the Old Ones.

KENNETH GRANT

Kenneth Grant is the head of a U.K. branch of the O.'.T.'.O.'.. Grant's system of Magick is just that: Grant's system. His Cabbala is unique to him. Grant feels that the Great Old Ones and Other Gods are quite real. He has developed a new interpretation of Crowley's Book of the Law in light of what he calls the "Necronomicon Gnosis." Grant is perhaps best known for his unique approach to dream control and sex magick. Grant's interpretation of the Roba el Khaliye (Rub al Khali) is very close to that used by the Muqarribun. Hecate's Fountain by Grant contains the most HPL/Necronomicon-related material of all his books. Grant was friends with Austin Spare. Spare was a brilliant artist and an occultist. Grant once gave Spare a copy of one of Lovecraft's books. Spare was very disturbed by what he read. He felt that there were really dark forces being tapped by HPL's stories. Spare created several magickal pieces of artwork based on HPL. Spare is thought to have said that HPL had many more things right than he knew.

ENOCHIAN MAGICK

Enochian magick was discovered by John Dee in the sixteenth century. It is appearantly based on a previously unknown language. Many magicians assert that the Enochian language predates all human languages. Gerald J. Schueler is widely considered one of the foremost experts on Enochian magick. Mr. Schueler state that Enochian magick is "the powerful system of Magick used by Aleister Crowley, and the Golden Dawn, and of the Necronomicon, to contact intelligences from other dimensions." John Dee is said to have made the only known English translation of the Necronomicon. It has been suggested that Dee may have first established contact with the Enochian entities using magick adapted from the Necronomicon. The Enochian system has many parallels with HPL. Schueler asserts that the Enochian tradition proposes the existence of a God or Force which is the manifestation of Infinite Space similar to Crowley's Nuit and HPL's Yog-Sothoth. Schueler also contends that the divine manifestation of the nuclear point at the center of infinity (equivalent to Hadit or Azathoth) is also important in Enochian magick. The Enochian Keys state that the wold is nearing an aeon-spanning Cycle in which Ancient Gods will return to their throne and the world will be forever changed. These keys also mention an imprisoned dragon (Cthulhu?). The fact that the keys are in an unearthly language said to predate mankind is in itself very Lovecraftian.


end

[starblazie]

OK, this was inspired by a different thread under the same um vein, so I guess I'll just leave this here, maybe in a series of multiple postings. Comments by me are in green, of course.

from Parker Ryan's Necronomicon Information Text, PDF, Internet, 2006

I happened to run across Parker Ryan in some unrelated searches and have come to the conclusion that Parker Ryan is very much mistaken.  Since I didn't see a refutation of Ryan, I thought I should put one in writing, to make it easier for future inquiries.  I found four books that make reference to the information that Ryan lays out, three were published within the last decade and have similar discussions regarding Khadhulu, which appears to make the oldest book the primary source for the information regarding Khadhulu.
The information that links Cthulhu to an arabic origin is simply a fabrication.  The source of the information is from a supplemental for The Call of Cthulhu RPG.  The supplement is "The Cthulhu Companion," 1983.  The article is "Further Notes on the Necronomicon," by William J. Hamblin.  You can get a copy through Scribd for free, the PDF of the entire supplement from Chaosium for about $6, or a hard copy through amazon for about $14-15 including shipping costs.  I purchased the PDF from Chaosium to compare with the one from Scribd and they are the same.   Then I found the blog post by Dan Harms (which would have saved me time and money). 

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be much available on the internet regarding Arabic magical systems.  I did find a syllabus that does provide some primary sources and a  Moroccan who is making arabic magical texts available as PDFs for hefty sums of money (one book was selling for 400 euros), but he does show some images of the pages on his website. 
Syllabus: http://merlin.allegheny.edu/employee/a/acarr/smsyllabus/page006V.html
Arabic magical texts: http://arabicmagic.tripod.com/manuscripts.html

[Vulpine]

While it is definitely not reliable, I recommend Miss Murray. I read it a while ago. Just for the fun.

Yeah, most all anthropologists say it's a disproved/unproven theory, it's a fun theory especially as HPL and other writers use it.   And compared to the Golden Bough, Murray is pretty readable.

[starblazie]

While it is definitely not reliable, I recommend Miss Murray. I read it a while ago. Just for the fun.

Yeah, most all anthropologists say it's a disproved/unproven theory, it's a fun theory especially as HPL and other writers use it.   And compared to the Golden Bough, Murray is pretty readable.

I have Murray's book on my list to read just to see what ideas HPL and other writers might have used.  Glad to hear it is any easy read.  I need a break from Australia. 

[Bob Lovecraft]

While it is definitely not reliable, I recommend Miss Murray. I read it a while ago. Just for the fun.

Yeah, most all anthropologists say it's a disproved/unproven theory, it's a fun theory especially as HPL and other writers use it.   And compared to the Golden Bough, Murray is pretty readable.

I have Murray's book on my list to read just to see what ideas HPL and other writers might have used.  Glad to hear it is any easy read.  I need a break from Australia. 

Wait, I thought you were Australian.

Bob

[starblazie]

While it is definitely not reliable, I recommend Miss Murray. I read it a while ago. Just for the fun.

Yeah, most all anthropologists say it's a disproved/unproven theory, it's a fun theory especially as HPL and other writers use it.   And compared to the Golden Bough, Murray is pretty readable.

I have Murray's book on my list to read just to see what ideas HPL and other writers might have used.  Glad to hear it is any easy read.  I need a break from Australia. 

Wait, I thought you were Australian.

Bob

Not even close.  Iowa.   

[Bob Lovecraft]

Really? But you know so MUCH about Australia. Now I am all disillusioned. Time to go correlate some data and get it all over with.

Bob

[starblazie]

Really? But you know so MUCH about Australia. Now I am all disillusioned. Time to go correlate some data and get it all over with.

Bob

Sorry to disappoint you Bob, but "G'day mate" has never been in my vocabulary.      Disillusioned?  Should I be insulted? 

[Bob Lovecraft]

Really? But you know so MUCH about Australia. Now I am all disillusioned. Time to go correlate some data and get it all over with.

Bob

Sorry to disappoint you Bob, but "G'day mate" has never been in my vocabulary.      Disillusioned?  Should I be insulted? 

Well if you are a true lover of Lovecraft, then no, you should not be disappointing, but rather glad that you have torn aside the veil of my ignorance to expose me to the greater cosmic meaning of our useless existence in an indifferent universe. That and it's always fun to screw with people's heads, so you've got that going for you.

Bob

[starblazie]

Well if you are a true lover of Lovecraft, then no, you should not be disappointing, but rather glad that you have torn aside the veil of my ignorance to expose me to the greater cosmic meaning of our useless existence in an indifferent universe. That and it's always fun to screw with people's heads, so you've got that going for you.

Bob

Well, I wasn't trying to screw with your head on purpose. Honest!  

edit: had the fix the quotation thingies

[Bob Lovecraft]

LOL, yeah right. Like I don't remember which forum I am on. Pull the other tentacle, why dontcha?

Bob

[starblazie]

LOL, yeah right. Like I don't remember which forum I am on. Pull the other tentacle, why dontcha?

Bob

You have tentacles?  Let's see!

[Bob Lovecraft]

LOL, yeah right. Like I don't remember which forum I am on. Pull the other tentacle, why dontcha?

Bob

You have tentacles?  Let's see!

I bet you say that to all the professors, don't you?

Bob

[old book]

Play nice, children, or the Bunyip will descend upon Des Moines and consume the prairies in a fiery universal conflagration. Just sayin.

[Bob Lovecraft]

But this is me playing nice. I'm a nice guy at heart. even if that heart is in a jar on the shelf behind me.

Bob