NECRONOMICON

GNOSIS
A Practical
Introduction

Asenath
Mason

This book is dedicated to Nyarlathotep and the Lords of

Rlyeh
 Black Tower
Publishing
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Necronomicon Gnosis - A Practical

Introduction- Second Edition

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The materials contained here may not be reproduced or
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Copy
N
 Conten
ts
- A Word of
Introduction
-
13-
- What Is the Necronomicon
Gnosis
-
17-
- Self-Initiation into the Necronomicon
Gnosis
-
36-
- Ritual of the Nine Stellar
Gateways
-
49-
- The Call from the Depths: Cthulhu and Lovecraftian Dream
Magic
-
61-
- Cthulhu
Dreamworking
-
66-
- Invocation of Cthulhu into the Dreaming
Mind
-
68-
- Dream Journey to
Ulthar
-
72-
- Gates to Interstellar
Dimensions
-
77-
 - The Render of the Veils
Ritual
-
89-
- Nyarlathotep - The Black Man of the
Sabbat
-
92-
- Invocation of the Black
Pharaoh
-
97-
- Astral
Sabbat
-
100-
- Vision of Chaos and Cosmic
Space
-
102-
- Journey to
Yuggoth
-
115-
- Azathoth - Madness in the Centre of
Infinity
-
119-
- Invocation of
Insanity
-
128-
 - Dagon - Lord of Watery
Depths
-
133
-
- Invocation of
Dagon
-
143
-
- Necromancy in the Cthulhu
Mythos
-
151
-
- The Charnel
God
-
163
-
- Vampires and the Art of Astral Shape-
Shifting
-
168
-
- The Rite of
Akhkharu
-
178
-
- Sex, Blood, Chaos, and Death - Presentation of Shub-
Niggurath
-
184
-
- The Black Communion - A Sex-Magical Rite of
Invoking
Shub-Niggurath into the Temple of
Flesh
 -
194
-
- Those Who Walk on the Wind - The Cthulhu Mythos
Deities and
Demons of Air and Stellar
Dimensions
-
199
-
- Summoning of the Four Wind
Daemons
-
205
-
- Journey to
Carcosa
-
210
-
- The Serpent God Yig and the Power of
Ecstasy
-
212
-
- Serpentine Ecstasy - A Ritual of
Possession
-
224
-
- Dance of the
Serpent
-
229
-
- The Black Tower of
Koth
-
231
-
 - The Shining
Trapezohedron
-
236
-
- The Art of Sacrifice and Blood
Magic
-
239-
- Ceremony of the Great Old
Ones
-
257-
- Thirteen Gates of the Spider
Goddess
-
265-
- A Few Words on
Banishings
-
308-
-
Bibliography
-
312-
- Index of
Illustrations
-
315-
- About the
author
-
316-
 A Word of
Introduction

What do we know of the world and the universe about us? Our means of
receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding
objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see
them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature.
- H.P. Lovecraft, From
Beyond -

The first edition of this book was published in 2007. At that

time I had already worked with the Lovecraftian magic for
several years, holding many lectures and workshops on this
magical gnosis here in Poland and in other European
countries. The Necronomicon and ritual systems inspired by
the Cthulhu Mythos fiction have been enjoying an enormous
popularity in the last few decades, and even though the
fascination with the Lovecraftian magic itself seems less
trendy these days, the occult world is now witnessing a revival
of interest in primal aspects of magical gnosis, and the
Necronomicon lore definitely belongs to this category, thus
still being a part of modern esoteric movements.

Lovecraftian magic is also still controversial and

raises many questions among potential practitioners. I have
now worked with the Necronomicon Gnosis for over thirteen
years, and throughout all this time I have been asked the
same questions: Is The Necronomicon real?, How much
truth is in the legends about the book?, Why work with this
kind of magic at all?, etc. Many people I spoke to about my
magical work often wondered about the nature of these
entities, the effectiveness of rituals, the dangers and
advantages of practices, or simply asked how it can work if all
this is merely literary fiction.

13
This book was written and compiled as an answer to these
questions. It contains texts and practical workings designed
both through my individual practice and gnosis shared with
my friends, students and ritual partners who assisted me in
this work throughout all these years.

It is based on the literary tradition of the Cthulhu Mythos

and various aspects of the Lovecraftian magic. It refers to
chosen published versions of The Necronomicon (by the
term Necronomicon I will refer in this book to the general
idea of the tome and the particular lore of entities, not to
any specific published text), as well as several
Necronomicon-related texts and grimoires that have
appeared in the internet over the last two decades. All
these texts are generally considered hoaxes and if you do
any serious research, you will find out that none of them is
the genuine Necronomicon. But on the other hand, no one
has ever seen the genuine manuscript and the search for it
still continues among enthusiasts of the Lovecraftian
Mythos. This fact, however, should not discourage us from
working with these texts. I am not going to examine them
here or speculate whether The Necronomicon actually exists
or not. Real magical power is not contained on the pages of
any book but within the human mind, and the mind of a
creative individual can transform fiction into a genuine
experience. In this sense, we can use the Lovecraftian lore
as a tool in exploration of dark labyrinths of our own minds.

However, you should remember that all rituals and workings

found in these and similar texts should not be treated in a
literal sense. To summon a chosen entity you do not have
to build a forest temple, a shrine on a hill, slaughter your
neighbors or family pets, look for virgins to sacrifice, or
dig out corpses from their graves. These elements should
only serve as an inspiration for your own workings
- meditations, pathworkings, visual journeys, dream gnosis,
etc. You can use a description of a ritual in the same way as
a fictitious story by Lovecraft or his followers: by reading it
you attune your mind to the subtle transmissions of the
Necronomicon current and prepare yourself for your own
ritual or meditation.
This allows for a shift of consciousness into the realm of the
Lovecraftian gnosis: the frightening and dark world of the
Great Old Ones, infused with an overwhelming sense of awe
and doom, where forgotten gods lie dead but dreaming.

The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader into this

dark and mysterious world. You will read here about chosen
elements from the Lovecraftian lore and the ways to work with
them in your own practice. The book presents basic magical
concepts and techniques of their practical use in the context
of the Necronomicon Gnosis. Some readers may be surprised
to find that the book contains very few references to the most
popular Necronomicon, the version authored by Simon. This
is because the author designed it as a reputedly Sumerian
magic, while the Necronomicon Gnosis as presented here is
not placed within any cultural context. It belongs to stellar
dimensions, extra-terrestrial currents, spaces in-between, and
works through the astral (dream) sphere. However, I decided
to include selected elements and ideas from the Simon
book, like e.g. the myths of creation or certain entities. The
Lovecraftian magic is also non-ritualized and based on
individual experience. The Call of Cthulhu affects the mind of
each individual in a different way. The workings presented in
this book are derived from my personal experience and the
same concepts might be as well approached from a different
perspective by another practitioner. However, it is not
advised to alter any elements of these workings without
proper experience in designing your own rituals.

In the present edition, the original material of the book has

been revised, expanded and updated. New chapters were
added, containing texts and rituals previously published in
various journals and magazines, as well as completely new,
unpublished essays and practices. The last chapter introduces
the work of the Spider Goddess of Space, known in the ancient
times and within the Draconian/Typhonian gnosis as Arachne,
and manifested in the Lovecraftian lore as Nitocris, the Queen
of the Below. This material has been channeled through my
personal work with the Goddess in the recent few years and is
revealed here for the first time.
The work of Arachne belongs to advanced aspects of the
Necronomicon Gnosis and is provided here for the use of
experienced practitioners and those willing to explore the
Necronomicon current on its extraterrestrial levels.

The other rituals and meditations presented in this book can

be used both by beginners and advanced magicians. It is
usually stated in the description of a working whether there
is any higher level of experience needed or not. If you feel
uncomfortable with any idea presented in the workings, do
not perform them. The realm of the Necronomicon Gnosis is
vast and contains unlimited possibilities that depend only on
your imagination, and it is often enough to simply attune
your mind and senses to the call of the Great Old Ones. The
power of The Necronomicon lies in its intangibility and
mysteriousness. It is a book with limitless potential, a
volume that has never been completed and is continuously
writing itself through the hands of those who receive
messages from Beyond. Therefore, open your mind and
enjoy the madness!

Asenath Mason, August

2014
 What Is the Necronomicon
Gnosis

The majority of available Necronomicon versions are based on

the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and his followers. All these stories
are a part of the so- called Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft himself
claimed that The Necronomicon was his own invention, and
the name of the reputed author, Abdul Al-Hazred, was his
childhood nickname, inspired by the reading of One
Thousand and One Nights stories. Therefore, any research into
the Necronomicon lore always raises the question whether the
book really existed or it was only a creation of Lovecrafts
imagination. Nevertheless, its popularity among the twentieth-
century occultists was enormous. The Necronomicon inspired
such magicians as Aleister Crowley, Michael Bertiaux, Anton
LaVey, Michael Aquino, Kenneth Grant, and many others.
There were also magical orders created to explore esoteric
aspects of the Cthulhu Mythos. Among them we can mention
e.g. the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Those magicians claimed
that The Necronomicon in fact existed in the realm of
Akasha, the sphere of Astral Light containing all knowledge
about the universe and all past and future events since the
beginning of time. Sometimes glimpses of this knowledge
manifest in the material world through minds of individuals
sensitive enough to receive transmissions from subtle planes.
Such transmission was received e.g. by Helena Blavatsky who
earthed it by writing the so- called Book of Dzyan. But access
to this hidden knowledge can also be gained by means of
magic - while practising rituals and ceremonies described in
The Necronomicon. These workings are aimed at awakening of
the Great Old Ones in human consciousness through
interaction with extraterrestrial cosmic currents and forces
existing outside the world as it is known to man. According to
the Cthulhu Mythos, they lie dormant, waiting to be awakened
and to rise again.
Their call is being continuously transmitted to their cultists
who work on their awakening by means of magical rites and
ceremonies. In various versions of The Necronomicon we
find mentions of three main cults typifying the worship of
the Great Old Ones: the cult of the Dragon, the Goat and the
Dog (related to stellar currents of Draconis, Capricornus and
Sirius). In The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft describes the
worship of the forgotten gods in the following way:

This was that cult, and the prisoners said it had always existed and
always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the
world until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in
the mighty city of Rlyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth
again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were
ready, and the secret cult would always be waiting to liberate him.

These deities have no physical body and their shape is not

made of any material substance. Spells that preserve them
intact also prevent them from moving, and they can only lie
awake in the dark and think while uncounted millions of
years roll by. But they know about everything that happens
in the universe and observe worldly events, waiting and
preparing to return. It is believed that in order for this to
happen, they need to be helped and liberated by cultists
and priests who will open the gates to the Void by practicing
mysterious rites, thus bringing the Great Old Ones back to
Earth. These gods came to this world from the stars aeons
ago to pass their knowledge to humans. Thus, theirs and
human destinies became inseparably connected.
According to the ancient Babylonian myth of creation which
is a part of the Necronomicon lore, it was from the blood of
Kingu, one of the primal gods, that mankind was created,
and thus we all possess the element of the Old Gods within.
They were repressed to the chthonic regions of the earth
and into underwater depths (symbolic of the unconscious
layers of the Self), but when the stars are right, they will
awaken and humanity will become aware of their divine
power.
The motif of Cthulhu, dormant monster slumbering in the
sunken city of Rlyeh, refers to the image of the Dragon
encompassing the whole universe: Leviathan or Ouroboros. He
is dormant but his pulse exists within each living being. He is
the Kundalini of the world, and everyone who works to
activate this force within the individual mind contributes to
the awakening of the Dragon - through the divine spark that is
the heritage of the Old Gods. This can be done by rites and
methods existing within many magical systems and spiritual
traditions
- the Cthulhu Mythos and The Necronomicon are only one of
countless philosophies that awaken our imagination and
provide inspiration for magical practice. In this book I will refer
to the popular versions of The Necronomicon, as well as
chosen texts and essays published online and in printed
publications, and also the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and his
followers, such as Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and
others whose fiction constitutes the literary current known as
The Cthulhu Mythos.

Gnosis means knowing. The knowledge about The

Necronomicon is complex and ambiguous. As a magical
system, it is difficult to legitimize and place in any
mythological or historical context because its elements are
found everywhere and nowhere - it is also hard to recognize
them. The authenticity of The Necronomicon as an actual book
has never been proved, which is the reason why its value as a
magical system is often questioned. However, if we consider it
as a collection of knowledge about forces from outside the
universe of man, dimensions in-between planes, or
extraterrestrial worlds, practical work with it starts to make
sense. Subtle transmissions of the Great Old Ones usually
manifest through dreams and visions. Entities described by
this system are intangible and formless. Seldom do they
manifest in any concrete form on the physical plane, which
often makes evocation techniques completely useless. They
have hundreds of avatars, so weird and surprising that we
often wonder how such shapes are possible at all. They hardly
ever resemble terrestrial beings, and even if they do, they
assume forms of strange and fantastic hybrids rather than
the actual fauna of the earth, e.g. manifesting as giant octopi
with wings or flying fungoid crustaceans.
The reason why we perceive them like this is that our
consciousness translates their intangible, amorphous
forms into shapes familiar to human perception. Only this
way are we able to experience glimpses of their nature
which is normally completely alien to how we perceive the
surrounding reality. That is also why we often see their
avatars as extremely weird hybrids. These entities remain
outside the manifested world, in the Abyss, within limitless
Chaos that surrounds everything as infinite prime matter
that gave birth to the universe. And because the manifested
world is also an emanation of this Chaos, personified as the
Dragon, or Tiamat, the earth and human beings are in a
way bound to it. These forces represent the human
evolutionary potential - what we may become if we manage
to transgress the manifested world and break free from the
prison of our minds. Then we ourselves will be able to
become like the Great Old Ones - beings of unlimited
potential, ever-changing and mutable, infinite and timeless,
with evolutionary possibilities as vast as the Eternal Chaos
itself.

Initiation into the Necronomicon Gnosis is usually received

through the work with Nyarlathotep, the mythical
intermediary between the Outer Forces and mankind. He is
the one who leads man to the stars and opens the doors to
the path of self-liberation. Unlike the amorphous gods of the
Cthulhu Mythos, Nyarlathotep often appears in the shape
that can be understood and grasped by man - usually in
human form. He is the Left Hand Path initiator who
destroys everything and ruthlessly shatters all weaknesses
within our minds. He is the Crawling Chaos who opens the
gate to the Outer Void through which the Great Old Ones
can enter our consciousness. Nyarlathotep is thus the
beginning (the initiator of interactions with the Outer Gods)
and the end - the destroyer and the principle of
disintegration.

Practical work with The Necronomicon is often described as

dangerous or even fatal. Many times we encounter warnings
and discouragement. Practitioners new to this system are
warned that the invoked forces may be too powerful to
control and can easily shatter the human mind.
We are advised to perform banishing rituals after reading each
singular page, otherwise the very reading of this forbidden
book may cause madness or even death. The Cthulhu Mythos
present the Great Old Ones as evil, terrifying and ruthless
entities, striving to break into the world of humans and
destroy mankind. They are depicted as horrible monsters,
abhorrent and disgusting, and interactions with them often
lead to insanity. This picture is inspired by experiences of
people who encountered the Necronomicon forces while they
were completely unprepared for such confrontation. The
Great Old Ones symbolize the dark and hidden layers of
consciousness, all that we normally try to repress instead of
accepting it as a natural part of the Self. But it is impossible to
shut them out of our minds. The dark, repressed instincts are
transformed into demons and monsters that will sooner or
later emerge to the light of consciousness. The Necronomicon
lore describes these elements of the human Self as
terrifying alien beings. That is why Lovecraft refers to The
Necronomicon as horrible and blasphemous book, for it refers
to the most hidden instincts flowing from the deepest recesses
of the human mind.

But the Old Gods are not always presented as enemies of

humanity. The Magan Text (the paraphrase of the Babylonian
epic Enuma Elish) from the Simon Necronomicon reminds the
reader about the ancient bond between man and the Ancient
Ones:

And was not Man created from the blood of

Kingu Commander of the hordes of the
Ancient Ones? Does not man possess in his
spirit
The seeds of rebellion against the Elder
Gods? And the blood of Man is the Blood of
Vengeance And the blood of Man is the
Spirit of Vengeance
And the Power of Man is the Power of the Ancient
Ones
And this is the
Covenant
Human blood is a symbol of the divine spark connecting
mankind with the Ancient Gods - the force that has to be
awakened and liberated so that man would become like his
parents - free and untamed, beyond good and evil,
creator and god. Man is the key that opens the gate to
their ancient currents - the only being in the universe that
can awaken the Old Gods and rekindle their dormant power
within. Practices described in The Necronomicon and the
Cthulhu Mythos are the tool and the foremost vehicle of
this process. The power of the Old Gods is a spark existing
in our souls and it depends only on us whether it becomes
the destructive fire or light illuminating the darkness of the
unconscious on the initiatory path.

The published Necronomicons and related texts (such as

Grimoirium Imperium, De Vermis Misteriis, or The Book of
Dagon) are attempts to classify and systematize practical
work with these entities. And thus, we have them grouped
and described according to function, qualities, magical
powers, etc. Each of these texts presents a different aspect
of the Great Old Ones, e.g. De Vermis Misteriis refers to their
insatiable nature and teaches methods of sacrifice,
Grimoirium Imperium classifies them according to the hour
appropriate for calling and provides a list of possible
forms assumed by Nyarlathotep, the messenger of the
Old Gods. Each of these texts contributes to the
understanding of the countless aspects of their nature and
makes work with them more organized and less chaotic.
Also, the avatars of particular Great Old Ones differ from
one another. For example, we can experience Cthulhu in a
completely different way while working with the Simon
Necronomicon than during the work with De Vermis Misteriis
or Al Azif. As practitioners, we encounter such differences in
many other avatars and manifestations of the Great Old
Ones.

Ritual magic is not always effective in practical work with

these entities. They do not possess a form which they might
assume in front of the magician who evokes them. They
cannot be defined or limited to structures of any ceremonial
system, even though such attempts have been made.
For instance, Kenneth Grant ascribed the
Necronomicon forces to particular Sephiroth on the Qabalistic
Tree of Life. Yet, these correspondences are not always
accurate, as the nature of the Great Old Ones is indefinable,
shapeless and ever-mutating. They are intangible and hard to
grasp or see. But they can be contacted by means of
various techniques and practices. The most popular of them
are listed and explored in this book.

Gnosi
s

The best places to call the forces of the Outer Void are usually
outdoor solitary locations - old woods, peaks of mountains or
areas near water: a lonely beach by the sea, lake-shore, or
desolate spot near a forgotten pond. Places where no one
lives, abandoned even by animals. This kind of magic is wild,
performed at night, at the time of stormy weather or strong
wind, among thunders and lightning - only then can we
experience this primal savageness of nature and catch a
glimpse of the primeval element of the Great Old Ones that
manifests out there in the wild, far from man-made
civilization. In such places and in the atmosphere of fear and
anxiety we can leave our rational thinking behind and
experience the energies of the Other Side - the primordiality of
the Irrational.

Outdoor workings easily induce the state of gnosis,

magical trance in which we can communicate with the Old
Gods. There are many methods and ritual techniques
described in The Necronomicon and the Cthulhu Mythos for
entering such a state and attuning consciousness to the
influence of the Outer Forces. The method described most
often by Lovecraft is the gnosis of fear and terror, creating a
terrifying obsession in the mind of the practitioner. Another
technique involves the use of ritual mantras - imitating
strange sounds resembling those described in the Mythos,
incantations in the primal speech. Other methods are e.g.
wild dancing, orgiastic sex, overbreathing, bathing in cold
water in order to cool organism, sensory deprivation, or
bloodletting. We will take a closer look at some of these
techniques further in the book.
 Pacts and
ceremonies

The Necronomicon magic, however, is not completely free

from ritual and ceremonial aspects. For instance, in one of
the Necronomicon- inspired texts we find instructions how
to build a special temple for the worship of the Great Old
Ones: we have to prepare a circle of stones in the open
area, where each stone symbolizes either a particular
cardinal direction or a planet and has a corresponding
symbol carved on it. In the middle of the circle there is an
altar containing the seal of Yog-Sothoth and names of the
most powerful deities: Azathoth, Cthulhu, Hastur, Shub-
Niggurath, and Nyarlathotep. Around the altar one should
place four stones referring to the four cardinal directions,
and around these - seven stones representing the planets,
the Sun and the Moon. The whole space encircled by the
stones constitutes a gate through which the summoned
forces can manifest. This method is derived from Al Azif, but
in fact, everything depends on our imagination and we can
decorate the temple and the altar in many other ways,
following the intuition and the knowledge of the Mythos.

But not only the temple is important. We can also prepare

the ritual tools: wand, sword, robe, rings, talismans,
special incense, and scrolls with spells. Again, the popular
versions of The Necronomicon recommend that each of
these tools should be prepared carefully, with consideration
of planetary influence, special symbols should be carved
on them, and they must be consecrated in a prescribed
ceremony. Some of them have special names, like the Sword
of Barzai, the Incense of Zkauba, or the Powder of Ibn Ghazi.
Each is used in a specific ritual or ceremony, according to
methods described in the books. Details of these procedures
can be found in the widely available versions of The
Necronomicon and I will not focus on this theme here, as the
purpose of this book is to present new methods and
techniques of practical work with the Necronomicon Gnosis.
In ritual magic, the emphasis is also put on particular days
on which the Old Gods can be summoned. The most important
of them are: Candlemas (the second day of the second
month), Beltane (the eve of the fifth month), Lammas (the
first day of the eighth month), and Samhain (the eve of the
eleventh month). These days are certainly familiar to most
practitioners of witchcraft.

There are also special ritual signs of power that should be

used in particular rites and ceremonies: the sign of Voor
that symbolizes the power of Great Old Ones, the sign of Kish
that opens gates and destroys barriers, the sign of Koth that
seals the gates, and the sign of the Elder Gods that banishes
the power of Great Old Ones and is used in exorcisms. In this
book we will concentrate on pacts and direct work with the
Outer Forces and the sign of Koth will not be used in practical
workings, except a few. Yet, it is an individual matter whether
one chooses to include it for safety in the workings presented
here or not. In the same way we can use the Elder Sign. Below
you can see the signs of power as provided in Al Azif:
 Dream
magic

Dreams are powerful keys to the depths of the inner mind.

By exploring their meaning we gain access to those layers of
the Self that are inaccessible to mundane consciousness.
Dream magic is also one of the most important techniques
in exploration of the Necronomicon realms and
communication with their dwellers. The Lord of Dreams is
Cthulhu. He lies dead but dreaming in a sunken
tomb in Rlyeh - the city representing depths of the
unconscious. Although he is dormant, he has the ability to
contact human beings through dreams. He sends visions
and dreams about ancient times and gods who ruled the
world at the beginning of time. For most people, these
transmissions take the form of nightmares, but for Initiates
of the Necronomicon Gnosis and those who willingly open
their minds for the Call of Cthulhu, they are the source of
great knowledge. Such messages have been transmitted to
mankind since the birth of the universe. In H.P. Lovecrafts
The Call of Cthulhu, we read:
When, after infinities of chaos, the first men came, the Great Old Ones
spoke to the sensitive among them by moulding their dreams; for only
thus could Their language reach the fleshly minds of mammals.

Thus, according to the Lovecraftian lore, dreams are

the gate to hidden layers of the unconscious and their
guardian and master is Cthulhu. Sensitive people receive
his call through dreams as a mysterious voice or
message spoken in monotonous manner, enigmatic and
apparently without meaning. A dreaming person
simultaneously experiences visions of slimy temples and
monoliths located in a huge, forgotten city. One can also see
names, images, symbols, mantras, and words of power
that can be further used in communication with these
forces. Techniques of controlled dreaming used in the
Necronomicon Gnosis allow for direct contact with the Great
Old Ones and other related entities who exist on the border
of dreaming and waking, in-between spaces known to us.
The Lovecraftian Dreamlands (I recommend reading The
Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath) are guarded by four wards:
Nemus, Dacos, Cabid, and Leebo. To enter the dreamworld,
the practitioner should summon them and the gates to hidden
dimensions will open. To do this, one has to prepare the ring of
Hypnos with names of the guardians carved on its surface.
The ring is also the key to other peoples dreams. Again,
details are described in The Rlyeh Text that is available in
bookshops and online libraries, so I will not focus on them
here. Nevertheless, some other aspects of dream magic will
be developed in further chapters of this book.

Astral
travels

The Necronomicon describes many worlds, distant stars and

planets, underground and underwater realms, forgotten and
hidden before human beings. These realms can be accessed
through dreams and astral travels. The Cthulhu Mythos
present many methods to travel to these hidden locations
through astral and visual journeys. One of them is to make
contact with the Mi-Go, creatures from the planet Yuggoth
(sometimes identified with Pluto). They can carry human
consciousness for unlimited distances in the outer space to
the domain of the Great Old Ones. There are also special
formulas enabling mystical journeys between worlds and
dimensions. These are e.g. the Silver Key formula, the Dho-
Hna formula and the Angle Web. The formula called Dho-
Hna opens gateways and angles to the Outer Void through
signs and incantations, allowing for travelling to realms hidden
in-between angles. And so, the magician can travel to
countless worlds described in the Cthulhu Mythos: the black
planet Yuggoth, the Cold Waste of Kadath, the great Plateau of
Leng, the world of Abbith, Cykranosh, Yaddith, the lost library
of Caleano, and many, many others.

Cities of the Great Old Ones are characterized by

specific structure - weird shapes and lines which do not
resemble any human geometry, referred to as non-
Euclidean, like in the case of Labyrinths of Zin
leading to the sunken city of Rlyeh.
The gate to the labyrinths is opened with the Silver Key.
Then we find ourselves in a network of corridors and
chambers built in the form of endless labyrinths resembling
a giant spider web. Underneath, there are tunnels leading to
Rlyeh. In order not to lose the way, it is advised to embark
on this journey with a guide, possibly one of its dwellers.

Another example of an astral technique used to explore the

forgotten worlds is the flight on Shantak birds, the steeds of
darkness. Like in the case of the Mi-Go, the contact with
them is made in wild and desolate places, dark woods and
caves. The Shantak birds may carry the traveler through
infinite space to a chosen location among the stars.

These concepts may serve as inspiration for constructing

pathworkings and planning astral and visual journeys to the
Outer Void. In further parts of this book we will examine
some of them and explore how they can be used by the
modern practitioner.

Scryin
g

Scrying is a technique of observing the astral plane through

a chosen object in which astral energies are expected to
manifest. We have to enter the scrying object with the mind,
as if we actually were inside of it. In this practice we may
use all kinds of mirrors, crystals or glass balls. The
connection between the planes works in both directions
- we observe the images of astral entities reflecting in
the mirror and at the same time these beings are aware of
the observer and communicate with us by sending
impulses, visions and messages. In the Necronomicon
lore, we have several mythical artifacts that can be used
for this practice. One of them is the so-called Shining
Trapezohedron, the crystal that was brought to Earth by the
Mi-Go. Practitioners can look into the depths of the Abyss
through the crystal and explore the darkness that flows
through the object like through an open gateway to the
Outer Void. The Shining Trapezohedron is also used in
interactions with Nyarlathotep.
Another artifact used to gaze into the Outer Void is the mirror
of Nitocris, the Queen of the Vaults of Zin. It must be inscribed
with special symbols and placed in a circle, otherwise it might
attract unwanted entities. In ritual work, entities and shadows
appear in the mirror, taking shape from spilled ink or sprayed
powder of Ibn Ghazi.

These tools can be fashioned by practitioners who wish to

empower their magical practice or decorate the temple.
Again, instructions and procedures can be found in the original
texts. However, they are not necessary, and simple scrying
tools, such as a black mirror or black vessel filled with water,
are equally useful in this work.

We can also gaze into the Other Side with the help of Daoloth,
the Render of the Veils. He might be called by drawing his
image and evoking him into the circle called the pentacle of
planes. Then he will appear and reveal secrets of the hidden
side of the universe. Further in the book I will present a
working with Daoloth which will lift the veil between the
mundane and the Other Side and allow for communication
with this fascinating entity.

Evocatio
ns

Evocations are not the best method of practical work with the
Necronomicon entities. These beings are too intangible and
too alien to human perception to evoke them into a concrete
form. Of course, we can try to do it, but then we will either
limit their multiple nature to a single aspect manifested in the
circle or the situation will appear too difficult for us to control
and the whole operation will bring completely unexpected
results. In the best scenario, we will not observe any
results at all. In the worst, we will be overwhelmed by the
force and will have to face a powerful ancient being
manifesting with multiple forms and powers, completely
beyond our control. Traditional methods of evocation, such as
summoning a spirit into a circle, triangle, crystal, etc., to
perform a certain task or function for us, seldom make any
sense while working with the Necronomicon Gnosis.
One of the very few Necronomicon deities who appear in
visible and concrete form is Nyarlathotep, the messenger of
the Great Old Ones. There are texts that attempt to classify
his masks and avatars according to their functions - and
these classification can be used in rites of evocation. Such
list is provided in Grimoirium Imperium, mentioning twenty-
one names (or faces) of Nyarlathotep that can be
summoned in their special hours. Each name is given
together with a sign that should also be used in the ritual.

Invocatio
ns

Techniques of invocation are much more effective than

evocations. By invocation we usually mean a condition of
subjecting consciousness to a summoned force, usually a
god-form. In the works of the Necronomicon Gnosis, our
minds become merged with the gnosis of primal ecstasy.
There are numerous instances of such practices in the
widely available Necronomicon-related texts, as well as in
the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos.

The key to a successful invocation is a specific condition of

magical trance in which the practitioner is able to open the
mind for the influence of alien consciousness and interact
with the minds of forces dwelling in the Outer Void. I have
already mentioned the use of trance techniques and their
importance in the Necronomicon magic. Some of them
stimulate the body and mind and allow for a state of ecstasy
in which the practitioners mind is empty and ready to be
filled with transmissions from the outside - voices, visions,
and other messages flowing from the depths of the
unconscious. Among these methods, we can mention
ecstatic dancing, overbreathing, or intense sexual
stimulation. Other techniques allow for achieving trance
through distortion or dissolution of ego-based consciousness
and transgressing limits of perception. These are, for
instance, sensory deprivation, lack of sleep for a longer
time, fasting, or bloodletting which weakens the organism.
All of them induce the desired state of mind that allows for
interactions with a deity and manifestation of powers and
qualities of the god-form through temporary possession.
 Sex
magic

The Cthulhu Mythos also include many aspects of sexual

gnosis. One of them is the concept of the sacred marriage
or sexual congress that usually occurs between a deity and
human partner. Such situation is described e.g. in Lovecrafts
story The Dunwich Horror, where the sexual union occurs
between Yog-Sothoth and a human woman, Lavinia Whateley,
and results in a child, a hybrid of partly human and partly
alien characteristics. Also the Deep Ones, the race of children
of Dagon, are known for mating with human partners, which is
described in the Lovecrafts story The Shadow over
Innsmouth. Sexual gnosis is a specific way of invocation,
which rests on the power of an invoked deity manifesting
through sexual impulses and thus being absorbed into the
body and mind of the practitioner. This way the alien nature
of the Great Old Ones is more easily absorbed into
consciousness. This is also one of methods for entering a
magical trance: at the moment of orgasm the mind is focused
on the single experience and all other states of consciousness
are left behind. An example of a magical working with the
sexual intercourse occurring between a male magician and
the outer force is the congress with Shub-Niggurath, a quasi-
female deity, one of the foremost god-forms typifying the
Necronomicon sexual currents. Another practice aimed at
absorption of the outer forces is a ritual performed by two
practitioners, one male and the other female, one invoking
e.g. Yog-Sothoth, and the other - Shub-Niggurath. Then the
congress occurs between the male and the female practitioner
and the invoked powers are transferred to each other and
conjoined into one consciousness.

Another sexual technique that can be applied to the

Necronomicon practice is the popular tantric tradition of
achieving the state of ecstatic trance through awakening and
raising the power of the Fire Snake. Serpentine deities in the
Cthulhu Mythos, especially Yig, correspond to the tantric
concept of the Kundalini, primal energy of human evolution
depicted as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine. This
concept will be further explained in this book and I will present
a working with Yig based on sexual magic.
 Shape-
shifting

Shape-shifting is a technique of changing the shape:

physical, visual or astral. There are many legends and
stories of shape-shifting: tales of werewolves, vampires,
astral creatures flying or walking at night, or predatory
beasts threatening unwary travelers. In works of magic,
the term shape-shifting is most often encountered in
dark witchcraft and connected with such practices as
Sabbatic flight, theriomorphism or lycanthropy. Under the
influence of a magical trance, the practitioner assumes the
form of a demon or deity, or any other chosen creature
along with its powers and appearance, in order to obtain
knowledge about the chosen being and learn how to use its
powers. This occurs during a limited time and for a
particular purpose. In the practice of the Necronomicon
Gnosis, this technique may be used to learn about the
nature of a chosen deity or spirit, to explore astral worlds
and locations as one of their dwellers, or to enhance ones
astral and visual skills. In one of the chapters of this book I
will present an example of a shape-shifting practice related
to astral vampirism.

Creating
servitors

The Cthulhu Mythos also provide a great deal of inspiration

for working with man-made spirits. From various myths,
stories and rituals we learn how to create a servitor, a spirit
specially designed and programmed to perform a
certain task (or tasks) for us. Such entities are called the
Shoggoths. In Lovecrafts stories, the Shoggoths are
mindless creatures created by the Great Old Ones as their
servants. The procedure of their creation by a skillful
magician does not differ from popular modern techniques of
chaos magic. And thus, first we have to specify a task or
function we want the spirit to perform, then create a sigil
and name the Shoggoth, and finally, activate the servitor by
ritual means. Methods of activation are based on the use of
sexual energy (according to Kenneth Grant, the word
Shoggoth is related to the Chaldean shaggathai -
fornication).
The whole operation of creating the servitor takes 40 days,
during which we have to feed the Shoggoth with our sexual
fluids mixed with our own blood. The Shoggoths can assume
any form we wish but they may also become rebellious and
acquire their own intelligence, if they are employed for a
longer time. Therefore it is advisable to destroy the spirit after
the task is completed.

Necroman
cy

Many practices within the Necronomicon Gnosis are centered

on interactions with the world of the dead, the realm of
deceased humans, animals and gods. The most valuable to us
are spirits of dead magicians. In the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
and his followers, we encounter many descriptions of
necromancers resurrecting people from the dead to serve
them as slaves or setting traps for discarnate souls in order to
imprison them in special vessels and use them for their
purpose. There are many methods and aspects of necromancy
in the Cthulhu Mythos and this subject will be further explored
in one of the chapters of this book.

While researching the Cthulhu Mythos, we can also invent our

own methods and techniques to interact and work magically
with these forces. Then we become aware that they are not
terrifying monsters, striving to destroy mankind and the world,
but initiators who may lead man towards illumination and
self-deification. The Great Old Ones are sometimes
identified with the Hebrew Nephilim, fallen angels who
endowed mankind with the gift of civilization and
knowledge that had only been accessible to gods and
angels. In a similar way The Necronomicon presents the
arrival of alien forces from the Outer Void - they come from
the stars to become initiators of mankind. An interesting story
is found among the African Dogon tribe, whose mythology
describes contacts with extraterrestrial beings who came from
the stars, or more specifically - from Sirius. Similar stories are
found worldwide. The Necronomicon also refers to such
entities - gods and spirits able to travel through space and
time, among stars and galaxies, not limited by any barriers
or dimensions, free, primal and timeless.
Their messages and transmissions power up the impulse
underlying human longing for development and evolution of
consciousness. The Necronomicon Gnosis works through the
depths of the inner mind, evoking forgotten dreams, primal
instincts, yearning for perfection and power that was given
to humanity by those who came from the stars but lost
throughout the ages. This power is dead but dreaming
within us, it lies dormant like Cthulhu in his sunken city of
Rlyeh. If we awaken this force and learn how to use it, we
may become like those who created us from their blood,
immortal and powerful, existing beyond time and space, and
manifesting our Will throughout all existing and non-existing
worlds and dimensions.

...And all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and
freedom. Meanwhile the cult, by appropriate rites, must keep
alive the memory of those ancient ways and shadow forth the
prophecy of their return.
- H.P. Lovecraft: The Call of
Cthulhu -

Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl

fhtagn
 Self-Initiation into the
Necronomicon
Curren
t

How to Start the

Work

The question I receive most often from people

interested in the work with the Lovecraftian magic is
what to begin with?, how to attune yourself to the
Necronomicon current? The answer here is simple - we
can tap into this magical current through intense and
systematic practice with concepts and god-forms of the
Lovecraftian lore - meditations on symbols and names,
pathworkings, invocations, dream magic, etc. In this sense,
it works like all other magical systems
- the more time we devote to our work with the
Necronomicon Gnosis, the more sensitive and open we
become to its stellar transmissions. All existing versions of
The Necronomicon and other related texts, as well as the
Cthulhu Mythos fiction, even though cannot be treated as
historical sources, may still serve as inspiration for our own
work with this magical gnosis.

On the other hand, many beginners to the work with the

Lovecraftian magic have a lot of doubts if it actually works
at all. The common argument is that the author himself
admitted that all stories were merely literary fiction and
Abdul Al Hazred was a fictitious character of his own
invention. But here we must remember that all mythological
gods were invented by man in earlier or later times, and if
36
we look at the issue from this point of view, the Great Old
Ones seem no less valid than the ancient gods from
worlds mythologies. There is a long span of time between
their appearance in culture and magical traditions when we
compare them to the ancient lore, but still, they are all
inventions of human minds, born in response to
contemporary needs of worship and identification.

37
In present times we no longer need e.g. agricultural or fertility
deities, like our ancient ancestors, because these areas have
been covered by science and technology, while the invention
of modern lore, to which the Great Old Ones belong,
matches the needs of the modern practitioner far better than
worship of old god-forms that no longer reflect the human
desire of transcendence. Hence, we are now faced with
alien beings of intangible nature, hybrid manifestations with
destructive powers, possessing enormous evolutionary
potential that seems to be a response to the fast development
of science, quantum physics, experiments with the DNA code,
etc. In this sense, the Lovecraftian entities are perfect
representatives of what this scientific progress brings forth
into the world. From all sides we are swamped with
manifestations of the rapid and fast development of science
and technology, its potential and possibilities that are both
fascinating and threatening, as the greater part of all these
phenomena still remains unexplored, while the basic instinct
underlying human nature is to be afraid of the unexpected
and the unknown. It is a universal feature of all human race.
Perhaps this is the main reason why this lore has gained such
enormous popularity in contemporary literature, art and
esotericism.

It is, however, incorrect to associate the Lovecraftian

entities with any particular mythology. These are alien,
cosmic forces of human evolution, and they can be identified
either with all mythologies or none, as they represent the
entire evolutionary progress of the human mind. Of course, if
we really want to, we can draw certain analogies, e.g.
between Dagon and ancient watery gods, such as Oannes.
Shub- Niggurath roughly represents the concepts of the dark
feminine associated with goddesses like Lilith or Kali, but
at the same time Shub-Niggurath can be identified with
masculine gods of nature such as Pan. Nyarlathotep, as a
character walking among people on the earth, has a few
hundred avatars and represents the concept of the trickster,
adversary, devil of the witches Sabbats, personal Shadow,
and many others, which allows us to compare him to a
wide range of mythological gods. The serpent god Yig
corresponds to other mythological serpent deities, like e.g.
Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs.
However, it is difficult to find associations between ancient
mythologies and cosmic deities, such as Cthulhu, Azathoth
or Yog- Sothoth, who manifest as amorphous hybrids,
completely alien to human perception, and thus not
resembling any typical mythological gods.

Another controversial issue is the historical authenticity. I

will just point here that it is not completely certain that
the book known to us as The Necronomicon has never
existed at all - there are many supporters of the theory that
it found its way into the Western occultism in the sixteenth
and the seventeenth centuries. This has never been proved,
but those times were the period of witch-hunting and
persecutions of the occult, and it was not safe for any
scholar to admit any connection to dark arts, while most
of them actually had more to do with demonology than
white natural magic. It is not impossible that many
grimoires disappeared at that time from book lists and were
kept in hiding by practitioners and collectors. The
Necronomicon could have been one of such books - at least
there are many enthusiasts of this idea. But it is not a
purpose of this book to explore this subject further.

If we take a look at online libraries or bookstores, we will

find many different Necronomicons and other related
texts, such as Al Azif, De Vermis Misteriis, The Book of
Dagon, The Rlyeh Text, and many others. Of course, they
are all probably hoaxes, invented for commercial purposes
or to fill the gap in the lack of modern mythology.
ManyNecronomicon- related materials are also expressions
of the authors personal gnosis and their individual practice
with these stellar currents. This book is also one of such
works, although rituals and meditations presented here
have been tested for years by various practitioners and
provide a working system that has proved effective for
many. Sometimes such accounts are interesting and
powerful manifestations of the Necronomicon Gnosis. Other
times, inexperienced authors get carried away with their
imagination and instead of presenting a solid research into
the chosen area, their writings start to resemble fantasy
novels.
It is then up to you whether you choose to use such works for
reference or decide to rely on your intuition and pick only
these aspects that seem genuine and verified in practice.
Personally, I am not a keen supporter of any of the hoaxes
that have been published over the last few decades, but there
are many magicians who have found them useful, and usually
whoever works with these texts, admits that there is
something in them. But the key to successful practice is in
the mind of the practitioner, and the reason why these rituals
and ceremonies do work is not their connection to any ancient
cults or mysterious traditions but the focus and belief of the
practitioner. Fiction may serve as inspiration and thus become
a genuine experience. This is how the Lovecraftian magic
works. The Necronomicons and the Cthulhu Mythos stories
may serve as inspiration for the exploration of the labyrinths
of the inner mind and become a tool that allows the
practitioner to delve into depths of the unconscious. And
since their nature is the product and manifestation of our
times, they often replace ancient god-forms in modern
occultism.

In this chapter you will find out how to begin the work with
the Necronomicon current and how to use the Lovecraftian
grimoires which at first glance seem too complicated or
useless to the modern practitioner. Necronomicon Gnosis can
be viewed as a set of tools and techniques which allow for a
better understanding of the cosmic and evolutionary concepts
represented by the Great Old Ones and other Lovecraftian
entities. As there exists no single genuine version of The
Necronomicon, there is also no single approach to this kind of
magic, and the intelligent adept is free to invent ones own
methods of work, limited only by ones own creativity and
imagination. We must remember that as a magical system,
The Necronomicon is genuine enough for those who are able
to grasp its intangibility and establish contact with forces that
transcend the boundaries of human reason and perception.
 Self-Initiation at the Ritual and
Ceremonial Level

The Lovecraftian grimoires and the Cthulhu Mythos lore,

even though most of them claim to be of Arabic origin,
paradoxically bear a great resemblance to the Western
esoteric tradition and its ceremonial systems. We do not
have to follow the exact instructions of how to prepare a
temple or ritual tools, as these descriptions often seem
ridiculously complicated, but we might adjust them to our
needs and available means.

Build Your
Temple

This aspect of the Lovecraftian magic is purely ceremonial.

Depending on a grimoire, we are told to prepare a special
temple or construction for the work with the Necronomicon
entities. We have already discussed the method provided in
Al Azif, with the outdoor construction made up of the circle
of stones in the open area, the altar with the seal of Yog-
Sothoth (the deity representing the concept of the gate to
the alternative reality) and names of the other most
powerful Great Old Ones. The whole temple constructed
this way constitutes a special gate through which the Old
Gods can be called from their stellar thrones and enter our
dimension. This method is complicated and you need at
least a big garden or a private forest, which might be quite
difficult these days. More or less similar descriptions are also
found in other Lovecraftian grimoires.

Let us not get discouraged, though. To practise the

Necronomicon magic outdoors, it is enough to go out into
the wild and find a dark and solitary place where you will
not be disturbed. It must be a place that will stir your
imagination, where you can feel the surrounding nature
coming alive - shadows moving around you, wind whispering
messages through the branches of the trees, the earth
pulsating in the rhythm of your hearts beating. This can be
an ancient circle of stones, dark forest, grove, or generally,
a place that will create the impression that the border
between the worlds is thin and it is easy to get in contact
with forces of the Irrational at this particular spot.
What is specific for the Lovecraftian magic, it does not have
to a place surrounded by nature - this can also be an old
urban area - abandoned industrial buildings, closed subway
tunnels, old ruined houses, and so on. There you can go and
visualize a gateway through which the Great Old Ones will
answer your call and manifest.

However, if you prefer to build your temple indoors, you can

decorate it with the imagery related to the Lovecraftian lore.
There are no ancient depictions of the Necronomicon
entities, but modern art is quickly filling this cultural gap and
you can find a lot of posters, statues and other visual
representations of the Great Old Ones. Sigils and diagrams are
suitable, as well. Temple decorations must affect your
imagination, so feel free to put in your ritual space pictures
and objects that speak to you and evoke the feeling of being
close to the Other Side.

Prepare Your Ritual

Tools

You can also go a step further and prepare special ritual tools
that will be used only in the work with the Lovecraftian magic.
Here we have a wide variety of choice, depending on which
Lovecraftian grimoire we will choose for reference. Among
tools that you can actually fashion, more or less following the
instructions, we can mention the Sword of Barzai (a specially
consecrated ritual blade), the Incense of Zkauba (used for
ceremonies and rituals), the Vessel of Balon (a kind of a
scrying vessel), the Ring of Hypnos (used for dream work),
and many others. Even though they come from the popular
Necronomicon hoaxes, if you believe in their power and put
enough effort in making them, there is no reason why they
would not work in your ritual practice.

Embellish Your Ceremonies with the Signs

of Power
In the previous chapter we mentioned the special signs
of power, or magical gestures (mudras) that can be
used in ceremonies.
These are - the sign of Voor that symbolizes the power of
the Great Old Ones, the sign of Kish that opens the gates
and destroys barriers between worlds and dimensions,
the sign of Koth that seals the gates, and the sign of the
Elder Gods that is used for protection and in exorcisms. Feel
free to use these signs in your rituals or develop the
workings provided in this book by personalizing them
according to your own imagination. Always remember that
the Necronomicon magic is intuitive and based on the
practitioners vision combined with practice and a great deal
of experimenting.

Nyarlathotep and the Temple Work

Now that we prepared the ritual space and tools, it is time to

choose entities most suitable to begin our work with. For
this purpose I suggest two god-forms: Nyarlathotep and
Cthulhu. Why these two? Nyarlathotep is one of the leading
deities in the Cthulhu Mythos because of his role of the
mediator between human beings and the Great Old Ones.
We will examine this role further in one of the chapters of
this book. The work with Cthulhu occurs at the dream level
and this aspect of magical gnosis will also be discussed
later.

Nyarlathotep is the legendary guide who leads man to the

stars, the Left Hand Path initiator and companion to all who
walk the path of the Necronomicon Gnosis. What is
important, he often appears in a shape familiar to us. While
the most of the Great Old Ones manifest as amorphous
masses of various shapes, Nyarlathotep usually comes
in human form. For instance, in Lovecrafts story
Dreams in the Witch House we see him as a black, thin
figure, with ghastly pale skin, dressed in a long black robe
and a hat. It is important to notice that in the story he acts
as an intermediary between the adept who enters a pact
with the Great Old Ones and their representative, the
mindless god Azathoth. The protagonist, Walter Gilman,
is lured to the Other Side, where he signs his name in
blood in the black book of Azathoth, sealing the pact
with the dark forces - which is also a typical theme in
the Western esoteric tradition.
Nyarlathotep performs here a similar role as the devil of the
European folk tales or Mephistopheles of the Faustian
legend. He is said to have 999 avatars, appearing in all
cultures, religions and mythologies worldwide. They have
been observed since the birth of mankind and will still be
there when the human race ceases to exist.

Thus, it seems logical to choose him as the first companion

on our adventures in the labyrinths of the Lovecraftian world.
Besides, Nyarlathotep, as one of very few Necronomicon
entities, can be encountered both through outdoor workings -
out there in the wild, and in our home temples - within the
closed ritual space. We can work with him through a wide
variety of techniques: simple meditations and elaborate
pathworkings, invocations and evocations, scrying, dream and
astral workings, and even through such types of magic as
necromancy or sexual gnosis. Of all the Great Old Ones it is
easiest to establish contact with him, and it is through him
that we gain access to the forces of the Outer Void, stellar and
alien principles of extraterrestrial currents.

Nyarlathoteps consort and female counterpart in the initiatory

magic of The Necronomicon is Nitocris, a character related to
the primal goddess Arachne of the Typhonian gnosis. Arachne
is the Spider Goddess of Space and the queen of Qliphothic
labyrinths beneath the Cosmic Tree. She holds the keys to
the gates of hidden temples that exists in- between worlds
and tunnels of the Nightside. These labyrinths in the
Necronomicon lore are known as the Vaults of Zin and stretch
throughout the whole Tree, yet are not mapped or described
by any initiatory model, as they are limitless and lead into the
Outer Void, connecting the power zones of both the Dayside
and the Nightside, as well as inter- dimensional realms
characteristic of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sometimes, they are
identified with the Tunnels of Set on the Tree of Qliphoth, yet
they cannot be fully described, counted or categorized in any
logical way, as they extend in all directions and all
dimensions, like an enormous spider web. Similarly as
Nyarlathotep, their ruler and patron goddess manifests in
human form, as a beautiful woman with reptilian features.
Her hair is made of snakes and she resembles the legendary
Medusa. She holds the grail filled with her ophidian venom
that is injected into the mind of the Initiate in order to make
the journey through the labyrinths possible, and she tests
the soul for all forms of corruption and weakness. In rites of
magic, Arachne may be called together with Nyarlathotep,
as they both preside over the self-initiatory process of the
Necronomicon Gnosis and they both open access to the
Outer Void.

There is a self-initiatory working that includes a pact with

Nyarlathotep, which should be continued throughout seven
months in a row, with one major ceremony each month at
the time of the New Moon. The ceremonies are supposed to
be performed outdoors, when a storm is raging outside. You
should go to a solitary place alone, equipped only with a
dagger, an object of personal value and a parchment with
your name written on it. You must wait until you hear a
thunder and then shout Ia Nyarlathotep seven times. Then
you must draw a circle around you, sprinkling the ground
with your own blood, and place a few drops of blood on the
dagger, the object and the parchment. Then you have to
walk around the circle anti- clockwise until you feel that the
circle has become an open gate for the forces to manifest.
And then you speak the words of summoning (either
spontaneous or prepared prior to the working) and open
yourself to whatever will follow. The ceremony should be
repeated over the following six months. This is an example
of many self- initiatory workings with the Necronomicon
current through which you can establish connection with its
forces. In the Necronomicon- related texts you will find
other, more or less similar rites of passage. In the next
chapter I will provide a ritual opening the stellar gateways
and attuning the mind of the practitioner to the
Necronomicon current, which can be used both in daily work
and in self-initiatory ceremonies.
 Self-Initiation According to the Lovecraftian
Grimoires

To illustrate another example of a self-initiatory ceremony,

I will refer to an operation from De Vermis Misteriis, one of the
Lovecraftian grimoires that appeared online within the last
decade. At first glance, the ceremonial procedure seems
ridiculous and unacceptable to the modern practitioner. We
may, however, creatively transform it into a useful working if
we employ a little bit of imagination.

The grimoire describes the creation of a sorcerer, which is a

long- term operation that includes an actual birth of the
sorcerer/child by a woman who has been impregnated by a
demon. It has to occur in a special temple built only for this
purpose. The demon has to be attracted by huge amounts of
blood and special incantations. If everything goes well and the
child is born, it can become a sorcerer by killing the mother
and opening the gates to the Dark Side through a special rite
called the Ritual of the Tablet. As we can see, it takes many
years before the sorcerer is created and it hardly looks like a
work of any self-initiatory value.

But then again, we can also look at the whole operation from a
completely different point of view and instead of taking the
instructions literally, we may use them as a metaphor of an
inner rite of passage. The temple in which the sorcerer is to be
born, can be constructed as a thought- form on the astral level
and we can also transform the ritual itself into an initiatory
working. The incantations used to attract the demon can be
used to attract the same entities - but in this case, it is done
for the purpose of invocation and the merging of ones
consciousness with these forces. Instead of creating a child
by means of these forces, we use them to re-create
ourselves and arise as new-born beings, equipped with the
consciousness that allows for further work within this ritual
system. And finally, the Ritual of the Tablet, which opens the
gateways and validates the pact, can be performed to
conclude the self-initiatory working. The grimoire also provides
other instructions to follow and sigils and diagrams to draw,
but they can be easily incorporated into this kind of operation.
However, if you would like to try this working, you should be
aware that the entities described in De Vermis Misteriis are
highly vampiric in their nature and demand a lot of energy
to manifest. Blood magic can be useful in this work, but the
sacrifice might also be substituted for something else -
the offering is always personal and it depends mostly on the
practitioners imagination.

Self-Initiation at the Dream

Level

The other way to attune yourself to the Necronomicon

current is through the awakening of the unconscious by
methods and techniques of dream work. There is not much
on this subject in the Necronomicon- related texts, and here
is when our creativity and imagination come useful and
become the foremost tools of magical practice. If you lack
vision, intuition, or a little bit of natural sensitivity, you
will find it very hard to succeed in this kind of magic. But
there is no need to worry in advance, let us first take a look
at dream magic and its application within the Necronomicon
work.

Cthulh
u

Here we encounter Cthulhu, the Lord of Dreams, famous

character known from movies, computer and board games,
comics, novels and short stories, books for children, magical
textbooks, and countless internet pages. There is hardly
anyone in the modern world who would not hear of Cthulhu.
Sadly, also not many people actually know how to work with
him and how to use his powers in practical magic.

As dreams are the key to the unconscious, this kind

of magic is also one of the most important techniques
in exploration of the Necronomicon worlds and meeting
their entities. Cthulhu lies dead but dreaming in
the sunken tomb in Rlyeh - mysterious city
representing the depth of the unconscious.
Although he cannot enter the world of man, he can dream,
and through these dreams he can access human minds -
affecting our dreams, sending visions of the old times and
forgotten gods who lie in wait behind the border of sleep. In
the Lovecraftian fiction, such transmissions are described
as hideous nightmares, driving the dreaming person insane.
But they can also be a very useful tool in the work with the
Necronomicon current if we willingly open our minds to the
Call of Cthulhu.

Similarly as Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu is described as the high

priest of the Great Old Ones and he can communicate with
human beings, acting on the behalf of the other stellar deities
as their voice and mediator. While Nyarlathotep acts mostly
through the material plane and can be met in the waking
world, Cthulhu acts through dreams and the realm of sleep. It
is not unusual to hear his voice spontaneously, but we can
also open our inner minds for these transmissions through
various techniques of dream magic.

Dream
Gnosis

Techniques of dream gnosis within the Lovecraftian magic do

not actually differ much from other dream-working methods,
but it is worth to remember certain hints that might help us in
this practice. For example, before going to sleep we can read
a story from the Cthulhu Mythos, either random or describing
Cthulhu or another chosen entity. Or we can watch a movie
with a Lovecraftian theme, like The Call of Cthulhu, From
Beyond, Dagon, etc. The list of movies inspired by
Lovecraft and the Necronomicon-related themes is quite
long. Then, while falling asleep, we visualize the scenes from
the story or focus on names or images - chanting them in our
minds or aloud as mantras, drawing glyphs represented by
their constituting letters, and so on. It is also recommended to
memorize descriptions of places and entities, and then, while
falling asleep, use them as a gate to enter the conscious
dream, e.g. by visualizing them in our minds, expanding them,
or imagining that we are inside these landscapes surrounded
by their dwellers and speaking to their gods. This method
requires good visualization skills and a clear focus.
If you do it right, the scene should continue in your dreams.
The same procedure can be applied to the meditation on a
sigil or illustration representing Cthulhu - a focused
meditation prior to sleep, or trying to fall asleep while
visualizing the image. When you do this kind of meditative
work, you should also try to establish contact with the entity
through the picture itself - gaze into it and send a message
to Cthulhu, inviting him to enter your mind. You can also
create your own sigil or draw your own pictures, or instead
of visual representations you can meditate on a mantra. I
recommend the classical mantra: Phnglui mglwnafh
Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn or simply Cthulhu Rlyeh
Fhtagn. You can also fill the room with a fragrance of
special incense that you will be using only for the
Necronomicon workings and fall asleep among the clouds of
smoke - the mind will keep awareness of the fragrance,
which will naturally trigger dream visions related to the
magical work. Another option is to fall asleep by the sounds
of Lovecraft-inspired music.

The Voice of
Cthulhu

When your dreams become filled with visions and

atmosphere from the Lovecraftian fiction, it will mean that
you are on the right way with your work and your
consciousness has been awakened to this specific gnosis.
You may receive the call of Cthulhu in dreams as a
mysterious voice or a vision. You may hear monotonous
music, singing or chanting, enigmatic sounds that carry a
deeper message. You may experience visions of forgotten
temples and monoliths located in alien landscapes and
underwater cities. And you may also see names, glyphs,
sigils, mantras, or even discover completely new languages
and alphabets that can be explored and used for
communication with these forces on the conscious level. In
further chapters of this book you will find more information
on Cthulhu and self-initiatory work through the Lovecraftian
dream magic.
 Ritual of the Nine Stellar
Gateways

The following ritual opens the nine stellar gateways

(represented by respective Lovecraftian entities) by invoking
their currents into the ritual space and binding their energies
within the mind of the practitioner. The eight directions of
space are the gateways to the dimensions of the Outer
Void. By invoking them, the practitioner becomes the ninth
gate - the living vessel and manifestation of the Necronomicon
current, regardless if this is only for the purpose of a single
ritual or for the long- term initiatory work. This ritual can be
used as a preliminary work, preceding other rituals and
workings provided in this book, or it can be performed as a
separate practice, to experience the stellar currents
represented by the chosen gods and spirits of the
Necronomicon lore. It can be done once or as many times
as you wish - repetitive work with this ritual will deepen your
connection with the invoked currents, successively
transforming your consciousness from within. The patron god-
form invoked in this working is Nyarlathotep - he who
mediates and binds, thus being the initiatory model for an
aspiring magician, while the stellar currents flowing through
the eight gateways are envisioned as a spider web
representing the gnosis of Arachne, the Spider Goddess of
Space.

Before the ritual you should prepare nine candles. Red or

black candles will work best for this practice. They should be
placed in a circle, each one representing the particular
direction. The ninth candle should be on the altar, in the
center of the circle. The altar should be small, or you do not
have to use it at all - it is enough to have a circle of candles.
Each gate is also represented by a special sigil. You can draw
them on a parchment and burn one by one during the opening
of the gateways, or you can fashion them from a solid material
- wood or stone - and place them in corresponding directions
of your temple/ritual space.
You may choose to draw the sigils in your own blood or
anoint them with blood during the ritual itself - feel free to
do it, but it is not absolutely necessary, unless you perform
the ceremony for the first time and it is meant to be a self-
initiatory rite. This book presents the eight sigils symbolizing
the eight gates. The ninth sigil represents the practitioner -
you may design it yourself before the ritual, or perhaps you
will receive a personal sigil during your work with the gates.
You will also need incense that will serve as an offering. A
strong resin incense burnt on a charcoal will be best for this
work. Finally, you need a ritual blade - a dagger, knife or
sword. You can make or buy a blade that will be used in the
Necronomicon work only - this ritual may also serve as a
consecrating or blessing ceremony to empower your ritual
tools.

Stand in the center of the circle and speak the opening

invocation, calling forth Nyarlathotep and Arachne to
witness and empower the rite:

Ia
Nyarlathotep
!
I call you, Dark Initiator, from your Onyx Throne
among the Stars!
Ia
Arachne!
I summon you, Spider Queen of Space from the dark
Vaults of Zin!
And I open the eight stellar portals to cosmic
dimensions!
I seek to experience communion with the energy of
the Great Old
Ones who dwell in the Outer
Void. May the Star Gates open
at my calling!

Face West and light the candle representing the first gate.
At this point you may also anoint the sigil of the gate with
blood and burn it. Then speak the following words, pointing
your ritual blade in the chosen direction:

I open the Western Gate and invoke the Deep Ones,

fish-dragons
of watery
abysses!
Arise from the Great Ocean of Tiamat, where the
Sun dies and descends into the darkness of the
Underworld!
 Come with the scorching radiance of Sirius, the
Wolf Star! May the Upper unite with the Lower and
the Waters be as One! So it is done - in the name
of Dagon, Lord of the Depths!

Place the blade on the altar or on the ground, still pointing at

the direction of West. Put some incense on the charcoal and
hold the burner over the candle. Breathe in the smoke and
envision that at the same time you are being filled with the
stellar current flowing from this direction and inhaled with
the incense. Feel the energy spreading from your lungs to
every part of your body, filling you with both the darkness
and the light of the Outer Void.

The Sigil of the First

Gate
 Then face South-West, repeating the steps from the
opening of the previous gate, and speak:

I open the South-Western Gate and summon those

who sleep the deaths dream!
Come with black vortices and corrosive rays of the
Black Sun from the Night of Time!
May the world disappear and come to birth
once again!
May the Pleiades
rise!
So it is done - in the name of Cthulhu who lies dead
but dreaming!
The Sigil of the Second
Gate
Proceed as with the first gate. Then face South, repeating the
previous
steps, and
speak:

I open the Southern Gate and invoke the blazing

ones from the gleaming orb of Fomalhaut!
Arise from the black, gaping sky, ever-hungry and
insatiable! Come with columns of spinning flame,
fierce heat and scorching winds!
So it is done - in the name of Cthugha,
Lord of Fire!
The Sigil of the Third
Gate
Proceed as with the previous gates. Then face South-East,
repeating the same steps, and speak:

I open the South-Eastern Gate and invoke the

Feaster from Afar!
I summon the Ultimate Wind that swirls darkly
amongst the silent stars!
Come through nameless aeons and inconceivable
dimensions, under the radiant light of Aldebaran!
Descend to primal earth, unseen and
loathsome!
So it is done - in the name of Hastur, King
in Yellow!
The Sigil of the Fourth
Gate
Proceed as with the previous gates. Then face East, repeating
the same steps, and speak:

I open the Eastern Gate and invoke the Night-Gaunts

who ride the rushing winds of Orion!
Come with the Rising
Sun!
Arise from the Womb of the Goddess who dwells among
the Stars! Come through angles between spaces, in
ominous silence, faceless, black and terrible!
So it is done - in the name of Ithaqua, Lord
of Winds!

The Sigil of the Fifth

Gate
Proceed as with the previous gates. Then face North-East,
repeating the same steps, and speak:

I open the North-Eastern Gate and invoke the Great

Old Ones from caverns and bowels of the earth!
Arise from primordial vaults and mazes of
time, where Capricornus presides over the
cults of the Goat! Come and walk the earth
once more!
So it is done - in the name of Shub-Niggurath, Black
Goat with the
Thousand
Young!
The Sigil of the Sixth
Gate
I open the Northern Gate and summon the ones who
howl in the desert!
Arise with the cries of night birds and the buzzing
of nocturnal insects!
Come on the wings of vultures when the
Demon Head, Algol -Al Ghul casts its ghastly
light upon the earth!

May the hissing of snakes and the croaking of

frogs herald the arrival of Forgotten Gods!
So it is done - in the name of Tsathoggua, the
Toad God of the
Outer
Space!
The Sigil of the
Seventh Gate
Proceed as with the previous gates. Then face North-West,
repeating the same steps, and speak:

I open the North-Western Gate and summon the

ancient cults of the Hydra!
Come from the timeless citadel upon the cloud-
veiled heights of unknown Kadath!
May the Seven-Headed Dragon emerge from the
depths and devour the dying Sun!
So it is done - in the name of Yig, Father of
Serpents!

The Sigil of the Eighth

Gate
 Proceed as with the previous gates. Then stand again in the
center of the circle, facing the altar. Light the ninth candle
and hold it in your hands, at the level of your heart. At the
same time speak the words of binding:

The eight gates are opened now and their stellar

currents flow through
my mind as the essence of primordial Chaos,
the force existing between and beyond
dimensions known to man.
I am the vessel and the living manifestation of the
Great Old Ones. So it is done - in the name of
Nyarlathotep, Messenger of the Outer Void,
And in the name of Arachne, Spider Goddess
of Space!

See the flame growing and expanding in all directions like an

enormous spider web. And see yourself in the center of the
web, powerful and focused. All energies are now bound
within your mind and you are the center of the universe. You
can travel with your mind to spaces in- between dimensions
where the Great Old Ones dwell and manifest. You can
observe the past, present and future. And you can change
events with the power of your mind alone. At this point you
can also bless and consecrate your ritual tools or declare your
wish to explore the gnosis of The Necronomicon, asking the
patron deities for guidance on the path. Open yourself to
whatever may come now and let it be a powerful conclusion to
the ritual.
 The Call from the Depths:
Cthulhu and
Lovecraftian Dream
Magic

The first and foremost association attributed to Cthulhu is his

mastery over dreams. Through dreams he acts as an
intermediary between the Great Old Ones and humans. He
sends waves of telepathic messages that reach the minds of
individuals sensitive enough to receive these transmissions.
They may cause madness or stir up a desire to follow his
cult. Through Cthulhu we communicate with entities
completely alien to human consciousness, such as e.g.
Azathoth. Their images are transmitted through the
unconscious and translated into the language of human
perception. Because of this function, Cthulhu is sometimes
called the high priest of the Great Old Ones. His other titles
are: The Lord of Rlyeh, The Master of the Watery Abyss,
and The One Who Is To Come.

Rlyeh, the sunken city in which Cthulhu reputedly lies dead

but dreaming, is identified with the town of Nan-Madol,
located on a series of small islands in the Pacific Ocean. The
legend has it that the town was built by an ancient race that
came from the stars. There are also theories that it is a
remnant of the legendary lost continent of Mu. Nan Madol is
situated on 92 artificial islands, built of basalt. Also the
buildings were built from huge basalt blocks, the
transportation and location of which evoke much controversy
and have never been explained so far. The local folklore
includes many legends and mysterious stories about the city.
Some mention a curse cast upon it or the existence of an
61
identical town underwater, inhabited by forgotten gods. There
are also stories about ghosts haunting the ruins of the town.

62
From the macrocosmic perspective, Cthulhu is presented as
a deity who rests dormant in the ocean and awaits the
time when he will rise and rule the earth again - or, from
the stellar point of view, as an alien force from the Outer
Void who waits for the right time to invade the planet. The
waters of Cthulhu are not to be understood in the
mundane sense. These are cosmic waters existing outside
the structures of the manifested world. In the microcosmic
sense, Cthulhu seems to be the voice of the unconscious,
the dark impulse hidden in the depths of psyche,
manifesting to chosen priests. Therefore, the Call of
Cthulhu is most often received through dreams. It reaches
sensitive individuals as a chaotic sensation, a vague
impression which human mind transforms into sounds and
images in attempt to interpret its meaning. Visions of dark,
slime-covered temples or monoliths and cyclopean
underwater cities are typical examples of such
transmissions. A dream like this is described by Lovecraft in
his famous story The Call of Cthulhu, when the protagonist,
Henry Wilcox, dreams about huge cyclopean cities of Titan
blocks and sky-flung monoliths, all dripping with green ooze,
and hieroglyphics covering the walls and pillars, while from
an undetermined point below comes a voice that is not a
voice. The chaotic tones of this voice seem to form an
incantation: Cthulhu fhtagn. It was during this dream that
Wilcox made a sculpture depicting Cthulhu. The dreams
continued each night for about a month, during which
Wilcox fell into delirium. Then the symptoms were gone. As
we learn further from the story, it was the time when Rlyeh
rose from the waters and the call of its master was sent to
sensitive persons. Thus, the author writes that Wilcox was
not the only person who experienced such dreams -
Cthulhus message also reached other people, many of
them lost their sanity or even died of fear. At that time, also
the dark blasphemous cult became more active with their
rituals and ceremonies, and asylums reported numerous
troubles with their patients.

Lovecraft explained the name Cthulhu as a dream-like

transmission in an unknown, alien language, which is hard
to write down and identify. It can also be spelt Khlul-hloo,
or tluhluh. There are many speculations about a possible
meaning and etymology of the word.
There is an Old-Akkadian term kutallu, which means the back
of the head, or behind, which might point at the relation to
Cthulhu if we identify the lord of dreams with primal reptilian
instincts, dormant at the back base of the skull. A similar-
sounding name appears in The Vision and the Voice, the book
describing Crowleys exploration of the Aethyrs. While
working with the 27th Aethyr (ZAA), Crowley encountered
the guardian of the Aethyr in the shape of the goddess
Hecate, who spoke two magical incantations in the language
described by Crowley as lunar. The second incantation
included the word Tutulu, the pronunciation of which is
similar to the name of the dreaming god. And while the
other incantations received in the vision were translated,
Crowley left this word in its original form, claiming that there
exists no accurate translation of its meaning. Kenneth Grant
includes the word Tutulu in his incantation to invoke
Hecate, who is associated with the exploration of the
unconscious, referred to as Tuat. Its numerical value equals
66, which is the mystical number of the Qlipoth and the Great
Work as the sum of numbers 1-11.

Parker Ryan points at the similarity of the name Cthulhu with

the Arabic word Khadhulu, the name mentioned in the Quran.
It appears in the sentence: Mankind, Shaitan is Khadhulu,
where the word Khadhulu is translated as Abandoner. In
Necronomicon Info Source, he writes:

Cthulhu is very close to the Arabic word Khadhulu (also spelled

alqhadhulu). Khadhulu (al qhadhulu) is translated as Forsaker or
Abandoner. Many Sufis and Muqarribun writings make use of this
term (Abandoner). In Sufi and Muqarribun writings abandoner
refers to the power that fuels the practices of Tajrid outward
detachment and Tafrid interior solitude. Tajrid and Tafrid are forms
of mental yoga, used in Arab systems of magick, to help the
magician free himself from (abandon) cultural programming... In
the Quran chapter 25 verse 29 it is written, Mankind, Shaitan is
Khadhulu. This verse has two orthodox interpretations. The first is
that Shaitan will forsake man.The other orthodox interpretation is
that Shaitan causes men to forsake the straight path of Islam and
the good ways of their forebears.
In Aramaic, Ketul-hu means the imprisoned one, and the
Arabic root Katala translates as imprison or bind. The
word Rlyeh may also be related to the Arabic word
Galiyah or rallyah - boiling.

In the introduction to the Simon Necronomicon, Cthulhu is a

force identified with the Babylonian Apsu, the
personification of fresh waters. His female counterpart is
Tiamat, the Dragon Goddess who embodies the ocean of
salty waters. The Underworld, which is the land of the dead
and the kingdom of demons in the Mesopotamian
mythology, was referred to as Absu (Apsu), or Cutha,
(Kutu), which is also regarded as a name related to Cthulhu.
Parker Ryan writes that the title Lord of the Abyss in
Sumerian is Kutulu, which might confirm the thesis that it
is the concept of the Abyss personified by a powerful
creature (a dragon or another sea monster), who lies
sleeping somewhere in the depths of the ocean (the symbol
of the unconscious).

In The Call of Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft described Cthulhu as

A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an
octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly,
rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore
feet, and long, narrow wings behind. In various stories of
the Cthulhu Mythos lore and the Necronomicon- related
texts, he is described as a monstrous hybrid including body
parts of a giant octopus or a dragon, with human-like arms
and legs and a pair of wings on his back. His distinctive
feature is an octopus- looking head with a number of
tentacles surrounding the mouth. He is also believed to be a
shape-shifter, able to change the shape of the body at will,
extending and retracting limbs and tentacles. In magical
work, however, he also manifests as a primal, amorphous
being, without form and shape. He comes as an enormous,
overwhelming force, coiling around the practitioner like a
black vortex of nothingness, an influx of energy that feels
cold and dead. It wraps around the adept, penetrating the
mind from within, arising at the back of the head, and
manifesting in explosion of inarticulate sounds and voices
arising from the throat chakra, the center of
communication.
Under the influence of his energies, the mind is lulled into a
comatose dream-like state, attuned to subtle transmissions
from the Outer Void and ready to receive visions of arcane
gnosis.

Let us now take a look at the most important and controversial

line with the written transmission of Cthulhus Call: Phnglui
mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn. Lovecraft
translates this phrase as in his house at Rlyeh dead
Cthulhu lies dreaming. It is the most significant incantation in
the cult and rituals dedicated to Cthulhu, the calling which
wakes him from the ancient slumber. Kenneth Grant describes
it as the
41-lettered spell for opening the door to the Outer Ones. The
Gematric value of the incantation, in terms of the Hebrew
letters, equals 1331, which corresponds to such phrases as:
ChtzR BIThIHVH HPNIMITh (the inner court of the house of
the lord), and RVCh DOTh VIRATh IHVH (the spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord).

Lovecraft, however, claims that the incantations themselves

are not enough to explore the cult of the ancient deities. The
most important is oral tradition in which the messages are
passed to chosen individuals, sensitive and talented enough to
receive them and exploit their meaning. The true information
about the Great Old Ones cannot be found in any book
because no single piece of writing can describe their limitless
nature. Therefore all books and manuscripts constitute only
a small part of the knowledge that can be gained if we delve
into unknown dimensions and spaces between angles, into the
very heart of this gnosis.

The cult of the Great Old Ones has never disappeared but lies
in waiting for the right time to re-emerge - for the moment
when the stars are right, just like aeons ago, when the
ancient deities came to Earth and brought their stellar
knowledge with them. Now Cthulhu lies dead but dreaming
in the telluric dimensions, or in the vast ocean of the
unconscious, but he will awaken and rise. The fire of stellar
knowledge will burn again, and humanity will become one with
their extraterrestrial potential.
 Cthulhu Dreamworking

In order to receive the Call of Cthulhu in a dream, you have

to open yourself to this experience and attune your
consciousness to inter- dimensional transmissions.
Techniques that may be employed for this purpose do not
differ much from other dream-working methods. Here are a
few examples:

* Choose a graphic symbol representing Cthulhu: a seal, a

glyph or an illustration. You will find many depictions in
various books, magical texts and grimoires. If you browse
through the Necronomicon-related texts, you will find that
Cthulhu is a very popular figure. Choose an image that
appeals to you, disturbs your aesthetic sense, or stirs up
your imagination. You may also use the sigil included in this
book - it was received in a meditative session with Cthulhu
and may serve as a focal point for other meditations and
scrying practices. Gaze into it and enter a meditation on the
character and attributes of the deity. Send a message into
the Void and invite Cthulhu into your mind. This should be
done prior to falling asleep. The meditation should take at
least half an hour, but you can also prolong this time if you
feel that this is not enough - do not look at the clock, let it
be natural and spontaneous.

* Create a sigil expressing your desire to communicate

with the Lord of Dreams. You can write down your wish and
then create a graphic symbol from the letters, or you may
use any other method of designing sigils. Then, before going
to sleep, follow the instructions given in the example above.
* Choose a mantra or a power-word associated with Cthulhu.
The most recommended chant is Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu
Rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn or simply Cthulhu Rlyeh Fhtagn.
You will find many others in the Necronomicon-related texts.
Again, choose the one that seems the most appealing. You
may as well create your own mantra, instead of a graphic
sigil, by using a set of letters expressing your will. Then,
before sleep, focus on entering a magical trance while
chanting the mantra (either mentally or aloud), and from this
state slip into a dream.

* Before sleep, read a story describing the deity. Lovecrafts

The Call of Cthulhu is an obvious recommendation. Then,
try to fall asleep while visualizing the scenes from the
story. You can also memorize the descriptions, and while
falling asleep, use them as a gate to enter a conscious, lucid
dream. This requires good visualization skills and a proper
focus. If you do it right, the scene will continue in your
dreams.

* You may also use certain objects to help you trigger the
conscious dreaming. One of suggestions is to put a small
stone on your forehead, in the place of the Third Eye (an
amethyst is recommended). Another method is to obtain a
stone from the sea and use it in each magical practice with
Cthulhu. For instance, you can hold it in your hand while
sleeping. The magically charged object can influence a
desired dream. You can also use a particular incense for
Cthulhu workings which your mind will associate specifically
with this entity. When you fall asleep in a room filled with the
chosen incense, your mind will respond and your intent will
take shape in the dreams. Many practitioners also find the
dark Lovecraftian ambient music useful in this kind of work.

Combination of these techniques also brings good results. Try

to experiment with them and choose the ones that you will
find the most effective. Below, you will find a dream-working
practice that employs several of the above-mentioned
techniques. You may perform it exactly according to the
instructions or alter the working according to your own needs.
Dreams are the keys to the unconscious, they are always
personal, and they should be approached from an
individuals perspective.
 Invocation of Cthulhu into the
Dreaming
Mind

The following working should be conducted prior to sleep.

You should not distract your attention from the purpose
of the ritual by any other activities before falling asleep.
Burn lotus incense (or any other Cthulhu-related fragrance
of your choice) and light black candles. On the altar, place
the sigil of Cthulhu:
The Sigil of
Cthulhu
 Focus for a while on the symbol, trying to envision it as a
gateway to your inner mind and a portal to the Outer Void,
and then begin the summoning:

Ia, Ia
Cthulhu!

That is not dead which can eternal

lie, And with strange aeons even
death may die!

I invoke you, Lord of Dreams! Master of

the Void!
Send me visions of ancient
times! Let me experience
your memories! Let me hear
your voice in Darkness!
Guide me through angles and dimensions of
forgotten Rlyeh!
Awaken from your ancient
slumber, And answer my
calling!

Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh

wgahnagl fhtagn!

Then begin the meditation: gaze into the sigil and chant the
mantra Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl
fhtagn. Visualize that the seal becomes a gate through
which energies float freely. Feel how the atmosphere in the
room becomes dense. Send your message to Cthulhu through
the gate, and when you receive the answer, finish the
meditation and lie down on your back, prepared to enter a
dream.

Visualize that you are swimming in the waters of a dark sea,

down towards the black citadel of Rlyeh - the sunken city with
constructions alien to human knowledge and perception.
Strange angles and weird light can be seen everywhere.
Envision a green mist floating through the streets and
wrapping around you like a mystical cloak. The mist covers
you with green slime. Attune your mind to strange voices that
flow from the distance, forming the chant Cthulhu Fhtagn.
Let the mist and the voices guide you through the black
citadel. Let yourself fall asleep and enter a dream while
continuing the visualization.
Keep detailed records of your dream experiences. Use
dream visions - scenes, objects and entities encountered
in your dreams
- and explore them further, with the use of the same
techniques.

Remember, however, that dream magic is a long-term

project and rarely brings immediate results. Be patient in
your work!

The Dream
Sigil

The Dream Sigil was received during a series of

meditations and dream practices with Cthulhu and the Great
Old Ones. It is a universal symbol of the Dream Gate and
can be used for the dream- work with any spirit or deity
within the Necronomicon lore. For the work with Cthulhu
himself it is better to use his specific sigil. Also, sigils of the
other Great Old Ones provided in this book or in the other
Necronomicon-related texts may function as specific
gateways to their currents. However, within dream-work,
each of them may be successfully replaced with the Dream
Sigil. It will especially come useful if you do not have a sigil
of a deity you want to summon and you simply wish to make
contact with it through dreams.
The sigil should be memorized and visualized in the inner
mind shortly before sleep. Make yourself ready for sleep and
lie down on the bed. Close your eyes and visualize yourself in
a completely black space, where nothing exists and the only
thing you can see are projections of your mind. In this black
space visualize a door - the shape and size is up to you. It is
better, however, if the surface of the door is plain and without
any ornaments.

When you build this image in your mind, project the sigil
onto the door - see it shining with golden stellar energy,
activating the door as a portal to the Dreamlands. Then
visualize that the door opens and you are free to enter the
Gates of Sleep. At this point focus on the intent of the practice
- this could be a meeting with a spirit or a deity, a journey to a
specific place, or a symbol/concept to explore. There are as
many possibilities as you can think of.

Another method is to visualize the sigil in the black space,

right in front of you, glowing and swirling in anticlockwise
movement. For a short while you can see it swirling, then its
movement creates a spiraling vortex of darkness and light
that can be used as a gateway to the realm of dreams. Let
yourself be drawn into the vortex and let it carry you towards
the goal of the practice - if you focus on a specific intent - or
simply enter the Dreamlands and open yourself for whatever
may happen.

Both methods are effective and can be used with the Dream
Sigil. Again, remember that the work with lucid dreaming and
dream gnosis takes time to develop properly. Do not get
discouraged and practise dream exercises whenever you have
a chance.
 Dream Journey to
Ulthar

This practice was designed on the basis of The Dream Quest

of Unknown Kadath and The Cats of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft.
It is a pathworking that can also be used as a dream
meditation to enter the gates of sleep. If you perform it as a
whole, simply follow the instructions provided in the text. If
you wish to use it as a gate to a dream journey, feel free to
stop the pathworking at a point that you would like to
explore further through dreams and let yourself fall asleep
while focused on the image you want to enter or the intent
of the journey.

Introducti
on

Ulthar is an ancient town located in the Dreamlands,

famous for cats that can be seen almost everywhere. No
one can kill a cat there. This law was introduced after a
strange event that once took place in Ulthar. One day, the
town was visited by a caravan from Egypt. Among visitors
there was a small boy called Menes who had a black kitten.
The kitten, however, disappeared and everyone
suspected that it was killed by an old man and his wife who
were famous for their hatred to all kinds of cats. In
despair and anger for his loss, the boy put a curse on the
couple and soon after the caravan left Ulthar, all cats from
the town went into the old mans cottage and devoured him
and his wife, so that only skeletons were left. After what
happened, the citizens decided that no cat will ever be killed
in Ulthar, and cats became sacred and respected animals.
Cats in Ulthar are intelligent and can communicate with
humans that speak their tongue, guide the travelers through
the town or even reveal arcane mysteries hidden in the
area. It is also believed that somewhere in Ulthar one can
find the last copy of Pnakotic Manuscripts written by ancient
people of forgotten Hyperborean kingdoms, the texts
equally old as The Necronomicon itself.
The Guardians of the Dreamlands were originally described in
The Rlyeh Text. They guard the Western Portal, or the Towers
of the West, where dreams of man are believed to mingle
with the threads of eternity. This portal is ruled by the god
Hypnos who lifts the dreaming mind beyond the world of
waking and opens the way to the Land of Sleep. Each of the
four Guardians has a name composed of five letters and
characters in which the secrets of their power are locked. In
The Rlyeh Text they are mentioned in the chapter
describing an artifact called the Ring of Hypnos, allowing the
sorcerer to enter dreams of another person. The sigils and
parts of the invocation provided here are derived from The
Rlyeh Text, as well.

Preparati
on

Meditate for a while on the names and seals of the four

Guardians of the
Dreamland
s:

Nemus Dacos

Cabid Leebo
When you feel their energies flowing through the sigils
and you sense that the contact has been made,
continue the practice by reciting the following
incantation.

Nemus, Dacos, Cabid,

Leebo, Come from the
Towers of the West,
I call you forth by your ancient
names!
Attend me in my work and behold the symbols of
your power!
YAILISBO
IBUZOD!

Nemus, Dacos, Cabid,

Leebo, I bind you in these
words: ADULAL! ABUIAL!
LEBUSHI! Open for me the
Western Portal,
Let me pass unhindered through the realms of
your kingdom, And let not sleep dim my eyes.
Show me what I need
to see!
In the name of Hypnos, ancient Lord
of Sleep,
And in the name of Nyarlathotep, guardian of the
Universal Gate!
The door of sleep will open
for me, And the living night
will receive me.
And I shall walk through the land of dreams free
and unbound, By the power of my Will,
And in the name of He Who
Sleeps.

Cthulhu Rlyeh
Fhtagn!
Make the Sign of Kish and for a moment remain in
meditation, adjusting your consciousness to the current of
the Western Portal and the energies of the four Guardians
flowing into the room through their sigils. When you feel
ready to continue the working, lie down or sit in a
comfortable position and proceed to the meditation.
 Pathworki
ng

Imagine yourself standing in front of a huge hexagonal gate

shining with an odd light. Envision a silver key in your hand.
Find a lock in the gate and put the key into the keyhole,
saying: In the name of Nyarlathotep, open up at my
command! Turn the key nine times. The gate will open and
you can now enter the chamber that leads to the
Dreamlands. Take the key with you and keep it. As you enter
the threshold of sleep, you notice a black hooded figure. It is
Umr at-Tawil, the ancient keeper of the gate and the guide to
the portal that will take you to the Dreamlands. He never
speaks a word and communicates only telepathically. Greet
him and follow him to the portal. Enter the blue light and
cross the boundary between waking and dreaming.

You are now standing on the shores of the River Skai. There
are green meadows and bright forests around, and you walk
along the river until you see the outskirts of Ulthar - little
green cottages and neatly fenced farms. You will also
recognize the town by a great number of cats. Walk into the
centre of the town. Feel the atmosphere of the surroundings -
look at the old peaked roofs, overhanging upper stories,
numberless chimney-pots, and narrow hill streets where cats
walk freely. Among them you will see a small black kitten that
seems to be attached to you in a special way. The animal is
friendly and it wants to guide you through the town. Follow the
cat and do not lose your way through the winding narrow
streets.

Following the kitten, you reach a huge ancient building

made of stone. The characteristic thing of the building is a
high circular tower of ivied stone. You recognize it as the
Temple of the Elder Ones. The cat walks inside through the
open door. You enter the temple, as well. Inside the building
there is no one present. You can only hear solemn silence and
whispers of the wind blowing through small windows. The cat
is leading you to a dark corner of the temple where you notice
a stone that might be an entrance to a hidden place in the
temple. As you put your hands on the stone, it moves away
and a dark passage opens downwards. The cat disappears in
the dark corridor and you follow.
The silver key in your hand shines in the dark and
illuminates the blackness of the tunnel.

Now you enter a crypt lit by an odd bluish light, a hidden

library of ancient knowledge. Look at the ancient volumes
placed carefully on the dust-covered stone shelves. It is
enough to touch the books in order to experience visions
and glimpses of what is written in these ancient tomes. Go
to the stone table in the centre of the chamber, there is a
very old book on it. On the cover you can see a vague shape
of a monolith rising from a vast ocean. Put your hand on the
book. Without opening it, your senses become attuned to
what is written there. You can hear the sound of waves
crashing onto sea rocks. Before your eyes a vision starts to
appear - you are floating over dark waters, among ooze-
dripping walls and broken columns of a sunken city. You can
see shadows moving along the ruin walls in the pale
moonlight. You pass the dome of an ancient temple and in
front of it you notice an avenue of unnatural sphinxes
leading to what was once a public square. As you drift on,
the floor of the ocean rises in hills and you can clearly mark
the lines of ancient climbing streets and the washed- down
walls of myriad little houses. Then you see a great lone
building
- dark and low, covering four sides of a square, with a tower
at each corner, a paved court in the centre, and small
curious round windows all over it. You also notice an odd
high monolith in the middle of that central court, resembling
the one that you saw on the cover of the book. The shapes
of the monolith resemble an odd sea beast. The shadows
moving around create an impression that the statue is alive.
The vision is so realistic that you sense the watery breeze
on your skin and hear the whisper of the wind. These
whispers seem to form into ancient words of an unknown
language. Open your mind to whatever this message may
bring and explore the city of forgotten knowledge.

When you wish to leave the place, summon the cat to

lead you out of the crypt. Return to the portal of blue
light and go back to the waking state. Close the gate
with the silver key and return to normal consciousness.
You can also stop the pathworking at any point you
want and continue the vision in a dream.
 Gates to Interstellar
Dimensions

These places are solitary or inhabited by insane outcasts,

worshiping the Forces of Evil. All birds keep off this area, except
those who feed on the carrion It is possible to see there white
shivering shadows, crawling upon the ground, and the grass under
them grows yellow and withers.
- De Vermis
Misteriis -

Lovecraftian magic often employs the concept of a gateway

through which the magician enters altered states of
consciousness and travels to extraterrestrial worlds, places
and dimensions. Such gateways may be found at desolate
places, often wild and located far from human habitations.
These are usually places connected with the local folklore,
reputedly haunted, or ancient and mysterious: old stones
seemingly arranged in a particular order, strangely shaped
groves, peaks of mountains, caves, etc. Lonely visitors may
encounter there ghosts and shades of the dead, see strange
lights, hear unearthly voices, or sink into the world of visions,
stirred up by their own imagination and a desire of the
supernatural. At such places the border line between the
worlds is thinnest. The crossroads have always been one of
the most famous examples of such places - there, at the
junction of worlds and dimensions, witches and sorcerers
opened astral gateways to enter the subtle planes where the
Sabbat occurred. It is similar with haunted places and
buildings in the Lovecraftian folklore. Where people once met
ancient gods and goddesses, we can also encounter the Great
Old Ones, primal atavistic manifestations of the unconscious.
However, it is specific for the Lovecraftian gnosis
that such
dark places are not only the wild and desolate
locations.
The Old Gods can also be encountered in urban areas - they
haunt old and abandoned industrial buildings, subterranean
subway tunnels, dark streets, ruined houses, etc. - these
locations may stir up our imagination and open the gate in
our minds through which we can perceive glimpses of the
Lovecraftian entities.

What is also significant, the Lovecraftian gateways are

of many kinds and include not only places and locations,
but also objects, constructions, and even certain entities
themselves may function as portals to the Other Side. There
are also many formulas used to open them. Examples of
these will be discussed in this chapter, and further in this
part I will present a meditation employing the concept of an
inter-dimensional gate.

Outdoor
Locations

In the Cthulhu Mythos, we often encounter cultists

performing their blasphemous rites somewhere in the wild.
But apart from typically savage places, located far from
civilization, the most prominent example of such locations
are rings of stones. One of them is described in The
Dunwich Horror and has a significant role as a portal to the
alternate dimensions. Lovecraft describes the circle of
stones on Sentinel Hill as very ancient, possibly being a
burial place of the Pocumtuck or other old Native American
tribes. The stones are arranged in a special order, forming a
circle around a large table-like rock which functions as an
altar in the story. Within the circle, one can find skulls and
bones of sacrificial victims who were offered to the Old
Gods by their sinister cults.

The stone ring in the story is the place where the

Whateley family leaves sacrifices to Yog-Sothoth and
communicates with dark entities. It is there that the
infamous sex ritual occurs, after which Lavinia Whateley
gives birth to her two sons conceived in the union with
Yog-Sothoth: a human child named Wilbur and his
monstrous twin brother resembling his amorphous
father.
It is also there that the ceremony summoning the god is
performed by Yog-Sothoths son himself. From Lovecrafts
descriptions we might conclude that the whole ring functions
as a gateway to the other side. Yog-Sothoth appears within the
circle, with bolts of lightning and fierce tidal waves of unseen
force and indescribable stench. Around the circle, all trees,
grass and other plants are whipped with fury, dogs bark and
howl with fear, and birds fall dead on the ground.

Another ring of stones appears in the story The Lurker at the

Threshold. It also includes a concentric ring of large stones
arranged around an altar. Sorcerers invoke there another
Lovecraftian entity, Ossadogowah. The incantation, however,
is directed to Yog-Sothoth, who possibly functions as a gate for
other forces to manifest: Ngai, nghaghaa, yhah Yog-
Sothoth

Another example of such a gateway is given in Al Azif, which

provides instructions to build a gate through which They from
the Outer Void may manifest. According to the text, it should
consist of four stones marking cardinal directions and seven
stones attributed to each planet (Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury,
Mars, Venus, the Sun, and the Moon). In the centre of the
stone ring, an altar should be placed with the names of Great
Old Ones and the seal of Yog-Sothoth. Again, Yog-Sothoth is
here the symbol of the Gate.

In The Wanderings of Alhazred, Tyson explains that rings of

stones are specifically associated with the cult of Yog-Sothoth.
According to the book, in a circle of stones the sorcerer can
open outward gateways to all dimensions in space, as well as
countless lesser gates. This can happen only when the stars
align and the angles are right. Then Yog-Sothoth appears with
flashing colors and the gates open, all of them overlapping
and turning one within another. Yog-Sothoth is called the Gate
and the Key, but more of this will be said further in this book.

Tysons book, however, proposes another interesting idea:

while invoking Yog-Sothoth, the practitioner also opens the
gateways of the soul.
This points at the significant function underlying the use of
such gates and opening incantations: that which is actually
opened is the mind of the practitioner. Under the influence
of energies flowing through such power spots,
consciousness expands and enters a different level,
attuned to extraterrestrial transmissions of the Great Old
Ones. In this condition, the doors of perception open and we
are able to communicate with the forces from Outside.

Rooms and Indoor Spaces

Gates to other dimensions in the Lovecraftian magic

are also located indoors, and here we will take a look at
secret rooms and chambers, hidden somewhere in huge
labyrinthine houses, temples and constructions with strange
angles and non-Euclidean geometry, mouse holes,
underground tunnels, and others.

The most explicit example of a gate located indoors is

the main motif of the story Dreams in the Witch House. The
room, in which the main character, Walter Gilman,
experiences strange dreams, visions, hallucinations and
astral journeys, is built in an oddly irregular shape: the
north wall slanting perceptibly inward from the outer to the
inner end, while the low ceiling slanted gently downward in
the same direction. This construction leaves an impression
that a hidden space must exist between the walls, but there
is no access to it. At night, this strange corner of the room
turns into an inter-dimensional portal through which Keziah
Mason, the witch who lived in this house before, travels
between the worlds. Each her appearance in the room is
heralded by flashes of purple light. When the portal is
opened, Gilman is drawn to the Other Side and drifts
through dimensions alien to human knowledge and
perception: vague, twilight abysses and black spaces in
which he hears monotonous piping of an unseen flute of
Azathoth. He travels among titan prisms, labyrinths,
cube-and-plane clusters and quasi buildings.
There he also meets inhabitants of these dimensions:
creatures of unknown, undefined shape, grotesque-looking
and monstrous: bubbles, octopi, centipedes, living Hindoo
idols, and intricate arabesques roused into a kind of ophidian
animation. Gilman also travels to the Other Side in the flesh,
unaware of the journeys, as if in a lunatic delirium or
sleepwalking. This suggests that the portal is not a gate of a
solely astral nature. Keziah Mason herself was taught the
secrets of the gate by Nyarlathotep when she signed a pact
with this dark god. From her we learn that these lines and
curves open the walls of space to other spaces beyond. This is
how she travels to Sabbats and nocturnal meetings. Also,
when she is imprisoned for witchcraft, she vanishes from her
cell by drawing magical patterns on the wall to open the
gateway between dimensions. Since that time she has been
traveling through alien spaces and visiting the world of man
from time to time.

But for more descriptions of the inter-dimensional spaces

mentioned so many times in Dreams in the Witch House I
suggest reading the story itself. Many of these experiences
have been shared by practitioners exploring the
Necronomicon Gnosis through astral workings, and the
atmosphere evoked by the story itself has a great impact on
our imagination and may serve as an inspiration for our own
travels through the labyrinths of the Lovecraftian magic. In the
meantime, we will have a quick look at other examples of
inter-dimensional gateways mentioned in the Mythos.

The story The Peabody Heritage by August Derleth presents a

very similar concept as in the case of the previous tale:
the protagonist opens a secret room in the house inherited
from his uncle and starts to experience dreams about a
sorcerer and dimensions on the Other Side. And while in the
previous story the witch was accompanied by a demon in the
form of a rat with human face, here the sorcerer, Asaph
Peabody, always appears in the company of his demonic
familiar - a black cat named Balor. The main character
dreams about traveling to the Sabbat and taking part in Black
Masses, where he witnesses sacrifices of children and
blasphemous orgies. The secret room seems to be a
substitute for the Crossroads of the traditional witchcraft.
Here, the Lovecraftian gnosis is transformed into the
concept of the Medieval and Renaissance European witches
Sabbat and employs a wide range of Satanic practices: the
Black Mass, the Sabbatic flight, familiar spirits and demons,
the Sabbatic initiation, the Black Man, etc.

The room that functions as a gateway is very small and has

a circle cut in the floor, with signs and characters written
within and outside the lines. Again, the corner of the room is
constructed according to strange angles and it is there that
the guests from the Other Side materialize on the physical
plane. The events of the story very much resemble Dreams
in the Witch House. Again, we read about dreams of
vast black abysses without gravity, odd lights and unearthly
sounds that accompany the sorcerer on his journeys.
Again, the main character is initiated into this sorcery by
signing the book in the presence of Nyarlathotep, the Black
Man of the Sabbat. There are, however, fewer descriptions
and the motif of the gate is not given so much attention.

The final example that I would like to mention here is

derived from Derleths story The Shadow in the Attic. Here,
the gate takes the form of a small opening in the wall, like a
mouse hole, surrounded by a circle of lines painted with
bright red chalk. The lines form a certain pattern which
opens the gate to other dimensions. When it is active, the
atmosphere in the room thickens and the space is filled with
some kind of dark energy. Also, a strange light radiates from
the hole and the lines seem to glow. The creature that
emerges from the Other Side is a succubus and a minion of
the sorcerer who lived there before, material enough for the
main character to see her.
 Window
s

Windows in the Mythos often function as lenses through which

we can see glimpses of other worlds. These can be e.g.
mirrors which reflect other cosmic dimensions. This concept is
found in The Lurker at the Threshold, as well as in a few other
stories. Such windows might be interpreted as scrying objects
which in the modern world might be as well replaced by
various kinds of mirrors, crystal balls, water vessels, etc. The
window in The Lurker at the Threshold, like other gates
mentioned before, is constructed around a certain pattern,
odd and alien to human architecture. It consists of concentric
circles of colored glass built around the main element. While
gazing at it, one can have the impression that the small pieces
of glass are moving and forming a picture - a landscape or a
face. The most vivid description of its visual qualities is given
by one of the characters who observes through it the
landscape of the Hyades, constellation from which some of
the Great Old Ones reputedly came to Earth, sometimes
mentioned as the abode of Hastur. Apart from the
landscape, the window also shows inhabitants of this
mysterious land: huge, amorphous, octopus-like creatures
with black wings.

A very similar, almost identical motif, is repeated in the story

The Gable Window by August Derleth. Here, the window in the
attic is described as a Leng glass, brought from the Hyades.
Again, the main character uses it to observe lands located in
other dimensions and describes them in his diary. This time,
however, the window shows a wider spectrum of images and
landscapes: Leng with withered trees, black clouds and caves
full of bats; dark rocks and the ghastly Shantaks; an ocean
and the Deep Ones; cosmic void and blackness; cultists
invoking Shub-Niggurath; etc. The gateway is opened when
the protagonist enters a circle painted on the floor and recites
the incantation: Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl
fhtagn. The gate also functions as a two-ways portal. We can
observe creatures from Beyond, but at the same time we are
seen by them, and they can even enter through the gate.
 Magical Items Used to Open the Gateways

Such objects are as common as the gates themselves.

Sometimes they function as keys to the portals, sometimes
they generate a gateway in its own right. All of them are
surrounded by a mystical history and reputedly come from
Beyond, although we may also sometimes find items that
were invented by human sorcerers. These objects, like the
alien windows, are purely fictitious, nevertheless they might
serve as inspiration to construct our own magical mirrors
and scrying tools.

The first example of such a magical item comes from

Lovecrafts story The Haunter of the Dark. It is called the
Shining Trapezohedron and described as a window on all
time and space. It was supposedly brought to Earth from
Yuggoth and used by sorcerers of Valusia, Lemuria, Atlantis,
and Khem, where the Pharaoh Nephren-Ka built a special
temple around it. It is described as a nearly black, red-
striated polyhedron with many irregular flat surfaces. From
the story we learn that the object functions as a scrying
crystal, reflecting images from the Other Side: distant stars
and galaxies, visions of remote past and future, worlds
located in other, alien dimensions, etc.

Another object of similar qualities is the lamp of Alhazred

from Derleths story. Like in the case of the previous item,
the lamp is of ancient origin and has a very obscure history.
When lit, it allows the main character of the story to see
visions of the lost city of Irem and other fantastic places.
The images generated by the lamp are also gateways in
their own right. One can pass through these images onto
the Other Side, to fabulous lands and mysterious worlds.
From the practical point of view, we might say that the
lamp represents the significance of lighting used in scrying
practices. The color and intensity of light may greatly
influence the effect of a scrying session. In a very dim
glow, astral energies easily form into shapes visible to the
human eye. Also, it is recommended to try different colors of
light in the temple. A proper set of lights might turn the
room in an unearthly temple, exerting a great impact on
imagination and visual skills of the practitioner.
Another example of a similar motif is found in Lovecrafts story
From Beyond. Here, however, the magical scrying item is not
an alien product but an invention of a scientist, Crawford
Tillinghast. The resonator constructed by him generates waves
operating on unrecognized sense organs that exist in human
beings as atrophied or rudimentary vestiges. It affects
especially the pineal gland, which in the Lovecrafts lore is an
organ that transmits visual images to the brain. Waves of
ultra-violet that activate the organ open the mind to visions
and images unknown to humans in our normal perception.
Under its influence, the characters of the story experience a
wide series of visions, so vivid and tangible that they also
affect the material plane: the evoked entities can touch and
attack them. One of the characters describes the experience
in the following way:

I was now in a vortex of sound and motion, with confused

pictures before my eyes. I saw the blurred outlines of the room, but
from some point in space there seemed to be pouring a seething
column of unrecognizable shapes or clouds, penetrating the solid
roof at a point ahead and to the right of me. Then I glimpsed the
temple - like effect again, but this time the pillars reached up into an
aerial ocean of light, which sent down one blinding beam along the
path of the cloudy column I had seen before. After that the scene
was almost wholly kaleidoscopic, and in the jumble of sights, sounds,
and unidentified sense-impressions I felt that I was about to dissolve
or in some way lose the solid form.

This description resembles not actually a scrying experience

but an astral one - the vision of being transferred to ones
astral body and losing contact with the physical surroundings.
Again, the gateway here is twofold - it opens the way both for
the practitioner and for the entities from Beyond.
 Opening
Formulas

Both the Mythos stories and the Necronomicon-related texts

mention specific magical formulas used to open the gates
between dimensions. In Lovecrafts fiction, we can read
about it e.g. in the story The Book, which, however, only
vaguely mentions a spell and a pattern of five concentric
circles on the floor used as a key to the Outer Void.

In Derleths stories we also encounter a mysterious Dho-

Hna formula, which is further developed in Al Azif. As we
learn from the text, the formula allows the magician to pass
the Gates of Creations and enter the Ultimate Abyss. The
working begins with the tracing of the web of angles
(according to the pattern given in the text) with a magical
blade (here it is the Scimitar of Barzai), making an offering
of the incense (of Zkauba), and then the magician has to
enter the web through the gate in the north (on the
diagram), reciting proper incantations. The working contains
many ritual elements, among which we will also find the so-
called signs of power (see the chapter: What Is the
Necronomicon Gnosis), of which the Sign of Kish opens the
portals and the Sign of Koth seals them.

How to Work with the Inter-

Dimensional Gates

As we can see, the gateways can be found almost

everywhere. The key to understanding this concept is to
realize that they exist in our minds and the entrance can be
found mostly through dreams, visions and other altered
states of consciousness. In the Mythos, we encounter the
idea of the Dreamlands: a mystical realm existing beyond
the sphere of waking, which can be accessed by a sensitive
individual, either involuntarily or as a result of magical
practices. The Dreamlands are connected with the physical
world through special contact spots and locations. Apart
from the most famous of them, such as e.g. Kadath in the
Cold Waste or the Vaults of Zin, these are also water pools,
lakes, holes in the ground, walls, and graves. This is actually
the Cthulhu Mythos idea that graves are doors to astral
tunnels that run through the whole earth and also serve as
entrance ways to the Dreamlands.
Of course, this should not be taken literally, and these kinds of
gateways exist on the astral level. We can find them during
astral journeys, in dreams or through visual travels. With the
skill of conscious/controlled dreaming, we can explore these
gateways and use them as entrance ways to the astral plane,
and from there - to other dimensions. When you are in your
astral body, you can easily enter a mouse hole or a key hole,
using it as a portal to the Other Side, and the adventure
begins! The extent to which this experience might be taken
depends solely on the skills and creativity of the practitioner.
All you have to do is keep focus on a location you want to
explore. It is easy to get lost in astral labyrinths of the
Necronomicon Gnosis, especially if you are an inexperienced
traveler. The most elaborate description of an astral/ dream
journey to the Dreamlands is given by Lovecraft in his Dream
Quest of Unknown Kadath, the reading of which is highly
recommended.

As we have also observed, a ritual frame is not needed in the

case of such practices. However, the very act of drawing a
gate on the ground might function as an enclosure of the
working space and help in achieving the desired experience.
The pattern of such gate should reflect the nature of a
working: e.g. inside the circle you can write the name of the
location you wish to explore and the gods that you think might
help you on the journey. For that you can use letters of
barbarous alphabets listed in the Necronomicon-related texts
(such as the alphabet of Nug-Soth). Feel free to be creative
and imaginative in construction of your own ritual frames.

It is also recommended to go out and meditate in the actual

places where the border between the worlds is thin. For
instance, spending some time alone at night in an abandoned
place may evoke the gnosis of fear and anxiety and open the
mind for manifestations of primal intangible atavisms which
the Great Old Ones represent.
For the indoor workings with the gates, especially for
scrying, we can use several objects. Among the most
traditional ones, we can mention such scrying items as a
crystal ball, an obsidian crystal, or an ordinary mirror. Other
tools used for this purpose are: a black mirror (a smooth flat
surface painted black), a copper mirror, a bowl filled with
water, etc. This can also be a thick incense smoke. There
are also modern magicians who use a TV screen for scrying.
Whatever you choose, visualize that the object is a gateway
to other dimensions. Send a message through the gate and
wait until you receive a response. You can use an opening
formula (like zazas, zazas nasatanada zazas, or simply
chant the name of the location you want to explore (or an
entity you want to see). Attune yourself to energies flowing
through the gate and focus on how they start to form into an
image. You can also create a sigil representing the location
you wish to explore (e.g. from the letters that constitute its
name) and use it as a gate to this location while meditating
on it. Or you can summon Yog-Sothoth who is the gate
himself, while chanting his name or focusing on any of his
symbols.

There are many of such techniques that can be used to work

with the gateways and enter dimensions to which they lead.
Now, let us take a look at an example of such a working
which employs several of these techniques: the evocation of
Daoloth, the Render of the Veils.
 The Render of the Veils
Ritual

Daoloth is an entity mentioned in Ramsey Campbells stories.

His title is the Render of the Veils because he reveals to
the practitioner the most bizarre and remote worlds, located
in distant dimensions of the Outer Void. He also allows to see
the past and the future and teaches how to travel between
dimensions. He is described as a complex entity, consisting of
numerous hemispheres of shining metal and long plastic rods.
He must be summoned within an enclosed space,
otherwise he expands in all directions, which makes
communication with him difficult and confusing. It is also
advised that he should be summoned in darkness, without
any light.
The Sigil of
Daoloth
The sigil used in this working comes from a scrying
session. It is used instead of a circle of evocation, to
enclose the magical space for the entity to manifest. You
have to make it big enough to put an incense burner inside,
without covering any of the symbols or lines.

Cleanse the magical space with any suitable banishings or

simple cleansing methods (e.g. the ringing of a bell) to drive
away unwanted energies. Burn enough incense to cause a
thick smoke in the temple. Turn off the lights and sit
comfortably in a completely dark room. Focus on the sigil of
Daoloth (you have to memorize its shape) and start
chanting his name. Continue until you feel that the
atmosphere in the room has become dense and you can
sense the energies flowing through the sigil as if through a
gateway to the Other Side.

Keep chanting the name of the entity and focus on how the
smoke gathers and thickens within the seal, forming into
shapes. Daoloth may reveal to you many visions and
images. Focus on the ones you want to see. Keep the
focus until you have achieved the desired result of the
working or until the images cease to appear. If you are an
experienced astral traveler, you may enter the circle/sigil in
your astral body, pass through the gateway and travel
through interstellar dimensions with Daoloth as a guide.

When you feel it is time to finish the working, light the

candles, thank
the spirit for his assistance and close the
ritual.
Nyarlathotep - The Black Man of the
Sabbat
92
Who shall know the mystery of Nyarlathotep? For He is the mask
and will of Those that were when time was not. He is the priest of
the Ether, the Dweller in Air and hath many faces that none shall
recall. The waves freeze before Him; Gods dread His call. In mens
dreams He whispers, yet who knoweth His form?
- Al Azif
-

Nyarlathotep does not make appearance in The

Necronomicon itself (there are no mentions of him in the
popular versions, apart from D. Tysons Necronomicon: The
Wanderings of Alhazred), but he is one of the leading
deities in the Cthulhu Mythos due to his role of the
intermediary between humans and the Great Old Ones. The
first occurrence of his name is found in a poem by H.P.
Lovecraft in which he is described as a dark and forgotten
god who came from Egypt. Moreover, he is reputedly the
oldest of all Egyptian deities. Cthulhu Mythos researchers
claim that his name itself clearly proves his Egyptian origin,
especially the ending hotep, which means peace.
William Hamblin translates the name as: ny - no, har
- at or through, lut - gateway or place of
judgment, and hotep - peace or rest. Thus, the whole
name might be translated as there is no peace at the
gate, or there is no peace at the place of judgment.
Nyarlathotep is often believed to originate from ancient
Egypt and his cult is connected with the reign of the
pharaoh Nephren-Ka (a fictitious character, though there
have been attempts to identify him with a number of
authentic Egyptian kings), who built the labyrinths of Kish,
where he and his followers performed rituals in worship of
the Black God. He is also associated with an artifact called
The Shining Trapezohedron, magical crystal brought to
Earth from the black planet Yuggoth.

93
Nyarlathotep is one of the few Necronomicon deities who
appear in human form. He is usually depicted as a black, thin
figure, with ghastly pale skin, dressed in black, often wearing
a long black robe and a hat. We can find his description in
Lovecrafts story Dreams in the Witch House, where he
manifests before the main protagonist, Walter Gilman:

A tall, lean man of dead black colouration but without the slightest
sign of negroid features: wholly devoid of either hair or beard, and
wearing as his only garment a shapeless robe of some heavy black
fabric. His feet were indistinguishable because of the table and
bench, but he must have been shod, since there was a clicking
whenever he changed position. The man did not speak, and bore no
trace of expression on his small, regular features.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, he is also identified with the Black

Man who presides over the Witches Sabbats, wild
celebrations to the sound of flute music. The most explicit
example of his role of the initiator of the Sabbat is found
again in the story Dreams in the Witch House. The protagonist
is haunted in his dreams by a witch who used to live in the
house where he is staying, her familiar spirit, the Brown
Jenkin, and the mysterious Black Man. All visions appear
in his dreams, on the astral plane: weird screams, singing,
shadows and blinding lights, strange sounds of a
monstrous, half-acoustic pulsing, and of the thin,
monotonous piping of an unseen flute. All these are signs of
the forthcoming Walpurgis Night, when hells blackest evil
roams the earth and all the slaves of Satan gather for
nameless rites and deeds. In the Lovecraftian lore, the
Walpurgis Night is the traditional festival of witches, who
gather in secret places in dark woods or on the peaks of
mountains in order to celebrate the Sabbat with demons and
infernal spirits. Dreams and visions experienced by Walter
Gilman were meant to prepare him for participation in the
Sabbat of Nyarlathotep as his servant and adept of the Gods
dark mysteries:
He must meet the Black Man and go with them all to the throne of
Azathoth at the centre of ultimate chaos. He must sign the book of
Azathoth in his own blood and take a new secret name.
Nyarlathotep has many masks, or avatars, which point at his
connection with the concept of the Sabbat. One of them is
the aforementioned Black Man who appears in legends of
witches and pacts with the Devil - he is the mediator
between man and dark forces. He is also identified with the
Celtic Horned Man and the Black Pharaoh of Egypt - a deity
who looks like a man but has ghastly black skin and hooves
instead of feet. His other masks are countless and it would
take a whole book to examine all of them even briefly. He is
called the God of Thousand Masks and in his various rites
we encounter even more of his forms and manifestations.

As the messenger of the Great Old Ones and his servant, he

can assume any form, in any time and space. His element is
Ether. He dwells in the land of eternal cold, the black castle
in the wastelands of Kadath, together with Azathoth (though
it is sometimes written that his residence is the planet
Sharnoth). Nyarlathotep is not dormant, or banished out of
the space known to man. He appears on the earth, among
people, assuming human shapes and speaking human
languages. It is believed that he will transfer a message to
the cults of the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods when
the stars are on their right positions, when the time of their
awakening and rising comes again. He is also called The
Crawling Chaos, as his nature is chaotic and cunning. He
loves to provoke insanity, cheat and deceive. In this way
he resembles the Trickster, like Mephistopheles
- the embodiment of trickery, master of illusion and deceit,
often described in the European literature. This is also the
reason why he can be ascribed to the third Qliphothic level -
the Samael Qlipha (The Venom of God). Samael (the dark
counterpart of the Sephira Hod) is a sphere where all
creation and reality is questioned and revealed as illusory.
This sphere is often linked with insanity that is caused by
reversal of order and values that constitute the framework
of man- made universe. For this reason, the patron god of
this realm can be identified with the Crawling Chaos of the
Cthulhu Mythos, although we may encounter Nyarlathotep
also in other Qliphothic realms.
Within rites of magic, Nyarlathotep appears with strange
sounds, piping and wild shrieking, unearthly and terrifying. In
such way he is described by the author of Grimoirium
Imperium, an anonymous grimoire supposedly written by
Abdul Al-Hazred, the mad poet himself. The introduction to the
book was reputedly written by John Dee, who also translated
this grimoire (this is a claim that has never been proved).
The author writes that the arrival of Nyarlathotep was
preceded by terrifying screams and sounds which forced him
to go to the desert, where he wandered aimlessly for two
days, all the time listening to those atrocious screams. On the
third day, he saw a demon who was one of Nyarlathoteps
avatars. The author describes this encounter in the following
way:

On the third day, on the eighteenth hour of that day, the screaming
call stopped and standing in front of me was a man. The man was
completely black, both in face and clothing, and he greeted me in
my tongue and with my name. The man told me his name and his
name was Ebonor and he was a demon.

From the further description we learn that Ebonor is one of

twenty-one avatars of Nyarlathotep which were revealed in
the book together with directions to call them on particular
days and at recommended hours. Ebonor endowed the author
with the ability to understand all languages and he told him
the story of the Old Gods who were banished from Earth
before mankind appeared. Only Nyarlathotep remained here
to act as their voice and messenger. He wanders the earth,
gathering legions of followers and inspiring secret cults of the
Great Old Ones.

To those who seek forgotten knowledge, he comes as the

Black Pharaoh, in Egyptian garments and with a piercing gaze.
He appears in the desert, among pyramids and temples
shaped like statues of the sphinx. He is the desert wind at
night, devastating storm lashing the skin with its cold essence.
Or he comes as a robed man, with face hidden and unseen,
cloaked in shadows reflecting the blackness of the Void where
he resides on his Onyx Throne. Sometimes he is a faceless
sphinx, winged and fearsome.
Witches and sorcerers calling Nyarlathotep to assist them in
their rites encounter him in the form of the Devil, black-
skinned and demonic. He is a shape-shifter and can assume
any form he pleases. He is deceptive and manipulative and
he also endows his adepts with these cunning skills. Those
who seek his primal nature, will see him as an atavistic
creature, tentacled, bat-winged monster, or a black mass of
appendages and tentacles, shapeless and hideous. Most
often, however, his face is shrouded or unseen, and he is
also called the Faceless God, for no one can really see his
true nature.

He is horrible and wonderful at the same time. He is the

Dweller in the Darkness and the Messenger of the Old Ones,
the Floating Horror and the Howler in the Dark, the Black
Wind and the Crawling Mist. In the ritual provided below we
will glimpse into some of his human forms - the Black
Pharaoh and the Devil-Man of the Sabbat, the Dark Initiator
of man.
 Invocation of the Black
Pharaoh

It is recommended to perform this ritual outdoors, at the

time of the Black Moon, in desolate place where you will not
be disturbed. Energies of the Black Man of the Sabbat are
experienced in their greatest intensity in the woods or in the
wilderness, during storms and under the cloak of the night. If
you wish, you can perform the invocation outdoors and the
pathworking in your home temple. The most intense effects,
however, are received if the ritual is accompanied by
feelings of terror and anxiety, restlessness and fear of the
unknown. A ritual performed on a hill during a heavy storm
will not guarantee safety but may bring a powerful
manifestation of the Black Pharaoh, for he enjoys boldness
and determination, and his favors are not earned easily.

This choice, however, is yours to make. If you perform the

working indoors, light black candles, strong incense that
provides thick smoke in the room, and call the Black God into
your temple of flesh:

IA
NYARLATHOTEP!
(Shout these words of greeting seven
times.)

NGAI TAWIL-A-UMR! KWYLL DGO WGLN

WGLN NYARLATHOTEP UNI NGAI

I call you from your Onyx Throne in

the Void, From beyond Time and
Space, Cloaked in Chaos,
Walking among the
stars, Hear my
voice!
Black
Pharaoh,
 Devouring worlds and bringing madness to
sons of man, Hear my calling!

Oak zi di arq! Nyarlathotep! Ny har

rut hotep!

There is no peace at the

Gate. There is no rest
at the Gate. There are
no stars at the Gate.
There is no being at the
Gate. There is no time
at the Gate. There is no
space at the Gate. At
the Gate You Are.

Anoint the ritual blade with your own blood. Then thrust the
blade fiercely into the ground (or burn the blood in the
candle flame if you perform the ritual indoors.)

Open the way

before me, UMR-A-
TAWIL, Beyond the
Abyss,
Through angular time and curved
spaces, And through the Seven
Stellar Gates. Black Messenger,
Who crawls among shadows of
the night, Walk free among
those who call you!

IA
NYARLATHOTEP!

Focus on the thick smoke around you. Breathe in and let it

invade your lungs and shift your consciousness. See the
clouds of smoke forming into the shape of the Black Pharaoh
who is now standing before you. If you wish, envision
him as a black hooded figure with ghastly pale skin.
Greet him and ask him for guidance and knowledge. Speak
to him and let him speak to you. Ask him to guide you to
his astral Sabbat and begin the visual journey, or simply
let him take you in ecstatic flight through worlds and
dimensions.
When you wish to return, blow out the candles and end
the ritual.

The Sigil of Nyarlathotep

 Astral
Sabbat

This pathworking was constructed on the basis of the story

by H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams in the Witch House. If you
perform it without the invocation, it is recommended to
meditate on the name Nyarlathotep before you start the
working. You can also combine it with the meditation on his
sigil.

Envision yourself standing alone in the middle of the forest.

All is dark and silent. You can only hear the howling of the
wind around you. Suddenly, you notice a brown rat running
out from behind the trees. He is bigger than any rat you
have ever seen and his face is strange, reminiscent of
human features. He runs straight ahead, but stops from
time to time and looks behind him, calling your name with
human voice and rushing you to follow.

As you go into the woods, guided by your strange

companion, suddenly the rat disappears. You approach the
place where he vanished and you notice a hole in the earth
and a flight of steps leading down. You start descending
the stairs, but they suddenly end and you fall down. Now
you find yourself in an underworld realm. The only light here
is the red glow of unknown origin. Again, you notice the rat.
He is waiting to guide you further. You pass strange
boundless jungle of outlandish, incredible peaks, balanced
planes, domes, minarets, horizontal disks poised on
pinnacles, and numberless forms of still greater wildness.
The deeper you move into this underworld land, the darker
is the light, and it turns from red to purple. You can hear
more and more vividly the odd sound of pipes that seems to
come from the center of this strange realm.
Finally, the rat guides you to a gate. It is huge and made of
strange metal on which there are images and symbols of the
Great Old Ones. The gate opens and you go inside. Now you
are in a chamber lit by strong purple light. In front of you
there is a table with an open book on it. Next to the book
there is a pen and a dagger. Behind the table you notice a
black figure - a tall man with shining eyes, without a beard or
hair, dressed in a black robe. He is waiting for the sacrifice.
Go to the table. Take the dagger and cut your hand. Take the
pen and drip it in your blood. Sign your name in the book - you
will see that the letters disappear in a mysterious way,
absorbed by the pages. Perhaps you will now see other
writings appearing in the book, conveying a message for you.
When this is done, look straight into the eyes of the man
standing before you.

When your eyes meet with Nyarlathoteps gaze, you suddenly

lose control over your body. All fades and becomes black, and
at one moment you are transported onto a dark hill,
somewhere in the middle of the Cold Waste. Around you
there are hundreds of shadows and you hear wild screaming:
Ia Shub-Niggurath! Ia Nyarlathotep! In the centre of the
circle you can see fire blazing with an odd, unusual color, and
in its core it is pitch black. You feel overwhelmed with a desire
of blood. This feels ecstatic and you are filled with power. All
you want to do now is to lose yourself in this extraordinary
festival. You throw yourself towards the other participants of
the Sabbat and take part in the orgiastic celebration. Let the
visions flow freely, open yourself for whatever may come and
enjoy the experience.

When the journey is over, return to normal consciousness and

close the working.
 Vision of Chaos and Cosmic
Space

When on High the Heavens had not been

named, The Earth had not been named,
And Naught existed but the Seas of
ABSU, The Ancient One,
And MUMMU TIAMAT, the Ancient
One
Who bore them all, Their
Waters as One Water.

This passage from The Magan Text reveals the

Necronomicon vision of the universe before the creation of
gods and the world of man. Everything was shapeless and
unnamed and nothing existed apart from cosmic waters.
The Magan Text is a paraphrase of the Babylonian Creation
Epic called Enuma Elish. In Babylonian cosmology, in the
beginning there was only a great ocean - the underground
realm of fresh waters (Absu) and salty waters personified by
Tiamat. These ancient waters were the womb from
which everything emerged in the process of creation. They
were called tehom, which also signifies the depth or
the abyss, or primeval chaos - the matrix of all
potentialities. The dark masses of water, however, were
not the Abyss in the sense of the void. Neither the
Necronomicon lore nor the Babylonian cosmology claim
creatio ex nihilo. The Abyss is empty of being, yet
simultaneously full of all possible forms. It is the
Unmanifested, the cosmological potential of creation and at
the same time - the antithesis of being. The Abyss is thus
synonymous with the concept of Chaos. The essence of
Chaos is the existence of forces that continuously strive
towards un-being, the ultimate annihilation on all possible
levels and in every possible sense. Chaos is pure force
without form, raw energy that can be shaped into all forms.
It is the Infinite, but with an innate potential of limitation,
finiteness, and thus - creation.
In the Necronomicon Gnosis, these two opposing principles are
presented by means of two entities: Yog-Sothoth and
Azathoth. Azathoth appears in the Necronomicon lore under
many names: the Primal Chaos, The Idiot God, The
Daemon Sultan, but the most significant name is The
Nuclear Chaos. It is believed that it was him who gave birth
to the universe. Azathoth is the central point of Chaos, the
destructive energy inherent in the atomic particle, the
antithesis of creation or the passive principle of fire. He dwells
in the centre of Infinity surrounded by entities that perform an
eternal dance to the tune of a weird flute music. He is the lord
of forces of anti-space, the prime-mover in darkness, the
mindless, bodiless entity, remover of thought and form,
personification of fundamental forces that created and sustain
the universe. In the Cthulhu Mythos, Azathoth belongs to the
group of the Outer Gods - independent beings that exist
outside the cosmic structure. It is believed that they are
personifications of cosmic forces, entities that can manipulate
cosmic laws and events. Parker Ryan observes in
Necronomicon Info Source: It is from the Throne of Azathoth
that the aimless waves, whose chance combining gives each
frail cosmos its eternal law, originate from. In this sense,
Azathoth is the principle of Chaos in which an occasional spark
sets forth the whole series of cosmic processes. The zero-
point, as the quantum theory would call it - the single point
from which all time, space, mass and energy erupted. It is the
point in which everything starts and to which everything
returns
- according to the cyclic view of time that prevails in the
Necronomicon lore.

While Azathoth is identified with the principle of contraction,

Yog- Sothoth represents the principle of expansion. Yog-
Sothoth is the active fire. He may be identified with the Great
Old Ones aeonic current. He is the gate to the Abyss, often
associated with the eleventh Sephira Daath - the gate to the
Qliphoth. In The Dunwich Horror, H.P. Lovecraft describes him
in the following way:
Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is
the key and the guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are
one in Yog-Sothoth.
Yog-Sothoth is the outer manifestation of Primal Chaos.
Philip A. Shreffer writes in H.P. Lovecraft Companion that the
principles of Yog- Sothoth and Azathoth can be described as
infinite expansion and infinite contraction. Yog-Sothoth is
the limitless space, the expansion of Infinity, or in
Lovecrafts definition: All in One and One in All of limitless
being and self - the last, utter sweep which has no confines
and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. Past,
present, future all are one in Yog-Sothoth. While Yog-
Sothoth is the infinite space and time, Azathoth may be
viewed as the manifestation of the nuclear point in the
center of Infinity, out of which the whole universe
spontaneously manifested. Yog-Sothoth is also associated
with the concept of the Aeon. As Kenneth Grant explains
in Outside the Circles of Time:

It is now possible to see the continuous flow and evolution of

Aeons occurring simultaneously and passing over into the world of
anti-matter. The Yog (or Yug .. an aeon or age ..) of Sothoth is
the counterpoint - as the Aeon of Set-Thoth, or Daath - of its Twin,
the Yug-Hoor, or Aeon of Horus. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate through
the aeons to the Star-Source beyond Yuggoth, the Yug or Aeon of
Goth.

Daath is also associated with Absu (Sumerian ab - deep

sea, zu
- wisdom), which can be translated as the sea of wisdom,
wisdom being the term inseparably connected with the
hidden Sephira. As a guardian of the gate of Daath, Yog-
Sothoth can be identified with Choronzon, the Guardian of
the Abyss, or the entrance to the Qliphothic side of the Tree
of Life, or in Grants terms: to the Universe B. Grant views
the Qliphoth as the primal manifestation of all things and
associates them with the Ancient Ones or the Great Old
Ones of the Lovecraftian lore. As the Qliphoth are those
who are without, or beyond the Tree of Life, so the Ancient
Ones are entities and forces that exist outside the cosmic
order or any organized structure of the universe. They
come from Outside, from other dimensions of space, from
the infinite Abyss. They are not subjected to any laws of
time and space, they exist eternally and independently of
the cosmic cycle: The Old Ones were, the Old Ones
are, the Old Ones shall be, not in the spaces we know
but between them.
They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us
unseen, as it is written in The Dunwich Horror. Yog-Sothoth is
the gateway to this limitless realm. Moreover, as a principle of
expansion, it may even be said that he IS this realm. Together
with Azathoth, he is the beginning and the end at the same
time.

The Ancient Ones from the Cthulhu Mythos exist in other

dimensions of space, where the concept of time is different
than on Earth, between angles, in the vast continuum of
Infinity. As the forces of the Abyss, they are transcendental,
multi-dimensional and such is also their realm. Lovecraft
describes it in The Hounds of Tindalos:

Time is merely our imperfect perception of a new dimension of

space. Time and motion are both illusions. Everything that has
existed from the beginning of the world exists now. Events that
occurred centuries ago on this planet continue to exist in another
dimension of space. Events that will occur centuries from now exist
already. We cannot perceive their existence because we cannot
enter the dimension of space that contains them. Human beings as
we know them are merely fractions, infinitesimally small fractions of
one enormous whole. Every human being is linked with all life that
preceded him on this planet. All of his ancestors are parts of him.
Only time separates him from his forebears, and time is an illusion
and does not exist.

The age or aeon as described by Grant is not only associated

with Yog- Sothoth but also with Yuggoth, the place from which
the Great Old Ones are believed to have come to Earth.
Yuggoth, known as the Black Planet, is the abode of the Mi-Go
(crustaceans with wings that allow them to fly through the
outer space). The planet is said to consist of cities of
windowless towers and fungoid gardens. It was possibly the
first abode of Azathoth. The city of green pyramids contains
structures that were built by an unknown, forgotten race
before the Mi-Go came there. Yuggoth is also indentified with
the planet Pluto. Grant connects it to Qabalistic Sephira
Kether. According to him, Yuggoth is the dark side of Kether.
However, the title Lord of the Abyss in the Necronomicon
lore is attributed to Nodens, one of the Elder Gods. Nodens
is a deity that manifests in human form. He is described as
an elderly man, grey- bearded and hoary, with white hair.
His most common image is that of a man riding a chariot in
the shape of a huge sea shell, pulled by sea beasts. His
realm is the sea and oceanic waters, which are also the
most common symbols of the Abyss and Chaos, both in the
Cthulhu Mythos and in the Babylonian cosmology. In the
beginning, there was only the limitless primeval ocean of
Nar Marratu. It is described as a shapeless mass of waters
corresponding to the notion of Chaos
- the primordial undifferentiated multitude of energies. The
ocean is the alchemical Prima Materia, the matrix of all
creation, the cosmic womb, the source of all life. In the
Babylonian mythology, the waters of Tiamat and Absu gave
birth to the first gods: An (Heaven) and Ki (Earth). Their
birth was a preliminary step to the whole process of
creation. Primordial waters preceded the separation of
opposites. The sea is the dissolving and creative principle:
the grave, in which everything dissolves and ceases to be,
and the womb, where everything comes to life and new
existence begins, where everything returns to die and to be
reborn again. This reminds us of the concept of Chaos. In
The Secret Doctrine, Helena Blavatsky writes: What is
prime chaos if not the ether containing all forms and all
beings, all seeds of the universal creation?Chaos is the
formless energy from which the cosmos and order of the
universe evolved. It is the primeval source, the living
continuum, all and nothing, the principle of being and non-
being at the same time. It is the will, the wisdom, the force
of all things, the energy behind everything, the subtle
force within all living beings and in every molecule of
cosmic space. In this sense, Chaos is the well-spring of
being, the energy that can be differentiated and molded into
all possible forms. It is the Unmanifested, yet it is not
Nothingness, or it is no longer Nothingness. It is the raw,
infinite potential evolving around the Void, the singularity,
the zero-point. It is Azathoth manifested as Yog-Sothoth.
Thus, also the waters of Tiamat and Absu can be identified
with Chaos and the Abyss, as they are both the womb and the
dissolving principle. The light of the Sun, the masculine solar
current, penetrates the salty waters of tiamatu (the
Babylonian sea), the womb of creation, and warms them.

In result, the sea (which has always been associated with the
feminine lunar principle) becomes impregnated with the solar
force and gives birth to her offspring. In the alchemical sense,
the sea becomes the Divine Water (Hudor Theion), or in Latin:
Aqua Igne Sacra Inflammata (water inflamed by the sacred
fire). The salt in the waters of Tiamat is the spark of the
Anima Mundi dissolved in the depths of the dark sea, the
creative spark of life residing in Prima Materia.

According to one of cosmological theories within the

Necronomicon Gnosis, the universe was created by three
primal forces: Sothoth, Ubbo- Sathla and Abhoth. Sothoth
created the matter, Ubbo-Sathla gave origin to all life, and
Abhoth created all evil and abominations of the world.

Azathoth is the primal force that existed before the creation of

the universe. It was his essence that served as substance for
the creation of matter. Ubbo-Sathla is the source and the end.
It is the primeval force dwelling on the new-made Earth. In the
story Ubbo-Sathla, Clark Ashton Smith describes him as a
shapeless mass of undifferentiated matter, spawning the grey,
formless prototypes of all forms of life:

There, in the gray beginning of Earth, the formless mass that was
Ubbo-Sathla reposed amid the slime and the vapors. Headless,
without organs or members, it sloughed off from its oozy sides, in a
slow, ceaseless wave, the amoebic forms that were the archetypes
of earthly life.
According to the mythical Book of Eibon that belongs to the
Necronomicon lore, all earthly life shall eventually return
through the great cycle of time to Ubbo-Sathla. Abhoth is
described as a dark grey, horrid protean mass, the source of
impurity, miscreation and abomination. His offspring are
obscene monsters constantly forming from his grey mass,
amorphous blobs, deformed humanoids, or monstrous
mutants. Once they are born, they are grabbed by Abhoth
and devoured. It is said that Abhoth can communicate
telepathically, but he has a wicked and cynical mind.

In Grants writings, the Abyss is the Great Gulf that exists

between the phenomenal world and its noumenal source,
between manifestation and non-manifestation. Daath,
which is the gate to the Abyss, is also called the Mauve
Zone, the entrance to multidimensional aspects of vast
spaces beyond the universe as we know it. These
dimensions exist outside or in-between the realms of
dreaming and waking. The Mauve Zone is also identified
with the Crimson Desert of the Arabic lore, the ancient
equivalent of the Robe el Khaliyeh, the sphere inhabited by
evil spirits. The Crimson Desert is also called the Empty
Space or Dahna and it is believed that Abdul Alhazred,
the legendary author of the Necronomicon, spent ten years
of solitude there. Roba el Khaliyeh, however, is not only a
physical place but also a mystical dimension, the gate to
the Abyss. In this sense, it is also connected with Irem, the
fabulous City of Pillars. Irem appears in diverse contexts in
the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft locates this city in the
Crimson Desert. It is claimed that the word pillar is the
code name for elder or old one, which translates Irem
of Pillars as Irem of the Old Ones. Also, Abdul Alhazred is
said to have visited Irem, where he found manuscripts with
ancient forgotten knowledge. In Lovecrafts fiction, Irem is a
portal to Outside, or to the Abyss.
In Necronomicon Info Source, Parker Ryan associates Irem
with legends of the Jinn and the Nephilim: It is popularly
believed by the Arabs that Irem was built by the Jinn under the
direction of Shaddad, lord of the tribe of Ad. The tribe of Ad,
according to legend, was a race roughly equivalent to the
Hebrew Nephilim (giants). It is often claimed by the
Necronomicon researchers that the Nephilim is the
Hebrew term for the Ancient Ones. Like the entities of the
Cthulhu Mythos, they descended to Earth from outer spaces
and unknown galaxies. In the Necronomicon lore we find a
similar story: the Great Old Ones arrived on the primal earth
from the stars. They built cities and raised temples until there
was a great war and the Elder Gods (representing the principle
of Light and Order) cast them forth from the Earth to the Void
beyond the planes where chaos reigns and form abideth not.
And the Elder Lords set Their seal upon the Gateway and the
power of the Old Ones prevailest not against its might.

Such is the legend told in Al Azif. The places where they reside
are located outside the cosmic structure. They are focal points
for the forces of the Great Old Ones - the standpoints of the
Abyss. Such places are e.g. the black planet Yuggoth and
Kadath in the Cold Waste. Sometimes, however, Yuggoth and
Kadath are viewed as synonymous. Grant places them both at
the level of Kether. Kadath is the land of everlasting snow and
cold. It is located on the vast and empty Plateau of Leng.
Kadath is empty of any life (although sometimes it is said that
one can find there the black castle of Great Old Ones - the
abode of Azathoth and his messenger, Nyarlathotep).
According to Grant, it is the ultimate snow, the place of
dissolution, total annihilation that can be reached through the
place of the Crossing - Daath or the gate of Yog-Sothoth. In
Aeon of Cthulhu Rising by Frater Tenebrous XIII, we read:

Before the complete influx of these elder forces into our

present space- time continuum can be facilitated, the secret
and primal gateways must be located, and opened, to allow
access from outside the circles of time.
Irem, the City of Pillars, is also identified with the abode of
Cthulhu, the lord of dreams and visions. Cthulhu is described
as dead (dormant) but dreaming in the lost and forgotten
city of Rlyeh, located under the waters of the Pacific Ocean
(Rlyeh is identified with a ruined stone city of Nan-Madol -
the legendary city that flew down from the sky, inhabited
by a race of god-like beings). Rlyeh is one of the cities
believed to exist not on the earth but somewhere outside.
These outside cities, worlds and planes are manifestations
of the Abyss, the realms beyond and between spaces known
to humanity. Cthulhu is sometimes called the Lord of the
Abyss (or the Dragon of the Abyss) - from the Sumerian
kutulu (kutu - underworld, abyss, and lu - lord). There
is therefore an analogy between Cthulhu and the Sleeping
Dragon-Goddess Tiamat, or the Ouroboros Serpent. In
psychology, Rlyeh equates to the unconscious (similarly as
Nar Marratu), whereas Cthulhu himself is the intermediary
between the Great Old Ones and the human mind. He is
sometimes referred to as the High Priest of the Great Old
Ones. A similar function is ascribed to the Tower of Koth.

In the Lovecraftian mythos, Koth is the Dream Tower that

transmits messages from the Necronomicon entities into
dream visions of humans. According to Grant, it stands
sentinel at the threshold of the Tunnels of Set. The Tower of
Koth is also called the Hollow One or the Void.

The worlds Outside are countless and extend in all

directions of time and space. The most important are
identified with stars or planets, especially with the seven
stellar spheres, which, according to the Cthulhu Mythos, will
herald the return of the Great Old Ones and the awakening
of primal gods. These seven zones are usually identified as:
1) Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini) - the abode of Cthugha,
one of the
Great Old Ones, an entity of living plasma, the lord of fire
vampires.
2) Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) - mentioned in The King of
Yellow by
Robert W. Chambers as the home of Hastur (the
personification of the sphere of air, guardian of the Eastern
elemental gate, the voice of the Great Old Ones). It is believed
that many of the Great Old Ones resided on Aldebaran before
they came to Earth.
3) Algol (Beta Persei) - mentioned in Beyond the Wall of Sleep
by Lovecraft, the legendary Demon Star.
4) Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) - the star from which the Elder
Gods ruled the universe.
5) Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris) - the axis of the sky that
appears in
Lovecrafts story
Polaris.
6) Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) - again from Beyond the
Wall of Sleep.
7) Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) - the star connected with
Dagon and
Nyarlathotep (the messenger of the Necronomicon
deities).

These are the seven stellar spheres. The Necronomicon

however, also mentions seven planetary spheres called the
zonei. From the Simon Necronomicon we learn that The
Gods of the Stars are Seven. They have Seven Seals, each
of which may be used in their turn. They are approached by
Seven Gates, each of which may be opened in their turn. They
have Seven Colors, Seven Essences, and each a separate Step
on the Ladder of Lights.

These seven planetary spheres and their

correspondences to the
Mesopotamian deities are as
follows:
Moon - Nanna - the oldest of the wanderers, the father of the
zonei. Mercury - Nebo - the guardian of the gods and keeper of
the knowledge of science.
Venus - Inanna - the goddess of passion, love
and war. Sun - Shammash - the god of light and
life.
Mars - Nergal - god of war and the spiller of blood, the
agent of the
Ancient
Ones.
Jupiter - Marduk - lord of magic, lord of fifty names.
Saturn - Ninib also called Adar - the lord of hunters and
strength, his realm is the Night of Time.

Beyond the zonei we find the terrible Igigi, identified

sometimes with the sphere of the Zodiac or Azonei. These,
however, are forms beyond the fixed constellations, those
signifying the Outer Void. The Simon Necronomicon claims
that the star spheres must be opened to enable the
return of the Old Gods. They also have to be entered in
their times and in their seasons, one at a time, and never
the one before the other.

Another planet mentioned in the Necronomicon lore is

Saturn. It is also known as Cykranosh and it is thought that
it was the original abode of Tsathoggua from which this
ancient god came to Earth. From Cykranosh also came
Atlach-Nacha, a spider-like being that spins a web-bridge
across the bottomless chasm between the waking world and
the Dreamlands. Atlach-Nacha has the body of a huge spider
with a human face and is often referred to as the Spider God
(or Goddess), possibly being a manifestation or offspring of
Arachne, believed to be the regent of all spiders in the
world. According to other theories, the remaining planets
have the following correspondences: Uranus - Yog- Sothoth,
Neptune - Kadath, and Pluto - Yuggoth. Grant also provides
correspondences between the Necronomicon entities,
planets and the particular levels of the Tree of Life. They are
as follows:

Kether - Pluto - Yuggoth

Chokmah - Neptune -
Kadath Binah - Saturn -
Cthulhu Daath - Uranus -
Yog-Sothoth Chesed -
Jupiter - Nodens Geburah -
Mars - Hastur Tiphareth -
Sun - Azathoth
Netzach - Venus - Shub-
Niggurath Hod - Mercury -
Nyarlathotep Yesod - Moon -
Yig
Malkuth - Earth - Geh
Rlyeh consists of oddly shaped monoliths constructed
according to strange angles and perspectives, the so-called
non-Euclidean geometry. It is a series of gateways to other
dimensions, equivalent to the Tunnels of Set. These tunnels,
leading to the Qliphothic side of the Tree of Life, can also be
compared to the labyrinths of Zin. The Vaults of Zin are
located in the Dreamlands, between the sphere of dreaming
and waking. Similarly as Rlyeh, they are built according to a
strange geometry - a structure that extends to all directions
until the ultimate boundaries of Infinity are met and crossed.
These doors lead to Nowhere, Never and Outside. The Vaults
of Zin exist beyond time and space. There are no angles and
the countless stairways and corridors lead in all possible
directions. It is said that the labyrinths of Zin lead to Rlyeh,
the black city of monoliths, where dead Cthulhu lies dreaming.

There are, however, more such places - multidimensional

cities, temples, planets, and many others. They can be
explored through the Dho-Hna formula or the formula of the
Silver Key that allow the magician to see hidden locations in
time and space and travel there. Among the other worlds in-
between that exist in multidimensional realms we can
mention: Yith (a distant planet from which some of the Ancient
Ones came to Earth), Yekub (an everlasting planet existing at
the edge of all worlds), Sharnoth (a black planet with a deep
well - the gate to all existing spaces and times, the abode of
Nyarlathotep),Yaddith (a place originally inhabited by the Nug-
Soths, the race that created the greatest part of the universe),
Caleano (the great library of forgotten knowledge), Abbith (a
lost world with seven suns and the double star Xoth - it is said
that Cthulhu dwelled on Xoth before he came to Earth), and
many more...These locations can be accessed through various
magical techniques, visual journeys and trances - astral
travels, scrying, or dream visions. There we may find
forgotten knowledge that lies in the Abyss of Oblivion. These
places exist between spaces and aeons. As the Necronomicon
lore claims, they exist in the form of a certain matter that
acquires shape and density through the mind of the
magician.
The more dense it is, the more travelling minds are drawn to
it, and eventually, it becomes a tangible, physical (or almost
physical) place. Such worlds are places where nothing exists
and yet, simultaneously, everything exists and everything is
possible. The Necronomicon concept of the Abyss embraces
a multitude of forces and cosmic impulses, where
everything is dissolved and formed into shapes. These
dimensions are unknown to a common man. They exist
outside the paradigm of the structured universe. As we learn
from The Magan Text, the Abyss existed before the Elder
Gods had been brought forth - before planets, stars and
galaxies were formed, uncalled by name, their destinies
unknown and undetermined. The act of giving a name to
something is symbolic of including it in an organized
structure. The Abyss existed before anything was given a
name. It pre-existed creation. It is an amalgam of
electromagnetic and nuclear forces, the womb of creation in
which Tiamat, the symbolic primeval force, is like the
Ouroboros - the serpent that encircles the cosmos, providing
a womb - the Ocean, the Abyss, the forces that have
always been and will always remain in motion - the
dynamic, everlasting and multidimensional current.

Know that Tiamat seeks ever to rise to the

stars, and when the Upper is united to the
Lower, then a new Age will come of Earth,
and the Serpent shall be made
whole, and the Waters will be as
One,
when on high the heavens had not been
named.
 Journey to Yuggoth

This working is an astral (or visual) journey to the Outer Void,

to the Black Planet Yuggoth. It is based on descriptions of the
planet found in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and his followers,
as well as on the available sources and personal experience. It
is advised to perform the working during the New Moon, in a
completely dark room, or outdoors, in a solitary place, where
you can feel comfortable and no one will disturb the
meditation. If you are an experienced astral traveler, you can
follow the directions given in this text and travel to the Black
Planet itself. If you are a beginner, do not worry - all you need
is good concentration and visualization, and you can travel to
the chosen location visually in your mind.

The gateway to the Outer Void is the Sigil of the Gate. If you
performed the self-initiatory Ritual of the Nine Stellar
Gateways and received a personal sigil allowing you to enter
the realms of the Great Old Ones, you can use it as a focal
point of this meditation. Otherwise, use the sigil provided
below, representing the Universal Gate to the Outer Void.
 The Sigil of the
Gate

If you wish, anoint the sigil with your own blood to open and
empower the gateway, or simply focus on the image and
envision it as a portal to the realms Outside, calling forth
Nyarlathotep to guide you on the journey or to provide you
with allies that will guard and assist you in your travels.

Sit in a comfortable position or lie down and start relaxing.

Keep the sigil close, preferably within your sight. Breathe
rhythmically and slowly, focusing on the process of
breathing itself. Feel and see how your body is being filled
with flashing, electric energy, from the soles of your feet to
the top of the head. With each inhale the energy flows into
your body and makes it light. Continue this relaxation
practice until you feel that you are slowly floating up, above
your body.
The room looks different now, unreal and distant, and you can
see a black portal above, swirling and pulsating like a black
hole that devours and absorbs everything. As you float
above your physical body, you are pulled into the portal and
you drift to the other side. Now you are standing on a black
barren ground. There is nothing around, apart from black rocks
and withered plants. This is the plane between the mundane
world and the Outer Void where the Black Planet Yuggoth is
located.

Focus now on the incantation: In the name of

Nyarlathotep, I call forth the Mi-Go! Start chanting it in
your mind as a mantra and let yourself fall into a trance
while chanting. After a while you will feel that you are not
alone any more. The air around you will be filled with strange
colors and in your mind you will hear a voice coming from
dimensions unknown to man. Focus on the wish to travel to
the black planet Yuggoth, the realm of darkness and eternal
ice.

You will now see the Mi-Go, crustacean beings covered with
white fungoid fur and with large wings growing from their
backs. Only their hands and faces are bare and not covered
with this strange fur. Let them carry you up into the Outer
Void, through the stellar space, towards the planet Yuggoth.
You will recognize it by a huge dark purple moon existing close
to the planet.

The Mi-Go will carry you to the entrance into a black cavern
leading somewhere underground. The whole planet contains
myriads of caves and underground tunnels and corridors, lit by
dim red light. You can now start your own journey through the
Yuggothian Underworld, explore its hidden shrines and ancient
constructions.

When you feel ready to finish the journey, bring your

consciousness
back to your physical body. Open your eyes and close the
working.
Azathoth - Madness in the Centre of
Infinity
119
 Written together with Adam
Kociuk

...Outside the ordered universe, where no dreams reach; that last

amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and
bubbles at the centre of all infinity - the boundless daemon sultan
Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws
hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst
the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin,
monotonous whine of accursed flutes...
- H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown
Kadath -

Azathoth, the insane idiot-god, is one of the central

characters, and possibly, one of the most fascinating themes
in the Cthulhu Mythos. Each thesis, theory or research into his
true meaning leads to further confusion instead of explanation
or understanding, and his nature is far beyond limited patterns
of human perception. Like in the case of other gods who
constitute the foundations of the Necronomicon Gnosis, his
role provokes more questions than answers and it is hard to
find any other concepts that would appear as complex and
ambiguous as the ones attributed to Azathoth.

The idiot-god is described as the Prime Chaos, dwelling in

the centre of Infinity, amorphous and unrecognizable. He is
the Primum Mobile in Darkness, Confusion, he who descends
with thought and form, antithesis of creation, sultan of
demons. This description, derived from the Polish edition of
The Necronomicon, seems contradictory in itself, impossible to
understand and devoid of logic. How can a blind and insane
being reside on top of any pantheon of deities? How can a
being defined as chaos exist in one concrete place in cosmic

120
space, and how is it possible that he is a symbol of eternal
contraction and not dispersion?

121
How can a creator and ruler of the universe be the antithesis
of creation at the same time? Well, as we will see in this
chapter, there is a method in this madness.

General
Characteristics

And the Old Ones hold foul and formless Azathoth for Their
Master and
Abide with Him in the black cavern at the centre of all infinity,
where he gnaws ravenously in ultimate chaos amid the mad
beating of hidden drums, the tuneless piping of hideous flutes
and the ceaseless bellowing of blind idiot gods that shamble and
gesture aimlessly for ever.
- Al Azif
-

Azathoth is the blind and idiot Lord of the Universe and

the supreme god of all Great Old Ones, dwelling in the
centre of infinity, beyond angled space. As a king and
sovereign, he has his own court and servants, not less
grotesque than their ruler himself. They constitute a
pantheon of creatures, equally insane and idiot, who wander
mindlessly, in random movement, and like their master,
are deprived of sight. These beings, known as the Other
Gods, are responsible for all confusion and chaos around his
throne, and for the whining of flutes that brings madness
upon any mortal man. They are also called servants of the
Outer Gods. Not all of them are blind and mindless,
though, and in this group of Azathoths servants we find
such characters as the messenger-god Nyarlathotep who
fulfills the will of the Daemon Sultan in the universe. As a
cosmic being, Azathoth might be interpreted as a huge
black hole in the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, or a black
spiral vortex of ultimate chaos existing in the center of the
Void. On the other hand, this association has a significant
meaning, which will be discussed later.

A completely different theory is presented by Donald Tyson

in his Necronomicon, where he identifies Azathoth with the
sphere of the Sun (as the central character responsible for
the element of creation), and with the numerical value of
666, which is also the number of his magical square.
Similarly as the Sun, Azathoth radiates waves of energy, light
and heat, and none creature is able to look at him, apart from
Nyarlathotep. But even the Crawling Chaos is blinded by this
light and has to turn back immediately. The role of
Nyarlathotep is also different in this version of The
Necronomicon - he is not only the servant but also the twin
brother to Lord of All Things. Together they represent the
relationship between order (symbolized by Azathoth) and
disorder (represented by Nyarlathotep). According to Tyson,
they also represent the thesis and antithesis of creation,
because what Azathoth creates is continuously destroyed by
Nyarlathotep. It is believed that the Crawling Chaos will
slay his brother on the last day of the world, bringing the final
destruction upon the whole universe.

If we discuss these two basic principles of the Necronomicon

Gnosis, we should mention theories of Parker Ryan explaining
the name Azathoth as Nuclear Chaos. In this view,
Azathoth is compared to the second most important deity,
Yog-Sothoth - All in One and One in All, embracing all time
and space within himself. Together with Azathoth, they seem
to represent the cosmic space in the view of the Cthulhu
Mythos. While Yog-Sothoth represents the principle of
infinite expansion, Azathoth is the metaphor of infinite
contraction. Yog-Sothoth is the circle, Azathoth is the point. All
this constitutes the overall theory of Azathoth as nuclear
chaos, residing in the centre of the universe, emitting
chaotic and aimless radiation into all possible directions,
creating, destroying, and mutating everything on its way,
without any reason or logical pattern. This theory owes its
popularity to enthusiasts of chaos magic and their interest in
modern mathematical research into chaos principle and
quantum physics.

Worshippers of Azathoth are few and not much can

be said about them, apart from the fact that they are insane
maniacs and psychopaths. Some of their descriptions are
found in the source literature, in the writings of H.P.
Lovecraft, August Derleth and Ramsey Campbell.
Summoning Azathoth is considered extremely dangerous and
it is believed that it often brings doom upon the cultist.
Yet, when properly performed, it can endow the practitioner
with wisdom and powers beyond human understanding.
But nothing is certain among things related to this
capricious and chaotic god, and such theories should be
treated with caution. Among fanatical worshippers of
Azathoth we encounter e.g. insects of Shaggai, known as
Shan. In their temples, built in the shape of pyramids, they
create multi-dimensional gates so that Xada-Hgla
(Azathoths avatar they worship) could enter their world.

Discussing the role of Azathoth, we can also have a look at

descriptions from Lovecraft Tarot deck, where he
corresponds to the Fool and represents fearlessness,
imagination, open mind, and restless spirit striving towards
exploration of the unknown. Here we also find references to
carelessness, hazard, extravagance, and drug use. Probably
the most important information is the fact that he
represents the pure, raw energy, and the place where all
wisdom and oblivion are confronted. The best time to
summon the terrifying Azathoth is the day when the Sun is
in the sign of Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius, the Moon is waning,
and Mars and Saturn are in conjunction.

Flutes of
Madness

...The ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at whose centre

sprawls the blind idiot god Azathoth, Lord of All Things,
encircled by his flopping horde of mindless and amorphous
dancers, and lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a
demoniac flute held in nameless paws.
- H. P. Lovecraft, The Haunter of the
Dark -

Information about the piping of the demoniac flute, which

appears almost every time when Azathoth is mentioned, can
be found in Donald Tysons Necronomicon. In the book, the
author tells a legend explaining why the sound of the flute is
so irritating and abhorrent to human ears. The reason is that
the flute is cracked. When Azathoth blew the first great note
that began the outpouring of the worlds (according to this
legend he is the inventor of piping), the force of the sound
was so powerful that even the flute could not withstand it
and cracked.
Since that time, all that Azathoth creates with the sound of
the flute is imperfect and contains the element of chaos
within. The author also provides a metaphoric explanation of
the story: material things cannot be perfect and whole. Only
pure energy, amorphous and invisible, can be considered
perfect, which is symbolically represented by the breath
flowing with the sound of the flute. But following this point of
view, we might claim that all that exists in the objective and
subjective universe is imperfect, and only the Void and its
order are flawless. This is seen on the example of Azathoths
form - he manifests as a cloud of gas or fog, almost
amorphous and invisible, yet not pure energy in itself -
representing the imperfection of the creator.

Having in mind all the above-mentioned theories, we might

here refer to
another god whose flute was a significant symbol in magic
and history
- the ancient god Pan. Even though this comparison may seem
rather dubious, there are a few similarities worth discussing.
For instance, Pan can be associated with Azathoth because of
the name. In Greek, Pan means all, and Azathoth is called
Lord of All Things. Pan unites all elements and all principles
within his half-human half-bestial nature. His upper, human
part refers to the upper world - realm of the spirit and sublime
aspirations (the highest chakra Sahasrara and the spiritual
plane). The lower part of the body, because of its animal
symbolism, refers to the lower world - domain of impulses,
urges and instincts (the lowest chakra Muladhara). His horns
symbolize the Kundalini force and ability to transform and
unite the above and the below on the path of spiritual
progress. Pan is a universal deity embracing all aspects of
existence - both light and dark. Like Azathoth, he is the
metaphor of pure energy existing outside all predictions and
rationality, independent of all rules and laws. His piping
represents the role of music in cosmic harmony - it is the force
that tames the most savage forces of nature. In this case, we
might say that the sound of Azathoths flute represents not
only the principle of harmony and balance but also that which
exists outside of it, dark and chaotic vibrations of the Universe
B. Also, Pan is the mediator who guides his followers through
gates of darkness, chaos and night.
It is the Night of Pan that typifies the light of NOX, sphere of
primordial chaos, Prima Materia that existed before the act
of creation, timeless realm of all possibilities and all things.
He is the psychopomp, the one who leads further. This is
also what the flute of Azathoth stands for
- chaos and continuous movement. Even though imperfect,
its sound evokes vibrations that guide our consciousness
beyond frames of the illusory world, beyond limitations,
above false stability and artificial light.

The meaning of Azathoths flute can also be interpreted in a

completely different way. Again, we must pay attention to
the term nuclear chaos. As we have noticed before, the
nature of the Lord of All Things embraces radioactive
vibrations that bring chaos wherever they reach. Therefore,
we can claim that the sound of the flute is a subtle wave
that reaches dreams and minds of receptive individuals, just
like it was in the case of Lovecraft himself. This also implies
that the music of the flute announces the forthcoming
return of the Great Old Ones who communicate with their
terrestrial cults through these vibrations. This might prove
the initiatory nature of Azathoth himself
- his attempts to influence the evolution of humanity by
showing us the path beyond all limitations and barriers,
path to self-deification.

The piping can also be interpreted, in a more practical

sense, as one of ways to achieve a magical trance. As it is
widely known, certain ecstatic techniques of dancing, sacred
sex, overbreathing, drumming, and other methods that lead
to sensory overcharging, induce a condition of trance in
human mind. A similar technique is described in the Polish
edition of The Necronomicon as the Rite of Transformation
(based on P. Carrolls Conjuration of Azathoth). The
purpose of the ritual is to unite consciousness with the
Primal Scream from the Void, the amorphous shape of
Azathoth: Start screaming. Let its force flow from the
stomach and then possess your whole body. Feel how it
tears your body and mind apart. Let it continue until it
becomes the whole of your being. Then feel how the place
from which it came turns into a black swirling vortex. You
will free yourself from your personality.
Your mind will be possessed by thoughts alien to your
perception, and
your consciousness will be dispersed in cosmic abyss of
infinity.

Wisdom of Insane
Mind

Insanity is the highest form of wisdom. It does not know the

boundaries of reason and is not limited to false ideas of right and
wrong, good and evil. It is there like a free spirit of the deepest
knowledge.
- The gospel of insanity 2:1 Daemon
Deshemal -

Traditional virtue associated with rulers and kings is

wisdom. But what kind of wisdom can we expect from a
creature that is almost always described with such terms as
blind or idiot? The answer to this question may appear
surprising and useful to an open-minded individual. Once
again, we will start our interpretation from the meaning of
Azathoths name, this time referring to its etymology. One of
theories about this name is provided by Parker Ryan who
claims that it derives from the words Asa and Thoth. Both
words stem from ancient Egyptian language. Asa means
source (the similar name was attributed to one of gods
related to the beginning of time), while Thoth was the
Egyptian god of wisdom. Thus, when we put these words
together, the meaning of Asa Thoth is the source of wisdom.

But this does not answer the question what kind of wisdom it
is and what it can bring to the practitioner. However, there is
one more ruler called blind in certain contexts, namely
Samael, the prince of hell. In the apocrypha of John, found in
the library of Nag Hammadi, Samael is the third name of the
evil demiurge, the other names being Yaltabaoth and Saklas.
In this context, Samael means the blind god, representing
the motif of blindness popular among the Gnostics. Samael
was born from the mistake of Sophia who wanted to have her
own offspring without the Spirit. This interpretation does not
answer our question, either, but it tempts us to take a closer
look at the third Qlipha on the Tree of Night, the sphere called
Samael.
It is connected with questioning and reversing Gods
Creation and confronting doubts and hesitations. But how
and where should we seek answers to this intriguing
issue? The solution is just within the reach. Wisdom is
pure insanity, resulting in absolute freedom, laughter,
energy, courage, and ability to look behind the veil of
illusion that covers the true reality. How is it possible? Let us
ponder for a while on the nature of insanity. In the deepest
positive meaning, it is the ability to exist and act outside
laws and patterns of perception imposed by society and
upbringing. In this case I do not mean any mental disorders
or psychopathic behavior, although sometimes the border
between these kinds of insanity seems quite thin. When we
start to question the surrounding reality and begin the long
journey on the antinomian path, we cannot make anyone
else responsible for our actions, find excuses for our
weaknesses, or expect our problems to be solved by any
deity or spirits. In our mundane lives, we all are continuously
programmed to perform certain roles, fulfill certain patterns
of behavior, or even think in a controlled way. This leads to
stagnation and limitation of individuality and eliminates
alternative possibilities of individual development, apart
from the ones promoted by mass culture. Therefore, one of
the basic skills of a left hand path adept is to break free
from the socially imposed conventions and boundaries and
to re-program oneself, or in other terms - to re-create
oneself according to ones Will. It is possible only when we
manage to question the surrounding reality, deconstruct it
and build everything anew. This lays foundations for all
evolution and progress - in order to create something new
we must leave the old behind. The wisdom of insanity allows
us to step beyond mundane boundaries and limitations and
also beyond normal states of consciousness. It shifts our
minds onto levels inaccessible to mundane perception,
allowing for individual transgression. It is not without a
reason that we often speak about creative chaos or brain-
storming. We often realize that the best results are
sometimes achieved if we look at an issue from another
perspective. Have you noticed how often your best ideas
come from a sudden and weird inspiration which seems to
rise from nowhere and manifests before feelings are even
put into words?
Do you realize how often you pursue an apparently important
goal that after a certain amount of time turns out to be a mere
illusion?

The sound of Azathoths flute is the most perfect reflection of

this divine madness. It represents the breaking of all chains
and focusing on pure essence. Gods described in mythologies
exist outside human laws, limitations, or morality - for them
everything is possible - and this is the most important
wisdom they convey to their followers. Azathoth is the
metaphoric black hole in the centre of the universe that
precedes all manifestation. He is the first creative and
irrational impulse that crosses all barriers and arises from the
Void. He is the divine spark of insanity in man, the vehicle of
all progress. He represents direct contact with pure energy as
opposed to its illusive emanations. And finally, he symbolizes
the overcoming of illusion known as the Cosmic Joke -
existence has no predestined meaning unless we choose to
accept it. Madness in the centre of the universe is the emblem
of irrationality brought to its limits, providing unrestrained
ecstasy and absolute freedom.
 Invocation of Insanity

This working should not be attempted by a beginner. It is an

invocation of the principle of chaos and madness into the
inner mind of the practitioner. The purpose of this work is to
transgress limitations of reason and experience the totality
of the Irrational. During this working the ego and the
rational part of the mind will be left behind, and you will
face chaos hidden in the depths of the unconscious.
Manifestations of this force may be experienced in the form
of visions, hallucinations and dreams which will lead you to
the brink of insanity. It is important to keep awareness of
being in the magical condition and not to lose yourself in the
experience, as this may result in obsessions, delusions and
mental disorders. Observe events and phenomena with an
open mind and conscious perception, and know that your
efforts will be challenged and tested, depending on how
strong the experience will become. Yet, you must not
lose control over the working.

Weaken the boundaries of reason

The operation should take at least a few days (4-5 are

recommended) and during this time you should be alone,
separated from any interactions with the surrounding world:
other people, phone calls, the internet, TV, radio, etc. If
possible, conduct the working in a desolate place, in the
mountains, forest, or in the wilderness. Food provides
grounding energy, so keep a light diet or consider fasting
during the whole operation.
Do not use any substances that alter consciousness (drugs,
alcohol, medications). The experience should be generated
and controlled by your mind itself.

On the first day, burn heavy incense and invoke the

Lord of
Insanity
:

Ia Azathoth! Ia Azagthoth! Ia Asa

Thoth!

Daemon Sultan! Blind god of space! Chaos in the

centre of Infinity!
Formless master of confusion!
Nuclear Chaos!
I invoke
you!
Enter my
consciousness,
And let my mind merge with the amorphous chaos that
is your essence!

Ia Azathoth! Ia Azagthoth! Ia Asa

Thoth!

Come with your demonic flutes and

maddening piping!
I seek to become one of your
mindless dancers, And experience the
mad music of the spheres!
Let me taste your wisdom of
Insanity
And reach the source of madness in
my mind!

I seek to become one with the centre of

all things!
 With the Primordial
Chaos!

Ia Azathoth! Ia Azagthoth! Ia Asa

Thoth!

Azathoth! Open for me the gate to

Infinity,
To realms beyond all limitations and all boundaries!
Annihilate barriers of reason and let me float in the
ecstasy of the Irrational!

Ia Azathoth! Ia Azagthoth! Ia Asa

Thoth!
Meditate now on the nature of insanity and open your mind
for all visions and experiences that may come in the next
few days. You can combine this working with meditation on
Azathoths sigil, visualizing that the image is a gateway and
channel for the energies of the Daemon Sultan to enter
your ritual space. Azathoth comes as a whirling vortex of
chaos, oozing and amorphous, with countless tendrils and
tentacles shooting out of his atavistic body. Inside the vortex
there is silence and stillness, like in the eye of the tornado,
the place devoid of movement, existing beyond time. By
merging with his essence you may experience this stillness,
the feeling of being in the very center of the universe, where
nothing exists and all forms are manifested in the blackness
of the Void.

Push yourself to the limits

In order to enter magical trance and release your

imagination from the prison of reason, you have to exhaust
your organism and lose awareness of your physical body. It
is solely up to you which technique you will choose. This
can be lack of sleep, bloodletting (not recommended if
have little or no experience with this sort of practice), or
effort-demanding activities such as dancing, running, sex,
and others. Fasting and lack of food enhances results, as
well. You can also lead yourself into trance by self-hypnosis,
e.g. while listening to slow, repetitive, monotonous sounds
(such as drumming). Explore how your perception
changes under the influence of these practices. After
around 3-4 hours (it very much depends on your fitness and
techniques used) you will lose awareness of the objective
reality and start receiving impulses from other planes
and dimensions, arising from the depths of your
inner mind.
 Explore the
Irrational

During the whole operation explore each thought, concept,

feeling, or vision that will come to your mind. Analyze names,
attributes, associations, and try to reverse them and
experience the opposite. Switch your consciousness to the
Left Side, the Irrational. When you walk, imagine that you
are doing it backwards. When you sit, envision yourself in a
reversed position, with head pointed downwards. Write your
name and learn it backwards, with each letter separate, and
meditate on its meaninglessness until you lose the sense of
identity. You can also play music or read books backwards, in
order to experience the confusion and disintegration of
reason-based thinking.

Travel to the Centre of

Confusion

Spend at least 3-5 hours each day sitting in complete

darkness and chanting the name Azathoth as a mantra.
Visualize the vortex of black spiraling smoke entering the
room and feel how it lifts you up and you float to the centre of
Infinity. There, on a throne, sits the blind Daemon Sultan,
surrounded by insane dancers, among the maddening beating
of drums and mindless whining of flutes. Unite your
consciousness with this cosmic music and let your mind travel
freely between dimensions, galaxies and stars. Open yourself
to visions manifesting before you and remain in this dreamlike
trance until it ends in natural way.

Return to
reality

During the working you will probably lose the sense of time,
so end the operation when you feel it should be finished.
Ground yourself by performing mundane activities that you
abandoned for the last few days: cleaning, washing up, etc.
Stop fasting, have a decent meal and get a good, long sleep.
Take a bath or shower, and when you feel refreshed, close the
whole operation. You can do it e.g. by speaking words of
closing or burning the sigil used throughout the work.
At first, it might be difficult to switch to mundane reality,
but after a while you will adapt yourself again. Spend the
next few days on analyzing everything that happened
during the operation and write down your conclusions about
the nature and wisdom of insanity.

The Sigil of
Azathoth
 Dagon - Lord of Watery
Depths

Historical
Sources

Dagon as a deity appears in many ancient sources. He is often

identified with the West Semitic god of grains Dagan, and his
earliest depictions were found in the region of the Upper
Euphrates, dating back to ca.
3000 BCE. The main centre of Dagans cult was the city of
Mari located in the west of the Mediterranean Sea. The
Amorites regarded Dagan as one of the major deities and he
had many priests. It was believed that he spoke to his priests
through dreams, thus revealing his advices and orders
concerning religious matters and state affairs. His cult also
included ecstatic oracles, where priests called mahhm
contacted the god through dreams and visions. Dagans
consort was the Amorite goddess Belet-ekallim, Lady of the
Palace. The popularity of Dagans cult in Mari is reflected in
the titles assumed by the Amorite kings and nobles, such as
Izi-Dagan (The Servant of Dagan), Migir-(ilu) Dagan (The
Favourite of Dagan), Ili-(ilu) Dagan (My god is Dagan), or
Kakki-(ilu) Dagan (My weapon is Dagan).

But the cult of Dagan extended much farther than Mari. We

can find its traces in the whole Syria, Palestine and among the
Canaanites who brought it to Macedonia. The Sumerians
believed that Dagans consort was the goddess Shala, and
there are Mesopotamian texts that prove that he was
sometimes identified with Enlil - lord of mankind, earth,
agriculture, and fertility, the god who endowed humanity with
the gift of civilization. In a similar way, the people of ancient
Mesopotamia worshipped Dagan: he was a powerful chthonic
deity, lord of the earth and the ruler of the underworld, where
he presided over the deceased.
It was him who gave orders concerning sacrifices for those
who departed the world of the living. He was also the judge
of souls who set for their last journey to the land of the
dead.

Thus, apart from the common associations with water,

Dagon was also often regarded as an earth deity. Philo of
Byblos (42-117 CE) writes in his Phoenician History that the
word Dagon means grain, and the god himself is one of
the four children of Ouranos (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). In
the city of Ugarit, Dagan was believed to be the father of
Baal, god of nature who made the earth fertile, and also the
god of rain, storms and lightning. Dagan was a very popular
deity in Mesopotamia, often one of the leading gods in many
local pantheons. In the text called Dagon Rising. The Litany
of Dagon, Fra. Sadashtor
645 .
observes:

At Ebla (Tell Mardikh, 55 km south-west of Aleppo on the edge of

the Syrian Desert), the royal archives have revealed that Dagan
was the head of the pantheon of some 500 deities. He is referred
to as Be-dingir-dingir: Lord of the Gods and Bekalam: Lord of the
Land, and along with his consort - identified simply as Belatu:
Lady - he ruled over the temple complex called -mul: House of
the Star. One entire quarter of Ebla and one of its gates bore his
name, and the first month of the year was dedicated to him.
There are references to Dagan as being: Lord of Bulanu, Lord of
Tuttul, Lord of Irim, Lord of Ma-Ne, Lord of Zarad, Lord of
Uguash, Lord of Siwad and Lord of Sipishu. Also, Dagan is
called ti-lu ma-tim: The Dew of the Land and as Be ka-na-na, he
may already have been known as Lord of Canaan. One tablet
from Ebla mentions the preparation of silver for a white statue of
Dagan, but the statue itself has not been found.

One of the most known temples of Dagan was in Teqa, the

major centre of his cult. The temple was called ekisiga,
which meant House of Sacrifices (for the dead). Dagon
also appears in the Bible (The Old Testament) as the
main god of the Philistines.
His temples were located in Ashdod, in Ghaza, and in many
other towns of the southern Palestine.

The Old Testament, and particularly The Book of Samuel,

mentions a legend that justifies the superiority of Yahweh over
Dagon: the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant from Eben-
Haezer and placed it in Ashdod, in the temple of Dagon. On
the following day, when people came to the temple, everyone
saw the statue of Dagon lying on the ground before the ark.
They put it up again, but the next day the situation repeated:
the statue of Dagon was found lying face down to the ground,
the head and hands were cut off, lying on the threshold. Thus
Yahweh was thought to overcome the weak god of the
Philistines.

Nevertheless, Dagon was not only a god of earth. On the

contrary - in myths he appears most often as a water deity.
This might have been caused by the similarity of his name to
the Hebrew word dag (fish) - that is why he was presented
with a fish tail. Such images can be found on coins from the
North Phoenician town of Arados. This image of a half-fish
creature was the reason why Dagon came to be identified
with the Mesopotamian god Oannes. This figure is described
in the writings of a Babylonian priest named Berossus. Oannes
was the god who brought culture and knowledge to Earth,
taught humans masonry, crafts, and other domains of
civilization. According to a legend described by Berossus, the
Babylonian civilization was created by a race of amphibious
beings under the leadership of Oannes. He mentions a half-
fish half-man from the Erythrean Sea named Odacon, which is
another name for Oannes. Similar beliefs are encountered
among the Dogon tribe of Mali. They worshipped watery
beings resembling fish, or half-fish half-men. They called these
beings Nommo and gave them the title of Lords of Waters,
Teachers, or Supervisors. The Dogon believed that Nommo
resided in water and in order to survive, they had to spend
some time in water and some time on earth. According to
these beliefs, they came to Earth from a distant star - perhaps
Sirius. In the book The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple quotes
the account of Berossus who described these beings in the
following way:
That under the fishs head he had another head, with feet also
below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fishs tail. His
voice too, and language was articulate and human. And a
representation of him is preserved even to this day... And when
the sun had set, this Being Oannes, retired again into the sea, and
passed the night in the deep; for he was amphibious.

Berossus also attributes to them the title Annedoti

(disgusting), and describes them as half-demons, rather
than gods. The name Odacon itself may have originated
from the Sumerian Utukku, the term applied both to
benevolent spirits and evil demons, depicted with fish-like
attributes and believed to reside near watery vessels.

In this sense, Dagon and Oannes may be also identified

with the Babylonian god Ea or the Sumerian Enki. The name
Ea was interpreted as House of Water, and his
kingdom was located in Apsu, the underground ocean of
fresh waters which was also believed to be the domain of
fates and destinies. Ea was depicted as half-goat, half-fish
(the upper part of the body was that of a goat, the lower
was that of a fish). At the same time, however, he was a god
of earth, and his title was Nidimmud (begetter). This aspect
is yet more evident in the case of the Sumerian god Enki -
the lord of fresh waters and the ruler of the earth. In myths
and legends, Enki is described as the creator of human
beings and all vegetation, and his name means Lord of the
earth or Lord of the Pit, which has much in common with
the titles attributed to Dagon.

H.P. Lovecraft and The

Necronomicon

Then suddenly I saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its
rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters.
Vast, Polyphemus- like, and loathsome, it darted like a
stupendous monster of nightmares
to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the
while it
bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured
sounds.
- H.P. Lovecraft,
Dagon -
In the stories of H. P. Lovecraft we encounter Dagon in two
aspects: he is a terrifying fish-god in the story Dagon, and he
is also mentioned as the father and leader of the Deep
Ones. These beings lived on Earth before mankind even
appeared. They resemble humanoid fish, i.e. creatures of
human shape but with characteristic features of fish. Their
appearance is described in detail in Lovecrafts story Shadow
over Innsmouth, where citizens of this small seaside town are
presented as an offspring of relationships between humans
and the Deep Ones. They have characteristic fish eyes and the
body covered with scales, and also a specific smell of fish.
They view Dagon as the one who gave rise to the Deep Ones -
the ancient race endowed with an enormous intelligence that
built cities under the waters of seas and oceans. In the town,
there is even a cult devoted to Dagon, a sect named the
Esoteric Order of Dagon, worshipping Father Dagon and
Mother Hydra - two major deities of this ancient cult.
Children born of relationships with the Deep Ones, who live in
Innsmouth, do not die. When they are ready, they join their
families living in the underwater city of Yha-nthlei, where they
lose their human weaknesses and become as their ancestors:
strong, intelligent and immortal. Worshippers of Dagon
believe that one day he will rise and the race of his children
will rule upon the earth.

In this sense, Dagon also resembles Cthulhu, the forgotten

god lying dormant in the sunken city of Rlyeh. There is a
prophecy that when the stars are right, Cthulhu will rise and
rule the earth once more, and together with him the other
Great Old Ones will return: Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, Hastur,
Nyarlathotep, and Yog-Sothoth. Cthulhu is sometimes
identified with Dagon, but there are also myths, according to
which Dagon and the Deep Ones are his servants. This is the
claim of August Derleth, one of Lovecrafts followers in the
Cthulhu Mythos fiction. Dagon is also thought to be a
prototype of Cthulhu. In the Necronomicon lore, both Cthulhu
and Dagon are regarded as gods lying sleeping in underwater
cities. But thanks to their cults, they will be brought back to
life. Then the sunken cities will emerge from the oceans and
the ancient deities will rise together with their worshippers.
The gates of forgotten cities will open and those who sleep
will finally be awakened. This return of the Old Gods is
described by H.P. Lovecraft in his famous story The Call of
Cthulhu:

The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have
become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good
and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting
and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would
teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy
themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of
ecstasy and freedom.

The Cthulhu Mythos also mention a book about Dagon and

other watery entities. It is called Cthaat Aquadingen and
supposedly it is one of the most rare grimoires of the
Necronomicon lore. It contains a collection of spells and
rituals for calling water elementals and describes the cult
of Father Dagon and Mother Hydra. The book also gives
descriptions of underwater cities located near Ponape,
Innsmouth, the shores of Alaska, in the Northern Sea, the
Indian Ocean, and in other watery areas. Among these
cities, the most famous is Yha-nthlei, the residence of
Dagon and his children - the Deep Ones. Brian Lumley in his
Cthulhu Mythos books (the Titus Crow cycle) claims that the
term Deep Ones refers to all fish-like races who worship
Dagon and await his return. The best example of this cult
is the town of Innsmouth, where human cultists entered
marriages with the Deep Ones and their monstrous fish-like
offspring established the cult devoted to Dagon. They
brought their treasures from the depths, Innsmouth became
rich, and everyone had enough gold to buy whatever they
wanted. The worshippers of Dagon founded secret churches
where they performed ceremonies devoted to their god. A
similar story of a pact with the Deep Ones is presented in
the movie Dagon (2001). Also, Donald Tyson in his
Necronomicon
- the Wanderings of Alhazred writes about a special fancy of
the Deep Ones for human partners, especially women. In
return for their favors, they gift the brides with jewelry,
precious stones and metals.
Tyson identifies Dagon with Kraken or Leviathan, which,
however, is not entirely correct, as these sea monsters
possess different qualities and characteristics.

Also, his description of Dagons appearance is unlike

Lovecrafts. According to Tyson, he is covered with large silver
scales and has human hands webbed between the long
fingers. It is the same with his legs. His head is similar to that
of a dolphin and joined to the body without a neck. He has
only one eye, devoid of a lid, so it never shuts. Other
descriptions of Dagon encountered within the Cthulhu Mythos
lore depict him as a giant octopus-like creature, resembling
Cthulhu, but without wings, for he is only a water dweller. He
has giant black tentacles with which he grabs his enemies
and those who are brought to him as sacrifice.

In Tysons book, the cults of Dagon worship a sacred black

pillar, which is supposedly the source of his power. In other
Cthulhu Mythos stories, the Deep Ones are not given as much
attention as the other cults. Yet, they are described as entities
endowed with interesting talents. One of their special abilities
is the art of shape-shifting and they can assume any shape
they want, thus being able to hide their true appearance
before the eyes of enemies. This is suggested in the story The
Shuttered Room by August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft, where a
child of a human woman and a Deep One male is locked and
kept in hiding for many years, but finally escapes, assuming
the shape of a small frog or toad.

The Magical
Profile

Dagon is ascribed to the element of water. His direction is

West and his number is 777. As the father the Deep Ones and
other watery beings, he is a counterpart of Shub-Niggurath
(The Goat with a Thousand Young) who has a similar function
in relation to the element of earth. Thus we have another
similarity to Cthulhu, lord of watery abysses, who
communicates with his cultists through dreams and visions.
Rlyeh is thought to be located somewhere in the South Pacific
- and the elemental attribution of directions and elements for
Cthulhu is also West and water.
At least this is the most popular attribution (the other
attributions according to The Necronomicon are: Hastur -
East/air, Yog-Sothoth
-South/fire, and Shub-Niggurath - earth/North). As watery
deities, Dagon and Cthulhu represent the depths of the
unconscious, out of which the primal forgotten instincts
sometimes emerge to the light of consciousness. The
Cthulhu Mythos and the Necronomicon-related texts
describe this phenomenon as the Call of Cthulhu, a
message sent by the sleeping god to human beings through
the Deep Ones, under the leadership of Dagon. This
message is usually revealed as nightmares showing scenes
of what we consider disgusting, horrible, obscene, or
terrifying. Therefore, instincts represented by the Great Old
Ones are repressed and forced out of consciousness, stuck
deep in the lowest layers of the Self. That is why the Great
Old Ones are called dead but dreaming - these impulses
have never fully vanished, the only thing that disappeared
were the names, while the energies and instincts
represented by these names remain alive. They lie dormant
in the depths of consciousness, waiting for their
awakening. In Rlyeh, the dead Cthulhu lies dreaming and
waiting for his return, when the sunken city will rise from the
waters once again.

In the Tarot, Dagon is associated with the ATU XVIII: The

Moon, related to the letter Qoph and the zodiacal sign of
Pisces. It symbolizes the initiatory immersion in the sea of
the unconscious and confrontation with monsters and sea
beasts, leading to dissolution in the salty waters,
transmutation and rebirth. Upon standing on the shores of
the ocean, surrounded by poisonous plants and monsters
coming out of the waters, we realize that we are facing the
womb of the universe that gave birth to everything,
including us. Immersing oneself in this ocean is the act of
rejuvenation. The primeval sea monsters belong both to
water and earth - they are the bridge between the
unconscious (represented by the ocean) and the earthly,
mundane consciousness. In these waters, the amniotic fluid
of the universe, we are reborn as new beings, equipped with
new powers and vital energies.
Another Tarot ATU that can be associated with Dagon is The
Hermit
(IX). The name DGVN in Hebrew has the numerical value of
63, and
6 + 3 = 9 (the ninth ATU). This card is related to the letter
Yod, the sign of Virgo, and the influence of Mercury. Dagon
himself may be identified with Anubis, the guardian of the
twilight, the god who stands at the threshold. He is a guide of
souls travelling to Amenti, the underworld, and he is the one
who opens the way. Anubis is an aspect of Mercury, which is
the key to the magical profile of Dagon. Mercury as a
psychopomp represents the alchemical immersion in Darkness
in order to find the Light of illumination and to be reborn
again. Crowley, in turn, ascribes Dagon to certain aspects of
the ATU 0: The Fool and XIII: Death. These, however, are only
vague speculations.

In rites of magic, Dagon appears as an amorphous being,

sometimes with reptilian features, assuming the shape of a
primal, dinosaur-like creature, dragon, or giant lizard. Most
often, however, he manifests as a mass of writhing tentacles,
black and oozing. He brings forth visions of black waters and
dark seas, oceans of tar and temples with thick black slime
dripping from the walls. His sigils and depictions are
connected with the symbolism of Atlantis and it is not
uncommon to experience visions of monoliths, pyramids and
tridents through his rituals. The entrance to his underwater
temples is marked by black stones and obelisks, altars and
tables in the form of inverted pyramids, with the glyph of an
eye inscribed on their surface. His sigil combines this
Atlantean symbolism with the Draconian/Typhonian current of
the Void and its lunar, sexual imagery. Sexual energies are a
natural vehicle for Dagons current to manifest on the physical
plane and often sexual formulas and offerings of sexual fluids
are recommended in rites of evocation, to bring this primal
current to the earth. His foremost symbols are the Eye and the
Trident - the Draconian symbol of awakened consciousness
and the ancient emblem of authority and rule over seas and
oceans of the earth, traditionally associated with gods of
salty waters such as Poseidon or Neptune.
The awakening of Dagon-consciousness is also fierce and
frightening. Like the ancient lords of the sea, he stirs up that
which lies sleeping and opens the mind for the flow of
primal currents of Atlantis (or Rlyeh), symbolically depicted
as hordes of monsters and fiends waiting to invade the
world of man and reclaim their rule in the universe. This
image may not resemble the utopian picture of Atlantis from
the writings of Plato or ancient legends, but Atlantis is here
viewed metaphorically, as a reservoir of unconscious forces
within the human Self, and thus it has a deeper meaning,
connected with the symbolism of the Nightside and the
dark, sinister side of existence. Like the other Great Old
Ones, Dagon represents the energies that lie dormant deep
in dark abysses of human consciousness. As an Atlantean
god, he represents the authority over the black sea of the
unconscious, and his waters are the symbol of the gate
through which we can access spaces and dimensions where
the ancient deities lie dead but dreaming - both in the
macro - and the microcosmic sense.
 Invocation of
Dagon

Stage 1:
Preparations

This stage of the ritual takes three days. Dedicate these days
to preparations, collecting items needed for the ritual and
adjusting your mind to the energies flowing through the
magical mirror that is used as a focal point of this part of the
operation. On the day you decide to perform the working,
start preparing the temple/room for the ritual. Decorate your
altar with objects connected with the sea: shells, stones, sea
water in the chalice, a blue piece of cloth, etc. The altar
should be oriented to the West, so while facing the altar, you
also face this cardinal direction. Prepare a mirror, large
enough for you to gaze into - you will use it as a gate through
which you will communicate with the deity. Another item
needed for the working is the Tarot ATU XVII, The Moon. The
deck is your individual choice. I suggest you use the card
from the deck you work with most often and with which you
have a good and natural contact. Place the mirror in vertical
position and put the card in such a way that it is reflected in
the mirror. You should see the cards reflection comfortably
and without any strain while gazing into the mirror. The sigil
of Dagon should be drawn or painted on paper or stone -
preferably with sea colors - blue and green, combined with
black and gold - feel free to follow your intuition.

Once all tools and props are prepared, proceed to the scrying
meditation. Light two black candles and place them on the
altar, on both sides of the mirror. If two candles are not
enough, you can use more. Sit in a comfortable position and
start gazing into the mirror, seeing the reflection of the Tarot
card. Make the sign of Kish and start chanting the words of
opening Zazas Zazas Nasatanada Zazas.
Feel and see how the mirror becomes a gate through which
the energies from the realm of Dagon are flowing towards
you. Meditate on the card and its reflection and open your
mind to impulses flowing through the gate and visions
manifesting in the mirror. Whisper the name Dagon and
send the deity a message inviting him into your temple
and your consciousness. If you do not feel comfortable with
this scrying practice, simply close your eyes, bring the
image of the card to your inner sight, and open yourself to
whatever may come now. Enter the landscape of the card
and explore it. Let the visions flow freely and do not force
anything. Feel Dagons presence around and perhaps you
will also meet him in your vision. Let it happen, and when
the vision is over, thank him for his presence and close
the working for the day. Repeat the same meditation for the
three consecutive days of preparation.

Stage 2: Preliminary Working

This meditation will prepare you for the merging of your

consciousness with the energies of the deity. Here we will
use the sigil of Dagon. You can also have two or more
candles on your altar - light as many as you need to see
the image without straining your eyes. Stand or sit down,
take the sigil in your hand or place it in front of you, and
gaze at it, chanting the words of calling: Dagon Yha-
nthlei Fhtagn. If you wish, you may anoint the sigil with
your own blood to empower the working. Visualize that the
image becomes a portal through which the energies of the
watery current of Dagon flow into the room and back, to the
Outer Void, taking your thoughts and emotions through the
gateway, carrying the intent of the ritual - in a similar way
as it was done on the days before. When you get familiar
with the image enough to build it in your inner mind,
close your eyes and put your hands on the sigil, letting the
force flow through the palms of your hands into your body,
like a stream of water, spreading all over and transforming
you into a water elemental. Envision your body becoming
transparent, glowing and flickering with the green-blue
energy of the watery current. Visualize water all around
and breathe it in, as naturally as you would breathe air.
Let yourself slip into a trance and when it is over, return to
your mundane consciousness or fall asleep - perhaps the
working will bring you dreams inspired by Dagon.

Stage 3: The
Invocation

For this ritual, light nine black candles and burn suitable
incense (e.g. lotus or a chosen sea fragrance). The altar
should contain all prepared decorations, including the chalice
with salty water, the tools you usually employ in your rituals,
and the sigil of Dagon.

The Sigil of
Dagon
Begin to gaze at the sigil and try to feel its energies,
visualizing it as a gateway to the watery current of Dagon.
Start chanting the mantra Dagon Yha-nthlei Fhtagn
while gazing at the image until you feel that the gate is
opened and energies are flowing into the room and back, to
the Outer Void. When you feel ready and the atmosphere in
the room is charged with the energies of the current, begin
the ritual.

The
Ritual

Make the Sign of Voor and recite the

incantation:

I call forth Dagon, Ancient Lord of Waters from his

residence in
Yha-
nthlei,
And I seek to experience the nature of his
timeless force!
MAY THE RITUAL
BEGIN!

I invoke the Beast of

the Sea!
Father of the Deep Ones who endows his worshippers
with wealth and longevity!
Lord of dark waters dwelling in the underwater city
of wonders!

I summon
Dagon,
He who stirs waters and reveals mysteries of
the depths!
Let me sink into your salty waters - the source of
primal power and forgotten wisdom!
I seek the ancient knowledge of
Yha-nthlei!
Reveal to me secrets of power and give me treasures
of wisdom! Transform me into your child and grant
me the power over the sea of the unconscious!
I wish to be reborn in the womb of
Primal Ocean!
Hear me as I call your
name:
 Dagon! Dagan! Be-dingir-dingir! Bekalam! Ti-lu ma-
tim! Beka-na- na! Oannes! Odacon! Lord of Bulanu,
Lord of Tuttul, Lord of Irim, Lord of Ma-Ne, Lord of
Zarad, Lord of Uguash, Lord of Siwad, Lord of Sipishu!
Come
forth!

Envision now that you cut your hand and your blood flows
into the chalice with salty seawater as an offering. You can
actually do it if you choose to, but it is not necessary.

Our Father
Dagon!
Awaken and
rise,
Let your kingdom on earth flourish like it was in
the old times!
Lord of Yha-
nthlei!
Master of primeval instincts, unconscious impulses,
dark shadows of my soul!
Come forth at my
calling!

Ia Dagon! (3
x)

I become now a creature of the sea,

Manifestation of the Black Waters of
the Void, Silent and overwhelming!
Dagon
!
Enflame me in your timeless
essence!
 Meditatio
n

Now, sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Start

breathing slowly and when you feel relaxed, begin the
following visualization. Envision yourself floating over or
swimming in a dark sea at night. There is a thick black mist
all around and it feels like swimming in mystical, unrealistic
waters of astral energy. You drift (or swim) towards a
monolith rising out of water and shining in the moonlight.
The monolith is shaped like a huge octopus creature with
human hands stretched out and joined together, as if
awaiting a gift or sacrifice.

Envision yourself now holding the chalice from your altar -

filled with salty water mixed with your own blood. Pour the
liquid onto the hands of the statue and dive into the water.
Follow the trace that is left by the blood in the water - it
leads down, towards the bottom of the sea.

You swim down until you approach a cavernous entrance

leading to an underwater tunnel, and then - to a huge
underwater chamber. It is carved in stone and devoid of
water, lit by a strange green light, the source of which is
unknown. There is only a watery pool in the centre of the
chamber, a deep well that extends to the utmost depths of
the ocean. While gazing into the well, you can see that the
water in it becomes red, as if the sacrificial blood poured
onto the hands of the statue found its way here, into this
mysterious cavern. Shout the name Dagon and observe
the well.

Suddenly, you notice black writhing tentacles shooting out

of the well and grasping you. You are pulled under the
water, into the depths of the well. You feel dizzy, but after a
while this feeling disappears. You are now one of sea
creatures: you have gills, webbed fingers and toes. You
can breathe, see and move smoothly in the water.
Explore this feeling and enjoy the powers awakened through
the communion with Dagon. Open your senses for his voice
and see the world with his eyes. Open yourself to the
experience and let him guide you through the waters of the
unconscious.

When you feel it is time to end the meditation, leave the

waters and return to your temple and your mundane senses.

Stage 4:
Closing

When you wish to close the whole operation, destroy the sigil
that was used in the ritual, clean the temple and ritual tools.
You may also choose to perform a banishing. If you would like
to continue the working in dreams and experience
manifestations of Dagon through dreaming visions, let
yourself fall asleep during the meditation and leave the
cleaning for the following day. Write down all visions, thoughts
and observations related to the ritual and keep them for your
records and for the further work with the god.
Necromancy in the Cthulhu
Mythos
151
 Where in times past the Old Ones have stained the earth with
Their curse, the dead shall know not the peace of the grave.
- The Rlyeh Text
-

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism by Lewis Spence gives the

following definition of necromancy: divination by means of
the spirits of the dead, from the Greek word nekos, dead;
and manteria, divination. Necromantic practices, however,
embrace a much wider spectrum of techniques than solely
divination. The art of necromancy rests on evocation and
communion with the dead, interactions with discarnate souls,
rites held at night in desolate vaults and crypts - with the
use of bones and remains of those who lie there, exploration
of hidden passages to the dark realms of the Underworld.
Spirits of the dead reside in-between waking and dreaming
dimensions and can be used by the sorcerer as messengers of
the Other Side.

The Nature of Necromancy in the

Mythos

Necromancers presented in the fiction of the Cthulhu Mythos

are powerful magicians who have solved the mystery of life
and death, gained control over all phenomena related to dying
and can summon the dead and communicate with discarnate
souls. This is shown, for instance, in the stories of Clark Ashton
Smith. In The Empire of The Necromancers, we encounter two
extremely powerful magicians, Sodosma and Mmatmuor,
who raise the whole kingdom of the dead in order to
obtain their service. A similar picture is presented in
Necromancy in Naat where the main protagonist, the
young prince Yadar, sets on a journey in search of his
abducted betrothed.

152
His ship, however, never reaches its destination and crashes
in the waters of what is called the Black River near the
Isle of Naat, the land of necromancers. The mysterious
island is inhabited only by necromancers and the dead
who are raised and controlled by their sorcery. The
catastrophe of the ship was caused by the same
necromancers, as they could also control weather and the
sea waters by means of their spells. Their chanting led the
ship to crash at the shores of the Isle of Naat. Clark Ashton
Smith describes the ritual of raising the dead in the
following way:

Then, in the ashy sand by the wayside, they drew a threefold

circle; and standing together at its center, they performed the
abominable rites that compel the dead to arise from tranquil
nothingness and obey henceforward, in all things, the dark will of
the necromancer. Afterward they sprinkled a pinch of magic
powder on the nostril-holes of the man and the horse; and the
white bones, creaking mournfully, rose up from where they had
lain and stood in readiness to serve their masters.

As the author explains, the resurrected corpses suffer a

miserable fate: they cannot recall their former existence and
their present state is empty and shadow-like. They have no
emotions, passions, desires, sense of joy, or happiness.
Their only feeling is the black languor of their awakening
from Lethe, and a gray, ceaseless longing to return to that
interrupted slumber. They also have no free will and are
completely dependent on those who raised them from the
dead.

But sometimes the corpses awakened from the deadly sleep

are still driven by emotions, as H.P. Lovecrafts story In
the Vault shows. The story presents a man who was
awakened from death by hatred and desire for vengeance.
He manages to imprison in his crypt the dishonest
undertaker who cut his legs down from ankles because he
was too tall to fit the coffin. In revenge, the dead man
severely injures the undertaker.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, the dead are raised not only by
magical spells. Lovecrafts story Reanimator presents a
method of resurrecting people by means of a chemical
substance. The protagonist, Herbert West, is not a magician
but a scientist, working on a medicine that would bring the
dead back to life, reanimate them. The results he achieves,
however, are not very far from the effects of necromantic
practices, and so is also the nature of his work. Together with
his assistant he hunts for fresh corpses, digs dead people out
of their graves, and does not hesitate to kill a person in
order to have a material for his experiments. The
reanimated people turn out to be bloodthirsty monsters,
devoid of any intellect or reason and unwilling to obey anyone.

A skillful necromancer also defeats ones own death. Although

the physical body dies, the soul may escape the blackness
and oblivion of death and possess the body of another human
being. This situation is described by Lovecraft in the story
The Tomb. One of magicians from the Hyde family, famous
for their blasphemous rites and black magic practices, is burnt
alive during a fire that breaks out in their house. His soul,
however, enters bodies of other people and lives in them.
Finally, he takes full control of a young man who becomes
fascinated with the Hydes family tomb. The possessed youth
sleeps in the coffin and gradually starts to resemble the
necromancer who occupies his body and mind. He even
acquires an archaic accent and recollects events from distant
past as if he witnessed them in person. Finally, he discovers
the mystery of his behavior and longs to rest among corpses
of his ancestors.

The theme of men and women possessed by souls of powerful

magicians is recurrent in Lovecrafts stories. We encounter a
similar motif in The Lurker at the Threshold, written in
collaboration with August Derleth, in which a black magician
escapes death by entering bodies of his descendants and
slowly taking control over their minds. Richard Billington, the
magician, is also a necromancer, which he proves by raising
his faithful Indian servant who has been dead for over two
centuries.
A similar theme of possession returns in The Thing on the
Doorstep where a powerful necromancer swaps his soul with
the soul of his young daughter at the moment of his death.

These practices, however, belong rather to the fictitious

side of the Mythos, and neither The Necronomicon nor the
related texts reveal any concrete methods for resurrecting
someone from the dead. There are other, more suitable
practices if one wishes to experiment with necromancy.

The God of Necromancy

How to obtain a desired woman? Kill her and raise her

back from the dead as an obedient zombie, deprived of
free will. This solution is offered in the story The Charnel
God. Abnon-Tha, a skillful necromancer, slays his beloved
Arctela with a deadly spell and plans to raise her from
the dead as his slave. But this is only a part of the story.
Clark Ashton Smith introduces here the god of death and
necromancy: Mordiggian, the Charnel God. This Great Old
One resides in the Dreamlands, in the town of Zul-Bha-Sair,
where his main temple is located. His cult dates back to
years that are lost to mans memory in shadow deeper than
the subterranes of his black temple. Everyone who dies in
the town of Zul-Bha-Sair belongs to him. The dead are taken
by his priests and laid on a vast table of stone to await his
coming from the nether vault in which he dwells. Then he
devours them, which is why he is called the eater of the
dead. There are no tombs, graves, catacombs, funeral
pyres, and other burial places in the town - all corpses are
given to Mordiggian. Clark Ashton Smith describes him as
an impersonal force akin to the elements - a consuming
and cleansing power, like fire. He appears as a colossal
shadow, a bulk of darkness, black and opaque. His form is
that of a worm-shaped column, huge as a dragon, its further
coils issuing from the gloom of the temple, but he changes
from moment to moment, swirling and spinning as if alive
with the energies of dark eons. His appearance fills the
temple with a chill of utter death and the dread of
emptiness.
He sometimes visits the waking world through labyrinthine
tunnels connecting all tombs and crypts on the earth. His
priests are also characteristic. No one has ever seen their
faces, as they wear skull-like masks of silver and dress in long
violet robes. They also cover their hands. They live in the
temple and leave it only to perform their funeral duties. No
one knows where they come from - many believe that they are
both male and female and thus renew their number from
generation to generation. Another rumor has it that they are
not human beings at all but an order of subterranean earth-
entities who never die and who feed upon corpses like the god
himself.

One might ask why to work with the god of death. Let us not
forget that death is a part of life and is intertwined with life
like two threads of the DNA code. One cannot exist without
the other: there is no death without life and no life without
death. A ritual based on death energies may serve several
purposes: we may attempt a death invocation as a rite of
entropy and destruction or a curse cast on a chosen victim, or
we may invoke death god-forms for the sake of knowledge and
understanding of dying and afterlife. In the second case, we
invoke symbols and concepts associated with death in order to
get at ease with dying and transform fear and anxiety that is
usually related with it into creative life-force. Here I will
present a ritual of Mordiggian, the purpose of which is to gain
knowledge about death and its aspects personified by the
Charnel God.

Necromancy in
Practice

Various versions of The Necronomicon and related texts based

on the Cthulhu Mythos stories present us with a wide choice of
necromantic practices. Starting from simple techniques of
scrying, through calling forth spirits of dead animals and
humans, we come to more demanding practices such as
communication with gods of death themselves. The Cthulhu
Mythos mention many undead creatures and spirits that
cannot rest in their graves but wander upon the face of
the earth.
Such phantoms may be encountered - either intentionally,
through magical practices, or accidentally, when they
appear by themselves and at their own will. Among them,
the Mythos mention ghouls that dwell in the shadow-world
of phantasms, serpent-like lamiae, clawed harpies, vampiric
creatures, ghosts, and apparitions. Also, dead sorcerers do
not always rest peacefully - those buried with their faces
downwards and their hands spiked with iron may still
release their spirit through dark passageways and haunt the
world of the living. By their power and necromantic art they
shape the marrow of their bones to form serpents or great
lizards that feed upon noisome remains, and thus appear
before the eyes of the living. A few of the most common
necromantic practices are listed below.

Scryin
g

In The Rlyeh Text we come across a technique of observing

spirits of the dead through a special speculum - vessel in
which their images are ensnared. To prepare it, one must
have a vessel of crystal glass in the form of an alchemists
retort. The complicated process of preparation of the
magical mirror must begin on the day and hour of the
Moon and when the Sun is in the House of the Scorpio.
With a powder made from diverse herbs and sea water one
has to fill the vessel and consecrate it with a special
incantation. In this mirror the sorcerer will be able to see
apparitions of spirits and souls of the dead. The magical
speculum was supposedly invented by magicians of the Vale
of Zurnos, a mysterious land somewhere in the Outer Void.

Necromantic
Evocation

The sorcerer can summon spirits of dead animals, as well as

human souls. Animal spirits may be evoked when one needs
to learn something from them - their language, certain
secrets or specific skills. This is also the first step to learn
the art of shape-shifting into animal form. The formula of
evocation in both cases includes special preparations.
In case of animal spirits, this is the eating of a special mixture
prepared from lake water, ale, wine, oil, opium, honey,
tobacco with butter, euphorbia, and the hair of a dog, cat and
fox. In case of a human soul, preparations are more
demanding and complicated. First, one has to create a
Shoggoth, a demonic servitor that would search the earth to
find the grave and the real name of a person. If one wishes to
evoke a dead sorcerer, the Shoggoth is not enough - one has
to evoke Durson (one of Yog-Sothoths servant spirits) and ask
the demon to reveal the real name of the dead magician. Then
one has to obtain the ashes of the dead person and put them
in a vessel that should be left aside for a month. After that
time, during which one has to recite several incantations, the
sorcerer is finally ready to speak to the desired spirit. The
dead may reveal many secrets, especially if it is the spirit of a
powerful sorcerer.

How to Make Use of a Corpse

Do not bury the corpse! Even if a person is dead, you can still
use the body for magical purposes - for instance, you can
leave it as an offering to feed entities from the Outer Void.
These forces, as The Rlyeh Text explains, have lost their flesh,
but their desire for the essence of matter remains and long
unremembered lusts burn with ravenous ferocity. Therefore,
to feed them, one has to prepare the cadaver: recite an
incantation to summon the Yoth fly that will enter the dead
body and dwell there for one hundred and ninety days. From
its decay shall rise the nine worms of Iscuxcar that shall gnaw
until only the essence remains. This essence can serve as an
offering to dark entities. From the ashes of the cadaver one
can also make the Powder of Desiccation, a magical substance
that causes mummification when sprinkled on any corporeal
being.

Donald Tyson in his Necronomicon: The Wanderings of

Alhazred presents another method of making use of a corpse.
According to him, one can learn all secrets and knowledge of a
dead person by eating the flesh from the corpse. When eating
of a wizard, one can even acquire his magical powers.
An example of such powerful wizard is Nectanebus, the
last king of pure Egyptian blood, who lies in his tomb near
Memphis. Many sorcerers travelled to the tomb to eat a
piece of his corpse and learn his ancient wisdom, power and
memories. Thus, only a few pieces of flesh have been left
now: two fingers, the nose, ears, and no one has ever dared
to touch the stone disk that covers the groin of the wizard.

Summoning of a Dead Deity

The magician can also summon a dead god. This ritual has
to be performed in a secret place, without windows, or with
only one window in the northern wall, and there should only
be one lamp lit on the altar. The Simon Necronomicon
provides a long formula to be recited in the ritual. It must be
spoken only once. And if the deity does not appear, it is a
sign that it is somewhere else and the ritual must be
finished quietly.

Travelling to the Underworld

The magician can summon spirits of the dead to ones own

dimension, or one may travel to the Underworld to meet
discarnate souls and communicate with them in their own
world. The Simon Necronomicon explains that one has to
open the Gate of Ganzir, the entrance that leads to the
Seven Steps into Cutha, the Underworld. When this is done,
one may hear the wails and laments of the shades that are
chained there and the shrieking of the Mad God on the
Throne of Darkness. Ganzir is the residence of Ereshkigal,
the mistress of the Underworld, the dark goddess of the
dead. When the communication with the spirit is over, the
soul has to be sent back to its place. Also, no attempt
should be made to free the spirit because this would be
violation of the Covenant that sustains the balance and
harmony in the universe. There is even a threat of a terrible
curse upon the magician and his descendants in case he
does not abide the law of the Covenant.
 The Arrow of
Ghat

De Vermis Misteriis describes another way of searching for

the grave of a dead sorcerer. A commonplace person is unable
to locate graves of powerful sorcerers because they are buried
on the hidden side of reality, in unseen dimensions of the
universe. The tool that makes the search of such a grave
possible is a special arrow that should be carefully prepared
and consecrated. This is a long and complicated task. At first,
the magician has to make an arrow of pure iron and dig a pit
in the ground. The pit must be filled with corpses of dogs,
men and rats, and left until the corpses begin to decay. Then
one has to pour tar over the rotting flesh and burn it. While it
is burning, a special ceremony must be performed. Finally, the
search may begin. On a rainy day, the magician, clothed in a
hooded woolen cloak, with a special amulet around the neck,
is allowed to begin the trip. During the search, the magician
moves along so called Dha lines, eleven lines that connect all
directions and power zones of different parts of the universe.
The sound and the color of the lines leads the traveler to the
hidden grave of a sorcerer, while the arrow points the right
direction. After the grave is found and the corpse is dug out,
the magician should break the left and the right shin-bones of
the skeleton and take scrolls with magical knowledge that are
supposedly hidden in the bones of sorcerers. One scroll is the
key to understanding of all Dead Dialects, the other contains
secrets of sorcery. De Vermis Misteriis also explains that the
sorcerer who found the burial shroud should be buried in the
same grave in the end of ones days.

Priests of
Nyarlathotep

In Tysons Necronomicon, Nyarlathotep is the god of

necromancers, and his priests are the most skillful
magicians in the art of death. They appear as robed and
hooded in black, and they keep their faces wrapped in a
veil of black silk to imitate the garments of their master. They
seldom speak but communicate with one another by means of
gestures. They worship their god by sacrificing their own
blood, gashing their arms with knives in front of their
masters statue.
These necromancers use only corpses of wizards and people
of royal blood because these can reveal the hiding places of
rare books and treasures buried in the earth, and also
because dead wizards can teach the necromancers their
spells. Their method of resurrecting a corpse is unlike any
other: first they cut the chosen corpse in parts and boil
them in clean water for a full day and night. The flesh is
boiled together with linen wrappings. It is softened and
made fluid by the heat so that it gradually becomes
liquefied. Then, the necromancers add a special elixir to the
water to soften and dissolve the bones and the flesh. Finally,
the water is allowed to boil out and what remains in the
cauldron is a white, crystalline material, known as the
essential salts. From this powder the living body of a
person can be reconstituted and made to serve as a vessel
for the soul that is called back into the flesh by words of
power. A person resurrected this way is the same as at the
end of ones life and can reveal to the necromancers ones
knowledge until one is completely exploited. As the
author of the book writes, Those who are reanimated by
the priests of Nyarlathotep are never permitted to die, save
by mischance, until they have offered up all their
knowledge, and the priests are satisfied that they have
nothing more of value to give.

Creating
Zombies

Another category of necromancers mentioned in Tysons

book are worshippers of Yig and Tsathoggua, shamans of the
black race of Khem. They have the power to raise corpses of
the newly dead and animate their bodies. By means of
magical spells they invoke demonic spirits to dwell in the
vessel of decaying flesh, making a zombie from the corpse.
The spirits endow the zombie with strength and make it
obedient to the shamans who have called them. During the
day, the zombies lie in boxes or shallow graves. The
shamans call them to perform a task by means of a sound of
the whistle made from thinner bone of a human forearm.
The usual task is to murder someone. When the walking
corpse is summoned, the shaman leads it to the intended
victim and hands the zombie an object that belonged to the
chosen person.
This can be hair, nail parings, sweat-stained garment, a
sandal, or a dried piece of excrement. Through contact with
such items the zombie knows how to recognize the person
who is to be killed. Only the shamans cannot be attacked
because they are protected by the power of the whistle. Such
zombies serve their master until the spirits are called away, or
until the vessel of flesh eventually falls into a putrid mass and
decays.

Soul
Bottles

The power of creating soul bottles is granted by the goddess

Shub- Niggurath to her worshippers. It is a skill in sole
possession of women. By means of magic they can summon
and capture souls of the dead into bottles of glass. A soul
imprisoned in the vessel is obedient to the owner of the bottle
and reveals all wisdom it possessed during life, and also all
knowledge of life after death. When the soul is unwilling to
give away its secrets, the witch can heat the bottle over fire,
which makes the imprisoned soul suffer tortures of hell, and it
eventually agrees to all wishes of its master.

The bottles should be about half a cubit in height and a span

in width, with straight sides and a leather stopper sealed with
green wax. The glass should be colorless and transparent. The
lower portion of the bottle is filled with the urine of its maker
that provides a tangible body for the captured soul. Into the
urine, the witch places bits of hair, skin, fingernails, and bone
from the corpse, and a few drops of her own blood, shed
during the ritual in which the soul is summoned. The ritual
should be performed during the new moon, when the power of
Shub- Niggurath is most potent, at a high place in the open
air. The witch inscribes with a black ink upon the palm of her
left hand the name of the soul she wants to enslave, and on
her right hand her own name. Then she prepares the bottle
with the relics of the dead and hot urine, and sheds seven
drops of blood into it. Finally, she speaks the name of the dead
person and recites a special incantation. When all is done, she
seals the bottle with wax.
The soul bottle may be used in many ways. It is made not
only to obtain secrets from a dead person, but the witch also
draws strength from the soul itself - both the life essence
and the force of will. With each additional soul captured, the
power of the witch grows. The imprisonment of the soul can
also be a horrible punishment upon enemies of the witch,
for the soul in the bottle suffers extreme torments and
agony.

Concluding
Notes

These are a few examples of the nature and practical

aspects of necromancy in the Cthulhu Mythos and popular
versions of The Necronomicon. I leave it to the individual
choice of the reader whether to experiment with these
methods or not. I certainly do not recommend a literal
interpretation of the above-mentioned examples. The most
vivid picture of necromancy is described in Tysons
Necronomicon, in which Abdul Alhazred is presented as a
necromancer and the master of ghouls, eaters of the dead.
He wanders through the desert and explores hidden towns,
dimensions and secret places that can be found in the
Empty Space, the desert that is described as a lover of
the dead and a hater of all things that have life. One can
find there demons eating flesh of the dead, guardians of
tombs and ancient spirits coming with nocturnal winds. It is
the true home of the necromancer: graves, the night, the
stars, the wilderness, the scent of freshly turned earth, and
the cries of the ghouls. As the author of the book says:

Fill yourself with corruption and from it you shall be reborn, even
as the fungi arise and glow with radiance on the faces of the dead
who have rested in their tombs a span of years. Emulate the
beetles and worms, and learn their teachings. Eat of the dead, lest
you be consumed by the emptiness. The living cannot teach the
dead, but the dead can instruct the living.
 The Charnel
God

The manner of calling and communion with Mordiggian, the

Charnel God, rests on invocation of death-force, the black fire,
or the Tantric concept of the Black Kundalini - the force
opposite to the Red Kundalini that represents the life-principle
and vital energy of man. To call him into the temple, one
needs six skulls - preferably real human skulls. They should be
placed in a circle. In the middle of the circle the practitioner
needs to put a source of the flame - a candle, a vessel filled
with alcohol that will be burnt during the ritual, or an old-style
lamp. One should sit inside the circle and chant the calling Ia
Mordiggian, Ia Charnel God! until the flame burns down.
Then, in complete darkness, the Charnel God will rise as a
dark, phantom flame, growing and taking shape of a living
shadow. His dark flame is the shadow reflection of the warmth
and brightness of fire. It is cold, empty, devouring, and ever-
hungry. He will enter the body of the conjuror through the
mouth, filling it from the inside, taking over the senses and
revealing visions and powers through the eyes of the inner
mind. He can also be called through rites of invocation, using
the example provided here or through a personal incantation
written by the practitioner.

Invocatio
n

This ceremony is a rite of passage and inner

transformation by the black fire of the Charnel God.
Mordiggian is a death god-form from the Cthulhu Mythos. He is
a destructive and vampiric entity, and it is not recommended
to attempt this working by unbalanced and disturbed
individuals.
Prepare the ritual space so that you could easily feel the
death atmosphere: place skulls and bones on the altar,
decorate the room with black colors, use all possible
symbols and things associated with death. Light black
candles and burn suitable incense (e.g. myrrh). Place the
sigil of Mordiggian in the central place of the temple - it
should be painted in white or silver on a black or dark purple
background.

The Sigil of
Mordiggian
 Focus on the sigil, anoint it with your blood to attract and
feed the vampiric forces of the Charnel God, and envision that
the image becomes a gateway for the death current of
Mordiggian. When you feel ready to start the ceremony, recite
the following incantation:

By the power of my blood, the Blood of the Ancient

Ones, I invoke Mordiggian - lord of the Black Void,
master of the Final Rite, devourer of decaying corpses!
Come forth, black god of the dead, shadow lord who
comes with the last breath to embrace the soul with
ultimate darkness!

I summon Mordiggian! The Charnel God! Dweller in

the crypts of Zul-Bha-Sair and lord of forgotten
priests of the black temple. Your cult was born in the
beginning of time, through aeons unknown to human
knowledge. Open for me the door to your temple, guide
me to your priests whose faces have never been seen
by anyone! Manifest unto me in your spectre shape
and fill this room with the chill of eternity!

I seek the death of what is weak in me and I yearn for

immortality in communion with your divine essence! I
offer myself to you! Devour me! Lay my body in your
temple, on your black altar and feed on it! Annihilate
the weakness of my mind and fill me with your dark
and eternal essence, the elixir of immortality!

Purify my soul with your black fire and swallow my

imperfections! Fill my mind and body with your
strength! Give me the power to destroy my enemies
and those who are not worth to see your face! Let
them become your servants and your food when you
enter this world and tear apart the veil of the Night.
 Teach me the art of necromancy and give me the
power to read the minds of the dead. I seek to
discover the mysteries of the world of the dead and
the realm of the living. Reveal to me paths through
your kingdom and show me the secret of your
power! Light the black fire in me and destroy all that
threatens me.
Mordiggian, enflame me with your
timeless force!
Ia Mordiggian, Ia Charnel
God!

Pour some red wine into the chalice placed on the altar and
envision that you are pouring your own blood. You may also
add a few drops of blood if you wish. Then continue the
invocation:

Through my blood, the essence of life, I offer myself

to you and
await a new rebirth in your black fiery
essence!

So it is
done!

IA,
MORDIGGIAN!

Drink the wine and lay down in a coffin position. Feel how
the black fire of Mordiggian consumes your body and
envision that your mortal part is dying and being devoured
by the god of death. Meditate upon the nature of death and
new rebirth. When you finish the meditation, rise and blow
out the black candles. Light a white candle and burn the
sigil in its flame to celebrate the transformation that
occurred in your consciousness through the communion with
Death. You may also cleanse the room and your aura by a
chosen banishing.
Vampires and the Art of
Astral
168
 Shape-
Shifting

My lips are moist, and I know the art of losing in a deep bed
the antiquated conscience. All tears are dried upon my
triumphant breasts, and I cause the old to laugh with the
laughter of children. For those who see naked and without veils,
I replace the sun, the moon, the stars and the heavens. I
display so profound a knowledge of pleasure, such subtle
erudition, when I stifle men in my velvet arms, or abandon to
bites and kisses my shy, lascivious, frail and robust bosom, that
even the impotent angels would damn themselves for me on
my swooning mattresses
- C.A. Smith: The Metamorphoses of the
Vampire -

Among entities described in the Necronomicon lore,

vampires are rather scarce in comparison to the Great Old
Ones or the Outer Gods. The Simon Necronomicon mentions
a few vampiric entities in The Book of Urilia as servants and
children of Tiamat, the mother of all demons, but these are
only short descriptions with seals for summoning them. Most
of these spirits originate from the Sumerian lore which
reputedly is the source of the Simon Necronomicon, but in
fact, the book has not much to do with the actual legends
and historical sources on the Mesopotamian mythology.

A character derived from the Mesopotamian lore, for

instance, is Lamashtu, a female demon who was
believed to threaten women at childbirth. From written
sources we might assume that she was more than a
demon - she is usually described as a goddess and
the daughter of the god Anu. Lamashtu was depicted
with a hairy body, a lions head, donkeys ears and
169
teeth, long fingers, and the feet of a bird with
sharp talons.

170
A significant symbol in her iconography was also a snake.
Unlike most of demons, who acted on the behalf of gods, she
preyed on her victims out of sheer pleasure. She was believed
to enter the womb of a pregnant woman and touch the foetus
seven times. This reputedly killed the unborn children. She
also stole newborn infants away from their mothers. Women
protected themselves against Lamashtu by wearing amulets
with the image of Pazuzu, another demon of the
Mesopotamian lore. It was believed that Pazuzu was able to
force Lamashtu back into the Underworld. On clay tablets we
find many spells against Lamashtu. One of them is as follows:

Great is the daughter of Heaven who tortures

babies
Her hand is a net, her embrace is
death
She is cruel, raging, angry,
predatory
A runner, a thief is the daughter of
Heaven She touches the bellies of
women in labor She pulls out the
pregnant womens baby
The daughter of Heaven is one of the Gods, her
brothers
With no child of her
own. Her head is a
lions head
Her body is a donkeys
body
She roars like a
lion
She constantly howls like a demon-
dog.

Lamashtu has her own sacred animal (donkey) and her own
boat in which she travels through the rivers of the
Underworld. Sometimes she is identified with Dimme, another
demon who preys on children. Her predatory qualities and
depictions allow for her classification as a vampiric entity. In
the Simon Necronomicon she is called the Queen of Sickness
and Misery.
A creature of similar kind is Lalartu, another vampiric
demon who also tends to slay mothers at birth. It is
believed that Lalartu was a living being before she
turned into an undead shadow entity.
She is caught between the worlds, in the dimension
between the realm of the dead and the living, continuously
seeking entrance into either of them. Another entity
mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon is Lalassu, a female
demon of the same kind and similar qualities. She haunts
places inhabited by human beings and feeds on madness
and fear. Both Lalassu and Lalartu seem to be aspects
of Lilith, and it is even said that both are simply two of
numerous names of this dark goddess. The same concerns
Xastur, a foul demoness who slays men in their sleep and
devours that which she will. The Necronomicon provides
her seal only, with no description. It is also vaguely
mentioned that the worhippers of Tiamat know Xastur very
well as she is the beloved of the Ancient Ones.

The Necronomicon also mentions vampiric entities feeding

on sexual energy: Gelal and Lilit, the incubus and the
succubus. As we learn from the text, Gelal invades the bed
of a woman, and Lilit that of a man. They feed on the
Water of Life and the Food of Life that quickens the Dead,
which is a reference to sexual fluids of their victims. The
name Lilit is obviously derived from the evil demon-
goddess of the Mesopotamian lore. The Babylonian Lilitu
threatened women at chilbirth and killed newborn children.
They were believed to suck the blood of their victims, hence
the association with vampirism. In later times they came to
be known as the children of Lilith, her offspring that dwelt
on the shores of seas and lakes, closely related to the
sphere of water. They were depicted in bestial form: with
large wings, sharp bird-like talons and thick hair covering
certain parts of their bodies. The spirits named Gelal are
described as demons of air, the group of entities known as
Lilit is connected with water. According to the Hebrew
legends, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She rebelled
against God and left the Garden of Eden to live on the
shores of the Red Sea, in the land of Zemargad. There she
copulated with Samael (Satan) and gave birth to hundreds
of monstrous children: Lilim or Lilitu, the demonic succubi -
creatures resembling humans but winged and bestial. She
taught them the art of seduction and witchcraft, and with
sexual fluids that they gathered from sons of Adam, she
conceived even more demonic offspring.
A similar concept of the succubus is found in Tysons
Necronomicon. Here, the succubi are called lovers of the
winds, and described as air entities. They come in
dreams and induce nocturnal emissions, feeding on the vital
energy of sexual fluids. Such spirits usually assume the shape
of beautiful women with long, glossy hair, dressed in silk
gowns, wearing ornamented jewellery. Like the common
succubi, they gradually drain all vital energy of their prey and
leave the lovers dead. This is another reference to Lilith: in the
ancient world it was widely believed that both Lilith and her
demonic children roamed the earth at night and visited
houses in order to strangle newborn children and obtain
semen from sleeping men. Lilith and her offspring are the
most common symbols of sexual pleasure that does not serve
procreation. They can assume any shape, but most often they
appear in the form of beautiful and alluring women.

However, demons of this kind are not only found in

Mesopotamia but worldwide, in many ancient legends and folk
tales. The Hindu people were afraid of demons named
Churreyl, appearing in the shape of women and sucking life
out of men while performing fellatio. It was believed that
Churreyl were spirits of women who died at childbirth. Another
Hindu demon was Yukshee, also appearing as an attractive
and tempting woman with an insatiable sexual appetite. She
was known to leave her lovers extremely exhausted and often
caused impotency. A spirit named Pishauchee provoked male
erotic dreams. In the Hindu mythology we also encounter
spirits that can be classified as the incubi: Bhootum, Preyt,
Rauksheh, Gandharvas, or Pisacha - demons copulating with
sleeping women and sucking their blood. The Babylonian-
Assyrian goddess Ishtar had a servant in the form of an
attractive prostitute (succubus) named mano di Unnini, an
incarnation of lascivia (the lewd one). In France, we encounter
terrifying succubi called Mares. They were believed to sit upon
the chest of a sleeping person and evoke nightmares. In
Scandinavia, these demons also evoked erotic dreams and
appeared to men as beautiful women. In Japan, the succubus-
like spirits were called fox maidens and they were known for
their shape-shifting abilities and the power of seduction.
Their true face could only be seen in a mirror reflection on
the surface of water. Also in Ireland we meet a female
demon of a similar kind: Lhiannan Shee. Inhabitants of the
Isle of Man regarded her as a female vampire dwelling in
wells and water springs. She could suck all vital forces out of
her lovers. In Ireland itself she was known as Leanan Sidhe
and apart from her demonic qualities she also had beneficial
function: she was a muse who offered inspiration to artists.
She endowed her lovers with creativity and helped them
obtain wealth and fame. But it was believed that a
relationship with her could not last long, because she slowly
took away all life in exchange for her favors. In the world of
ancient Greece we also meet the Mermaids
- traditionally depicted as half-women half-fish. But their
original depiction was not that of a fish - they were
imagined as half-women half-birds. They were thought to
lure sailors by enchanting them with lewd singing. Like
Lilitu, the Mermaids visited sleeping men at night or at
noon, when their victims were the most vulnerable to erotic
dreams followed by the waste of semen. The Mermaids were
also viewed as bloodthirsty creatures, which is why they
came to be identified with the succubi. Another Hindu
figure of a succubus kind was Mohini. According to the
original legend, she was a nymph. The god Vishnu took her
shape to obtain immortality by drinking the Amrita. In
another story, Mohini seduces Shiva and gives birth to his
son. But she was also known for her demonic aspects:
it was believed that at night she sought lovers among men
to obtain their semen and conceive demonic offspring. The
origin of the Necronomicon vampire can therefore be
traced to many ancient cultures.

Apart from vampiric entities described in the Simon

Necronomicon, the vast collection of stories that constitute
the Cthulhu Mythos includes many more creatures of
this kind, appearing alone or in groups. In the fiction of
August Derleth we encounter the so- called flame
vampires. In the story The Dweller in Darkness they
are described as thousands of tiny points of light or
living entities of flame. They are minions of
Cthugha, a mysterious entity whose essence is that of
living fire or plasma.
 The Sigil of Flame Vampires from the Labyrinths of
Fomalhaut

Derleth describes him as an enormous burning mass

continually varying in shape. The flame vampires originate
from the star Fomalhaut. Travelers to the Outer Void and its
stellar dimensions may experience the star as a huge
labyrinthine construction. The flame vampires are unlike the
other succubi and incubi. As their abode is that of living fire
and extreme heat, they have no hair on their bodies, only bare
skin in black and red colors.

Vampires mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon are spectres

and phantoms, usually originating from the early
Mesopotamian beliefs. These vampires are one of the first
known entities of this kind, and mythology of these ancient
regions contains a number of vampiric spirits.
Montague Summers in his books on vampirism
distinguished three classes of evil spirits in the
Babylonian lore: the first group were ghosts who were
unable to rest in their graves, and so they perpetually
walked up and down the face of the earth; the second group
was composed of horrible entities who were half-human and
half-demon; and finally, the third class were the devils, pure
spirits of the same nature as the gods - fiends who bestrode
the whirlwind and the sand-storm and afflicted mankind
with plagues and pestilence.

Entities that could be considered typical vampires were the

Ekimmu, the souls of dead people that could find no rest
and wandered through the earth preying on humans.
They appeared in deserted places and attacked
wanderers who went astray. The ancient Babylonian people
believed that vampires were spirits of those whose
corpses lay unburied or uncared for, those who died a
violent or premature death, or those who left some of their
duties undone. Such spirits were thought to find no peaceful
rest in the Underworld but they returned to the world of
humans.The Ekimmu were also attracted to houses - they
passed through walls and doors and drained the life force
of inhabitants. This was a form of astral vampirism, the
drainage of psychic energy and vital forces of afflicted
persons, rather than sucking of their blood.

Thus, while the Lilitu represented the vampirism of blood,

shadow phantoms such as the Ekimmu belonged to the
more subtle sphere of vampirism - focused on energy in
itself. The Ekimmu, like some of the Necronomicon entities,
were astral vampires that resided in the lower astral realms
from where they descended to Earth in order to feed on vital
energies of the living.
From the magical perspective, the forces described in the
Necronomicon lore are denizens of the Nightside, residing in
Qliphothic realms on the Dark Side of the Tree of Life.
Vampires are here no exception. The succubus and the
incubus, such as Gelal and Lilit, can be found in the astral
sphere of Gamaliel, the realm of dreams, fantasies and
visions. Lilith herself is the ruling deity of this Qliphothic level
and she resides here together with her demonic children.
Energies of Gamaliel are closely connected to the concept
of vampirism: astral magic, lunar instincts, sexual
fantasies, dark and bloody dreams and visions, etc. Gelal
and Lilit are manifestations of the Shadow. They invade
dreams of their victims, arousing sexual fantasies in dream
visions and preying on energy that is released as erotic
impulse. Kenneth Grant writes in Cults of the Shadow:

If the shadow is strongly developed and is under the control of the

black magician, it can be projected into the aura of sleeping people
and obsess them with sexual fantasies that can drive them to
madness and suicide. It is then withdrawn by the vampire who
dispatched it and he nourishes himself on the energy which the
shadow has collected.

It is similar with other demons related to Lilith. They belong to

the lunar sphere of the astral plane and make their
appearance mostly through dreams and visions. On the Tree
of Death, the concept of vampirism is also related to the
sphere of Golachab, identified with the abode of Cthugha and
flame vampires, and to the tunnel of Characith - the path
between the realms of Golachab and Satariel. Characith
contains the elixir of ecstasy and immortality. It is related to
the red Moon and the blood of the Goddess. In The Shadow
Tarot, Linda Falorio observes:

Vampires are created of those who linger here to drink, for they too
easily become addicted to the pleasures of the pursuance of their
dark desires. Draining life to sustain their energy and life beyond its
ordinary span, they acquire the power of bewitchment, casting
strange enchantments to lure fresh victims to their astral touch.
Among authors of the Cthulhu Mythos fiction who wrote
about vampires we may find many followers of H.P.
Lovecraft. Brian Lumleys A Coven of Vampires shows a vast
spectrum of vampiric spirits. In the story Kiss of the Lamia
we encounter another mythical figure associated with the
concept of vampirism. The lamia was traditionally
pictured as a monster with the lower half of the body in
the shape of a serpent and the head and breasts of a
woman. The lamiae preyed on humans and sucked the blood
of children, hence they were considered vampires. Similar
characters are described in a few of Clark Ashton Smiths
stories, such as The Youngest Vampire, Morthylla, or The
End of the Story. The word Lamia was originally a name
and her myth derives from the Greek lore. Lamia was a
beautiful queen, daughter of king Belo and mistress of
Zeus. She bore him a few children, but all of them were
killed by the jealous goddess Hera. Out of grief and wrath,
Lamia became a blood-thirsty monster. She wandered in the
darkness of the night, devouring children of others and
sucking their blood. Another legend has it that Lamia was
a demon appearing near Parnassus, waiting for young men
to come and sing or play the flute. She usually came for
sexual reasons and in case of refusal, she killed the
unfortunate men.

The incubi and the succubi are dependent on man

because they can only exist on energy drained from human
beings. They can be useful and helpful, as well as dangerous
and destructive. A sexual intercourse with an incubus or a
succubus usually occurs in the state of half-dream lucidity
when one is not fully awake and cannot move the body, yet
one is consciously aware and experiences the whole
situation mentally, rather than physically, through a vivid,
hypnagogic state.

Such experiences are often accompanied by intense sensual

sensations, when a person senses the presence of ones
demonic partner, hears the sounds, feels the smell, or even
sees the shape of the demon - usually a black, thick shadow
floating above the bed. One can also have a sensation of a
burden on ones body - hence the medieval legends about
night-mares sitting on the chest of a sleeping person.
However, I am not going to explore this kind of sexual magic
in this book. In one of the following chapters, I will describe
another aspect of sex magic, connected with Yig and serpent-
energy.

A typical vampire described in the Simon Necronomicon is

Akhkharu. Again, Akhkharu seems to be more than a single
entity and rather signifies a group of creatures of the same
kind. They are described as vicious predators who suck the
blood of man, the essence of Kingu, in order to become a
fashioning of man. But they can only feed on the essence of
others, as they have no ability to transform themselves into
humans. All vampiric spirits are skillful shape-shifters and can
change their form at will. I will explain this magical art more
specifically on the example of Akhkharu.
 The Rite of Akhkharu

The art of astral shape-shifting as represented by Akhkharu

involves the change of the astral Body of Shadow into the
shape of a nocturnal demon or another predatory creature.
By assuming the form of a shadow-demon, we acquire its
consciousness and abilities. As it is a predatory and
bloodthirsty entity, this technique should not be attempted
by persons with mental or emotional disorders. Also, a
careful banishing after the working is strongly
recommended.

Shape-shifting occurs on energetic level and the more

energy is used, the more concrete shape is assumed.
Legends about werewolves and other bestial shape-shifters
involve the complete transformation. The astral technique
influences the subtle form only, in a more or less advanced
way. It should also be mentioned that a single use of this
technique changes the astral body only temporarily. The
more often it is practiced, the greater change occurs in the
astral body, and the transformation is more permanent. This
has an impact on the persons aura and energy field, and
the change can be sensed or even seen by clairvoyant
individuals.

The Akhkharu technique can be used to gain an insight into

ones Shadow and hidden layers of the unconscious, the
source of all predatory and bestial instincts in man. On
the mundane level, they manifest as the urge to violence,
aggression, cruelty, sexual abuse, domination, and other
forceful tendencies. A vampire or a werewolf is the
archetype of these tendencies in their unbridled and
unbalanced form. The astral Body of Shadow is a part of the
Beast, embracing those emotions that the Jungian
psychology classifies as the Shadow, the repressed
aspects of consciousness.
It is the Qliphothic equivalent of the Body of Light,
connected with the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel in
magical traditions of the Right Hand Path. The concept of the
Body of Light and the Body of Shadow represents universal
polarities underlying all life and all manifestation: Light and
Darkness, life and death, the conscious and the unconscious.
The work with ones Shadow at the conscious level brings
these opposing forces to balance. Yet, it should be approached
with responsibility and caution, otherwise it may cause a
number of mental and emotional disorders.

Draw the sigil of Akhkharu and place it on the altar. Light only
one black candle and burn large amounts of strong incense
(such as e.g. Dragons Blood). The room in which you perform
the rite should be thick of smoke. Recite the incantation and
then assume a comfortable position for the meditation, or
simply lie down.

The Sigil of
Akhkharu
Focus for a while on the sigil, trying to feel the energies of
Akhkharu
flowing through the image. Then begin the
incantation:

IA AKHKHARU!

Ancient gods from the origin of time! Wake up and

come forth! Come with dark winds! May the Abyss of
Darkness open up before me and the primeval
demonic essence surround me and enter my soul! Ia
Yog-Sothoth! Rise up, creatures of the Night! Come
forth from the Outer Void - I open the Gate for you!
Abominations of the world! Come to me on the silent
wings of the Night, I summon you! Nyarlathotep,
come from the Cold Waste, from your dark kingdom
and witness the rite! Open up the doors to
dimensions through which I desire to travel!

By the power of the Sleeping Dragon and the

Ancient Ones!
In Nomine
Draconis!

Envision now and feel the shadow energies of Akhkharu

entering the room and surrounding you. Sense the
atmosphere around - it is charged with the force and you
can see shapes of entities forming in the thick smoke that
fills the room.

Akhkharu, shadow lord of pestilence, come to me

from the utmost Darkness, your abode in the Outer
Void! Sed, Ustur, Nattig, Lamas - guardians of the
four winds, I call you! May the astral realm receive
me tonight as a living shadow! I seek to descend to
the Underworld and rise up transformed, powerful
and unbound from limitations of human nature!
Envision your astral Body of Light on the right, next to your
physical body. It is bright and shines with brilliant radiance.
Then envision your Body of Shadow, next to you on the left.
It is completely dark, sucking all light, absorbing it and
transforming into darkness. Feel and see how your Body of
Light fades away and slowly disappears.
At the same time your Body of Shadow grows and becomes
stronger, until only this body is left and all light disappears.

Ia
Akhkharu!

I become as one with your immortal essence. I am the

astral shadow from beyond time. I walk on the wind
and move through spaces and in-between them. I am
the flesh and the blood of the First Dragon of the Void.
I drink the essence of Kingu to awaken the demonic
spark in the depths of my souls. Ia Tiamat! Ia Kingu! I
ride on the Dragons breath as a creature of the Night -
primal incarnation of the Beast! In Darkness I die and I
am reborn. I transform into Akhkharu to seek the
divine essence in the Underworld of my soul. Creatures
of the Night await me to join them on this nocturnal
hunt!

So it is
done!

Now sit in a comfortable position or lie down. Blow out the

candle and let the room sink into darkness. Focus all your
attention on the Body of Shadow. It is transforming and
assuming the shape of a predatory creature, with talons,
sharp teeth and wings. Let this form will be shaped by your
fantasies and imagination. When the transformation is
complete, project your consciousness into the dark shape you
have created: let your awareness become as one with the
creature. See your body - your hands, feet, and so on. Feel
the skin, each muscle, move the parts of the body, spread
your wings. Look through the eyes of the creature. Feel its
emotions, instincts, the flow of energy. Focus on it until you
completely identify yourself with the creature and forget your
human identity. Then fly up through the dark gate that opens
above you. In your astral form you can travel between spaces
and dimensions. You are a vampiric astral entity, Akhkharu,
seeking a prey. Let your dark instincts carry you, feel the thrill
of the hunt, the taste of the prey, and learn how to use your
astral powers. You are free and not bound by any inhibitions -
moral, mental and physical barriers do not exist any more. Let
your imagination carry you through the astral realm.
When you finish the meditation, return to normal
consciousness. Envision both the Body of Light and the
Body of Shadow again. Feel and see how they are entering
your physical body and merging into one. Open your eyes.
Light a few candles to disperse the dark energies gathered
in the room. Perform a chosen banishing and close the
working.
 Sex, Blood, Chaos, and Death -
Presentation of Shub-Niggurath

Written together with Adam

Kociuk

Shub-Niggurath, Great Lord of the Woods, giver of Life, bestow

your productivity to this rite. Confer your fertility. The portents
of your fecundity are rejoiced. Ever praises to Shub-Niggurath
the Black Goat of the Woods. Ia! Shub-Niggurath.
- Parker Ryan
-

The feminine element in nature has always been related to

the dark, the unknown and the hidden. In ancient times,
Mother Earth was the life-giving force and the source of all
vegetation born from her womb. But at the same time she
was the eternal symbol of the mystery of life after death,
as all that emerged out of the earth always had to return to
the source. On the one hand, this point of view was derived
from observations of the relationship between the sun and
the earth that was believed to be impregnated by the
solar rays. On the other hand, the ancient man observed
relations between our planet and the moon, discovering
that lunar influences also have a significant function in
regulation of the earths natural cycles. There are many
examples of goddesses who appear in iconography as three-
formed figures - representing the moon phases and the
eternal chain of events: birth-life-death-rebirth. This was
reflected in attributions and symbolism of such
mythological figures as Demeter, Persephone or Hecate.
To all this we might add the importance of cultural
influences - patriarchal religions banished the feminine
element from the sphere of sacrum. Femininity came to be
184
demonized, regarded as evil and impure, and woman
became the symbol of sin.

185
Human sexuality underwent a similar process. The divine act
of union between the male and the female was originally an
expression of the highest sacrum, the godly principle
manifested in the material world. But sex was also always
associated with power and the control of sexuality was the key
to the rule over society. In all cultures worldwide we encounter
various patterns of sexual behavior - some of them enjoying
social approval, other being severely punished. But what is
more important, sex gives us power over ourselves because it
is the ultimate expression of life. This results in the conviction,
characteristic of all monotheistic religions, that sex is sin, as
all mastery of life is reserved to God and man is not allowed to
aspire to such divine powers. The purpose of this chapter is to
explore the role and meaning of Shub-Niggurath, the
goddess who embodies sexual aspects of the Necronomicon
current, endowing her worshippers with all abundance and
guiding them through mysteries of immortality.

Shub-Niggurath is known as the Great Goat of the Woods or

the Black Goat with a Thousand Young. The Necronomicon
describes her as the earthly manifestation of the Great Old
Ones power. She is believed to preside over the witches
Sabbats. Her element is earth, symbolized by the Sign of
Taurus in the sky, and in the world by the Gate of the Northern
Wind. Her festivals, signifying the peak influence of her
current, are Beltane (the eve of the fifth month) and
Roodmas (the fourteenth day of the ninth month), and in the
remaining part of the year she can be called at the time of the
New Moon. In Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred we
find information that she is ascribed to the planet Venus - the
most common symbol of the feminine, associated with
goddesses of love, sexuality and fertility. The cult of Shub-
Niggurath is not located in any single place but scattered
among groups of cultists around the whole earth. According to
the Necronomicon lore, she came from the planet Yaddith that
had been earlier inhabited by the Nug-Soths. Although their
magical powers were great, they could not stop the Dholes
who began to multiply under the surface of Yaddith. For many
thousand years their wisemen tried to find a way to get rid of
the invaders but they failed.
Finally, the Dholes came out of the underground and
destroyed all cities on the planet. Many citizens managed to
escape but the Dholes reached them through dreams. The
legend has it that it was Shub- Niggurath who dwelt in the
underground caves of Yaddith and the Dholes were merely
her servants. Then, after the death of all inhabitants of
Yaddith, Shub-Niggurath left the planet and travelled beyond
the Spheres of Nath, finally arriving on Earth. According to
cultists initiated into her mysteries, she came to Horag-
Kalath, an underground city in the South of Arabia. There
are, however, also other theories that claim that she dwells
at the court of Azathoth in the centre of the universe. Her
cults are believed to be among the most numerous groups
in the whole galaxy. Among her servants we may find people
of Sarnath, Hyboreans, the Mi-Go, and many druidic and
barbarian cults. Even though Lovecraft never described her
role in a detailed way, her popularity in the Cthulhu Mythos
is enormous and she is mentioned in a number of stories,
rites and ceremonies.

As a goddess of fertility, Shub-Niggurath is also the mother

of many gods and creatures. She is believed to have mated
with Hastur to give birth to Ithaqua, Zhar and Lloigor. There
are also theories, according to which the Lord of the Lake of
Hali is the father of her Dark Young. These are the entities
mentioned in her title of The Black Goat with a Thousand
Young. They are often described as oozing, amorphous
beings, formed of writhing tentacles, with numerous lips
dripping with green slime. These tentacles assume the
shape of hooves on which the creatures move. They are
messengers of the goddess - they accept offerings on her
behalf, devour the unfaithful, preside over rites of the
cultists, and spread the worship of their mother throughout
the whole world. According to other theories, it was the
Black Goat that mated with Cthulhu to give birth to all
armies of servant races that helped the Great Old Ones
conquer the world of man. However, like their father, they
are now imprisoned in underwater caves, deep in the ocean,
waiting for the day when the stars are right. From the union
of Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth two deities were born:
Nug and Yeb. And she also mated with Yig, the offspring of
this relationship being Byatis.
The appearance of the goddess is most often described as a
huge, flexible mass of writhing black tentacles, mouth
dripping with slime, and short goat legs. According to Tyson,
she is most often presented standing upright, four horns
bristling from her hairy head, her mouth snarling with savage
teeth. Her arms and hands are those of a woman, but her legs
and feet those of a goat. She is always naked, with exposed
vagina, from which all dark creatures issue. Her torso is
covered with numerous round breasts which represent the
fertility of the goddess.

Having in mind the above-mentioned information, let us

focus now on the esoteric meaning of Shub-Nigguraths
symbolism. First we will discuss the concept of blackness
which undoubtedly is one of her main attributes. On the one
hand, in many ancient cults, e.g. in Mesopotamia or Egypt (in
the writings of Parker Ryan these are the civilizations
associated with the origin of Shub-Nigguraths symbolism), the
black color (even though it represents death and the
underworld) usually signifies fertility and life, this fact being
due to the color of the fertile mud left by the river Nile,
allowing for the growth of vegetation. Because of the death of
Osiris (often called the black god), we might also associate
this color with the metaphor of rebirth and resurrection - like
in the natural cycle of the seasons. Death is also an eternal
counterpart of sex (which is represented by Eros and
Thanatos). From the biological point of view, sexual union is
connected with venereal diseases, and at the same time it
initiates the process of reproduction which allows for the
survival of the species. By means of sex man tries to
overcome death. However, from the psychological view-
point, Sex and Death are two basic instincts of the human
being, symbolically representing the process of creation in
which the old must be destroyed in order to create something
new, as it is stated in the alchemical principle of Solve et
Coagula.

The cycles of nature are closely connected with the

symbolism of the moon. One of the oldest lunar
goddesses is the Egyptian Ta-Urt, the mother of Set
according to the Typhonian Tradition.
This dragon goddess represents the natures wheel of
eternal changes. Similarly as the dragon goddess Tiamat,
she is a deity of dark and chaotic characteristics, to the
large extent connected with the element of water. The
symbolism of this element is the common attribute of
Typhonian goddesses, representing the source of growth and
life, movement and chaos. Waters and darkness also
symbolize the infinite sum of all potentialities. Perhaps this
is the reason why Shub-Niggurath is depicted as an
amorphous mass of tentacles, reflecting the eternal forces
of chaos that are also imagined as the coiled serpent
Ouroboros representing the eternal cycle of movement and
transformation.

We might also ask why in the futuristic Cthulhu Mythos the

deity of fertility is presented in such horrible form - the
answer here is simple: sex always belonged to the sphere
of guilt and fear. On the one hand, it was limited by social
and cultural regulations, on the other, it represented the
dark and instinctual element in man, the hidden and the
unknown, the source of fear and anxiety. This theme finds
its expression especially in modern times, when man has
departed from nature, which results in problems with
understanding of individuals sexuality. The sphere of Eros is
one of the most primitive and atavistic aspects of the
Self and the confrontation with the bestial and instinctual
element is therefore one of the most difficult life challenges.
This also results in repression of the huge amount of libidal
energy that can be creatively used if one gains access to the
raw force of sexuality. The archetypal goddess of this
process is Lilith (identified by Tyson with the Black Goat),
the symbol of obscene and forbidden sexual practices,
unrestrained erotic impulses and unbridled passions. In this
sense, she is similar to Kali (the second goddess identified
by Tyson with Shub-Niggurath) - the mother and the
murderess, she who brings life and takes it away. In
monotheistic religions, sex serves only one purpose:
procreation. There is no place for pleasure in sexual union.
The feminine element, rebelling against this rule and being
aware of its potential, is demonized and becomes the
symbol of evil. It is reflected in the Hebrew legend of Lilith
who refuses to lie under Adam and demands equality in
sexual intercourse.
This is also reflected in the process of enslaving the
primeval cults and lunar goddesses by male-oriented
patriarchal cultures, as for this demand the rebellious Lilith
was exiled from the Garden of Eden and replaced by the
submissive Eve.

Another quality shared by goddesses of darkness, and Shub-

Niggurath is here no exception, is the motif of blood. Similarly
as sex, blood is one of the most universal symbols of life. In
the Eastern cultures it is believed to be the vehicle of prana,
vital energy, while the Western religions, like Judaism, claim
that all blood belongs to God and derives from him. That is
why blood rituals and sacrifices are often employed in
antinomian ceremonies dedicated to the Goddess - the
mastery of blood signifies the mastery of life, the rule over the
earths fertility represents the rule over the lives of others.
From another point of view, blood is connected with dark
goddesses through menstrual cycle and the concept of
vampirism, the bitter-sweet union of life and death, which is
in a way reflected in the sexual act itself. Menstrual blood is
also associated with cycles of the moon, and thus connected
with the feminine lunar current. A menstruating woman is
impure because she is not pregnant - and pregnancy is the
sole expression of female sexuality allowed by solar cultures.
Vampirism is the ever-lasting, insatiable hunger for life, the
symbol of the opening of ones consciousness for the
transforming energies of darkness and the dark side of
sexuality. In the Qliphothic Qabalah, vampirism is connected
with the sphere of Gamaliel, the realm ruled by Lilith. It is the
dark womb of the goddess from which the Initiate drinks the
blood of the Moon and enters visual dreams, often of explicit
and obscene sexual nature.

Let us now focus on the symbolism of the womb. For this

purpose, we have to look once again at the image of the
goddess as a reflection of Nature. She represents the concept
of the womb because all life and vegetation springs from
her. She is the mother because she sustains and nurtures life
that she gives to her children. That is why the vagina of Shub-
Niggurath is always exposed in her depictions. Abundance and
fertility represented by the goddess is also expressed by the
countless number of her offspring.
But Mother Earth is also Death, as there is no escape from
the necessity of return and all life has to be eventually
reunited with her flesh. Historically, this is connected with
the motif of blood in a very interesting way: certain ancient
tribes painted the deceased people with ochre, coloring
them red. Like a newborn child, covered with the blood of
the mother, the dead returned to the womb of the eternal
mother with their bodies painted red. The vagina is also a
symbol of the chalice. Therefore we might associate Shub-
Niggurath with Babalon, the Scarlet Goddess. The Chalice
of Babalon is the womb of the goddess, the sacred grail
filled with blood that is the elixir of wisdom - the knowledge
of life and the understanding of death. By drinking this
potion, the Initiate is revealed both the joy of life and the
bitter kiss of death. Kenneth Grant identifies this liquid
with the magic potion drunk by witches during mysterious
Sabbats, the symbol of the integrated sexuality:

It was in a fusion of solar and lunar energies that the secret of life
and regeneration lay. The blood is the life, but the brew of the
Sabbatic Rites was not the red blood of animal life as it flowed
through the veins of the living body, but the essential prana or
ojas stored in the secret centres of energy which welled forth at
certain specific seasons. The Rite of the Sabbat entailed a
knowledge of these seasons as well as of the centres wherein the
primal Bindu abode prior to its massing in the form of flesh. It was
in order to turn this blood or essence back upon itself, so that it
might form itself into non- material bodies, that the vinum sabati
was prepared and imbibed. It was in fact the matrix of all spiritual
creation or - better still - creation in the spirit form; a magical
rather than a religious process.

On the Tree of Night, this formula is manifested in the tunnel

of Characith in the form of the magical siddhi representing
the ability to achieve the full sexual integrity, while the
chalice assumes here the form of a vessel filled with the
elixir of immortality. This potion is the result of union
between the masculine and the feminine currents. It endows
the adept with limitless power, creativity and eternal youth.
In the case of Shub-Niggurath, this process is reflected in a
ritual in which a Gofnn hupadgh is formed - the beloved
cultist of the goddess. If the Black Goat finds the adept
worthy, a special ceremony is held in which the deity devours
the cultist and then transforms him into an immortal satyr.

Now, let us briefly discuss the role and meaning of the well-
known horned deities of fertility associated with the goddess.
The most interesting of them are the cults of the goat,
deriving from the Egyptian town of Mendes and assimilated
into the mysteries of the Greek god Pan and the worship of
Baphomet. These two archetypal gods constitute the universal
symbol uniting all opposites: the head of a goat, the wings of
a bird, the hooves, the feminine upper part of the body, and
the burning torch on the head, between the horns. Due to
such attributes as the hooves (which point at his contact with
the earth element), or the thick fur (universal symbol of
vitality and fertility), Pan/Baphomet represents the fertility of
the earth - which is also expressed by his horns, reminding us
of mythological sacred cows holding the earth between their
horns. Similar symbolism is found in the image of the Greek
goat Amalthea, which in our culture is usually associated with
abundance. Thus, Baphomet is a universal archetype,
representing the balance between the masculine sexual
energy and all other elements. Symbolically, this includes
intellect and intuition, wisdom and knowledge. He is the image
of the human and the divine elements (or man and beast)
conjoined in union - forming together the powerful emblem of
awakened godhood. As Peter J. Carroll writes in Liber Null &
Psychonaut:

Baphomet is the psychic field generated by the totality of living

beings on this planet. Since the Shamanic aeon, it has been
variously represented as Pan, Pangenitor, Pamphage, All-Begettor,
All-Destroyer, as Shiva-Kali - creative phallus and abominable
mother and destroyer - as Abraxas - polymorphic god who is both
good and evil - as the animal headed Devil of sex and death, as the
evil Archon set over this world, as Ishtar or Astaroth - goddess of
love and war
- as the Anima Mundi or World soul, or simply as
Goddess.
Shub-Niggurath, however, is not merely a reflection of
Nature. As a stellar deity of the Necronomicon lore, her
character and sexuality have a deeper meaning. Her legend
might be interpreted also from the antinomian view-point,
as the force of separation from natural order. The adept who
explores these mysteries, strives for self-creation, or re-
creation, in order to integrate all parts of the Self and
separate oneself from the wheel of Samsara. Those who
decide to devote themselves to this path are exposed to
social disapproval and are often viewed as evil or
sinister. One needs demonic (inhuman) Will to handle
all barriers that pile up on the path. Symbolically, the
acquiring of this demonic element is reflected in the Rite
of the Companion (from Tysons Necronomicon) which is
held three days after a child is born, in a tribe sacred to
Shub-Niggurath. The purpose of the ritual is to unite the soul
of the child with its demonic brother who is called to be
the childs companion for the rest of its life. The infant is
held by the father and four seniors of the tribe over flames
of a bonfire and passed in such order so as to form a
pentagram. Then the mother of the child kills a sacrificial
goat and the child is baptized by being bathed in the goats
blood. Finally, the child is lifted up and it is believed that a
spirit sent by the goddess descends from the stars to
become united with the infant. But from another point of
view, we might interpret this phenomenon in a different way.
Life and sexuality are not limited to Earth as a planet. The
history of mankind contains numerous accounts of contacts
with extraterrestrial beings, angels, demons, or gods and
goddesses - we can mention here e.g. the Bible, The
Necronomicon, Liber AL, or the Enochian writings of Dee and
Kelley. As Linda Falorio observes in her article about star
magic, it is a system that reaches far beyond the influence
of the moon and all that is powered up by its energy,
opening human consciousness for the possibility of
extraterrestrial interactions. And even though we also come
from the stars, we tend to confine ourselves in the
comfortable safety of our planet and choose to remain
ignorant of subtle currents that penetrate the aura of Earth.
This is not about confirming the existence of UFO, aliens or
the E.T. This is about opening ourselves for currents of
energy and messages that flow to us from the stars, through
the astral plane, and to exploit them in the evolutionary
progress of mankind.
Sexuality is the path of expansion and expression, through
which lots of energies are sent out into the universe. In fact,
all energy is sexual in its nature and the material world is
nothing but varied forms of energy on particular levels of
vibration. With an attentive and open mind, man is able to
open oneself for new experiences which extend far beyond the
world of humans. This includes sexual interactions with the
Cthulhu Mythos entities on the astral plane, in dreams, or
during meditations on the nature of these forces. But we
should first of all explore the realm of our own sexuality to
establish connection with other beings living among the stars.
When you see the true face of the goddess and you open the
gate for her, the Black Goat will come to you with a Thousand
Young and their howling will be heard from all parts of the
universe.
 The Black
Communion

A Sex-Magical Rite of Invoking Shub-

Niggurath into the
Temple of
Flesh

This ritual is designed for two partners, male and female, as

an act of sexual sorcery. The male participant acts as the
Priest who invokes the Goddess into the body of the
Priestess, seeking communion with the deity through the
ecstasy of flesh. The female participant performs the role of
the Priestess who subjects herself to possession and full
identification with the Goddess, acting as her material
avatar and manifesting her powers.

The Priestess should be naked during the ritual, with the

Seal of Shub-Niggurath painted on her belly, below the
navel, where the Svadisthana chakra is located. In the
temple, a strong incense should be burnt, e.g. opium or
musk. The participants should also prepare the altar on
which the sexual communion will take place. Apart from all
this, black candles are needed and a chalice filled with red
wine, representing the blood/sexual elixir of the Goddess.
The candles can be placed in a circle around the altar.
 The Seal of Shub-Niggurath

The ritual starts with the Priestess lying on the altar and
chanting Ia, Ia Shub-Niggurath. While the Priest recites
the incantation, the Priestess must concentrate on becoming
possessed by the invoked force. She should envision the
Goddess with all her attributes and fully identify with her, so
that the consciousness of the entity and the Priestess become
one. She should also arouse her sexual energy of the Kundalini
Serpent and enflame herself until she feels the primal
insatiable lust embodied by Shub-Nigguraths sexual current.
 The
Priest:

Shub-Niggurath! Black Goat with a

Thousand Young!
I summon you to this flesh that we offer as
your temple!
Enter the body of this
Priestess, And join me in the
ecstasy of union!
I offer myself to you on your altar of
obscenity!

Through fire and

blood!
Reveal to me your black
gifts!
Let me taste your forbidden
knowledge! Grant me wisdom
more ancient than time!

Open your womb of

chaos
And let me dissolve in the debauchery of flesh
and spirit!
Come to me, Black
Goddess! Come to this
Sabbatic Feast!

The Priest chants or screams ecstatically: Ia, Ia Shub-

Niggurath!

At this time the Priestess is writhing on the altar, invoking

the Goddess into her body and mind. When she feels ready,
she rises and recites her part of the ritual, while the Priest
takes her place on the altar and continues the chant.
 The
Priestess:

I am the Primal
Harlot,
I am the black womb of the
universe, I dwell among the
stars,
And in obscenity of dreams that arise from desires
of pleasure.
I am the mistress of
transformation,
For I transform the flesh into
spirit!
 Drink from my cup of fornication!
Receive the kiss of death from my
thousand lips! Taste my insatiable lust!
And delve into the mouth of
chaos
For I am putrefaction and
rebirth!

I hold the key to the garden of

delights,
I am the earth that consumes the dead
and the living, I am the pit of primal
abominations,
I give birth to Shadow and I
devour Light!

Sink into my dissolving

embrace, Offer me your
gifts of love,
Invoke me under the cloak of the
dead moon, And receive my black
communion!

Indulge yourself in the mystery

of flesh!

Then she arouses the Priest and the sexual congress begins in
which she mounts him until she reaches the state of complete
possession. At this point she is the living manifestation of the
Goddess, the embodiment of lust and obscenity, incarnation of
the primal sexual current.

Both participants have to enter a trance in which their

minds will merge into one consciousness, the living vessel for
the manifestation of invoked energies. The further course of
the ritual very much depends on how the Goddess will
manifest through the Priestess. Therefore, open yourself to the
experience and whatever it may bring, release your darkest
instincts and let your desires be revealed. At the climax of the
communion, drink the Unholy Sacrament from the chalice and
absorb the magically charged nectar.
 T
hose Who Walk on the Wind - The
Cthulhu Mythos Deities and Demons
of Air and Stellar Dimensions

The Necronomicon lore includes many air demons and

deities. These
are either major gods of significant function or groups of minor
entities.

An important figure related to the sphere of air is Hastur, one

of the central deities in the Cthulhu Mythos. He is one of
the Great Old Ones, referred to as their voice. Hastur is the
avenger and destroyer, sometimes believed to be the
guardian of the Eastern Gate. His connection to the sphere of
air is expressed by his names, such as e.g. the wind-walker,
or the one who is not to be named. His abode is the Lake
of Hali, Carcosa, in the Hyades. His attribute is the yellow
color, identified with the zodiacal Aquarius. From Al Azif we
learn that he should be called on Candlemas when the Sun is
in Aquarius. Hastur appears in Robert Chambers stories but
originates from the writings of Ambroise Bierce, where he is
described as a god of shepherds and a benevolent deity. In
Chambers The King in Yellow, Hastur is the name of a city
(in the story The Repairer of Reputations) and the name of
a potentially supernatural servant (in The Demoiselle
DYs). In August Derleths tales, Hastur is the half-twin brother
of Cthulhu and his main enemy. They both represent two
opposing forces that strive for domination over the universe.
It is said that those who wear the Yellow Sign (the mark of
Hastur) are enemies of the Great Old Ones.

199
Another deity called the wind walker is Ithaqua, a being
worshipped in the far North, according to the Cthulhu
Mythos. He is described as a cloud of fog or snow in human
shape and he has characteristic blazing red eyes. He is
related to old Native American legends of the Wendigo, a
demonic half-beast half-man who feeds on human flesh.
Ithaquas cult also involves human sacrifices, and the dead
frozen bodies of his victims are sometimes found buried in
snow drifts. He has the ability to control the weather and he
is called to create storms and blizzards.

The Cthulhu Mythos include many entities that move

through dimensions and serve as steeds for other deities or
magicians powerful enough to control them. One of such
races are the Mi-Go, the fungi from Yuggoth. Their wings
allow them for travels through vast interstellar distances.
Their shape resembles human-sized crustaceans. They are
said to have come from beyond the solar system and reside
on Yuggoth (the planet Pluto). Sometimes they visit Earth to
look for minerals and natural resources. They can carry a
human being between the planets by removing the
travelers brain from the body and placing it in a brain
canister equipped with accessories that substitute the
three main senses: sight, hearing and speech. The Mi-Go
carry the canister through interstellar dimensions, while the
brain is plugged to special machines. This way the human
body stays on Earth, and the brain alone can travel through
space.

Another interstellar group of entities are the Byakhee, the

race regarded as Hasturs servants. They are used as steeds
by members of certain cults, such as the Pnakotic
Brotherhood. They communicate with one another by wolf-
like howling. A similar function is ascribed to Shantaks,
another race of winged entities used as steeds by magicians
and deities. Lovecraft describes Shantak-birds in his story
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath in the following way:
It was only the flickering light of the clouds that made their mitred
double heads seem to move, but as Carter stumbled on he saw arise
from their shadowy caps great forms whose motions were no
delusion. Winged and whirring, those forms grew larger each
moment, and the traveller knew his stumbling was at an end. They
were not any birds or bats known elsewhere on earth or in
dreamland, for they were larger than elephants and had heads like a
horses.

Another race of stellar steeds are the Night-Gaunts. They are

servants of Nodens, the Lord of the Abyss. They reside mostly
in the Dreamlands. They are black, faceless creatures with
rubbery skin and horns on their heads. They avoid water and
fly through dreaming dimensions. The Night-Gaunts can be
used as steeds by travelers in the Dreamlands, though their
appearance is quite loathsome. Lovecraft describes them as
shocking and uncouth black things with smooth, oily, whale-
like surfaces, unpleasant horns that curved inward toward
each other, bat wings whose beating made no sound, ugly
prehensile paws, and barbed tails that lashed needlessly and
disquietingly. They appear suddenly at night and seize the
travelers to carry them into the lower regions of the
Dreamlands.

A race of entities able to fly without wings are the Flying

Polyps. They appear in Lovecrafts The Shadow out of Time.
The Flying Polyps are described as one of the first stellar
races that came to Earth as conquerors. They were involved
in a war with the Great Race of Yith. Now they are believed to
reside in caverns and subterranean places, to enter which one
has to find a gate in old forgotten ruins. About them Lovecraft
writes:

A horrible elder race of half polypous, utterly alien entities...

They were only partly material and had the power of aerial motion,
despite the absence of wings... Suggestions of a monstrous
plasticity and of temporary lapses of visibility... singular whistling
noises and colossal footprints made up of five circular toe marks
seemed also to be associated with them.
Although they can fly and are somehow related to the
sphere of air, they are not a race of steeds. The polyps are
regarded as dangerous and usually their dwelling places are
avoided by mortals.

Apart from these, there are also entities related to the

four winds and the four cardinal directions. They are
mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon as: Ustur, Sed,
Lamas, and Nattig. Ustur is the ruler of the northern wind.
He is related to the sign of Aquarius and the month of
Shabatu (February). He manifests as a dark human-like
figure.

His southern counterpart is Lamas, the lord of the hot wind.

He is related to the sign of Leo and the month of Abu
(August). He appears with a lions body and a human head.
Sed is the ruler of the eastern winds. His sign is Taurus and
the month is Airu (May). Sed appears as a bull with a human
face. And finally, Nattig is the lord of the western winds. His
sign is Scorpio and the month is Arahshamma (November).
He resembles a human begin but he has the face, wings and
talons of an eagle.

The Simon Necronomicon also mentions wind entities

originating from the Mesopotamian lore. The most vivid
example is Pazuzu, the bringer of plague and destruction.
Pazuzu himself is a character inspiring not only the Cthulhu
Mythos stories, but also many other tales and legends. In
the famous movie The Exorcist, he is depicted
metaphorically as a swarm of locust, bringing forth
starvation and death to people and animals alike. In the
Mesopotamian artwork, Pazuzu appears as a black, winged
demon with rotting genitals. Franois Lenormant ascribed
Pazuzu to the hot south-west winds, yet originally he was
the ruler of the cold eastern winds. In the Book of Urilia,
which is a part of the Simon Necronomicon, we read:
Lord of all fevers and plagues, grinning Dark Angel of the Four
Wings, horned, with rotting genitalia, from which he howl in pain
through sharpened teeth over the lands of the cities sacred to the
Aphkhallu even in the height of the Sun as in the height of the Moon;
even with whirling sand and wind, as with empty stillness.

Pazuzu was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi and the
ruler of evil winds. However, he also had a protective function
- he was thought to protect pregnant women from Lamashtu,
a female demon slaying children at birth. But his malevolent
qualities were more recognizable. He was thought to spread
diseases with his dry fiery breath, cause starvation and
plagues. This relates him to Typhon, the embodiment of
primordial evil, or Set, the desert god of heat and
destructive fire.

The number of Pazuzu is 107, which is also the number of the

angel of Leo, OVAL, the messenger of the Beast, as Kenneth
Grant observes in his writings. Thus, Pazuzu can also be
related to the Apocalyptic Beast, the herald of destruction
through fire.

His older brother, as it is written in The Necronomicon, is

Humwawa, another mythical figure from the Mesopotamian
lore. Again, in The Book of Urilia we read that Humwawa is the
lord of the South Winds and a dark angel of all that is
excreted. His face is a mass of entrails of animals and
humans, and his breath is the stench of dung. He is also the
lord of the Future and thus, he is called for the purpose of
divination. In ancient Mesopotamia, people sacrificed animals
to him, as they believed that they could read the future from
the entrails. In fact, in the Mesopotamian mythology,
Humwawa (Huwawa, Humbaba) is a giant representing the
river of the dead and the guardian of the Forest of Cedars, the
dwelling place of gods. He appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in
which he is slain by the hero. In this lore, however, he reveals
no relation to the sphere of wind. This function is ascribed to
him by the Simon Necronomicon where he is described as the
one who rides upon a silent, whispering wind.
De Vermis Misteriis also mentions the so-called Star
Dwellers, the name suggesting stellar entities residing in
starry dimensions. They are invisible until they drink blood
that fill their bodies and makes their contours manifest
before the conjuror. They are evoked near a big stone lying
in a grassy place or among ruins of an old temple. Also, a
sacrifice of a human being is needed, as it is written in the
book - this should be a woman not older than twenty-two
years and born in ninth or fourteenth or twenty-third day of
the Moon. It is not described what the nature of these
creatures is, but they seem to carry the magician through
stellar dimensions. They sometimes manifest as dark
predatory scavengers emerging from stellar gateways as
dark vortices swirling with energy.

One can approach the stellar steeds and inter-dimensional

residents in a few ways, but the most suitable method is to
evoke them either on the astral or the physical level and
then use them as guides or vehicles to travel in the Outer
Void and between dimensions. From them one can learn
ways to travel to the realm of stars and discover hidden
locations which are either mentioned in the Cthulhu Mythos
or completely unknown and unexplored. Here I will present
two kinds of practical work with daemons of the sphere of
air and stellar dimensions. The first one is focused on
communication with the four wind daemons, the other is
centered on Hastur - it is a pathworking of a journey to his
dwelling place in Carcosa.
 Summoning of the Four Wind
Daemons

This ritual is based on the Simon Necronomicon. The sigils

provided here were received in meditative and scrying
sessions with the four spirits. The purpose of this working is
the summoning of the elemental forces as represented by the
four wind daemons: Ustur, Sed, Lamas, and Nattig. The ritual
may function as a tool of communication with the wind
entities themselves or a preliminary stage to further work with
similar forces. The forces of the four spirits can also be bound
within the temple, making them permanent guardians and
watchers. For this purpose, you should obtain a pyramid of red
jasper and paint or carve their sigils on the four sides of the
object, with the binding sigil on the bottom side. The pyramid
should then be put on the altar or in the central place of the
temple. It will act as a permanent pylon for the forces of the
four wind daemons to flow into the ritual space, empowering
it and protecting from unwanted visitors.
Ustur
Nattig

Lamas
Sed
The Binding
Sigil
 The
Ceremony

Place the four sigils of the wind daemons in respective

directions of the temple, with the binding sigil in the center
of the ritual space. Focus on the central sigil and begin the
ceremony:

In the name of Pazuzu, lord of all spirits

of the air,
And in the name of Nyarlathotep, the Haunter
of the Dark,
I summon the daemons of the four cardinal
directions! Hear my calling and
come forth!

Facing
North:

I invoke you, Ustur, Lord of the Northern Wind! I

summon you, who rules Aquarius and the month of
Shabatu! Come to me, for I am the wanderer on the
path of the Ancients! Whisper to me forgotten secrets
of Darkness and arcane mysteries of the North!

Envision a dark shape of a human figure entering the

temple
through the Northern
Gate.

Facing
West:

I invoke you, Nattig, Lord of the Western Wind! I

summon you, who rules Scorpio and the month of
Arahshamma! Come to me, for I am the participant of
the ancient rites! Lead me into the black ocean of
Tiamat and Absu, from which the whole universe
emerged!
Envision a figure resembling a human being but with the
face, wings
and talons of an eagle, entering the temple through the
Western Gate.
 Facing
South:

I invoke you, Lamas, Lord of the Southern Wind! I

summon you, who rules Leo and the month of Abu!
Come to me, for I am the priest (priestess) of
forgotten gods! Light up the Night with your
scorching flame and reveal to me the mysteries of the
Sun!

Envision a figure with a human face and the body of a lion

entering
the temple through the Southern
Gate.

Facing
East:

I invoke you, Sed, Lord of the Eastern Wind! I

summon you, who rules Taurus and the month of
Airu! Come to me, for I am the living manifestation of
the Dragon! Reveal to me ancient wisdom that you
have witnessed and guarded since the beginning of
time!

Envision a bull with a human face entering the temple

through the
Eastern
Gate.

Focus again on the central

sigil:

Come forth, lords of the winds! I summon you from

your dwelling place - from Nuzku upon Uru! From
spaces between the Sun and the Moon, day and
night, light and darkness! Through the force of IGIGI!
Come to me!
 KIA! ANNA! AG!
BADUR!

By the power of the Sign of Voor and in the name

of the First
Dragon of the
Void!

Make the Sign of

Voor

HO DRAKON HO
MEGAS!
Focus on the elemental forces flowing from the four cardinal
directions, surrounding you and conjoining in the center of the
ritual space through the binding sigil. Feel the breath of the
four winds on your skin, let them carry you and lead you
through astral paths and dimensions.
 Journey to
Carcosa

On the basis of An Inhabitant of Carcosa by

Ambrose Bierce

Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Slowly relax and

begin the visualization. Envision a dark, spiraling vortex
above you. It draws everything inside, absorbing all things
around you - the objects in the room, the room itself, the
house, the whole town, and finally - the entire globe. Then,
when everything is gone, you feel that you also float
upwards, into the portal and onto the Other Side. You drift
through black cosmic space, among brightly shining stars,
and you notice that you are being drawn towards one of
them. After a while you land on the surface of the star.

As you look around, you notice that you are now in a bleak
and desolate expanse of plain, covered with sere grass
which rustles moved by a weird unearthly wind. Protruded at
long intervals above it, there are strangely shaped rocks in
unusual colors. You also notice a few solitary blasted trees.
The sun is invisible but it is quite bright. Lead-colored clouds
hang low in the sky and the atmosphere is filled with evil
and menace. There are no birds, insects, or other living
creatures around, and the whole landscape seems devoid of
life.

As you go straight ahead, you pass weird weatherworn

stones, shaped with tools, with characters and images
carved on them. Some lie prostrate, other are leaned at
various angles, none is vertical. Some of them look like
headstones or graves. It seems to be a burial- ground of a
prehistoric race of men whose name is long extinct. In the
distance you can see ruins of a city, once huge and
beautiful, now ruined and destroyed. There are no living
beings, only shadows appear occasionally among the stone
ruins.
You enter the city and walk through its ruined streets towards
a huge lake that is seen behind the ruins. When you approach
the lake, you notice that it is quite unlike vessels of water on
Earth. Its waters shine with a strange light, and plants growing
there are slightly purple. Suddenly, the waters lower down and
you can see a black castle arising from the lake, floating in
the air. The whole scenery seems to radiate an unearthly
glow and everything around the lake returns to life. The plants
begin to blossom, and the city is no longer ruined - now it
thrives with life and flourishes again. Also, between the
towers of the city you can see a huge, beautiful moon.

The wind that moves the grass lifts you up and you float
towards the gate of the castle. Its inhabitants, creatures
resembling ghouls or spectres, open the gate and invite you
in. You enter a chamber with black stone walls where you
notice countless doors to other chambers. Explore the castle.
Let your vision and imagination guide you through its corridors
and chambers. Perhaps you will even meet Hastur himself.

When you feel that your journey is ending, let the swirling
vortex carry you again to your temple, and return to normal
consciousness.
 The Serpent God Yig and the
Power of
Ecsta
sy

In the Cthulhu Mythos, Yig is an earth, chthonic deity, a

giant serpent, the father of all snakes. H.P. Lovecraft
describes him as a Native American deity, the serpent god
of the mainland tribes, and an odd, half-anthropomorphic
devil of highly arbitrary and capricious nature. Yig was
usually friendly to those who worshipped him, but in the
autumn he always became abnormally ravenous. At that
time he had to be driven away by means of suitable rites. In
The Curse of Yig, Lovecraft describes these rites in the
following way:

That was why the tom-toms in the Pawnee, Wichita, and Caddo
country pounded ceaselessly week in and week out in August,
September, and October; and why the medicine-men made
strange noises with rattles and whistles curiously like those of the
Aztecs and Mayas.

Lovecraft compares Yig to such deities as Quetzalcoatl or

Kukulcan. Quetzalcoatl, known also as the plumed
serpent, was an ancient Mesoamerican god with many
associations and attributes. The Aztecs viewed him as
the god of wind, the deity connected with the Zodiac (the
feathered serpent was also a symbol of the sky), and the
lord of all knowledge and learning. He was also the
creator of the fifth-world human race, as it was him who
made man from the powdered precious bones of
previous generations of mankind. The powder was imbued
with life-force by adding his own blood. Quetzalcoatl was
known under many other names: Kukulcan, Gukumatz,
Kucumatz, etc. He was worshipped by inhabitants of the
ancient Mesoamerica: the Quich, the Aztecs, the Toltecs,
the Maya, the Olmec, and the Mixtec, until these areas
were invaded by the Spanish under the command of Corts.
His cult included, among other elements, human
sacrifice and ritual bloodletting.
His name is believed to originate from a heroic chief or a king-
priest. The most common depiction of Quetzalcoatl is the
image of a feathered serpent. Sometimes he was also
presented in anthropomorphic shape: with a pointed hat and a
spiral jewel on his chest made from a snail shell. In
Lovecrafts description he also appears in half-human form:
as a black demonic anthropomorphic figure with a giant head
and shoulders. Quetzalcoatl was a deity of many ambiguous
functions and powers which differed depending on a particular
civilization where he was worshipped. Sometimes he was
believed to be the morning star, while his twin brother Xolotl
was the evening star (Venus). As the morning star, he was
called Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning lord of the star of the
dawn. It was believed that he was the inventor of the
calendar and books and the giver of food: the maize (corn). He
was also the patron of priests and a symbol of death and
resurrection.

A character similar to Quetzalcoatl was another plumed

serpent, Kukulcan. His name was derived from a Toltec god
who came to the Mayan territories together with the Itza tribe,
guided by a chief bearing the same name. Kukulcan was the
god of earth, water and fire, and among his symbols one
could find the growing maize, the fish and the lizard. He was a
god of resurrection and rebirth and his cult included stone
statues representing phalluses.

Kucumatz, another related deity, was the main god of the

Quich tribes. Like Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan, he was
depicted in serpent shape and was often identified with these
two mythological characters. He was an androgynous deity:
the mother and the father. He was the heart of heavens and
the creator of plants and animals. Also, he was believed to be
the giver of civilization, especially the law, agriculture, fishery,
and medicine.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, Yig is worshipped both on Earth

and in worlds located in other dimensions. His cult is
found in Knaa, a part of the ancient kingdom of Mu. He
is one of the main deities of this land, apart from
Shub-Niggurath, Nug and Yeb.
In De Vermis Misteriis, he is the Guardian of the Right Side,
one of the main gateways to dimensions beyond the
manifested world:

Sorcerers bring Him a pure and innocent female, whose life force
absorbed by the right side makes material things changeable and
submissive in the hands of the Sorcerer. So that the sorcerer can
turn substances of the material world to other things. That is why
the title of this Guard is Master of the Serpents, for in His embrace
all hard things leave their skins and present uncovered before
Him.

His magical power is therefore the force of transformation.

The serpent itself is an ancient symbol of metamorphosis
and rejuvenation. The removal of the skin represents
universal transforming powers, typifying a change and a
new beginning. The key concept in this symbolism is venom
that poisons the organism and causes death - initiating the
transition into a new state of being. For this reason, Yig can
be compared to other spirits and deities representing the
concept of venom, such as Samael, the angel of death
whose name means The Venom of God. In the Talmudic
literature, Samael is described as the accuser, seducer and
destroyer. He is the bringer of death who slays men with a
drop of poison. He is also regarded as the prince of devils
and the ruler of Hell, depicted as a black angel with six pairs
of wings. In the Bible, he is presented as the Serpent, and in
this form he seduces Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is also
the initiator of sexual debauchery, as he is mentioned
among leaders of angels who descended to earth in order to
unite with daughters of man, about which we learn from the
apocryphal Book of Enoch. His consort is Lilith, identified
with other female personifications of debauchery and
prostitution: Naamah, Eisheth Zenunim and Agrat bat
Mahlat. In the Qabalistic tradition, he is the prince of
demons and the patron of magic. He corresponds to the
second solstice, the western wind, and the third day of the
week. In amulets, he is depicted as the angel of death. It is
also believed that the dark spots on the moon are caused by
his impurity.
Finally, the name Samael is also attributed to the third
Qlipha on the Qabalistic Tree of Night, the sphere where the
adept experiences magical trance of intoxication and insanity
through the rite of passage induced by spiritual poison.

As the angel of death, Samael is also connected with the

sphere of Saturn and the Qliphothic tunnel of Thantifaxath, the
path connecting the material world (Malkuth/Lilith) with the
astral realm (Yesod/ Gamaliel). It is the sphere of death,
inhabited by ghouls and larvae, illuminated by the phosphoric
glow of candles made of bones. In Nightside of Eden, Kenneth
Grant writes:

The Ash and Cypress, the Nightshade, the Elm, and the Yew, are
the trees of darkness in whose shadows the tunnel disappears
into the deepest cells of the earth. Yet this tunnel has affinities with
the ocean of space through its association with Set, the child of the
Goddess of the Seven Stars whose planetary vehicle is Saturn.

The Egyptian god Set is another deity associated with the

serpent symbolism. While travelling through the path of
Thantifaxath, the adept is bitten by a snake, and the venom
which flows through the veins induces a shift of
consciousness, allowing to experience visions of blood and
the moon. That is why Kenneth Grant ascribes Yig to the
Qliphothic level of Gamaliel, the lunar sphere of dreams and
visions, accessed through intoxication of consciousness with
the transforming elixir of the serpent. Under the influence of
spiritual poison, the adept leaves the physical body, just as a
serpent drops its skin, and enters the astral realm of lunar
fantasies.

Also in Donald Tysons Necronomicon: The

Wanderings of Alhazred Yig is ascribed to the sphere of
Saturn - as Yig is the most ancient of the Great Old Ones,
so Saturn is the most ancient of the planets; the serpent
is the coldest of animals, and Saturn is located in the
most distant and coldest cosmic recesses; Yig is the
wisest of the gods, and Saturn is a symbol of wisdom and
mystery;
the serpent hunts its prey in darkness of the night, and
Saturn exists in the darkest depths of space; the serpent
sometimes becomes slow and sleepy, and accordingly -
Saturn is the slowest of planets. It is also believed that
Saturn influences these phenomena and concepts that
relate to death: cold, ageing, sleep, stagnation, depression,
melancholy, blackness, and the inevitable flow of time which
devours everything like the god Cronos (the Roman Saturn)
who swallows his own children in a terrifying cycle of death
and rebirth.

According to Tyson, the sign of Yig is the numerical square of

Saturn: the field of three rows and three columns, where
each three cells sum up to fifteen, and the total of nine cells
equals forty-five. From this square one may create a seal of
Yig with the use of Hebrew letters. It is believed that such
amulet, made of lead and worn close to the heart, protects
from being bitten by snakes and endows the owner with the
blessing of Yig.

The poison, or venom, is also associated with the spider and

is the attribute of the goddess Arachne, who sometimes
appears together with Yig in rites of magic, manifesting the
conjoined masculine and feminine aspects of their Ophidian
currents. In works of evocation, Yig comes as a swirling
vortex of flames, at first ethereal, but growing solid as he
manifests. He takes form of a huge black snake, with sharp
fangs, flaming eyes and a crown on his head. He also comes
with shadowy snake-spirits that coil around the practitioner,
biting and injecting their venom into the consciousness of
the conjuror, allowing for a magical trance in which one is
able to communicate with the deity. In rites of invocation, he
breathes fiery energy into the mouth of the practitioner, and
as the heat rises through the spine, enflaming the whole
body, he swallows the conjuror, sucking the consciousness
into a black vacuum which is the entrance to his stellar
temple. There he assumes the shape of a man. He is naked,
ithyphallic, with reptilian eyes, sharp fangs, and a forked
tongue of a serpent. He is fearsome and savage, resembling
a snake dressed in human skin rather than a human being.
Communication is non-verbal and occurs telepathically,
though sometimes he hisses like a serpent and his speech has
to be translated by the mind into a comprehensible message.
His temple is filled with fire and blood and it is common to see
a cauldron or a pool with hot, boiling blood in the center of
the chamber and countless snakes writhing on the floor and
waiting for travelers to feed on their life-substance. Yig
endows the practitioner with the ability to activate, direct and
harness the Ophidian serpent-force within, awakening the
reptilian powers of the back brain which is the tool of the
spirit. The injection of his Ophidian essence also transforms
consciousness into a vessel for the venom of Arachne that is
too poisonous for a normal human mind, thus preparing the
adept to work with the Spider Goddess and deeper aspects of
the Necronomicon Gnosis.

The children of Yig are snakes and serpent-like creatures

encountered in mythologies worldwide. There is a myth that in
ancient times the first civilizations were ruled by serpent-
people. The king of Lemuria was reputedly a serpent or half-
serpent. Also, the mythical kingdom of Valusia was inhabited
by serpent-people, the worshippers of Yig. These beings were
sorcerers and alchemists who devoted their lives to magic.
When the civilization of Valusia was destroyed, the inhabitants
sheltered in underground cities and tunnels, the largest of
them being the land of Yoth. But when the serpent-people
encountered dwellers of another underground land, the
kingdom of Nkai, many of old worshippers of Yig rejected him
and started to worship the god of Nkai, Tsathoggua. To punish
them, Yig transformed the unfaithful followers into snakes and
took away their human features: the speech, the limbs and
intelligence. Then, the civilization of Yigs worshippers moved
to the area around the Voormithadreth mountain, and after
that they arrived in Lemuria. When this civilization also fell
into ruin, the serpent-people survived hiding in caves and
vaults of the earth. Such is the story told by the Cthulhu
Mythos fiction.
Apart from the above-mentioned serpent deities, such as
Quetzalcoatl and his associates or the Egyptian god Set, we
can find myths of serpent-people in the Hindu lore,
especially in the stories of the Naga serpents. According to
this tradition, the Nagas are demonic entities, often
immortal, depicted in half-human, half-snake form: with
human upper part of the body (above the waist), and the
lower part in the shape of a serpent. They also have more
heads - usually seven or five. They inhabit the Underworld,
the realm of serpents (naga-loka), where one can find many
palaces, houses, towers, and gardens. This serpent kingdom
is called Ptla and is ruled by Adishesha. Other famous
Nagas are Vasuki and Manasa. The Nagas like jewellery and
all kinds of decorations. Their attribute is also an exceptional
beauty. It is believed that they possess great magical skills.
In folk beliefs, they are worshipped as givers of fertility, and
in Tibet they are regarded as water deities and guardians of
treasures.

Another child of Yig mentioned in the Mythos is Byatis, the

god of forgetfulness, who came with the Great Old Ones
from the stars. His mother is supposedly Shub-Niggurath.
Byatis is known for his power of darkening the mind and
causing forgetfulness with his gaze. Those who call him fall
prey to his hunger. He feeds on them and drains their vital
force. The dreams of his victims are filled with terrifying
images of the Abyss and the dark dimensions of the
universe.

Also legendary basilisks can be viewed as children of

Yig. They are usually depicted as serpent-like creatures,
with eight legs or a dragon tail, eyes of a toad, and a
pointed head on which they wear a crown. It was believed
that they hatched from an egg of a seven- year old cockerel,
incubated by a toad or a serpent. The legendary power of
basilisks was to cause death by a single glance. Similarly
as the other children of Yig, basilisks inhabit underground
and chthonic regions: caves, cellars, or wells, and in many
stories they are guardians of treasures hidden in these
places. The belief that basilisks actually existed was so
strong in Europe that often black cockerels were killed in
order to prevent creation of these demonic monsters.
For instance, in Basel in 1417 the town council sentenced an
eleven- year-old black cockerel for laying an egg: the animal
was beheaded and burnt in public.

The connection between basilisks and Yig might originate from

their association with Saturn. The blood of basilisk or the
blood of Saturn was the name attributed to a magical elixir
that was believed to bring luck and protect a person from
witchcraft. None human being can resist the gaze of a basilisk.
One can fight the monster with a mirror, but it can also be
controlled by means of flute music, because the basilisk
starts to dance to the tune and loses the power of killing until
the sounds go down. It is the power of Azathoth, the blind god,
the center of creation, surrounded by the unearthly sound of
flutes, music that all beings must obey.

The children of Yig contain within themselves an element of

his essence and are a reflection of his own nature. There is a
legend that when all snakes die on earth, also Yig will leave
this world. But no one knows if this legend is true and none
man shall witness its ending: for the serpent is more ancient
than human race and will endure eons after we fall into dust.

The key to understanding the mystery of Yig is hidden in

the story The Curse of Yig, written together with Zealia
Bishop, where Lovecraft describes the cult of Yig and a
horrifying encounter with the deity. There was a conviction
among the Native American tribes that no one was allowed
to kill any snake, even though there were plenty of them,
because this could arouse anger of their father, the god
Yig. He was believed to be an enormously vengeful deity who
could take cruel revenge on those who did any harm to his
children. His favorite method was to turn his victim, after
suitable tortures, to a spotted snake. In the story, Lovecraft
presents a couple of young settlers who came to the
territories where the cult of Yig was very strong. The man
had an almost epileptic fear of snakes - even the very
mention of a snake could make him faint and pale, while the
sight of them produced a shock, sometimes bordering on a
convulsion or seizure.
The settlers tried to avoid the sight of snakes by any means.
But one day they had to shelter from wind on a rocky cliff,
where his wife noticed a nest of rattlesnakes. To protect her
husband from shock, she killed all of them. Since that time
they both lived in continuous fear of the terrible curse of Yig.
Each day they remembered to say prayers and protective
spells, but one day they neglected this routine and went to
sleep without protection. At night they awoke at the sound
of hissing rattlesnakes that were crawling around their bed.
The snakes killed the man and the frightened woman was
transformed into a snake-like creature, and so was her
offspring that was born to her after this event.

The meeting with Yig is thus an encounter of sexual nature.

That is why his cult is also related to sex rites and
celebrations of sexuality. In Necronomicon: The Wanderings
of Alhazred, Tyson describes the following method of
summoning Yig: he is called into the body of a priestess
who lies naked on the ground, writhing and hissing. Her
thighs are anointed with blood and her eyes rolled back so
that only the whites are seen. Then a following incantation
should be recited:

Approach, Deathless One; heed the summons of the flute of

Azathoth your creator, the song of which none of his blood may
deny; descend slithering down the rays of the stars from the
coils of the dragon. Great Serpent old of years and wise in
wisdom, at the beginning of time you gave the gift of
knowledge to the race of man, through the embrace of a woman
during the forbidden days of her cycle; enter again this female
vessel whose thighs are streaked with blood and insert your
teachings into her mind, that your faithful servants may profit
from her instruction. Render sweet the fruits of her womb.
Empower her with your mighty arts to defend us against our
enemies, and against those who would defame your memory. Y,
yti mng thulh ugga aeth Yig flanglh uuthah!
Worshippers of Yig believe that he enters the bodies of his
priests and his presence manifests when a person falls to the
ground and starts hissing like a serpent. They hiss with their
lips, but the sound does not take form of any human
language, as Yig never speaks but sends images and visions
into the mind of the possessed priest. It is best to call him on
specially assigned days because his power is the greatest
during two days of each moon cycle, when the course of the
moon and the sun intersect. These conjunctions are known to
astrologers as caput draconis and cauda draconis, the Head
and the Tail of the Dragon. This position of stars is also
connected with the influence of Yog-Sothoth, the guardian and
the gate between the worlds.

The description of the Yig ritual from Tysons book very much
resembles ecstatic practices performed by priestesses of
African sorcery, the pythonesses acting as oracles in the
mysteries of the Serpent, about which Kenneth Grant writes in
Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God. The serpent power, the
Kundalini, is aroused as sexual impulse that produces ecstasy
and trance. This is a modern metaphorical interpretation. But
in ancient African rites, real snakes were used to induce
abnormal condition in sensitive women who became
possessed and insane by contact with the serpents: through
fascination with their look, fear of their touch, or the use of
their tongues. These priestesses fell into a trance called the
Stupor of the Serpent in which they revealed such skills as
clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. They acted as oracles and
prophets through which divine powers manifested to
celebrants gathered around.

Grant also provides an example of a voodoo practice in which

a female priestess fell into a trance from the contact with
the flickering tongue of the serpent. She was penetrated by
the divine force, writhed, her whole body was convulsed, and
she spoke words of prophecy. In this ecstatic trance women
uttered oracles, communicated with the spirits of the dead,
elementals, cosmic daemons, and - if they were Initiates of a
high order - with cosmic entities existing outside space and
time.
The ritual of Yig bears close similarity to such practices. It is
also important to notice that in these rites blood is used to
call the presence of the deity. The contact with blood
signifies the crossing of the barrier between the mundane
and the spiritual, and in ancient magical practices blood was
used to contact the denizens of the Other Side. Blood is also
a powerful stimulant that intoxicates the practitioner and
allows for a shift of consciousness beyond the commonplace
state of mind. In the ritual of Yig, the priestess is therefore
also stimulated by the smell, touch and sight of this
powerful substance. Blood is sprinkled on her thighs, which
is symbolic either of menstruation (the impure and
magical phase of the lunar cycle, when the woman is more
sensitive to subtle impulses), or defloration, in which the
serpent represents the phallus. Both concepts belong to the
sphere of sexuality. Intoxication and trance are therefore
produced by sexual impulses. The priestess, inflamed to
the point of orgasm, is penetrated by the deity, in this
practice identified with Yig, when the serpent-force rises up
her spine and activates the chakras, the energy power
zones. At the moment of orgasm, the energy is directed to
the centre of the Will, the Ajna chakra. The Third Eye opens
and the vision of other planes and dimensions is achieved.
At this point the Serpent unfolds its wings and becomes the
Dragon, the fiery energy activated and liberated from bonds
of the flesh. This might be experienced as an ecstatic trance
in which one is able to float above the physical body and
explore the Other Side. In the Tantric tradition, sexual fluids
secreted during orgasm are regarded as magically potent
substances. An example of this process is given below, in
the meditation centered on Yig, the purpose of which is to
activate the Serpent Power and raise it to the level of
ecstasy and intoxication.

The Ophidian current of Yig seems lunar at first, as it is

related to the mysteries of the moon and accessed
through the Lunar Gate. Thus, his sigil embraces feminine
sexual imagery combined with the phallic symbolism of
the serpent. But in its core it is solar and fiery, rising
as a fire within, encompassing the whole body with
heat and spreading in waves of burning ecstasy.
It is activated by breathing techniques, through trances
induced by movement - shaking, dancing and swaying,
through sex magic and methods of harnessing and directing
sexual energy for the sake of awakening the spiritual centers.
In its deeper aspects, the Sigil of Yig assumes the form of the
Ophidian Sun, manifestation of solar, phallic energy of his
Ophidian current. While the primary Sigil of Yig serves as a
gateway to the current, allowing for the flow of lunar sexual
energies of the Nightside, the Ophidian Sun may be used for
meditation with the solar, fiery aspect of the God.

The Ophidian
Sun
 Serpentine Ecstasy - A Ritual of
Possession

This is an advanced working based on the controlled use of

psycho- sexual energy known as the Serpent Power, or the
Kundalini. It should not be attempted by a person who has
never worked with the Kundalini force. This ritual requires at
least basic awareness of the astral body and the ability to
direct and focus inner energy in particular parts of the
physical body. Otherwise the working might be of no use or
even harmful to the practitioner. It is also recommended to
have basic knowledge of sex magic and to be able to
achieve an inner orgasm without any physical means,
though the latter is not necessary.

The working includes a sex-magical technique of directing

the orgasmic energy to particular chakras in order to
activate them and allow for a smooth flow of the Kundalini
force. This transforms the orgasm experience into an
implosion of the whole organism, which is then focused in
the Third Eye and released through the crown chakra. This
Tantric technique lifts the consciousness to a higher level
and allows for the experience of the Other Side, worlds and
dimensions of reality inaccessible to mundane perception.
Here, the working is focused on invocation, or possession,
by Yig who is identified with the Kundalini Serpent, and
transcendence of consciousness beyond flesh, into spaces
between angles, as they are described in the lore of the
Necronomicon Gnosis.

Sit in a comfortable position or lie down. Breathe

slowly and deeply and continue until you feel
completely relaxed. Place the sigil of Yig in front of
you. Like in the case of previous sigil meditations, focus
all your attention on the image, see it coming alive
and channeling energies from the Other Side.
Send a message to Yig, inviting him to your temple of flesh,
and feel his current entering the room through the sigil. Then
close your eyes and begin the visualization. A female
practitioner may choose to enact the role of the Yig priestess
in this working - in this case, she should paint the sigil of Yig
with her own blood on the inner side of her thighs and on the
forehead.

The Sigil of
Yig
Envision yourself standing on a rocky peak of a mountain. It
is dark and the sun has already set. The atmosphere is
gloomy and there are black heavy clouds hanging low in
the sky. A lightning bolt strikes in the distance, but there is
no rain. You can also hear a sound of thunder and you
realize that a storm is approaching. After a short while, the
wind becomes fierce and lightning strikes all around you.

Suddenly, you hear a hissing sound behind. You turn around

and you notice a huge black cauldron. There are hundreds of
rattlesnakes. They are coiling around the cauldron and their
venom drips inside. From the cauldron arise clouds of thick
black vapor, forming into a shadowy shape of a giant
serpent. The sound of hissing and the roaring of thunder
seem to be rhythmically harmonized and you begin to fall
into a hallucinatory trance. You can also hear rhythmic
drumming somewhere from the distance. Strange shadows
are dancing around you, illuminated by the glow of
lightning.

After a while, the shadows moving around you assume

shape and crystallize into naked women. They have pale
white skin and non- human eyes. They start performing a
sensual and ecstatic dance around the cauldron, moving
among the snakes. The serpents are writhing around them
and coiling up their bodies. They bite them, and venom and
blood is dripping from the bodies of priestesses, but they do
not seem to be affected by the wounds. Suddenly, they all
fall on the ground and writhe in ecstatic trance. The
serpents coil around their naked bodies, stimulating them
with their tongues and penetrating them. The whole scene is
accompanied by rhythmic sounds of thunder, hissing and
drumming.

While the vision continues, start building up your sexual

arousal. Direct the energy arising in your genitals through
the whole body. At the same time chant or whisper the
mantra:
 NA-HA-SHA-YI
NA-HA-YI-SHA
SHA-YI-HA-NA-
GA

Simultaneously, continue the

visualization:

When you feel intoxicated and entranced by the whole

atmosphere, the huge shadowy serpent suddenly wraps
around you and pulls you inside the cauldron. The deadly
venom enters your body through your naked skin. It feels
painful at first, but then it becomes strangely delightful and
you lose yourself in pleasure. At this moment, lightning strikes
the ground next to the cauldron and ignites the fire beneath.
The flames heat the vessel and you also feel en enormous
heat burning your body.

A female practitioner at this moment may visualize the

serpent entering her vagina and penetrating the whole body
through the spine until it reaches the Third Eye, where it
bursts in ecstatic explosion.

At the point of orgasm you have to feel your Third Eye

bursting with energy. Your whole body vibrates and
trembles. You absorb the energy with your whole being.
Limits and barriers that bound your consciousness are
shattered and your primal sexual instincts are released, which
brings forth a series of atavistic visions.

Feel how your Third Eye opens and the crown chakra becomes
a gateway through which your consciousness ascends above
the physical body. Visualize how your astral body assumes the
form of a winged serpent. A black hole opens above your head
and you float up into the black vacuum, where strange angles
and hidden dimensions constitute an enormous labyrinth of
stars, galaxies and worlds, through which you can glide
smoothly in your serpent-dragon form.
You float through limitless abysses of inexplicably colored
twilight and bafflingly disordered sound, crowded with
indescribably angled masses of alien-hued substance
resembling prisms, labyrinths, Cyclopean buildings, and
other oddities unknown to human perception.

Open your consciousness for this experience and let the

visions flow until you feel the need to return. Slowly descend
to your physical body. Feel how the stream of energy goes
down, from the top of your head to the base of the spine,
and lower - into the earth beneath you.

The journey is over. Take a few deep breaths and open

your eyes.
 Dance of the Serpent

If you prefer to connect yourself to the Ophidian current of Yig

through a simple method, without the complex meditation,
here is an exercise that does not need much visualization and
is based on a dancing trance. Light a candle on your altar,
paint the Sigil of Yig on your forehead to activate the Third
Eye, burn aromatic incense, and turn off all other lights. This
practice should be performed with music - rhythmic and
entrancing, shifting your consciousness in a natural and
powerful way. Play it in the background or make it loud - this is
up to you. Turn around, so that the altar and the candle is
behind and you can see your shadow on the wall. Start
moving to the rhythm of the music, slowly dancing in a
serpentine way. At the same time chant the calling mantra of
Yig and envision your shadow assuming the shape of a huge,
black, shadowy serpent. Let the dance be slow and
entrancing, with each minute taking you further and further
from the mundane world. Nothing exists any more - there is
only you and the Serpent God moving with you. Lose yourself
in the trance and feel the Ophidian serpent energy rising
within and coiling around you at the same time. It will
manifest in many ways - both subtle and physical. You may
see the flame of the candle growing and flickering, clouds of
shadow energy rising all around, or you may even observe the
tangible manifestation of the Serpent God himself, taking
shape in the incense smoke. Open yourself for whatever may
happen - the experience has to be ecstatic and enjoyable.
When the energy goes down and you feel the communion with
the Ophidian God is over, close the working, blow out the
candle and return to the mundane consciousness.
The Black Tower of Koth

231
This meditation is a visual journey to the Black Tower,
known also as the Tower of Koth, representing the concept
of a gateway from the world of waking to the world of
dreaming. In the Necronomicon Gnosis, the Tower of Koth
stands sentinel at the threshold of the Outer Void, the meeting
point of worlds and dimensions, at the crossroads of
Manifestation and Non-Being. It exists on the borderland of
dreaming and waking, channeling primal currents of the Outer
Void and empowering the evolution of human consciousness.
It is the Eye of the Dreamer and the portal to knowledge
and power of primordial gods, the gate of transition from the
slumber of ignorance to awakened consciousness. In the
Lovecraftian lore, it is also thought to be a residence of
Nyarlathotep from which he watches the world, sending out
transmissions from the Outer Void to all parts of the universe.
This pylon of primal force is represented on the mundane
plane by the artifact known in the Cthulhu Mythos as the
Shining Trapezohedron, the Black Stone of Nyarlathotep,
which is a window on all space and time and a portal through
which any being from Outside can be summoned and enter
the world of man. The Black Tower itself stands in-between
or beyond the realms of manifestation and the unmanifested,
neither within dreaming nor waking dimensions of reality,
typifying the state of dreamless sleep, having no existence,
yet never ceasing to be. The view from the Tower extends
over all directions of Infinity and from there the traveler can
explore places and locations mentioned in the Cthulhu Mythos
and many more, worlds not yet discovered or described in any
book or by any author. It is the realm of limitless possibilities.

232
Sit in a comfortable position and put The Key to the Black
Tower in front of you - it is recommended to paint it in gold
or silver on black background. If you wish, anoint the sigil
with your blood and see how the lines become charged and
activated with your life substance, or simply visualize it
glowing and flashing with gold and silver light, surrounded
by blackness that is also pouring inside the room and
enveloping around you. Use only one or two candles for this
working
- to have enough light to see the sigil. The meditation itself
should be performed in complete darkness.

Whisper or chant the words of

calling:

Nyarlathotep,
Ny-har-rut-
hotep, Keeper
of the Gate,
Guardian of the Black Tower,
Meet me at the Threshold of
the Void, Open the Doors,
Reveal to me the secrets of
the Night!

Keep gazing at the sigil until you can easily memorize and
visualize its shape. Then, blow out the candles, close your
eyes and recall the image in your inner mind. Focus your
inner sight on the shape of the sigil, see it forming in front of
you, in the black space, shining with silver and golden light.
 The Key to the Black Tower

Then envision the sigil changing, morphing and showing you

visions. Imagine yourself surrounded by a dark landscape,
devoid of vegetation, gloomy and barren. There are no plants
apart from a few withered trees. Black heavy clouds are
hanging low and filtering scarce rays of blood- red light. In the
distance, you can see a black tower erected alone in the vast
wilderness. It has an eye on the top that sheds rays of red
light, as well. Instead of the pupil, the eye has a reversed sun-
symbol swirling counter-clockwise.

You walk towards the tower, and with each step you can feel
that you are leaving the mundane world of waking and
entering the realm of dreaming. The tower beckons you and
the pulsating blood-red light seems hypnotizing. As you
approach the entrance, the door opens by itself and you are
engulfed by the blackness inside the tower that seems to be
alive
Inside the building, the only thing you can see is a spiral
stairway which leads somewhere upwards, to the top of the
tower. The walls are black, carved in strange stone, and you
notice hundreds of mirrors hanging everywhere around. Yet,
the picture in them is not the regular reflection but
everything is distorted and reversed, as if the mirrors were
showing the hidden side of reality, unseen to normal human
eyes.

You go up the stairs, still hypnotized by the pulsating light

that pours in and reflects in the mirrors. Images flash
through them quickly, giving you a sense of dizziness. You
feel as if you were entering the centre of Chaos,
containing movement and life, yet all bathed in dreadful
silence. The air is thick and filled with suffocating poisonous
vapors of something you cannot recognize, perhaps lead or
sulfur.

Finally, you reach the top of the stairs and you stand inside
the Eye that you saw from down below. Now you gaze into
Infinity and you can see all directions of Time and Space
intersecting here, in the centre of the wheel of Chaos. Here,
all currents, all interstellar transmissions meet as if in a
giant spider web of the goddess Arachne, shedding their
rays onto the earth, the waking world, mutating human
consciousness and initiating all evolution. It is the Eye of
Chaos from which you can travel to any dimension if your
Will is strong and focused. Whisper the name
Nyarlathotep. Your consciousness will sink into the
blackness of the Void for a moment, but after a while your
inner eyes will open and you will notice a dark human-like
figure emerging from the living darkness that dwells in the
tower. The man is tall and pale, wearing a long black robe.
His face is demonic and his eyes are empty. When your eyes
meets his gaze, you feel drawn into his body and you leave
yours. You are Nyarlathotep - He who walks the spaces
beyond the stars. Your vision shifts and you can now see the
surrounding scenery that has also changed.
You are now in a stellar temple in the center of cosmic space.
It resembles a gothic cathedral but there are no doors or
windows and it is built from a very light black substance
that you cannot identify. The interior is lit by an odd strange
light that seems to radiate from the walls themselves. The
construction drifts through time and space, among stars and
galaxies, floating into a huge black hole in the shape of a
spiraling vortex pulsating with purple light. And when the
temple is drawn inside the vortex, you can hear a strange
cacophony of sounds.

After a while, you realize that you are in the very center of the
Outer Void. It is completely black. There are no stars visible
anywhere and the sounds start to resemble some kind of
music but it has no rhythm or pattern and is purely chaotic. At
this moment, the whole construction stops at one point and
begins to rotate.

The rotation becomes faster and faster and at the same time
you can feel that your consciousness expands and merges
with the limitless Infinity until you completely lose the sense
of identity and feel a strange unity with the Void that
surrounds you Meditate on this feeling and let the stellar
currents that originate in the center of the Void carry you
towards the unknown. Open yourself for whatever may come
and when the vision is over, return to your normal
consciousness and close the working.
 The Shining Trapezohedron

In order to empower your journeys or let the stellar current

of Nyarlathotep from the Black Tower flow into the temple,
you can make your own shining trapezohedron that will
represent the tower and act as a permanent pylon of this
primal force. This can be a crystal shaped or carved to look
like a tower, or any other object that can focus and channel
the current of the black pylon. Crystals are the best tools, as
they are natural conductors and excellent energy vessels.
Since the mythical tower is black, you may want to use an
obsidian crystal for this purpose, but any other black-colored
crystal will also work fine. The Tower of Koth is also called
The Hollow One, referring to its associations with the
Void, which may serve as an inspiration for the actual
object, as well. Feel free to follow your intuition and
imagination while creating your own shining
trapezohedron.

The size of the object does not really matter but it should be
big enough to function as a scrying tool into which you will
be able to gaze comfortably.

Once you obtain a suitable object, paint or carve The Key to

the Black Tower on it, anoint it with your own blood -
your life substance will empower the gateway - and
perform the working provided above to draw the current of
the Tower into the crystal and open it as a portal to the
Outer Void. It is recommended to paint the sigil in a place
that will not be visible during the work with the object, for
instance - on the bottom side. Whenever you wish to
use the crystal as a scrying vessel, to gaze into worlds
Outside, anoint it with your blood, put your hands on the
object and focus on drawing the current of the Black
Tower into your temple.
You may speak a few words of opening or design a special
opening formula or incantation that will be used with this
ritual tool only - make it unique and personal. Remember that
the window works both ways - the entities observed through
the crystal will be aware of your presence and may pass
through the gate, whether summoned or not.

When the gateway is not used, cover the crystal with a piece
of black cloth. The gate itself will remain open - it is a
permanent pylon of the primal current of the Outer Void - but
it will not be active until you awaken it with your blood again.
The Art of Sacrifice and Blood
Magic
239
The contents of this chapter were originally published in 2007
in Clavicula Nox: Issue III Azathoth by Ixaxaar. I decided to
include it in the present edition of this book as a curiosity, as
the subject of sacrifice is a specific aspect of the
Necronomicon Gnosis that adds a unique flavor to the entire
Cthulhu Mythos. It is certainly not meant to encourage anyone
to apply these methods and rituals in practice. Human and
animal sacrifice tends to be a popular subject these days,
which is sad and disturbing, as these methods are completely
unnecessary in self- initiatory magic of the Left Hand Path,
and promoting such practices as magical tools only
encourages violent urges and disrespect for life. The only
sacrifice that has to be made by the Initiate is the sacrifice
of the lower Self to the higher Self, as it is illustrated by a
number of myths and legendary rites of passage, such as
e.g. the Sumerian story of Inannas descent into the
Underworld. The only blood we can offer is our own, as this is
a symbolic sacrifice of a part of ourselves, and therefore it has
the initiatory and transforming value. The killing of an animal
or a human being is not only illegal but also senseless, as their
lives do not belong to us, and we cannot sacrifice what we do
not own, as this would contradict the very concept of the
sacrifice. I strongly encourage the reader to have that in
mind before delving into practical aspects of blood magic.

***

Listen and obey, you, born from the mothers wombs. Revere the
creatures of the angles and crossroads, let the warm blood of your
children feed them, and let their progeny be fed on it and grown
for the sake or release of Those Who Sleep in the pitch pits
- De Vermis
Misteriis -

240
The power of blood has been a subject of belief since time
immemorial. It was the most valuable fluid, often ascribed
mystical powers as a container of powerful, transforming
energy. Ancient mythologies and historical accounts abound
in examples of human sacrifice, ceremonial bloodletting and
ingestion of blood - both of humans and animals. Blood
sacrifice was used for beneficial purposes: healing,
cleansing and empowerment, as well as in destructive
witchcraft and malefic magic - to contact and
communicate with dark forces, in rites of possession and
for cursing. Blood was regarded as the most valuable
offering. All liquids, which served as offerings (milk, mead,
wine), were merely substitutes for blood, the greatest gift of
all. The sacrificer had an exceptional status in the
community - as the intermediary between the world of
man and the divine sphere, he was outside the law of
common mortals. In magic, blood has a special role and
serves several purposes, which will be discussed in this
chapter on the example of the Cthulhu Mythos stories and
chosen Necronomicon-related grimoires. In the
Necronomicon Gnosis blood is a special fluid. It is the seat of
psychic powers, the token of worship, the key to the Other
Side and the emblem of demonic powers inherent in the
unconscious. But let us proceed to the description of its
main functions.

Food for the

Spirits

The foremost function of blood in many magical traditions is

to provide the substance for spirits to manifest, and
such is also its role in the Necronomicon Gnosis. The
use of blood sacrifice, either ones own or of another
living being, releases a certain amount of energy - and
energy is needed to obtain the physical manifestation of
evoked entities on the material plane. This role of blood
sacrifice makes it useful in evocations. Spirits, which
naturally belong to subtle planes, have no material
substance and they cannot take physical form by
themselves. This is not needed in astral magic, but to bring
them onto the physical plane, the magician needs a
substance that contains enough energy within.
This is usually blood or sexual fluids - the substances often
employed by magicians in their practice, usually with good
results. But here let us focus solely on the use of blood.

Descriptions of the Necronomicon spirits and deities often

emphasize that they are not made of blood and flesh and they
can manifest and form their visible bodies only from the life-
substance of sacrificial victims. This is stated in Lovecrafts
The Call of Cthulhu and confirmed by other Mythos accounts.
For instance, let us have a look at the Star Dwellers in De
Vermis Misteriis: they are described as invisible creatures, but
only until they drink the blood of living beings. The life-fluid
fills their bodies and makes their contours visible. As a
sacrifice, the sorcerer must use the blood of a young woman,
born on a particular day of the Moon. In The Dunwich Horror,
the monstrous child of Yog-Sothoth and human witch, Lavinia
Whateley, is fed on blood of animals, because only this
substance is nourishing enough to make the creature grow. In
the story Dreams in the Witch-House, another Lovecraftian
witch, Keziah Mason uses her own blood to feed her familiar.
The demon, called Brown Jenkin, is material enough for the
townspeople to see him. He has a form of a rat with human
face, he can speak all languages, and his function is to carry
messages between the witch and the Old Gods. He acts as an
intermediary between her and the Other Side. It is said that
the familiar was nursed on the witchs blood, which it sucked
like a vampire. The demon seems to draw blood also from
other people, which is seen on the example of Gilman, the
main protagonist of the story. In return for Gilmans blood,
Brown Jenkin becomes his guide through dimensions between
worlds of dreaming and waking.

Vampire spirits are common in the Cthulhu Mythos

stories. The Urilia Text from the Simon Necronomicon,
for instance, mentions the Akhkharu, vampire demons
who lust for blood because they desire to become a
fashioning of Man, to gain physical form like humans.
Because vampire spirits are devoid of their own life-force,
they need to drain it from other living beings in order to exist.
Also, blood is the substance most commonly regarded as the
source of vital energy - hence the connection between
vampirism and blood magic.
Vampire entities need blood not only to become visible and
material, but even to maintain their shadowy and
ephemeral existence on the Other Side.

This is the traditional role associated with the vital fluid -

blood is the seat of the soul, the vessel of the spirit and the
source of magical powers. No wonder that vampires, like the
Akhkharu, lust for this magical substance.

Blood also has an animating and rejuvenating quality. This

view is presented in The Horror at the Red Hook, where
the life-fluid is used by a sorcerer to regain youth and vital
forces. Suydam, the magician in service of dark forces,
sacrifices children and with their blood he refreshes his
appearance and strength. Finally, after his death, blood is
used to resurrect/reanimate him so that he could take part
in a ceremony devoted to Lilith - the goddess often
associated with vampirism, blood and all kinds of magic
related with it. In this story we also see blood as the food for
dark spirits: incubi, succubi, lemures, and other demons that
feed on the life-substance of sacrificed victims in order to
manifest in physical form. Lilith bathes in blood to regain
material body and to refresh her essence. The motif of
feeding, reanimating the dead with blood, was not
unknown in religious customs of many ancient cultures.
Blood was poured into a pit in the ground in order to
satiate the dead or to conjure up a dead person in a
necromantic ritual. Such examples are found in accounts
from ancient Greece, Rome and many non-European tales
and legends.

From descriptions in the stories, it seems that the greater

the spirit or deity, the more life-substance it needs to
manifest. If it is a minor entity, not many sacrificial victims
are needed. There are also human sorcerers who managed
to escape death and exist on subtle planes, but they are
skillful enough to recreate their physical shapes with blood
of other humans. This motif is presented in The Horror
from the Middle Span. There are certain Cthulhu Mythos
deities that only need one or two sacrificial victims to
form a shape visible to the sorcerer. But there are also
entities that need many more.
An extreme example comes from The Book of Dagon, where
Rakasaul, the king of Mot, is requested thousands of
sacrifices to provide the substance and energy for a deity
called Lord of the Quaking Mist- first he has to fill a huge pit
with bodies of victims whose hearts were torn out, then
slaughter enough people to form a star from their bodies
- with 112 rays, each of a three-days-walk length, then he has
to sacrifice
100 captured warriors, and finally - kill everyone around the
pit. That makes a few thousand sacrificial victims altogether.
As we can see, the mysterious Lord of the Quaking Mist is a
demanding deity, whose gluttony would be hard to appease
by a commonplace sorcerer.

A Token of
Worship

The most common role of blood sacrifice, i.e. its function as a

token of worship and respect for gods and spirits, is also often
encountered in the Cthulhu Mythos. This ceremonial role is
commonly emphasized in many rituals from the
Necronomicon-related grimoires. The most explicit of them,
from this point of view, is undoubtedly De Vermis Misteriis, the
grimoire openly declared as the rites of sacrifice, which
leaves no illusion about the character of magical practices.
Indeed, as we can see in the text, fresh human blood is
needed almost in every ritual and ceremony. As we learn
from the text, the art of sacrifice is not merely ripping
someones chest on the altar - one has to remember about
certain rules:

The body of a sacrifice is placed in the hollow, so its head is

oriented to the east. The sorcerer stays in the east close to the altar
and to the head of the sacrifice placed on it. The sorcerer should
stab the victim by his right hand. The stab should be deadly, but the
sorcerer should not let the sacrifice die fast. So he should stab the
victim in the belly, but not in the heart. And if it is necessary to take
the entrails for the following rituals, he should cut the throat of the
sacrifice.
There is even a special sacrificial formula that has to be
employed. It is called sfan, meaning sacrifice or
children of man, which clearly suggests what should be
sacrificed. This is a traditional token of worship given by the
sorcerer to ones dark lords who do not accept insipid
food. And thus, while calling Cthulhu, the sorcerer should
sacrifice a male infant; in the rite of the lord of serpents,
Yheg (Yig)
- pure and innocent women; to summon the winged Koth - a
young man has to be specially prepared for the ceremony:
fed only with salty water and manure and lashed upon
genitals with a leather belt to let him taste the extreme
humiliation and deprive him of all dignity and pride. In The
Ritual of the Tablet, the sorcerer has to kill and disembowel
an infant and use the entrails as sacrificial food to appease
the Guardians of the Gates. Even in typically astral
workings, such as the use of the so-called Keys of Alyach,
it is openly stated that the right pronunciation of the power
words is possible only if they are sprinkled with sacrificial
blood.

An example of a ceremonial sacrifice, which should not be

missed while discussing the Cthulhu Mythos sources, is the
Cthulhu Canticle from The Book of Dagon. It is a ritual in
which all participants perform active role, even the
sacrificial victims. And thus, while the priests recite the
invocation to the Destroyer of the Realms, the sacrificial
choir joyfully interrupts to proclaim their dedication: Shall
we be granted to Destroyer! ...We are Yours! ...Take us
and drink our blood, let our moans joy your ears! Finding
such enthusiastic sacrificial victims is certainly not an easy
task.

Ceremonial role of blood sacrifice is also important in the

cult of Nyarlathotep. In Tysons Necronomicon - The
Wanderings of Alhazred, priests of this dark deity sacrifice
their own blood as a token of worship. They gush their
arms with knives before the statue of their master in the
hidden Temple of the Sphinx in Egypt, as it is believed that
letting of human blood is welcomed by this god.
Indeed, Nyarlathotep is a deity associated with the gnosis of
blood in many ways, which will be discussed further in this
essay. And even though the blood in the temple is washed
away daily, it can never be completely removed.

Blood sacrifice is also a common practice in the rites of Shub-

Niggurath, the horned goddess of the earth and sexuality. In
the Cthulhu Mythos, she is alternately identified with Lilith,
Ishtar, or Kali - goddesses traditionally connected with
lunar, menstrual blood, sacrifices, or vampirism. An example
of her ritual is again from The Book of Dagon, where the
sacrifice is the blood of two white doves. But in the course of
preparations to the ritual, the sorcerer has to slaughter the
people who helped him build the shrine for the ceremony and
who brought the other offerings (gold and silver). Many other
Cthulhu Mythos deities are also worshipped by their cults with
blood sacrifices: Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Yig, etc. To invoke
Tiamat, as we learn from The Magan Text, blood need be spilt
on a stone, and the stone struck with a sword that has slain
eleven men. Alhazred in his Testimony speaks about
mysterious cults of Sirius, Draconis and Capricornus,
sacrificing humans in worship of their horrible gods. And if we
look closer at the Cthulhu Mythos, we will certainly find many
other examples.

Consecration of Ritual Tools

Blood magic is also employed in consecration of magical items

and preparation of ointments, powders and other substances
used for magical purposes. In De Vermis Misteriis, we read
that the ritual dagger, used for sacrifice, must be kept in a
piece of cloth saturated with menstrual blood. We do not find
explanation why this kind of blood is needed instead of
sacrificial one. Even though there are many mystical qualities
ascribed to menstrual blood, in the Cthulhu Mythos its role
seems to be neglected. The Necronomicon appears to be a
male-oriented grimoire, and so are the other related texts,
rites and ceremonies. In magical workings, the authors
suggest the use of either ones own blood or male semen as
sacred fluids.
Such is the case e.g. in the rite of creating a Shoggoth,
written by Parker Ryan. Rarely do we see situations in which
female menstrual blood is employed. Even the Lovecraftian
witches, such as Keziah Mason or Lavinia Whateley do not
use menstrual blood - or at least it is never even implied in
the stories. Neither do we find such practices in the rites of
Shub-Niggurath, the most female-oriented cult in the
Cthulhu Mythos. Therefore it is surprising to find the use of
menstrual fluid in De Vermis Misteriis, the grimoire in
which a person whose blood is used for magical purposes is
never left alive. Also, women in De Vermis Misteriis are
usually nothing more than sacrificial victims. As we read in
the grimoire: A female sorcerer appears seldom, and it
happens in times of the strongest expansion of the Other
Side, threatening with doom and ruination to all
humankind.

Another example of the use of blood for consecration of

magical items is found in the same text, described in the
preparation of the so- called Amulet of Helmsman. To
create this magical talisman, one has to sprinkle it with the
blood of a pregnant woman. Then the item is ready to be
used - it allows the magician to walk through outer spaces
and helps to see the radiant light of human life and take this
light away without affecting the body.

Blood endows magical tools with power and provides a link

between them and the Other Side. Therefore it makes them
useful in magical operations. This role of the life-fluid is also
employed in creation of the so-called strongholds, magical
tablets with symbols of dark forces, which we find in De
Vermis Misteriis and The Book of Dagon. To endow the
tablets with power, one has to sprinkle them with sacrificial
blood. In the case of the Stronghold of Asshavat this is the
blood of a one-year old lamb, a rabid jackal, twelve male
infants and the same number of female ones. In the case of
the Stronghold of Alyach, this is only the blood of a white
lamb. Also, to awaken and activate their powers, one has to
use the sacrificial blood and recite special words of power.
 Magical
Baptism

Since time immemorial, blood has been used in initiatory

ceremonies, rites of passage and sometimes also in baptisms.
As an example, we can mention here the ancient mysteries of
the Phrygian goddess Kybele, the patroness of fertility, and
Mithra, the god of nature and rebirth. Initiates were bathed
or sprinkled with large quantities of animal blood (of a bull or a
ram), their clothes were drenched in blood, and they also
drank it. This was a symbolic rejuvenation, birth into a new
world - in a new form - sacred and endowed with the divine
element. In the Cthulhu Mythos we also find interesting
examples of such initiatory rites. The most significant is the
Rite of the Companion from The Wanderings of Alhazred.
This is a kind of a covenant between Shub-Niggurath and her
worshippers in which a three-days-old infant is pledged to the
service of the goddess for its whole life. In a festive ceremony,
to the accompaniment of flutes, drums and ritual singing, the
father of the child and four seniors of the tribe stand around a
fire, forming a pentagram, and perform the childs baptism.
The infant is passed through the smoke and flames five times,
so that the pentagram is drawn in the air. Then its mother
cuts the throat of a sacrificial goat and the child is bathed in
the blood of the animal. Finally, the carcass of the goat is cast
into the fire, and the child is lifted up, in the smoke, so that a
spirit may enter its body. It is believed that this spirit is the
unembodied offspring of Shub-Niggurath. It unites with the
soul of the child and endows it with its unearthly demonic
powers. There is also a different kind of blood offered in the
ceremony: a young girl is ritually deflowered and her virginity
is given to Shub-Niggurath as an offering. This is supposed to
increase the luck of the child.

Magical baptism of blood signifies a new birth. The Initiate

becomes an infant, newly born in the spiritual sense. Blood
binds the earthly plane with the sphere of sacrum, and
therefore the bath in blood is a symbolic immersion in the
limitless ocean of Infinity from which man emerges as a new
being, uniting the mortal and the eternal within.
Magical baptism allows the Initiate for the contact between
the world of humans and the Other Side and awakens the
immortal element contained within human soul.

The Key to the Dark Side

The most important function of blood magic is the use of

this precious life-fluid as a key to the Dark Side. As we read
in The Magan Text, Man is the Key by which the Gate of Iak
Sakkak may be flung wide. Man was created from the blood
of the slain demon-god Kingu, and thus, human blood
contains a demonic element within, a dark principle which
binds it with dwellers of the Outer Void. This is the link
between human consciousness and the dark forces that
exist within and outside, in the objective reality. The dark
element contained in blood brings man closer to the source
of power inherited from our demonic ancestors, and it is the
key to open the doors to dimensions of the Other Side - or,
as it is called, the Gate of Iak Sakkak/Yog- Sothoth.

Yog Sothoth in the Cthulhu Mythos is one of the most

important deities. He embodies the concept of the Gate
that separates the world of Light (the realm of Creation)
from the world of Darkness (Chaos, Abyss, the Void).
Lovecraft describes him in the following way: Yog-Sothoth
knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog- Sothoth is the
key and the guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all
are one in Yog-Sothoth. When we look for correspondences
between the Cthulhu Mythos and the Qabalah, we may
associate Yog-Sothoth with the hidden, eleventh Sephira on
the Qabalistic Tree: Daath (Knowledge). Kenneth Grant also
identifies him with Choronzon - the entity representing
Chaos and Dispersion, the sole resident and
personification of the Abyss, the being that is able to
assume all shapes and features, for it exists in infinite forms
and is omnipresent. Daath is the gateway to the Universe
B, the other side of the Qabalistic Tree, the realm of the
Qliphoth. This perfectly fits the role of Yog-Sothoth in the
Necronomicon Gnosis.
He is invoked as a gate to dimensions where one can meet the
Cthulhu Mythos entities, hidden locations and forgotten
worlds. In Tysons Necronomicon we read:

A gate is opened when he appears, and his face of flashing colored

spheres, all overlapping and turning one within another at varying
rates, is the gate, and the key, and the way. Those who pass through
become for a timeless aeon Yog- Sothoth, knowing all things that
were, that are, and shall be.

He is the Lurker at the Threshold who opens the way to all that
exists outside the world known to man and allows the human
mind to transcend its illusory limitations. To open these
gateways to spaces between dimensions, one needs blood -
the key to the Other Side. This is implied or openly stated in
many texts, stories and grimoires that constitute the lore of
the Necronomicon Gnosis. In The Testimony of the Mad Arab,
we read about three cults of the Ancient Ones: the Cult of
the Dog, the Cult of the Dragon and the Cult of the Goat, all of
them continuously trying to open the gate with blood
sacrifices and striving to let the dark forces enter the physical
world. They are said to rejoice in the slow spilling of blood,
whereby they derive power and strength in their ceremonies.
The sacrifice of blood, both of animals and humans, is a basic
element of their dark rites. From The Wanderings of Alhazred
we learn about blood sacrifices in the temple of stone
monoliths, the most powerful of them being the circle in
Albion - the place corresponding to Stonehenge. Here the
sorcerer can open outward gateways to all dimensions of
space, the main gates and the lesser ones, which are
countless in number. The rounded shape of the temple is
supposed to reflect the shape of Yog-Sothoth, who is usually
seen as a conflux of spheres or circles of many colors. The
location of this and other temples was chosen because of
power emanating from these places. These are the sites
where barriers between worlds are thin, the so-called power-
spots. They are located in intersections of power lines that run
through the whole planet - the concept reminding us of the
Dragon-lines or Ley- lines - the sources of earth energy known
as Vril or the Dragon Pulse. In The Wanderings of Alhazred, it
is explained that these lines are awakened by energy
contained in blood.
Therefore many blood sacrifices are made in the temple of
monoliths: the vital force of the life-fluid activates and
harmonizes energies of the lines. The gateways are
unlocked and communication between inhabitants of this
and the other worlds becomes possible.

A similar concept of power lines is described in De Vermis

Misteriis. Here we read about the so-called Dha-Lines,
extending in all directions and parts of the universe. To
awaken them, one has to use a special key-symbol and
speak the words of power. But we are also reminded that
the right pronunciation of the words is possible only when
one combines them with a sacrifice of blood. This, as we
have already mentioned, is the basic rule in De Vermis
Misteriis, confirmed by one of the laws listed in this
grimoire: Nemer Tehb Zenrith Mayniosh Lefgb Tfos: only a
blood sacrifice can break the border. When the lines are
awakened, the magician can move along them, exploring
hidden worlds and dimensions and traveling through the
dark side of the universe, and emerge in any chosen place
on the earth. The number of the lines is eleven, which is
interesting, as eleven is also the number of the Qlipothic
spheres on the Qabalistic Tree of Night, and thus - the
symbolic number of Sitra Ahra, the Other Side. Having this
in mind, we might assume that the Dha-Lines correspond to
dimensions between the world of Creation (Universe A) and
the Other Side (Universe B).

In De Vermis Misteriis, blood is not only the key to the

Other Side but also attracts dark entities to the place
of sacrifice. As we learn from the text, they come willingly
at the smell of blood and ignore other offerings. That is why
blood is used e.g. in the rite of conception of the sorcerer,
a half-demonic child that is bound to the Dark Side since
the moment of birth. Unlike in the Rite of the Companion,
where the infant has human parents and its soul is only
merged with a demon, here the child is conceived in the
union of a human mother and a demonic father. The
demon is attracted to the temple by the womans fluids:
sweat, urine and menstrual blood.
The ritual is completed when the child born from this union
grows up and kills its mother. The blood of the woman,
however, should be kept for future magical purposes.

Pacts with the Dark Side

As we already know from the previous chapters, the most

famous intermediary between humans and the Necronomicon
deities is Nyarlathotep, the black god of a thousand forms, the
messenger of the Old Ones. It is said that no action is ever
taken by any god without his knowledge and assent. It is
Nyarlathotep who initiates humans into the Necronomicon
Gnosis, and therefore if one wishes to dedicate oneself to this
magical path, this should be done through his rites. He is the
Adversary, the Trickster, the Destroyer, and the Creator. He
teaches the adept how to walk the path between dimensions:
between Light and Darkness, wisdom and insanity, creation
and destruction, humanity and divinity, the mortal and the
eternal, order and chaos. He reveals the shadowy side of
existence and mercilessly confronts us with it. And the way to
him leads through the gnosis of blood. It is him who lays the
adept on the altar and rips apart the body and the soul, in
order to let the mortal part die and to initiate the birth of the
divine.

We have already mentioned the pact with Nyarlathotep

described in The Necronomicon: at the time of a raging
storm, the magician has go to a desolate hill and take a
dagger, a jewel of special value, and a parchment with ones
name. There one must draw a circle, write the characters of
Nyarlathotep, and sprinkle them with ones own blood. After
reciting the incantation, one should throw the blooded dagger
onto the earth - the blood will open the passage between
dimensions and attract the attention of the god. Then, the
magician again uses ones blood - to consecrate the sacrificial
gifts, and places a small drop on ones forehead. This opens
the Third Eye of the magician and makes one sensitive to
astral visions and aware of the presence of dark forces. Then,
Nyarlathotep will come from the stars to welcome the
magician as his adept, and thus begins the pact which will be
completed after seven months of trial.
Also in the story Dreams in the Witch-House we have the
motif of a pact with Nyarlathotep. The main character, who
wishes to explore passages leading into other dimensions,
learns that he must meet the Black Man and go to the
throne of Azathoth at the centre of ultimate chaos. There
he must sign the book of Azathoth in his own blood and take
a new, secret name. The same pact was signed by Keziah
Mason, the witch who guides the protagonist through his
initiation and encounters with Nyarlathotep. In exchange for
the signing of the pact, she was given the mastery over the
art of passing through inter-dimensional gates. Here we also
learn about the nature of these dimensions: limitless
abysses of inexplicably colored twilight and baffingly
disordered sound, crowded with indescribably angled
masses of alien-hued substance resembling prisms,
labyrinths, Cyclopean buildings, etc., all filled with shrieking
and screaming, the roaring confusion of sound.

Ecstatic
Intoxication

The function of blood magic is also to produce a trance

allowing for the shift of consciousness into the sphere of
sacrum: beyond the objective reality. Bloodletting is always
disturbing. Its smell stimulates senses, intoxicates the mind,
produces a specific trance-condition - either when blood is
shed in battle or when the life-substance is sacrificed in a
ritual. Many people either faint at the sight of blood or it
stirs their excitation and aggression in many extraordinary
ways, unlike any other stimulant. It awakens fascination and
excitement, or repulsion and anxiety. There are few who
remain untouched by the sight of freshly spilt blood. It is the
key to the unconscious and primal instincts. That is why the
use of blood sacrifice also functions as a method of
producing the feeling of intoxication, ecstatic trance that
allows for transgression of the mundane states of mind. The
sight, smell and direct experience of blood has a powerful
impact on imagination, no matter if it is ones own blood or
the life-fluid of another living being. Also, it is a very
antinomian practice, as the ritual use of blood has always
been an extremely controversial issue, which has not
changed even nowadays.
The use of blood in magical practices is a symbolic act of
breaking the social taboo, stepping outside the structured
order and entering the sphere of chaos, darkness, death, and
primal instincts. The contact with blood signifies ritual impurity
and the crossing of the barrier between the realms of life and
death. In ancient magical practices such situation was needed
when one wanted to contact the Other Side - for divination or
other similar purposes. And thus, e.g. a priestess in the oracle
of Apollo in Argos drank the blood of a lamb in order to
achieve the divinatory trance. It was similar with many other
ancient oracles. Blood produced trances and visions essential
in divinatory practices.

In the Necronomicon Gnosis, the use of blood for divination is

described on the example of a ritual of Yig from The
Wanderings of Alhazred. To the sound of flute, a priestess is
led into an ecstatic trance by anointing her thighs with blood
and chanting special incantations. Lying naked on the sand,
writhing her limbs and hissing through her lips, the priestess
becomes a vessel for the deity through which he manifests
to the celebrants gathered around. This scene resembles
pythonesses from African sorcery and mysteries of the
Serpent about which Kenneth Grant writes in Aleister Crowley
and the Hidden God. The Serpent power, or the Kundalini, is
aroused as a sexual impulse which produces ecstasy and
trance. In this state, women-priestesses:

...uttered oracles, communicated with spirits of the dead,

elementals, cosmic daemons, and - if they were Initiates of a high
order - with cosmic entities existing outside space and time...Voodoo
gatherings take place secretly, at night, in a cloistered place shut
off from the eyes of the profane. The priest and priestess take up
their positions near an altar containing a snake in a cage. After
various ceremonies and a long address from the Voodoo king and
queen, all initiates approach, in order of seniority, and entreat the
Voodoo, telling him what they most desire. The queen gets on to
the box in which lies the snake and - modern pythoness - she is
penetrated by the God; she writhes; her whole body is convulsed
and the oracle speaks from her mouth.
Blood is also an essential ingredient in magical
ointments used to produce visions. The tradition of
intoxicating ointments was especially popular in
witchcraft. Mixtures of psychoactive plants and
substances, applied on sensitive parts of the body, were
used by witches to achieve trances and astral visions. In the
Cthulhu Mythos, we have the ointment of Khephness which
is supposed to evoke visions of the future into dreams of the
magician. The ingredients of the mixture are: lotus oil,
powdered mandrake, red earth, nine drops of natron, four
drops of Olibanum, and one drop of ones own blood from
the right hand. The ointment is to be anointed on ones
forehead before sleep, in order to achieve divinatory dreams
and visions. Another ointment in which blood is needed is a
mixture prepared in a ritual of Nyarlathotep. Here the
ingredients are as follows: the hair of a black dog, black hair
of a human being, a black beetle, black earth, black blood
and sperm, and black ash. Again, the ointment should be
applied on ones forehead before sleep - this time to open
ones mind for the contact with Nyarlathotep. Since none of
the typical hallucinogenic substances is used, we might
assume that the power of producing visions is ascribed to
blood. As we have already said, in the Necronomicon
Gnosis blood anointed on ones forehead is believed to open
the Third Eye and allow for the flow of astral images.

Another use of blood for trance and intoxication is found in

descriptions of ceremonies dedicated to Shub-Niggurath: the
wild ecstasies of debauchery and fornication. Infants
conceived during these rites are sacrificed and their blood
is consumed in wine to produce intoxication and visions.
Their bodies are also boiled in the ceremony and their
flesh is consumed by the celebrants. Ritual cannibalism was
usually a symbolic absorption of the powers of the eaten
person. This practice was common among many ancient
tribes that drank the blood of enemies, especially great
warriors, in order to acquire their strength, or the blood of
wisemen - to gain wisdom and knowledge. In the
Scandinavian myth, the famous hero Sigfried drinks the
blood of the slain dragon and acquires its powers and
qualities.
In the rites of Shub-Niggurath, this act of consuming the flesh
and the blood of infants does not serve the purpose of
acquiring powers of the newborn children but it is the
absorption of the energy of the goddess. Conceived in
ceremonial fornication and consumed in another ritual, the
child embodies powers of Shub-Niggurath, absorbed and
acquired by participants of these rites.

A Word of
Conclusion

As we can see, blood has many functions in magic. And while

the above- mentioned examples focus on the mystical
meaning of its qualities, the exceptional power of blood is
now also examined by science. The role of the life-fluid in
carrying various components within the body, regulating
chemical balance of the organism, mutability and flexibility of
blood cells, and the so-called blood consciousness - all this
evokes many theories and speculations about its uniqueness.
There is more and more scientific evidence for the psychic
potential of blood, explored in esotericism through blood
magic. Its role may also be interpreted in psychological terms
- as the link to the unconscious. The Old Ones from the
Cthulhu Mythos represent the primal, atavistic and savage
instincts and impulses, buried deep in our psyche. Through
the gnosis of blood we establish a link between them and our
consciousness, recreating the primeval bond with the sphere
of Darkness that exists within us, dead but dreaming,
waiting for us to awaken its potential.
Ceremony of the Great Old
Ones
257
 Preparati
on

This ceremony is a group ritual, designed for at least two

practitioners. It should be performed on a day sacred to the
Great Old Ones. For instance, in Al Azif, you will find the
following correspondences: Candlemas - the feast of Hastur,
Beltane - the feast of Shub-Niggurath, Lammas and Samhain -
the feasts of Cthulhu. The grimoire also recommends calling
Azathoth when the Sun is in the sign of the Ram, the Lion, or
the Archer, the Moon is decreasing, and Mars and Saturn
conjoin. You can also establish your own sacred days that will
be dedicated to the work with the Great Old Ones only. The
room in which the ritual is performed should be decorated in
black and adorned in symbols and images connected with the
Necronomicon deities. Sigils of particular Great Old Ones are
easily available in popular versions of The Necronomicon and
related texts, as well as in this book. It is solely up to you
which of them will be used in the ceremony. The altar should
have the seal of Yog- Sothoth carved in it or painted. You can
use the traditional sigil from Al Azif (as provided below) or
create your own sigil.

The Altar of Yog-

Sothoth
258
The Operator should be dressed in a black robe or other
suitable garments in black color. Participants of the
ceremony should wear black clothes, as well. The temple
should be filled with thick smoke of a strong incense, e.g.
Musk or Dragons Blood. Also, a suitable music can be
employed as a background for the ceremony. The only
source of light should be black candles - you can use as
many as you need. You will also need a bell, a wand, a ritual
blade, and a chalice filled with the Sacrament - this can be
red wine or another red liquid that will be drunk during the
ceremony.

Preliminary
Invocation

The Operator approaches the altar and makes the sign of

Voor with both hands, then crosses the arms on the chest.
The participants do the same. Then the Operator rings the
bell to begin the ceremony and passes the bell to the
participant on their left. The participant rings the bell and
passes it to the next person in the circle (the bell should be
passed anticlockwise) - and so on, until it returns to the
Operator.

The
Operator:

We have gathered here to celebrate and invoke the

powers of the Great Old Ones, Lords of the Outer
Void. We seek to unite with their essence and learn
the nature of their timeless force. In the name of
the Dragon, primal source of all Creation, I declare
the ceremony open!

Participant
s:

Hail, Lords of the Outer

Void!
Then the Operator takes the ritual blade and points it to
the four cardinal directions, saying:
 To the
West:
Dagon, Lord of the Great Ocean of the World, come
forth to this circle, guard and witness this ritual, and
let your power fill this temple!

To the
North:
Shub-Niggurath, Black Goat with a Thousand Young,
come forth to this circle, guard and witness this ritual,
and let your power fill this temple!

To the
East:
Cthulhu, Lord of Rlyeh who lies dead but dreaming,
awaiting your glorious return and watching over your
worshippers, come forth to this circle, guard and
witness this ritual, and let your power fill this temple!

To the
South:
Yog-Sothoth, the Gate and the Key to the worlds
Outside, come forth to this circle, guard and witness
this ritual, and let your power fill this temple!

The Operator
speaks:

May Tiamat, the Dragon-Goddess of the Void, fill

us with her
primal force and reveal to us the elixir of
immortality.

Participants
answer:

Ia
Tiamat!
The Operator and the participants make the sign of Kish and
visualize the four elemental forces around the circle. When the
atmosphere is dense enough, the Operator continues the
ceremony.

***
 The
Ceremony

The
Operator:

We call forth the Great Old Ones, Lords of the Outer

Void. We summon you in the name of the Great
Cthulhu, your Priest and Brother, who lies dead but
dreaming in his house in Rlyeh. We are your
children! Blood of Blood! Flesh of Flesh! Divinity of
the Primordial Divine! It was for us, humans, that
you came from the Void to bestow upon us your
spark of Godhood. Involved in eternal war with the
Gods of Light, you were forced to the Void and the
Gate was locked forever. But you have built your
Kingdom in Darkness. Yours is the realm of night and
dreams, and you shall come at the call of your
priests and worshippers. And the world with burn in
ecstasy and freedom! We seek to light the Dragons
Fire, the source of our power that comes from our
ancestors and is the origin of all life. We seek union
with the three unholy and secret cults of Sirius,
Draconis and Capricornus. We acknowledge the
power of the Covenant and the heritage of our Blood!

The
Operator:

We open the Gates to the Void, through which the

Dragon shall emerge and devour the Sun, and there
will only be the Black Light of the Abyss!

Participant
s:

Ia Yog-
Sothoth!
 The
Operator:

We call the One who Renders the Veils, so that he

reveals to us the true nature of the universe!
 Participants:

Ia Daoloth!

The

Operator:

We desire to ride the night with those who walk on

the winds and
experience the ecstasy of union with the Shadow in
the Womb of
Darkness!

Participant

s: Ia

Hastur!

The
Operator:

We free our minds and transcend barriers to travel

through the Infinite Void where the Daemon Sultan
sits on his throne in the Center of Chaos!

Participants:

Ia

Azathoth!

The

Operator:

We follow the Black Pharaoh who leads us through

forgotten paths to
the world where only Darkness and
Silence dwells!

Participant
s:

Ia
Nyarlathotep
!
 The
Operator:

We wake those who lie dead but dreaming. For that

is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange
aeons even death may die!

Participants:

Ia Cthulhu!

The

Operator:

We acknowledge the Covenant proclaiming that man

was created
from the blood of the Dragon and human blood is
the key to the force of our ancestors. We are the
Flesh and the Blood of the Dragon!

Participant
s:

We are the Flesh and the Blood of

the Dragon!

***
Communion with the Invoked
Forces

The Operator
speaks:

Serpent-Dragon of the Void, with your kiss, you give

us sight, for we do not wish to remain blind.
Annihilate lies with your eternal power, burn all
weakness and hesitation in us, make us strong with
your force. For we are worth to face the Truth, ready
to understand our Divinity and eager to walk free on
the Path of the Ancients!

The Operator touches the forehead of each participant (on

the Ajna chakra) with a wand and says:
 May the Serpent Kiss of Yig open your eyes and tear
down the veil of illusion that blinds you.

Then the Operator approaches each participant with the

Sacrament, saying:

May the Blood of the Mother-Dragon Tiamat flow

through your veins
as pure Fire and
Force.

After the Sacrament is drunk and the communion is

over, the
Operator
speaks:

May the power of the Dragon awaken in

our blood!

Participants
:

HAIL TIAMAT!

Everyone assumes now a comfortable position and

meditates on the power of the Dragon and the Great Old
Ones awakening in their consciousness and enflaming the
body and the mind. The meditation takes as long as it is
needed for each participant to finish the vision in a natural
way.

The
Closing

The
Operator:

Through this Communion of Blood we have become the

children of Tiamat, followers of the Covenant. May the
 Kiss of the Serpent become our source of
transformation through which we shall taste the
mystery of life and death. We have awakened the
eternal fire that shall burn in our souls and glow in the
darkest abysses of the night. So it is done!
 Participants
:

So it is
done!

The Operator blows out the candles and rings the bell to
end the ceremony. Everyone makes the Sign of Koth.
If they wish, a chosen banishing may be performed to
close the ritual.
 Thirteen Gates of the Spider
Goddess

The contents of this chapter form a specific grimoire in itself.

Contained here is a self-initiatory system that integrates
consciousness with the energies of Arachne, the Weaver of the
Web, and transforms the Initiate into a living gateway and
vessel for the primal force of the Spider Goddess. This work
belongs to advanced aspects of the Necronomicon Gnosis and
is recommended to practitioners who already have experience
with astral work, inter-dimensional gateways and the magic of
the Void. Methods of this work are presented further in this
chapter, while the first parts will focus on the Spider
Goddess, a deity who does not belong to the Cthulhu Mythos
directly but is connected to the Necronomicon lore through the
Ophidian/Typhonian aspects of her current, and her gnosis is
explored through the same techniques as those applied to the
Great Old Ones and other entities of the Lovecraftian universe.
In practical aspects of the Necronomicon magic, this primal
goddess is related to Nitocris, the consort of Nyarlathotep and
the queen of Qliphothic labyrinths of the Nightside. In
literature on the Lovecraftian magic her role is usually
underestimated, while in fact, she is the primary initiator of
the feminine mysteries of the Necronomicon Gnosis,
embodying lunar aspects of the Ophidian/Draconian current of
the Void. It is Arachne that holds the keys to the gates of
hidden temples and labyrinths existing in-between worlds and
tunnels of the Nightside, and it is the magical Venom of the
Spider Goddess that awakens and activates inner powers
allowing for exploration of these stellar realms. In advanced
aspects of the Lovecraftian magic, Arachne should be called
together with Nyarlathotep, as they both preside over the self-
initiatory process of the Void.
 Arachn
e

The name Arachne is derived from the Greek mythology.

According to the famous legend, she was a mortal woman, a
weaver proud of her skills, who angered the goddess Athena
by challenging her to a weaving contest. They both were
skilled and swift with the work, but the final conflict was
caused by the finished picture. While Athenas weaving
represented contests between mortals and the gods in
which the gods punished mortals for setting themselves as
equals of the gods, Arachnes weaving depicted the gods
abuse of mankind, such as e.g. Zeus tricking and sexually
abusing of mortal women. Athena was so outraged by the
picture that she ripped Arachnes work into shreds, after
which the weaver took her own life. Athenas revenge was
not over, though. She brought Arachne back, sprinkling
her with Hecates potion to turn her into a spider, and
cursed her and her descendants to weave for all time. Since
that moment Arachnes name has become ascribed to
spiders (Arachnida), and all spider-like creatures are
believed to be her children.

The myth, however, has a much greater significance from

esoteric perspective. In the Necronomicon Gnosis, the image
of Arachne is derived from the Ophidian cults and the
Draconian/Typhonian tradition as described e.g. by Kenneth
Grant in his Typhonian Trilogies. In this tradition, she is a
primal Qliphothic goddess, the Queen of Space and the
Weaver of the Web in the Void. The Web of Arachne should
not be mistaken for a normal spiders web structured upon a
plane surface. Extending across the Void, it has an intricate
symmetry that links all existing planes and dimensions with
infinitely tenuous threads of light, forming the odd geometry
characteristic of the Necronomicon lore, manifesting to a
Nightside traveler as a network of tunnels and vortices. It
bridges the gulf between the Dayside and the Nightside,
waking and dreaming, the conscious and the unconscious.
In the writings of Michael Bertiaux, the magical power of the
Spider Queen of Space manifests through 256 kalas (venoms)
that form her web, each of them containing a dimension lying
oblique to the known universe in the realms of Space
reflected as Time, on the back of the Qabalistic Tree. The
number ascribed to the gnosis of Arachne is 13 and she is
also associated with the Thirteenth Sign of the Zodiac. The
Arachnean influence is believed to last 29 days, from May 16
to June 13 inclusive, during which psychic transmissions from
extraterrestrial dimensions of the Void are particularly intense.
The rays of the days interlaced with the rays of the nights
form a web of 58 (29 x 2) threads. In Outside the Circles of
Time, Grant observes that the number 29 concentrates to 11,
the number of the Qliphoth, and the number 58 concentrates
the power or shakti of 13, the red star of the lunar current.
The two numbers 58 and
29 also form 87, the number of the Sphere of the Moon and
a cup or chalice, which is related to the initiatory formula
of the Thirteen Gates provided in this chapter.

The power of the Spider Goddess is the magical Venom

that is deadly to mundane consciousness but essential in the
formula of initiation, as it triggers the process of
transformation through the inner alchemy of the mind.
Through successive injection and absorption of particular
venoms, the black kalas of the Goddess, the Initiate learns
that all matter is illusion and it can be poisoned, dissolved,
molded, shaped, etc. - decomposed and created anew. The
world we live in is interconnected on various levels that work
and interact with one another, thus weaving the web that
forms the veil of illusion. What we perceive as reality is
the outer picture of the whole process at a particular
moment. We are in the center of this network, like a
spider weaving and spreading its web across an empty
space.
We pull strings, create new threads, link particular points in
the network, etc. but it all happens in a random,
uncontrolled way, as we can only see the outer picture. The
structure behind it is hidden from our perception. Arachne
teaches us that the root of all things is in the Void. Her
Venom dissolves mundane consciousness and opens the
way to clear seeing. She shows us how to gaze through the
veil of illusion and see the web itself, how to change and
manipulate it at its roots. Her Venom is deadly because it
dissolves the world - all that makes up reality is revealed
as illusion. Behind the outer picture there is a web of
correlations, interactions, mutual relationships between
thoughts, emotions, perceptions, hopes, fears, desires,
etc. All of them shape our personal universe and all of them
are interconnected. Most of us live through them as passive
observers, enjoying the whole picture, or suffering from
various circumstances of life, but never looking behind
them. The web, however, can be altered and molded if we
know the mechanisms behind it. This is the core of the
Arachnean gnosis. Arachne shows us how to gaze straight
into the Void - behind All that we associate with reality
in its various aspects, both the Dayside and the Nightside -
into the abyss of non-manifestation where nothing and
everything exists at the same time. This is a frightening
process, as it exposes us to the Unknown, the
unfamiliar, shatters all perceptions of what we consider
as safety zone and takes us to the root of all things. Think
of what happens if you ingest poison - you either suffer
extreme torments and live through the whole process
changed and stronger, or you die in painful agony. In either
case, it is a harsh and frightening experience. It is the same
with the mystical Poison. For the Initiate whose
consciousness has been poisoned with the Venom of
Arachne, the whole world falls apart, piece by piece, like
poisoned flesh that rots and falls off the bones. And finally,
even the skeleton is poisoned and dissolved in her
venomous essence. Nothing is stable. Nothing lasts. There
are no foundations, and no attachments to the world are
possible. Everything changes and mutates in every single
moment of existence. Each event depends on particular
correlations between elements that constitute the
outer picture of reality.
All of it is reflected in the web of the Spider Goddess and by
invoking her essence, absorbing her venomous kalas, we
acquire the power to weave the web, thus becoming the true
center of the universe and the very root of all manifestation.

Within rites of magic, Arachne comes in many forms and

shapes. Sometimes she appears in her spider form, with eight
spider limbs instead of human arms and legs. They may be
terminated by sharp blades or scorpion stings, reflecting her
fearsome, venomous powers. Other times she is a beautiful
woman, with long black hair in Egyptian style, with golden
jewelry and ornaments. She holds a chalice and a dagger or
a trident. Sometimes the chalice is filled with poison, the
emblem of her dissolving essence, and sometimes it contains
fire, the inner vehicle of soul ascension. Her body is young and
beautiful or dead and rotten - and often she can be seen in
both forms simultaneously. She is reptilian and predatory. She
has snake hair, like the legendary Medusa, and snakes coil
around her arms and legs, manifesting her lunar, Ophidian
powers. Sometimes her skin is the scaly skin of a serpent, her
eyes are yellow and reptilian, and her tongue is forked and
dripping venom. She also manifests with bestial feet and
dragon wings, reflecting her primal Draconian nature. Many of
these manifestations are compatible with depictions of the
Lady of the Pyramid, known also as Nitocris in the Cthulhu
Mythos literature, who is one of forms or masks of the
Spider Goddess.

The Lady of the Pyramid

Nitocris appears in the Cthulhu Mythos as an evil Egyptian

queen reigning over ghouls and horrors lurking in underground
vaults and labyrinths. In historical sources, she is mentioned
as an authentic queen of ancient Egypt, the daughter of Pepi
II, but many historians question her existence. Regarded as
the last pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty and the first woman who
ruled Egypt, she is associated with the third pyramid. These
theories are encountered in the writings of Manetho and in
Histories by Herodotus. Manetho claims that she built the
third pyramid at Giza.
Herodotus describes a legend that arose around her reign,
a story of bloody vengeance wreaked upon murderers of her
brother, the king of Egypt. She reputedly built a huge
underground chamber and invited people responsible for his
death to a banquet. When everyone was inside the
chamber, the room was flooded by the river to which it was
connected. Everyone drowned, and Nitocris committed
suicide to avoid punishment from the hands of the other
conspirators. She burned alive in a room full of embers.

The theory of her authenticity is based on the Turin King List

dated to the 19th Dynasty, where she supposedly appears
under the name Nitiqreti. However, many historians
question this claim and prove that the name is a faulty
transcription of the praenomen of the king Netjerkare Siptah
I. Also, her role in building of the third pyramid is questioned
and the pyramid itself is attributed to pharaoh Menkaure of
the Fourth Dynasty.

A woman named Nitocris is also known from historical

sources as a queen of Babylon, daughter of
Nebuchadnezzar, and she is known for the development and
growth of the city. There is another legend about her: she
had her tomb constructed in the upper part of one of the
principal gateways of the city with an inscription upon it that
said: If there be one among my successors on the throne of
Babylon who is in want of treasure, let him open my tomb,
and take as much as he chooses - not, however, unless he
be truly in want, for it will not be for his good. The tomb
remained untouched until the Persian king Darius invaded
the kingdom. He found it unacceptable that he was unable
to use one of the gates of the town and that a hidden
treasure was lying idle. So he opened the tomb, but instead
of money, he only found the dead body and a writing that
said: Had you not been insatiate of money, and careless
how you got it, you would not have broken open the
sepulchers of the dead.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, Nitocris is associated with the first

legend and described as a queen of Egypt. She is connected
with the Shining Trapezohedron and the character of
Nephren-Ka (Khephren).
Nephren-Ka was a sorcerer who came to Egypt from the lost
city of Irem and restored the cult of Nyarlathotep. He was
responsible for building the labyrinths of Kish, where he and
his priests performed rituals that were supposed to summon
the old god. Although Nephren-Ka is a fictitious character, he
is probably based on a few authentic figures. One of the
candidates for a prototype of the sorcerer is Taharqa, the third
king of the 25th Dynasty. During his reign, the Assyrians
threatened Egypt. They invaded the land and captured
Memphis, wounded Taharqa and stole his family and property.
It is thought that Taharqa survived the attack and died in 664
BCE. His reign was also known for the restoration of temples
and ancient cults. Also, a few other Egyptian kings were
referred to as black pharaohs, which might have inspired the
title attributed to Nephren-Ka.

The source of tales about Nephren-Ka is not only found in

the stories of Lovecraft but also in the writings of Robert
Bloch. According to him, the Black Pharaoh was so evil and
hated that his name was removed from the history of Egypt.
He and his priests worshipped Nyarlathotep and restored the
cult of the Haunter of the Dark in Cairo. Nephren-Ka was
supposedly a king from the Third Dynasty who revived the
cult of the dark deities - also Anubis and Sebek. It was him
who found the lost artifact - the Shining Trapezohedron, and
built a temple where it was kept and worshipped. There he
performed rites and ceremonies so dark and blasphemous
that they led to a revolt against the pharaoh. He was
abolished by Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty,
who obtained help from the goddess Isis. Nephren-Ka escaped
to the western island, but he was captured and burnt in an
underground cavern. After his death all notes about him were
removed from historical records. His priests managed to
escape to the coasts of Britain, where they continued the cult
of the Black God on dark moors. There are also legends
that Nephren-Ka was not killed but he hid himself in his
funeral cavern. There he sacrificed hundreds of people to
Nyarlathotep. In reward for his devotion, he was given the gift
of prophecy. The last days of his life the pharaoh spent writing
down the future of the earth on the walls of his tomb.
Remnants of the cult initiated by Nephren-Ka can be found
in many parts of the world. They are mentioned in such
writings as De Vermis Mysteriis by Ludvig Prinn, or The
Saracen Rituals, the authors of which claimed that during
their journeys to Egypt and Arabic countries they often met
sects worshipping Nyarlathotep. His avatar, which was
worshipped by Nephren-Ka, was the so-called Blind Ape of
Truth, representing the Fate that destroys life and all hopes
of humanity.

Nitocris is believed to be the queen who revived the cult of

Nyarlathotep after the death of Nephren-Ka. The labyrinths
of Kish were reopened, the Shining Trapezohedron was
found again, and in the underground temples she
worshipped the Black God together with her followers. When
Nitocris gave birth to a son, whom she named Nephren-Ka,
people rebelled against her and she was slain. The people of
Egypt were afraid that her son was the child of the Black
God himself, an incarnation of the wicked Nephren-Ka. She
was buried in a secret place, the location of which is
unknown. In the Cthulhu Mythos, she appears as a priestess
and guardian of the Black Mirror - the gate to dimensions of
the Great Old Ones.

There is, however, one more legend about Nephren-Ka,

according to which he dwells in the underground chambers
and corridors of one of the pyramids in Egypt, together with
his wife Nitocris. In this legend, told by Lovecraft, Nitocris is
the queen of ghouls and the army of the dead. She
appears in the shape of a beautiful woman, but one half of
her face is eaten by worms and rotten. Together with
Nephren-Ka, she worships Nyarlathotep in an underground
temple, called the Temple of the Sphinx. The temple is
located under the huge sphinx statue at Giza. According to
the legend, the true face of the sphinx is the face of
Nyarlathotep, but the image was replaced when his cult was
abolished. In the statue there is a small door which leads to
the underground labyrinth, where the temple of
Nyarlathotep is hidden. His priests are the most powerful
necromancers in the world. They can be recognized by
characteristic clothes: they dress in black and hide their
faces behind silk masks to imitate their master.
They also bear a special sign of Nyarlathotep on their bodies,
which signifies that they have sold their souls to the Dark God
and dedicated their lives to his service. The depiction of
Nitocris from this legend - the ghoulish queen of abominations
from Below - is also a manifestation of Arachne, the Spider
Goddess of the Qliphoth.

The Vaults of
Zin

The Cthulhu Mythos lore describes the Vaults of Zin as a huge

labyrinthine construction in the underworld. It lies beneath the
Dreamlands and the gateways to the labyrinths can be
found within the dreaming consciousness. It also has a few
entrances to it in various places, such as the mysterious
monastery in the Plateau of Leng, guarded by the High Priest
Not to Be Named, who is believed to be an avatar of
Nyarlathotep himself. The monastery is connected to the
Vaults of Zin through a yawning well that leads down into dark
realms of the Dreamlands. There are also other ways to enter
the labyrinths. The main entrance is marked by the Black
Tower that stands sentinel at the threshold of the Qliphothic
Tunnels of Set. It is known in the Necronomicon Gnosis as the
Tower of Koth or the Hollow One. Here, all dimensions of Time
and Space meet and intersect, and we can gaze into Infinity
through the Eye of Chaos, the Eye of the Dragon of the Void.
The Tower transmits thoughts and messages from primal gods
into human mind, heralding the return and the earthing of the
primal current of the Void called Atlantean and channeled
through the cosmic web of the Spider Goddess Arachne. Thus,
the Tower is the focal point in exploration of the Vaults of
Zin, as from here we can access all worlds and all
dimensions of the Void and communicate with their denizens.

From magical perspective, we can say that the

labyrinths are entered through the astral plane (the
Dreamlands) and there we find gateways that lead further
into these mysterious realms. However, their actual
location is not clear, as they extend indefinitely in all
directions and to all dimensions of the Void, like a limitless
spider web, connecting the manifested plane with worlds
existing Beyond.
It is supposed that they constitute an enormous
network of chambers and corridors in labyrinthine shape
under the vast realm of the Dreamlands, stretching across
the whole world of dreaming, connecting it to the realm of
waking. In esoteric sense, they are often identified with
the Tunnels of Set, the twenty-two paths that link the
eleven Qliphothic spheres on the dark side of the Qabalistic
Tree. These realms are reflections of the power-zones of
cosmic consciousness in human mind and they correspond
(in a reversed way) to the paths on the bright side of the
Tree of Life. They transmit the influences of macrocosmic
power-zones to their corresponding nerve-centers (chakras)
in the human organism (the microcosm). This association
with the Tunnels of Set is also questionable, as the Vaults of
Zin have never been fully explored and cannot be ascribed
to any limited number of realms or pathways. Worlds and
dimensions that can be accessed through the Vaults of Zin
are limitless, and so are their denizens. Most of them have
never been explored or described by anyone. On the other
hand, the nature and magical powers of the Tunnels of Set
have not been fully examined, either. There are a few
excellent published records of magical work with these
spheres, such as Nightside of Eden by Kenneth Grant or The
Shadow Tarot by Linda Falorio, based on descriptions
provided by Aleister Crowley in Liber
231, but these pathways hold much more and reveal
completely new aspects of gnosis each time they are
accessed by various practitioners.

Finally, the Vaults of Zin can be also identified with the

spider web of Arachne, the Weaver who intertwines threads
of stellar currents, spinning her cosmic net across the Void
and connecting the Manifested with the Unmanifested. The
Vaults have this odd, non-Euclidean geometry that is
characteristic of the Lovecraftian lore - the structure that
extends in all directions until the lasts outposts of Infinity
and are met and transcended. Their doorways lead to any
dimension, both within the world of waking and dreaming; to
Nowhere, Never and Outside; to all that exists beyond the
laws of Time and Space. Below the labyrinths exists the
black cyclopean city of Rlyeh, where the Lord of
Dreams, Cthulhu, lies dead but dreaming.
He is the voice of the unconscious, the evolutionary impulse
hidden in the depths of the human mind. According to the
Cthulhu Mythos, he lies dormant in the telluric depths, in the
vast ocean of the unconscious, but he will awaken and rise.
The fire of stellar knowledge will burn again and we will
reunite with our primal, extraterrestrial potential. This is the
message transmitted by the Great Old Ones through the Black
Tower, across the web of the Spider Goddess, into the mind of
man, powering up all growth and evolution of human
consciousness.

Thirteen
Gateways

The following presentation of particular gateways includes

sigils, descriptions of their nature and powers contained
within, and provides specific meditations that will guide the
practitioner into these realms. Both sigils and meditations
were designed on the basis of my own work with the Gates
and explored extensively through my personal practice. The
whole system was received through the work with Arachne via
inter-dimensional transmissions from the Black Tower of Koth
and presented to me by the Goddess herself and through
magical operations dedicated to Nyarlathotep and the magic
of the Void. I believe there is much more to discover behind
these Gates and each practitioner will find there gnosis that
will empower ones personal initiatory work. I encourage
everyone who attempts this work to expand and develop it
through their own practice, thus earthing the current of the
Spider Goddess and channeling her primal gnosis into the
world.
 The First
Gate

This realm represents the Reaping - the art of creating and

destroying things. Here the Initiate learns about possible
consequences of individuals choices and actions, and is
shown the web of correlations between Desire and
Manifestation. The sigil of the Gate represents the principle
of Cause and Effect. While in most of the other realms we
encounter the Goddess in her various manifestations, here
the Guardian of the Gate is the Lord of the Desert and the
Prince of the Earth. He manifests as a skeletal, ghastly
being, holding a scythe - the universal emblem of reaping
and harvesting. He requests blood to be shed in order to
open the Gate and obtain his help in harnessing the powers
of the realm.
Meditatio
n:

After passing through the Gate, envision yourself in a blood-

red desert, calm and quiet. It is empty and contains nothing
except for the sand itself. This sand is red from sacrificial
blood - lots of blood has been shed here and the air tastes
metallic. The sky is red but it gets darker as you walk, finally
turning black. Suddenly you notice the Guardian of the Gate
emerging from the blackness of the night. He has an evil-
looking skull instead of face and flaming amber eyes.

He is wearing a black hooded robe and he has a scythe in his

hand. The blood that stains the sand comes from all sacrifices
offered to him, and he demands more blood to be shed in
order to walk his path and receive his guidance. Greet him
and make the requested sacrifice to open the Gate and
explore its powers. Remember that the blood given as offering
has to be your own.
 The Second
Gate

The force of this realm is the Venom of Arachne, the

principle of poisoning and dissolution. In order to walk
through the Void, the Initiate has to ignite the Flame of
Illumination. It is the divine fire that lights up the
darkness of the Inner Void and burns illusions of
perception. It is ignited through the harsh process in which
consciousness is poisoned and dissolved with the Spiders
Venom, in order to be restructured and forged through
the burning flame of ascension. This process is initiated
and set in motion through the Baptism of Poison. The
Guardian of the Gate is the Goddess herself, appearing here
in her spider form, fearsome and venomous.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in a dark dead forest. Thick fog hovers low

above the ground, and the whole landscape is dark, gloomy
and ominous. The fog looks like dark smoke. Silver
cobwebs are hanging from the trees. As you walk, you
notice a fountain by a huge black tree. The fog arises from
the fountain and there are thick clouds of toxic vapor all
around. The water in the fountain is poisonous. As you
approach the tree, the Goddess appears, as well. At first,
she looks like a huge spider with one fiery eye in the
centre of her forehead.

Then her face shifts into the head of a woman, but she still
has the body of the spider. She has black hair and emerald
eyes. Greet her and ask her to guide you through her realm.
 The Third
Gate

The initiatory principle represented by this realm is Self-

Sacrifice, or the Piercing of the Veil. It is typified by the
black crescent moon, the Harvest Moon, dripping blood that
is shed by the Initiate in the act of self-sacrifice. As the skin
is pierced to release the vital essence, so the Veil of Illusion
that prevents the Initiate from transcending barriers of
perception is ripped apart to allow the journey of the soul
into the Inner Void. The inner flame is ignited and it points
downwards, signifying the path towards the Within. This
realm is guarded by the Goddess in her lunar aspect,
representing her energies on the astral plane, where the
Inner Void is entered through the Gates of Dream.
Meditatio
n:

Visualize a silvery lunar landscape in the blackness of

the Void. Silver crescent moon shines above a shallow stream
of thick silver liquid. It is not water - it rather looks like
quicksilver, shining and bright. The stream leads to a
valley with a silver lake filled with the same substance.
The lake is surrounded by black obsidian rocks. The
whole atmosphere is ominous and toxic, even though the
whole scenery looks quite beautiful. The Goddess
crystallizes from the lake and she is made of the
same silvery substance.

She is playful and eager to talk to you. She asks you to lie
down on a black obsidian altar carved in rock with the sigil of
the Gate glowing on its surface. Let her initiate you into her
gnosis and guide you through the mysteries of this lunar
realm.
 The Fourth
Gate

This realm represents the concept of Balance and Growth.

The Ophidian energies of the Spider Goddess injected into
consciousness through the Initiations of the other realms are
brought here to balance. The Poison becomes the Elixir of
Transformation. The Eye Within is activated and the Inner
Flame is powering up the process of Transcendence. It is
the Eye in the Void, the Eye of the Dragon - the center of
awareness and the symbol of awakened consciousness. The
Guardian of the Gate is the chthonic Goddess of the earth
who watches over the center of earths power, the Heart of
the Dragon.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in an underground cave, the centre of the

earth. There is a huge ruby crystal with an eye in the centre of
the cave. The crystal moves in anticlockwise rotation, rather
slowly, dripping blood into a well beneath; This crystal is the
Heart of the Dragon and it contains the Blood of the Dragon.
All blood that is shed by children of the Dragon, in Dragons
name, is absorbed into the veins of the earth, the Dragon
lines, and flows in here. It keeps the Dragon alive and sustains
the vital powers of the earth. The Goddess is already
waiting for you. She is one being but in three forms. She has
black hair and dark green dress.

She is majestic and beautiful. She asks you to touch the

crystal and attune to the pulse of the Dragon. Greet her and
let her guide you through her Draconian mysteries.
 The Fifth
Gate

The force of this realm is Inner Fire as the vehicle of Ascent.

The symbol of the Gate is a double-headed cobra coiled
around the Pillar of Ascent. The cobra is an ancient symbol
of royalty, nobility and power. Here it represents the Serpent
Force, the fire of transformation in its double aspect, united
and focused in the form of a powerful stream of energy,
clearing the way and powering up the Initiates ascension.
The Guardian of the Gate is the Goddess in her Ophidian
aspect, appearing as a half-woman half-cobra, adorned with
royal emblems of power.
Meditatio
n:

Visualize golden stairs leading up to a golden temple. The

temple is in rectangle shape, with a row of golden columns at
each side. Outside there is only the darkness of the Void. In
the center of the temple you notice a golden throne flanked
by two big torches. The Goddess appears as a half-woman
half-cobra. The lower part of the body is that of a golden
cobra. The upper part of the body is human, with milk-white
skin. She is dancing, moving in a hypnotizing rhythm. Her
eyes are emerald, she has the forked tongue of a snake,
her hair is writhing as serpents but is not made of
serpents.

She is naked, except for a golden headwear adorned with an

ornament in the shape of an eye and an emerald jewel. In her
hands she is holding a cup with golden and red flames. Greet
her and ask her for guidance and initiation into the powers of
her realm.
 The Sixth
Gate

This realm represents the principle of Cleansing,

corresponding to the alchemical process of distillation,
refining and purification. The Inner Flame burns all that
needs to burn, to the very bones of existence. The foremost
symbol of the Gate is the Lunar Eye in its reversed aspect -
instead of shedding nourishing dew, it drips toxic acid that
burns all to the core. This acid has to be drunk in the
initiatory process in order to cleanse the body and refine the
senses. Through the act of mystical death, the Initiate is
stripped to the skeleton, the framework of existence, so that
the building of a new body becomes possible. The Gate is
guarded by the Goddess in her sensual and seductive
aspect, contrasted to the imagery of the realm itself - the
place of death and decay.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in a huge abandoned burial place. There

are ashes on the ground, bones and skulls scattered all
around, skeletons hanging on racks, etc. but no graves - all
corpses are lying unburied. Vultures are circling above. Some
of them are eating the rest of flesh from the corpses that
have been brought here recently. In the centre of the place
there is a huge cremation furnace with fire burning inside.

The furnace is shaped like a horned skull. The whole scenery is

grey, colorless and gloomy. The Goddess appears after a
while. She is lively, beautiful and sensual. She has long,
straight black hair and she is wearing a long, translucent dress
that does not cover anything. Her feet are bestial but her body
is human. She is smiling playfully and holding a big black
chalice with a pitch black elixir that she wants you to drink.
Let her guide you and show you the mysteries of the realm.
 The Seventh
Gate

The power explored within this realm is the principle of Clear

Seeing. The symbol of the Gate is the Lunar Eye pierced by
three swords. This is symbolic of the concept of sight,
referring both to the physical eyes and the Third Eye that
represents mystical senses - clairvoyance, remote seeing,
divination, astral sight, etc. All these powers can be
experienced through the work of this realm. The Venom has
worked its way through the consciousness of the Initiate,
and thus it is no longer necessary and can be removed from
the organism, leaving the senses cleansed and transformed.
The Initiate is ready to gaze into the Void through the Eye of
the Spider Goddess in her primal reptilian form, and in this
manifestation she is also the Guardian of the Gate.
Meditatio
n:

Visualize yourself standing on the top of the Black Tower.

Everything below is cloaked in thick black fog or smoke. The
tower rises up, above the sky, into the centre of the Void. The
vision takes you back in time - you see creation of the world,
planets, the birth of the earth, the fall of the gods who are
thrown into the black abyss, etc. The tower is connected to all
these times and places with a huge web of silver threads
extending in all directions.

The Goddess is here too. She is dressed in a long silky

dress, silver and green. She has a big headwear that looks like
a spider web joined by green jewels, with a crescent moon on
the top. She is reptilian and predatory. Venom drips from her
dress, she has snake fangs instead of teeth and sharp claws
on both hands and feet. In this form she presides over the
Web of Space. Ask her to guide you through her realm and
show you how to use the power of sight through her Ophidian
Eye.
 The Eighth
Gate

This realm represents Will-Power, manifestation of Will and

consolidation of force into manifested form. Through the
Initiations of the other realms, the Initiate has gained control
over the Inner Flame, the Dragon Force within, and learnt to
direct and use the Venom of the Serpent in a conscious way,
thus achieving full awareness of ones own potential in the
initiatory process. The Guardian of the Gate is the Goddess
in her life/death aspect, reflecting the dual nature of the
personal Underworld in which the Initiate can find death
and emptiness, as well as life and nourishing flames of
desire.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in a vast underworld landscape - it is

huge and seems limitless, like a whole new world. In front
of you there is a dead valley above which floats in the air a
giant black crystal shaped like a diamond. On the crystal there
is a black throne of bones and skulls surrounded by a circle
of red fire. The Goddess sits on the throne, looking over all
souls who travel to the land of the dead through her
Gateways. She is wearing a long black dress. Half of her body
is that of a beautiful woman, the other half is a rotting
corpse.

Her eyes are emerald green. Snakes are coiling around a black
obsidian altar that is near the throne - it is small, shaped like a
jewel, and the only thing it contains is a chalice. The snakes
drip venom to the chalice. The venom is no longer black - it
is now shining with all colors and can be used in many
different ways. Explore the realm, communicate with the
Goddess and receive her guidance through the mysteries of
the Underworld.
 The Ninth
Gate

This realm typifies the concept of the Center. Standing in the

heart of the Void, the Initiate becomes the focal point of the
self-made universe, the foundation and the root of all things.
Here, nothing exists apart from Desire crystallized in flesh
by the force of Will alone. This is the formula of the Spider
Goddess, the Weaver of Time and Space. Encountered in the
realm behind the Ninth Gate, she appears in her primal
Draconian form, enthroned and majestic, holding a trident,
the ancient symbol of power and authority.
Meditatio
n:

Visualize a black volcanic landscape - black mountains, rivers

of burning lava, black sky above with a huge burning eye that
has an inverted triangle instead of the pupil. There is a pillar
of fire coming down from the eye and surrounding a black
throne carved in black obsidian crystal. The atmosphere is hot
and stuffy. Black smoke and red lava are all around. The
Goddess sits on the throne but she rises to welcome you in
her kingdom. She has a long black dress, snakes instead of
hair, her skin is dark, and she has burning amber eyes. She
looks demonic, devilish, primal. She has a headwear with
horns and in her hand she is holding a trident. Ask her to be
your guide through this fiery realm and teach you the
mysteries of her primal power.
 The Tenth
Gate

The power of this realm is the force of Movement and

Change. From here the Initiate can travel across the whole
Web of Time and Space, setting things in motion, molding
them, changing, destroying and recreating anew. All limits,
borders and barriers are crossed and transcended, and
eventually cease to exist. The crossing also represents the
cosmic process of manifestation from non-manifestation.
The imagery of this realm is dark and fearsome, for the
power over Destiny is a great challenge to handle and
often brings terrifying and unexpected results. This Gate is
guarded not by the Goddess but her dark consort in his
primal, horned manifestation, sitting on the throne carved in
bones of primordial giants, among blood of those who
dedicated their souls to the Path of Ascent in acts of self-
sacrifice.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in an underground cave filled with shallow

blood. The walls are pulsating with red light. In the center of
the cave you notice a throne with a torch on each side. The
throne is made of bone - very old, ancient, not resembling
anything made by human hands, stained with brown streaks
of dried blood. Above the throne there is a burning crescent
moon pointing upwards. Everything here is red and fiery.

The Horned God is seated on the throne. He has red skin,

pointed horns and fiery eyes. His veins look like streaks of
lava. He has an inverted pentagram imprinted on his
forehead. Greet him and ask him to reveal to you the powers
of this realm.
 The Eleventh
Gate

This realm represents the principle of Binding, as well as the

powers of Opening and Closing. It is the sigil of the Portal
and the Way, the glyph of the Traveler. It typifies the
journey towards the Within, to various aspects of the Self,
explored through multitude of dimensions and worlds
projected by the Initiate onto the blank canvas of the Inner
Void. Visions of this realm reflect the stellar nature of the
Spider Goddess who guards the Gate in her primordial
form, embracing her venomous Spider aspects, her lunar
feminine powers, and the fiery Draconian essence of the
Path. Here, the Initiate is revealed the gnosis of the Flame
that binds All, and learns to open and close inner gateways
within the Pillar of Ascent.
Meditatio
n:

Visualize cosmic space with stars dancing around a black

obsidian throne. The throne is placed on a black inverted
pyramid. The Goddess is seated on the throne. She is naked
but covered with a cloak made of sky and stars. Snakes are
coiling around her. There are two big burners by the sides of
the throne and thick incense smoke is rising from them. It is
poisonous, toxic, suffocating, forming into serpentine
shapes.

The Goddess has a headwear with a pyramid and an eye that

is shining with bright stellar radiance. Her eyes are black and
she has black and windy hair, shining with silver light. In her
hand she is holding a chalice filled with fire that she wants
you to take. Communicate with her and ask her to guide you
through the mysteries of her realm.
 The Twelfth
Gate

This realm represents the Pillar, the Axis. It is the principle

of Fire at the root of Ascent. The process of inner
transformation is almost complete and the Inner Flame is
ignited, directed and formed into the Pillar of Ascent. The
Guardian of the Gate is the Goddess in her atavistic,
amorphous aspect, seen in her true form, unbound and
primal. However, to interact with the Initiate, she assumes
human form, allowing for communication. The sigil also
corresponds to the Black Tower in the Ophidian mysteries of
the Spider Goddess.
Meditatio
n:

Envision yourself in a gloomy and stormy landscape. There is

a circle of black and red fire in the sky above and bolts of fiery
lightning are striking all around. The first thing you notice is a
huge black tower carved in black crystal. Hundreds of skulls
are piled up at the base of the tower and hundreds of snakes
are crawling from the skulls. After a while the snakes form into
the shape of the Goddess. At first she is giant and fearsome.
Then she crystallizes into human shape and size but she still
looks reptilian - with snake eyes and hair, scaly skin, forked
tongue, and snakes coiling around her arms and legs. She has
a dagger in her hand.

You cannot see her feet because the whole ground is cloaked
in thick black smoke. There is a ring of red fire around her,
just like the one above. She speaks to you and her voice is like
thunder. Greet her and ask her to be your guide through the
mysteries of this realm.
 The Thirteenth
Gate

The last Gate binds the powers and aspects of all twelve. It
represents the principle of the Chalice in which All is united
into One. The sigil of the Gate is the focal point of the
operation and the allegory of the whole process - by
successively absorbing the powers of the twelve Gates, the
Initiate becomes the Thirteenth Gate oneself, the living
vessel and manifestation of the current of the Spider
Goddess. It is the Gnosis of Arachne channeled and earthed
in flesh. There is no guided meditation for this work, as the
Thirteenth Gate is symbolic of the Initiate and the
experience of this realm is personal and depends on a
practitioner. It is recommended to meditate on the sigil
itself, analyzing the experience of all Gates - separately and
together, binding their powers into one powerful stream of
force earthed within the temple of flesh. Feel free to make
this meditation personal and meaningful to you alone.
 Invocation of
Arachne

The Invocation of Arachne is a recommended incantation to

summon the essence of the Spider Goddess into the temple
of flesh. You can also make it personal by expanding it,
adding your own words of summoning, or modifying parts of
this text. The Spider Goddess should be invoked whenever a
working with the Thirteen Gates is attempted - only fortified
by her own essence will you be able to explore her current and
withstand the amount of power brought forth through this
work.
 Sigil of
Arachne
Light thirteen black candles and burn strong incense. In my
personal practice I found the blend called The Nile
Temple most useful in this work, but feel free to
experiment with your own preferred fragrances. If you wish
to include the Sacrament into the ritual, use a strong alcohol
with toxic/hallucinogenic qualities, possibly absinthe, or a
self-made potion empowered by poisonous, hallucinogenic
herbs. However, do not experiment with self-made poisons if
you do not have experience in this practice. Place the sigil of
Arachne on the altar and focus on it for a moment. It is also
recommended to anoint the sigil with your own blood to
open and activate the gateway to her current.

ARACHNIDIA-KA-RA-
AN

As the atmosphere in the temple becomes dense and

energies of the Goddess are manifesting through the gate,
speak the words of invocation and merge your
consciousness with the Spider Current of Arachne.

I invoke the ancient Goddess of

forgotten temples, I call forth the Spider
Queen of the Outer Void,
I summon
Arachne,
She who rises from the depths to enflame the world
with living
darknes
s.
Awaken from the sleep of eternity in the Womb of
the Dragon, Come forth from the temple of
oblivion,
And rejoice the blood of
sacrifices!
Sister to Those From Outside,
Daughter of the Dragon, born of
Eternal Night,
I ...(your magical name)... call you to come
and manifest!
 In this temple of the
Dragon, In this circle of
power! Rise up from
the Void,
And manifest in the world of
man!
I call you in the name of the
Dragon,
 Primal Source of All
Creation, And in the name
of Nyarlathotep, The
Hunter of the Dark!
I call you through my
blood, Which is the Blood
of the Dragon, And in the
name of Tiamat, Mother of
all Gods,
Join me in this feast of flesh
and spirit,
To become as one
with me,
And I shall become as one with
you, Forever united with your
timeless essence. My body is your
temple,
My mind is your
altar, My soul is
your vessel.
Embrace me in your Living
Darkness,
And show me the knowledge and power
I desire, Open for me the gates to your
forgotten temples,
Guide me through the endless labyrinths of the
Nightside, Let the whole world know your
beauty and terror! Come to me, Arachne!
Seducer and devourer of
souls, Enter through the
Gates of the Night! Spider
Goddess of Space,
Open for me the Pathways of the
Dragon!
In Nomine
Draconis, Ho
Drakon Ho Megas!
 Exploration of the Thirteen Power Zones

To explore the Thirteen Gates of Arachne, you need to

fashion the sigils and prepare the circle of power. There are
two methods of this work. If you only wish to empower your
temple and create a permanent gate to the Spider Current
of the Goddess, carve or paint the sigils on a solid material.
This can be wood, stone or crystal. My advice is to paint the
sigils on pyramids of black obsidian - you will need twelve
smaller pyramids for the outer gateways and a bigger one
for the main portal with the binding sigil. The main pyramid
should be placed in the center, with twelve smaller
pyramids around, forming a circle.
The sigils can be consecrated with your own blood and
activated through a ceremony in which all thirteen gateways
are opened for the flow of their currents. While opening the
last gate, meditate on the energies flowing through the
pyramid portals and being focused in the thirteenth pyramid.
This will create a permanent gate to the current of Arachne
and the pylon of her power within your physical temple. By
using techniques of scrying and evocation you will be able to
gaze into these realms and access their currents, without
actually travelling through the gates and invoking their
powers into your temple of flesh.

The second method is recommended if you wish to use the

Thirteen Gateways as self-initiatory work. This, however, is an
advanced work that should not be attempted by a beginner.
The successive steps and their initiatory aspects have been
described earlier in this chapter. The procedure here is similar,
but instead of creating the outer gateways, the practitioner
opens the gate within the inner mind. Therefore, the manner
of creation of the sigils is not important - they are simply
drawn on paper that is burnt during the ritual of opening.
In this case, place the twelve outer sigils in the circle
around you - you are the center and the focal point of the
circle. The thirteenth, binding sigil should be placed in front of
you, held in your hand, or you can paint it on your body - e.g.
on your chest (in the heart area) or the forehead. Focus on the
gate you wish to explore, and when it opens, burn the sigil,
absorbing the energies released this way in order to become
the gateway yourself, and travel through the portal. The gate
will be permanently imprinted in your consciousness and the
current flowing through it will successively affect and
transform you from within.

The opening procedure includes several steps. First you need

to invoke the Spider Goddess and fortify yourself with her
essence. When the communion is complete and your
consciousness is merged with the mind of the Goddess, you
can proceed to the work with the Thirteen Gates. Stand or sit
down in the circle, surrounded by the twelve sigils with the
thirteenth in the center.
Focus your attention on the four sigils marking the four
cardinal directions - on the diagram these are sigils number
1, 4, 7, 10. These four gates must be opened and activated
first. Anoint them with your blood and focus on their
currents manifesting in the temple. They all appear at the
same time, as dark doorways flashing with golden colors. In
the center of the circle, between the four gates, you should
at this point see the Goddess herself. She usually manifests
as the proud and majestic Queen of Space. She is naked,
wearing only a golden headwear. She has snake hair, like
the mythical Medusa, bestial feet, and she holds a chalice
and a dagger in her hands. Snakes arise from the ground
and coil around her. The manifestation may even be
accompanied by the sound of hissing. When these four
gates are fully opened, you apply the same method to the
remaining sigils to open the other gateways. Envision
yourself connected to all of them by stellar threads of the
Spider Web. Once they are fully manifested, you can travel
through the gates, or through a chosen gate, explore and
absorb its powers.
Eye of the Spider
Goddess
A Few Words on Banishings

308
While reading the Simon Necronomicon, we encounter a
dramatic warning: There are no effective banishings for
the forces invoked in The Necronomicon itself. Further in
the text, the author explains that since the Sumerian
religion (which is supposedly the source of the book) was
lunar-oriented, all kinds of solar-based rituals function as
banishings and can be used to weaken the power of the
Ancient Ones or close the gates to their dimensions. Then
we are presented with a series of incantations in The Book
Maklu of the Burning of Evil Spirits, which presumably
work as banishings. Among occultists who have ever
worked with these incantations, opinions about their
effectiveness are varied. They are generally supposed to
function as either protective charms or exorcisms that
banish unwanted forces. But the nature and purpose of a
banishing is much more complex.

Usually, a banishing encloses the magical space for the

working and transforms the room into a temple located
beyond the ordinary world, in the sphere of sacrum. In the
ritualized form (like e.g. the popular Lesser Pentagram
Ritual), this includes setting up the four cardinal points and
invoking elemental forces represented as god-forms that
also vary depending on a magical tradition. The practitioner
is placed in the centre of the ritual space and becomes the
axis mundi - his consciousness is connected to the forces of
the Above and the Below and he is able to shift his mind
onto higher (or lower) levels. This kind of magical action not
only cleans the space and provides protection but also shifts
the practitioners focus from everyday thinking to the
magical state of mind, allowing for the focus on the
operation itself. This second function is particularly needed
when we do not have a special temple solely for magical

309
workings and all magical actions are performed in the room
that is normally used for everyday activities.

310
Banishings are therefore used as an opening of magical
operations or as a closing element - to clean the ritual space
and banish the energies that were invoked during the ritual.

What about the Necronomicon entities, we may ask, is it

possible to banish them? The reputation of The Necronomicon,
which arose around this mystical book throughout the last
century, has made it a powerful egregore of mystery, anxiety
and obscurity, and raised myriads of speculations about the
nature of these entities. The aura of evil and doom that
surrounds these legends has a great impact on the
imagination of a practitioner. Many people actually do believe
that banishings should be done after the reading of every
single page of the book because these forces are so
dangerous that even a random thought of them might bring
them forth to manifestation. On the other hand, we are told
that no banishings are effective, and thus, anxiety about
working with this infamous book grows with each new story of
its dangers and horrors. As we have already observed many
times in this book, the ritual frame in the form as it is often
used in the Western magic hardly ever works in the
Necronomicon Gnosis. In the Lovecraftian lore, these forces
are believed to be omnipresent. They exist in dark, abandoned
places, on the edges of civilization, among wild nature and
remains of ancient generations. Once we open our minds for
their energies, we establish a bond that manifests in every
minute of our lives, both in magical operations and in daily
experience: through dreams, feelings, premonitions, etc. Our
consciousness becomes a channel for the whispers from
Beyond and this gateway can never be closed. We cannot
treat the Lovecraftian entities as temporary tools that can be
banished any time. This is not how it works. The Call of
Cthulhu is ever-present in our minds, continuously
transforming us from within. The change is permanent and it
is up to us how we will use it in our magical development.

This does not mean that banishings are not effective at all. We
might rather say that they are not always suitable for the work
with the Great Old Ones.
For instance, we can use a formal banishing to open a
particular ritual and clean the magical space, as well as at
the closing stage - which is also recommended for the
practices presented in this book. But the work with the
Necronomicon Gnosis is rarely formally structured and
ritualized. It operates on the immediate presence of
energies and all we have to do is attune our minds to their
vibrations: naturally or by means of techniques mentioned
here. Instead of performing a formal ritual, we can work
with the Lovecraftian entities through reading the stories,
dreaming, visualizing, or simply walking out to desolate
places to sense their presence. If there is no ritualized
context, a formal banishing will not be of much use, either.
Instead, we can achieve the shift of consciousness by
employing simple techniques, such as ringing the bell,
burning incense, lighting candles or other kinds of light that
we do not normally use in our mundane activities, or playing
a special kind of music. All this may shift our minds into the
sphere of sacrum and whatever we do from this point, will
be a magical action.

Lovecraftian gnosis also seems frightening because it exists

outside the mundane rationality and logic. It is wild and
alien, amorphous and atavistic. It is intangible and not
always possible to grasp within the frames of human
perception. And what is not familiar, usually frightens us.
The Necronomicon itself is a book that exists beyond the
grasp of researchers and historians, unless they choose to
leave the rational thinking behind and tear the veil that
covers gateways to the Outer Void. It is the same with this
kind of gnosis. It reveals to us the dark and mystical realms
of haunted hills and woods, hidden labyrinths of spaces
where we can easily get lost, sunken cities in the depths of
oceans, and other territories where only sorcerers and
servants of the Old Gods may tread and where normal
people are merely sacrificial material or victims of fear and
insanity. This encounter may change us forever and its
effects are never possible to be banished. These energies
rush through our consciousness, tearing apart the tiny world
of our normal perception and opening access to limitless
realms of the Great Old Ones.
This experience might seem shocking - we will be surprised to
discover how small our world has been until now and what a
great potential exists outside the borders of reason. There, in
the infinite eternity of space we will hear whispers from
Beyond and we will see that which was hidden from us before.

For he who passes the gateways always wins a shadow, and never
again can he be alone.
- H.P. Lovecraft, The
Book -
 Bibliography & Further
Reading
H.P. Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror; Gates of the Silver Key;
The Call of Cthulhu; Dagon; The Tomb; In the Vault;
Reanimator; The Lurker at the Threshold; The Thing on the
Doorstep; Dreams in the Witch House; From Beyond; and
other stories.

Clark Ashton Smith: The Seven Geases; Ubbo-Sathla;

The Empire of
Necromancers; Necromancy in Naat; The Charnel God; and
other stories.

August Derleth: The Peabody Heritage; The Gable

Window; The Lamp of Alhazred; The Shuttered Room; The
Horror from the Middle Span; and other stories.

H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop: The Curse of Yig; The

Mound.

Simon: Necronomicon; Necronomicon Spellbook; The

Gates of the
Necronomicon; Dead Names - The Dark History of the
Necronomicon.

Parker Ryan: Necronomicon Info

Source.

Peter J. Carroll: Liber Kaos; Liber Null &

Psychonaut.

Philip A. Shreffer: The Lovecraft

Companion.

Kenneth Grant: Outside the Circles of Time; Outer

Gateways; Hecates Fountain; Beyond the Mauve Zone;
Nightside of Eden; Cults of the Shadow; Hidden Lore;
Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God.

Helena Blavatsky: The Secret

Doctrine.

Frater Tenebrous XIII: The Aeon of Cthulhu

Rising.

Donald Tyson: Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred;

Grimoire of the Necronomicon; The 13 Gates of the
Necronomicon; Alhazred - Author of the Necronomicon.
Sri Alain Danielou: Hindu Polytheism.

Manfred Lurker: Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and

Demons.

J.E. Cirlot: A Dictionary of Symbols.

Robert E. Howard: The Hyborian Age; The Shadow Kingdom;

Worms of the
Earth.

Lin Carter: The Vengeance of Yig; Xothic Cycle.

Linda Falorio: The Shadow Tarot.

Stephen Dziklewicz: A Mantra for Evoking the Great Old Ones

(Starfire
Vol. II No.2).

Fra. Sadashtor 645 .: Dagon Rising. The Litany of Dagon.

Robert Temple: The Sirius Mystery.

Brian Lumley: Titus Crow, Coven of Vampires.

Lewis Spence: An Encyclopaedia of Occultism.

The Rlyeh Text: Hidden Leaves from the Necronomicon.

Al Azif: The Cipher Manuscript known as Necronomicon.

Ambrose Bierce: Inhabitant of

Carcosa. Robert Bloch: Fane of

the Black Pharaoh. Robert

Chambers: The King in Yellow.

H.P. Lovecraft & Harry Houdini: Imprisoned with the Pharaohs.
Brian Lumley: The Mirror of
Nitocris.

Tennessee Williams: The Vengeance of

Nitocris.

The Book of Dagon: Cursed Writings of

Assyrian Priests. Grimoirium Imperium.

De Vermis
Misteriis.

Phil Hine: The

Pseudonomicon.

Daniel Harms and John Wisdom Gonce III: The Necronomicon

Files. The
Truth Behind Lovecrafts
Legend.

Daniel Harms: The Cthulhu Mythos

Encyclopedia.

Stephen Sennitt: The Infernal Texts: Nox &

Liber Koth.

Jeremy Black & Anthony Green: Gods, Demons and Symbols

of Ancient
Mesopota
mia.

Lyon Sprague de Camp: H.P. Lovecraft: A

Biography.

Aleister Crowley: Magick in Theory and Practice, Vision and

the Voice.
Daemon Barzai: The
Nyarlathotep Book.

S. Ben Qayin: Volubilis Ex

Chaosium.

Chaosium Mythos Fiction: The Nyarlathotep Cycle; Robert

Blochs Mysteries of the Worm; Cthulhus Heirs; The Shub-
Niggurath Cycle; The Azathoth Cycle; The Book of Iod; The
Dunwich Cycle; The Cthulhu Cycle; The Disciples of Cthulhu;
The Necronomicon; The Xothic Legend Cycle; The Hastur
Cycle; The Book of Eibon; Arkham Tales; Tales out of
Innsmouth; The Innsmouth Cycle; The Antarktos Cycle; The
Yellow Sign and Other Stories.
 Index of
Illustrations
Dark Altar
-
35-
The Stars Are
Right
-
60-
Nyarlathote
p
-
91-
Lavinia and Yog-
Sothoth
-
118-
Altar of
Dagon
-
150-
The Charnel
God
-
167-
Vampire
Entity
-
183-
Shug
Niggurath
-
198-
Ritual of
Yig
-
230-
 The Black
Tower
-
238-
Priestess of the Great Old
Ones
-
256-
The Spider
Goddess
-
307-
 About the Author

Asenath Mason is a writer and

artist. Author of books and essays on
esoteric, religious and mythological
subjects, with a particular focus on the
Left Hand Path philosophy, Luciferian
Spirituality and Draconian Tradition.
Active practitioner of Occult Arts.
Founder and coordinator of the
Temple of Ascending Flame. Author of
The Book of Mephisto: A Modern
Grimoire of the Faustian Tradition
(2006), Necronomicon Gnosis: A
Practical Introduction (2007), Sol
Tenebrarum: The Occult Study of
Melancholy (2011), The Grimoire of
Tiamat (2013), Liber
Thagirion (2014), and co-author and editor of several
anthologies and occult magazines. She is also a varied
artist, working with digital media, and themes of her artwork
include various gothic, fantasy and esoteric concepts.

Contact: www.facebook.com/asenath.mason
Art: asenathmason.darkfolio.com
Temple of Ascending Flame: ascendingflame.com