Al azif-necronomicum

Al Azif
The Cipher Manuscript known as "Necronomicon"
Ye Book of Ye Arab, Abdul Alhazred, 730 at Damascus

from DarkPages Website

Notes regarding this Etext edition

This E-text version of the book, Al Azif has been entered into Hypertext by Ken Ottinger over the course of
some few months. This project was completely funded by the Universal Life Trust.

The reason for the project was the realization that so many people were fascinated by H.P. Lovecraft and the
Cthulhu Mythos. Reading the newsgroups alt.necronomicon and alt.necromicon and seeing so many requests for
an online copy of the Necronomicon, and then seeing the arguments and debates as to whether the text actually
existed or not prompted me to search out the research work of Colin Wilson, George Hay, Robert Turner and
David Langford.

These men, publishing through CORGI Books of Chaucer Press, Ltd., Great Britain, provided a translation of a
cipher manuscript of Dr. John Dee's called Liber Logaeth, a portion of a larger manuscript, the origin and
nature of which is not known. Due to its history and the similarity in content to the Cthulhu Mythos, this
document has been presented by these men as being, at least a portion of, the document which was the
inspiration for HPL's Necronomicon.

Because of copyright restrictions, I have included only quotes from the original manuscript used in the CORGI
edition. The bulk of this E-text edition is the text of the manuscript Liber Logaeth which has been translated to
date. This is presented as a Tool or Guide leading toward additional research.
Zi Dingir Ana Kanpa, Zi Dingir Kia Kanpa
Spirits of the earth remember, spirits of the sky remember...
Al Azif - Necronomicon
Ye Book of Ye Arab, Abdul Alhazred

NECRONOMICON'S CONTENT:
1. Ye Testimony of Abl-Al Hazred

This is the testimony of all that I have seen, and all that I have learned, in those years that I have possessed the
Three Seals of MASSHU. I have seen One Thousand and-One moons, and surely this is enough for the span of a
mans life, though it is said the Prophets lived much longer. I am weak, and ill, and bear great tired- ness and
exhaustion, and a sigh hangs in my breast like a dark lantern, I am old.

The wolves carry their name in their midnight speeches, and that quiet, subtle Voice is summoning me from afar.
And a voice much closer will shout into my ear with unholy impatience. The weight of my soul will decide its
final resting place. Before the time, I must put down here all that I can concerning the horrors that stalk Without,
and which lie in wait at the door of every man, for this is the ancient arcana that has been handed down of old,
but which has been forgotten by all but a few men, the worshippers of the Ancient Ones (may their names be
blotted out!)

And if I do not finish this task, take what is here and discover the rest, for time is short and mankind does not
know or understand the evil that awaits it, from every side, from every open Gate, from every broken barrier,
from every mindless acolyte at the alters of madness.

For this is the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Black Earth, that I have writ down at the peril of my life,
exactly as I received it, on the planes of IGIGI, the cruel celestial spirits from beyond the Wanderers of the
Wastes.

Let all who read this book be warned thereby that the habitation of men are seen and surveyed by that Ancient
Race of gods and demons from a time before time, and that they seek revenge for that forgotten battle that took
place somewhere in the Cosmos and rent the Worlds in the days before the creation of Man, when the Elder
Gods walked the Spaces, the race of MARDUK, as he is known to the Chaldeans, and of ENKI our master, the
Lord of Magicians.

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Know, then, that I have trod all the Zones of the Gods, and also the places of Azonei, and have descended into
the foul places of Death and Eternal Thirst, which may be reached through the Gate of GANZIR, which was
built in UR in the days before Babylonian was.

Know, too, that I have spoken with all manner of spirit and daemon, whose names are no longer known in the
societies of Man, or were never known. And the seals of these are writ herein ; yet others I must take with me
when I leave you. ANU have mercy on my soul!

I have seen the Unknown Lands, that no map has ever charted. I have lived in the deserts and the wastelands, and
spoken with demons and the souls of slaughtered men, and of women who have died in childbirth, victims of the
she-fiend LAMMASHTA.

I have traveled beneath the Seas, in search of the Palace of Our Master, and found the stone monuments of
vanquished civilizations, and de-ciphered the writings of some of these; while still others remain mysteries to
any man who lives. And these civilizations were destroyed because of the knowledge contained in this book.

I have traveled among the stars, and trembled before the gods. I have at last found the formula by which I passed
the gate of ARZIR, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul IGIGI.

I have raised demons, and the dead.

I have summoned the ghosts of my ancestors to real and visible appearance on the tops of temples built to reach
the stars, and built to touch the nethermost cavities of HADES. I have wrestled with the Black Magician, AZAG-
THOTH, in vain, and fled to the Earth by calling upon INANNA and her brother MARDUK, Lord of the
double-headed AXE.

I have raised armies against the Lands of the East, by summoning the hordes of fiends I have made subject unto
me, and so doing found NGAA, the god of the heathens, who breathes flame and roars like a thousand thunders.

I have found fear.

I have found the Gate that leads to the Outside, by which the Ancient Ones, who ever seek the entrance to our
world, keep eternal watch. I have smelled the vapors of that Ancient One, Queen of the Outside, whose name is
writ in the MAGAN text, the testament of some dead civilization whose priests, seeking power, swing open the
dread, evil Gate for an hour past the time and were consumed.

I came to possess this knowledge through circumstances quite peculiar, while still the unlettered son of a
shepherd in what is called Mesopotamia by the Greeks.

When I was only a youth, traveling alone in the mountains to the East, called MASSHU by the people who live
there, I came upon a grey rock carved with three strange symbols. It stood as high as a man, and as wide around
as a bull. It was firmly in the ground, and I could not move it. Thinking no more of the carvings, save that they
might be the work of a king to mark some Ancient victory over an enemy, I built a fire at its foot to protect me
from the from the wolves that wander in that regions and went to sleep, for it was night and I was far from my
village, being Bet Durrabia.

Being about three hours from dawn, in the nineteenth of Shabatu, I was awakened by the howl of a dog, or
perhaps a wolf, uncommonly loud and close at hand. The fire had died to its embers, and these red, glowing
coals cast a faint, dancing shadow across the stone monument with the three carvings. I began to make haste to
build another fire when, at once, the grey rock began to rise slowly into the air, as if it were a dove. I could not
move or speak for the fear that seized upon my spine and wrapped cold fingers around my skull. The Dik of
Azug-bel-ya was no stranger seemed to melt into my hands!

Presently, I heard a voice, softly, some distance away and a more practical fear, that the possibility of robbers,
took hold of me and I rolled behind weeds, trembling. Another voice joined the first, and soon several men in
black robes of thieves came together over the place where I was, surrounding the floating rock, of which they did
not exhibit in the least fright.

I could see clearly now that the three carvings on the stone monument were glowing, a flame red color, as
through the rock were on fire. The figures were murmuring together in prayer or invocation, of which only a few

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words could be heard, and these in some unknown tongue; though, ANU have mercy on my soul!, these rituals
are not unknown to me any longer.

The figures, whose faces I could not see or recognize, began to make wild passes in the air with knives that
glinted cold and sharp in the mountain night.

From beneath the floating rock, out of the very ground where it had sat, came rising the tail of a serpent. This
serpent was surely larger than any I had ever seen. The thinnest section thereof was fully that of the arms of two
men, and as it rose from the earth it was followed by another, although the end of the first was not seen as it
seemed to reach down into the very Pit itself. These were followed by still more, and the ground began to
tremble under the pressure of so many of these enormous arms. The chanting of the priests, for I knew them now
to be some the servants of some hidden Power, became much louder and nearly hysterical.
IA! IA! ZI AZAG!
IA!IA! ZI AZKAK!
IA! IA! KUTULU ZI KUR!
IA!
The ground where I was hiding became wet with some substance, being slightly downhill from the scene I was
witnessing. I touched the wetness and found it to be blood. In horror I screamed and gave my presence away to
the priests. They turned toward me, and I saw with loathing that they had cut their chests with the daggers they
had used to raise the stone, for some mystical purpose I could not then divine; although I now know that blood is
the very food of these spirits, which is why that field after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the
manifestation of the spirits feeding thereon.

May ANU protect us all!

My scream had the effect of casting their ritual into chaos and disorder. I raced through the mountain path by
which I had come, and the priests came running after me, although some seemed to stay behind, perhaps to finish
the Rites. However, as I ran wildly down the slopes in the cold night, my heart gave rise in my chest and my
head growing hot, the sound of splitting rocks and thunder came from behind me and shook the very ground I
ran on. In fright and haste I fell to the earth.

Rising, I turned to face whatever attacker had come nearest me, though I was unarmed. To my surprise, what I
saw was no priest of ancient horror, no necromancer of that forbidden Art, but black robes fallen upon the grass
and weeds, with no seeming presence of life or bodies beneath them.

I walked cautiously to the first and, picking up a long twig, lifted the robe from the tangle of weeds and thorns.
All that remained of the priest was a pool of slime, like green oil, and the smell of a body lain long in the sun to
rot. Such a stench nearly overpowered me, but I was resolute to find the others, to see if the same fortune had
also befallen them.

Walking back up the slope that I had so fearfully run down only moments ago, I came across yet another of the
black priests, in identical condition to the first. I kept walking, passing more of the robes as I went, not venturing
to overturn them any longer. Then, I finally came upon the grey stone monument that had risen unnaturally into
the air at the command of the priests. It was now upon the ground once more, but the carvings still glowed with
supernatural light. The serpents, or what I had then thought of as serpents, had disappeared. But in the dead
embers of the fire, now cold and black, was a shining metal plate.

I picked it up and saw that it was also carved, as the stone, but very intricately, after a fashion I could not
understand. It did not bear the same markings as the stone, but I had the feeling I could almost read the
characters, but could not, as though I once knew the tongue but had since long forgotten. Mt head began to ache
as though a devil was pounding my skull, when a shaft of moonlight hit the metal amulet, for I know now what it
was, and a voice entered my head and told me the secrets of the scene I had witnessed in one word: KUTULU.

In that moment, as though whispered fiercely into my ear, I understood.

These were the signs carved upon the grey stone, that was the gate to the Outside:
(I wish to apologize for the primitive descriptions of the symbols but its about the best that can be done with this
file writer)
The amulet that I held in my hand, and hold to this very day, around my neck as I write these words, is this:
(after seeing the so-called picture of the symbols you can probably understand why I did not attempt to show you

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the amulet)

Of the three symbols carved, the first is the Sign of our Race from beyond the Stars, and is called ARRA in the
tongue of the Scribe who taught it to me, an emissary of the Elder Ones. In the tongue of the eldest city of
Babylon, it was UR. It is the Sigil of the Covenant of the Elder Gods, and when they see it, they who gave it to
us, they will not forget us. They have sworn!

Spirit of the Skies, Remember!

The second sign is the Elder Sign, and is the Key whereby the Powers of the Elder Gods may be summoned,
when used with the proper words and shapes. It has a Name, and is called AGGA.

The third sign is the Sigil of the Watcher. It is called BANDAR. The Watcher is a Race sent by the Elder Ones.
It keeps vigil while one sleeps provided the appropriate rituals and sacrifice has been preformed; else, if called, it
will turn upon you.

These seals, to be effective, must be graven on stone and set in the ground. Or, set upon the alter of offerings. Or,
carried to the Rock of Invocations. Or, engraved upon the metal of ones God or Goddes and hung about the neck,
but hidden from the view of the profane. Of these three, the ARRA and the AGGA may be used separately, that
is to say singly, and alone. The BANDAR however, must never be used alone, but with one or both of the others,
for the Watcher must needs to be reminded of the Covenant he has sworn with the Elder Gods and our Race, else
it will turn upon thee and slay thee and ravage thy town until succor is to be had from the Elder Gods by the
tears of thy people and the wailing of thy women.

KAKAMMU!

The fire amulet that I retrieved from the ashes of the fire, and which caught the light of the moon, is a potent seal
against whatever may come in the Gate from the Outside for, seeing it, they will retreat from thee SAVE ONLY
IF IT CATCH THE LIGHT OF THE MOON UPON ITS SURFACE for, in the dark days of the moon, or in
clouds, there can be little protection against the fiends from the Ancient Land should they break the barrier, or be
let in by their servants upon the face of the Earth. In such a case, no recourse is to be had until the light of the
moon shines upon the Earth, for the moon is the Eldest among the Zonei, and is the starry symbol of our pact.
NANNA, Father of the Gods, Remember!

Wherefore, the amulet must be engraved upon pure silver in the full light of the moon, that the moon shine upon
it at its working, and the essence of the moon be drawn down and captured therein. And the proper incantations
must be performed, and the prescribed rituals as given forth in this Book. And the amulet must NEVER be
exposed to the light of the Sun, for SHAMMASH called UDU, in his jealousy, will rob the seal of its power. In
such case, it must be bathed in waters of camphor, and the incantations and ritual performed once again. But
verily, it were better to engrave another.

These secrets I give to thee at the pain of my life, never to be revealed to the profane, or the banished, or the
Worshippers of the Ancient Serpent, but to keep within their own heart, always silent upon these things.

Peace be to thee!
Henceforth, from that fateful night in the mountains of MASSHU, I wandered about the countryside in search of
the key to the secret knowledge that had been given me. And it was a painful and lonely journey, during which
time I took no wife, called no house or village my home, and dwelt in various countries, often in caves or in the
deserts, learning several tongues as a traveler, to bargain with the trades people and learn of the news and
customs. But my bargaining was with the Powers that reside in each of these countries. And soon, I came to
understand many things of which before I had no knowledge, except perhaps in dreams. The friends of my youth
deserted me, and I them. When I was seven years gone from my family, I learned that they had all died of their
own hand, for reasons no one was able to tell me; their flocks had later been slain as the victims of some strange
epidemic.

I wandered as a beggar, being fed from town to town as the local people saw fit, often being stoned instead of
threatened with imprisonment. On occasion, I was able to convince some learned man that I was a sincere
scholar, and was thereby permitted to read the Ancient Records in which the details of necromancy, sorcery,
magick and alchemy are given. I learned of the spells that cause men illness, the plague, blindness, insanity and

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even death. I learned the various classes of demons and evil gods that exist, and of the old legends concerning
the Ancient Ones.

I was thus able to arm myself against the dread Maskim, who lie in wait about the boundaries of the world, ready
to trap the unwary and devour the sacrifices set out at night and in deserted places; against the she-devil
LAMMASHTA, who is called Sword that Splits the Skull, the sight of whom causes horror and dismay, and
(some say) death of a most uncommon nature.

In time I learned of the names and properties of all the demons, devils, fiends and monsters listed herein, in this
Book of the Black Earth. I learned of the powers in the astral Gods, and how to summon their aid in times of
need. I learned, too, of the frightful beings who dwell beyond the astral spirits, who guard the entrance to the
Temple of the Lost, of the Ancient Days the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, whose Name I cannot write here.

In my solitary ceremonies in the hills, worshipping with fire and sword, with water and dagger, and with the
assistance of strange grass that grows wild in certain parts of the MASSHU, and with which I had unwittingly
built my fire before the rock, that grass that gives the mind great power to travel tremendous distances into the
heavens, as also into the hells, I received the formulae for the amulets and talismans which follow, which
provide the Priest with safe passage among the spheres wherein he may travel in search of the Wisdom.

But now, after One Thousand-and-One moons of the journey, the Maskim nip at my heels, the Rabishu pull at
my hair, Lammashta opens her dread jaws, AZAG-THOTH gloats blindly at his throne, KUTULU raises his
head and stares up through the Veils of sunkun Varloorni, up through the Abyss, and fixes his stare upon me;
wherefore I must with haste write this Book lest my end come sooner than I had prepared. For indeed, it appears
as though I have failed in some regard as to the order of the rites, or to the formulae, or to the sacrifices, for now
it appears as if the entire host of ERESSKIGAL lies waiting, dreaming, drooling for my departure.

I pray the gods that I am saved (which he is not, for "gods" cannot save ones soul, only GOD) and not perish as
did the Priest, ABDUL BEN-MARTU, in Jerusalem (the gods remember and have mercy upon him!). My fate is
no longer writ in the stars, for I have broken the Chaldean Covenant by seeking power over the Zonei. I have set
foot on the moon, and the moon no longer has power over me. The lines of my life have been obliterated by my
wanderings in the Waste, over the letters writ in the heavens by the gods. And even now I can hear the wolves
howling in the mountains as they did that fateful night, and they are calling my name, and the names of the
Others. I fear for my flesh, but I fear for my spirit more.

Remember, always, in every empty moment, to call upon the gods not to forget thee, for they are forgetful and
very far away. Light thy fires high in the hills, and on the tops of temples and pyramids, that they may see and
remember.

Remember, always, to copy each of the formulae as I have put it down and not to change it by one line or dot,
not so much as hair's breadth, lest it be rendered valueless, or worse: a broken line provides means of entrance
for those Outside, for a broken star is the Gate of GANZIR, the Gate of Death, the Gate of the Shadows and the
Shells. Recite the incantations as they are written here, in the manner thus prescribed. Prepare the rituals without
erring, and in the proper places and times render the sacrifices.

May the gods ever be merciful unto thee!

May thou escape the jaws of the MASKIM, and vanquish the power to the Ancient Ones!

AND THE GODS GRANT THEE DEATH BEFORE THE ANCIENT ONES RULE THE EARTH ONCE
MORE!

KAKAMMU! SELAH!

2. Of Ye Old Ones and their Spawn

The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are and the Old Ones shall be. From the dark stars They came ere man was
born, unseen and loathsome They descended to primal earth. Beneath the oceans They brooded while ages past,
till seas gave up the land, whereupon They swarmed forth in Their multitudes and darkness ruled the Earth.

At the frozen Poles They raised mighty cities, and upon high places the temples of Those whome nature owns

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not and the Gods have cursed.

And the spawn of the Old Ones covered the Earth, and Their children endureth throughout the ages. Ye shantaks
of Leng are the work of Their hands, the Ghasts who dwelleth in Zin's primordial vaults know Them as their
Lords.

They have fathered the Na-Hag and the Gaunts that ride the Night; Great Cthulhu is Their brother, the shaggoths
Their slaves. The Dholes do homage unto Them in the nighted vale of Pnoth and Gugs sing Their praises
beneath the peaks of ancient Throk.

They have walked amidst the stars and They have walked the Earth. The City of Irem in the great desert has
known Them; Leng in the Cold Waste has seen Their passing, the timeless citadel upon the cloud-vieled heights
of unknown Kadath beareth Their mark.

Wantonly the Old Ones trod the ways of darkness and Their blasphemies were great upon the Earth; all creation
bowed beneath Their might and knew Them for Their wickedness.

And the Elder Lords opened Their eyes and beheld the abominations of Those that ravaged the Earth. In Their
wrath They set their hand against the Old Ones, staying Them in the midst of Their iniquity and casting 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.

Loathsome Cthulhu rose then from the deeps and raged with exceeding great fury against the Earth Guardians.
And They bound his venomous claws with potent spells and sealed him up within the City of R'lyeh wherein
beneath the waves he shall sleep death's dream until the end of the Aeon.

Beyond the Gate dwell now the Old Ones; not in the spaces known unto men but in the angles betwixt them.
Outside Earth's plane They linger and ever awaite the time of Their return; for the Earth has known Them and
shall know Them in time yet to come.

And the Old Ones hold foul and formless Azathoth for Their Master abd 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.

The soul of Azathoth dwelleth in Yog-sothoth and He shall beckon unto the Old Ones when the stars mark the
time of Their coming; for Yog-sothoth is the Gate through which Those of the Void will re-enter. Yog-sothoth
knowest the mazes of of time, for all time is one unto Him. He knowest where the Old Ones came forth in time
along long past and where They shall come forth again when the cycle returneth.

After day cometh night; man's day shall pass, and They shall rule where They once ruled. As foulness you shall
know them and Their accursedness shall stain the Earth.

3. Of Ye Times and Ye Seasons to be Observed

Whenever thou would'st call forth Those from Outside, thou must mark well the seasons and times in which the
spheres do intersect and the influences flow from the Void

Thou must observe the cycle of the Moon, the movements of the planets, the Sun's course through the Zodiac
and the rising of the constellations.

Ye Ultimate Rites shall be performed only in the seasons proper to them, these be: at Candlemas (on the second
day of the second month), at Beltane (on the Eve of May), at Lammas (on the first day of the eighth month), at
Roodmas (on the fourteenth day of the ninth month), and at Hallowmas (on November Eve).

Call out to dread Azathoth when the Sun is in the sign of the Ram, the Lion, or the Archer; the Moon decreasing
and Mars and Saturn conjoin.

Mighty Yog-sothoth shall rise to ye incantations when Sol has entered the fiery house of Leo and the hour of
Lammas be upon ye.

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Evoke ye terrible Hastur on Candlemas Night, when Sol is in Aquarius and Mercury in trine.

Supplicate Great Cthulhu only at Hallowmas Eve when the Sun abides within the House of the Scorpion and
Orion riseth. When All Hallows falls within the cycle of the new Moon the power shall be the strongest.

Conjure Shub-Niggurath when the Beltane fires glow upon the hills and the Sun is in the Second House,
repeating the Rites of Roodmas when ye Black One appeareth.

4. To Raise up Ye Stones

To form ye Gate through which They from ye Outer Void might manifest thou must set up ye stones in ye
elevenfold configuration.

First thou shalt raise up ye four cardinal stones and these shall mark ye direction of ye four winds as they
howleth through their seasons.

{Alter Design}

To ye North set ye the stone of Great Coldness that shall form ye Gate of ye winter-wind engraving thereupon
the sigil of the Earth-Bull thus: {Taurus sigil}

In ye South (at a space of five paces from ye stone of ye North), thou shalt raise a stone of fierce-heat, through
which ye summer winds bloweth and make upon ye stone ye mark of ye Lion-serpent thus:{Leo Sigil}

Ye stone of whirling-air shall be set in ye East where ye first equinox riseth and shall be graven with ye sign of
he that beareth ye waters, thus:{Aquarius Sigil}

Ye Gate of Rushing Torrents thou cause to beat the west most inner point (at a space of five paces from ye stone
of ye East) where ye sun dieth in ye evening and ye cycle of night returns. Blazon ye stone with ye character of
ye Scorpion whose tail reacheth unto the stars:{Scorpio Sigil}

Set thou the seven stones of Those that wander ye heavens, without ye inner four and through their diverse
influences shall ye focus of power be established.

In ye North beyond the stone of Great Coldness set ye first ye stone of Saturn at a space of three paces. This
being done proceed thou widdershins placing at like distances apart ye stones of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus,
Sul and Luna marking each with their rightful sign.

{Seal of Yog-Sothoth}

At ye center of the so completed configuration set ye the Alter of ye Great Old Ones and seal it with ye symbol
of Yog-Sothoth and ye mighty Names of Azathoth, Cthulhu, Hastur, Shub-Niggurath and Nyarlathotep.

And ye stones shall be ye Gates through which thou shalt call Them forth from Outside man's time and space.

Entreat ye of ye stones by night and when the Moon decreasetth in her light, turning thy face to ye direction of
Their coming, speaking ye words and making ye gestures that bringeth forth ye Old Ones and causeth Them to
walk once more ye Earth.

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5. To Compound Ye Incense of Zkauba

In the day and hour of Mercury with the Moon in her increase, thou shalt take equal parts of Myrrh, Civet,
Storax, Wormwood, Assafoetida, Galbanum and Musk, mix well together and reduce all to the finest powder.

Place the so assembled elements in a vessel of green glass and seal with a brazen stopper afore inscribed with the
characters of Mars and Saturn.

Elevate the vessel to the Four Winds and cry aloud the supreme words of power thus:
 To the North: ZIJMUORSOBET, NOIJM, ZAVAXO!
 To the East: QUEHAIJ, ABAWO, NOQUETONAIJI!
 To the South: OASAIJ, WURAM, THEFOTOSON!
 To the West: ZIJORONAIFWETHO, MUGELTHOR, MUGELTHOR-YZXE!
Cover the vessel with a cloth of black velvet and set aside.

For each of seven nights thou shalt bathe the vessel in Moonlight for the space of one hour - keeping it concealed
beneath the cloth from cock-crow till sunset.

All this being accomplished the incense shall be ready for use and possessed of such vertue that he that useth it
with knowledge shall have power to call forth and command the Infernal Legions.

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Nota: When employed in ye Ultimate Rites the incense may be rendered more efficacious by the addition of one
part powdered mummy-Egypticus.

Employ the perfume of Zkauba in all ceremonies of ye ancient Lore casting ye essences upon live coals of Yew
or Oak. And when ye spirits drawn near, the vaporous smoke shall enchant and fascinate them, binding their
powers to thy will.

{Editor's Note: In the published edition a series of planetary glyphs and sigils are shown in reference to the
above formula. These have been omitted as they are not illustrated in the original manuscript but were provided
from other unrelated texts by the publishers.}

6. Of Diverse Signs

These most potent signs shall be so formed with thy left hand when thou employeth them in ye Rites {The four
Signs}

Ye first sign is that of Voor and in nature it be ye true symbol of ye Old Ones. Make ye thus whenever thou
wouldst supplicate Those that ever waite beyond the Threshold.

Ye second sign is that of Kish and it breaketh down all barriers and openeth ye portals of ye Ultimate Planes.

In ye third place goeth ye Great Sign of Koth which sealeth ye Gates and guardeth ye pathways.

Ye forth sign is that of ye Elder Gods. It protecteth those who would evoke ye powers by night, and banish ye
forces of menace and antagonism.

(Nota: Ye Elder Sign hath yet another form and when so enscribed upon ye grey stone of Mnar it serveth to hold
back ye power of Ye Great Old Ones for all time.)

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7. To Make Ye Powder of Ibn Ghazi

THE MYSTIC POWDER OF MATERIALIZATION:

Take ye dust of ye tomb - wherein ye body has lain for two hundred years or more past -, three parts. Take of
powdered Amaranth, two parts; of ground Ivy leaf, one part, and of fine salt, one part.

Compound all together in an open mortar in the day and hour of Saturn.

Make over the thus assembled ingredients the Voorish sign, and then seal up the powder within a leaden casket
whereupon is graven the sigil of Koth.

YE USING OF YE POWDER:

Whenever thou wisheth to observe the airial manifestations of the spirits blow a pinch of ye powder in the

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irection of their coming, either from the palm of thy hand or the blade of the Magic Bolyne.

Mark ye well that ye maketh ye Elder Sign at their appearence, lest the tendrils of darkness enter thy soul.

8. Ye Unction of Khephnes Ye Egyptian

Whosoever anointeth his head with the ointment of Khephnes shall in sleep be grabted true visions of time yet to
come

When ye Moon increaseth in her light place in an earthen crucible a goodly quantity of oil of ye Lotus, sprinkle
with one once powdered mandragora and stir well with ye forked twig of ye wild thorn bush. Having so done
utter ye incantation of Yebsu (taken fron diverse lines in ye papyrus) thus:
I am the Lord of Spirits,

Oridimbai, Sonadir, Episghes,

I am Ubaste, Ptho born of Binui Sphe, Phas;

In the name of Auebothiabathabaithobeuee

Give power to my spell O Nasira Oapkis Shfe,

Give power Chons-in-Thebes-Nefer-hotep, Ophois,

Give power! O Bakaxikhekh!
Add to ye potion pinch of red earth, nine drops natron, for drops balsam of Olibanum and one drop blood (from
thy right hand). Combine the whole with a like measure of fat of the gosling and place ye vessel upon ye fire.
When all is rendered well and ye dark vapours begin to rise, make ye the Elder Sign and remove from ye flames.

When the unguent has cooled place it within an urn of ye finest alabaster, which thou shalt keep in some secret
place (known only to thyself) until thou shalt have need of it.

9. To Fashion the Scimitar of Barzai

In the day and hour of Mars and when the Moon increaseth, make thou the scimitar of bronze with a hilt of fine
ebony.

Upon one side of the the blade thou shalt enscribe these characters:
{Editor's Note: These graphics are not shown in the Manuscript}
And upon the other side these:
{Editor's Note: These graphics are not shown in the Manuscript}
On the day and hour of Saturn the moon decreasing, light thou a fire of Laurel and yew boughs and offering the
blade to the flames pronounce the five-fold conjuration thus:

HCORIAXOJU, ZODCARNES, I powerfully call upon ye and stir ye up O ye mighty spirits that dwelleth in the
Great Abyss.

In the dread and potent name of AZATHOTH come ye forth and give power unto this blade fashioned in
accordance to ancient Lore.

By XENTHONO-ROHMATRU, I command you O AZIABELIS, by YSEHYROROSETH, I call the O
ANTIQUELIS, and in the Vast and Terrible Name of DAMAMIACH that Crom-yha uttered and the mountains
shook I mightily compel ye forth O BARBUELIS, attend me! aid me! give power unto my spell that this weapon
that bearest the runes of fire recieveth such vertue that it shall strike fear into the hearts of all spirits that would
disobey my commands, and that it shall assist me to form all manner of Circles, figures and mystic sigils
necessary in the operations of Magickal Art.

In the Name of Great and Mighty YOG-SOTHOTH and in the invincible sign of Voor (give sign)

Give power!

11

Give power!

Give power!

When the flames turn blue it shall be a sure sign that the spirits obey your demands whereupon thou shalt quench
the blade in an afore prepared mixture of brine and cock-gall.

Burn the incense of Zkauba as an offering to the spirits thou hast called forth, then dismiss them to their abodes
with these words:

In the Names of AZATHOTH and YOG-SOTHOTH, Their servant NYARLATHOTEP and by the power of this
sign (make ye the Elder Sign), I discharge thee; go forth from this place in peace and return ye not until I calleth
thee. (Seal ye portals with the sign of Koth).

Wrap the scimitar in a cloth of black silk and setit aside until thou wouldst make use of it; but mark ye well that
no other shall lay his hand upon the scimitar lest its vertue be forever lost.

10. Ye Alphabet of Nug-Soth

{Editor's Note: The following graphic alphabet is deciphered from the manuscript, according to the publishers,
by use of a "Magic Square Cipher" inherent in the manuscript itself and is therefore included in this e-text
version.}

Ye Alphabet of Nug-Soth

(Note: In ye writing of ye mystic runes of Nug-Soth ye latin C serveth for ye K.)

Ye characters of Nug hold ye key to ye planes, employ ye them in ye talismanic art and in all ye sacred
inscriptions

11. Ye Dream-Lands Of Leng in Ye Cold Waste

Who seeketh Northwards beyond the twilight land of Inquanok shall find amidst the frozen waste the dark and
mighty plateau of thrice-forbidden Leng.

12

Know ye time-shunned Leng by the ever-burning evil-fires and ye foul screeching of the scaly Shantak birds
which ride the upper air; by the howling of ye Na-hag who brood in nighted caverns and haunt men's dreams
with strange madness, and by the grey stone temple beneath the Night Gaunts lair, wherein is he who wears the
Yellow Mask and dwelleth all alone.

But beware O Man, beware, of Those who tread in Darkness the ramparts of Kadath, for he that beholds Their
mitred-heads shall know the claws of doom.

Of Kadath Ye Unknown

What man knoweth Kadath?

For who shall know of that

which ever abides in strange-time,

twix yesterday, today and the morrow.

Unknown amidst ye Cold Waste lieth the mountain of Kadath where upon the hidden summit an Onyx Castle
stands. dark clouds shroud the mighty peak that gleams 'neath ancient stars where silent brood the titan towers
and rear forbidden walls.

Curse-runes guard the nighted gate carved by forgotten hands, and woe to he that dare pass within those dreadful
doors.

Earth's Gods revel where Others once walked in mystic timeless halls, which some have glimpst in sleeps dim
vault through strange and sightless eyes.

12. Ye Formula of Dho-Hna

Whosoever performeth this Rite with true understanding shall pass beyond ye Gates of Creation and enter ye
Ultimate Abyss wherein dwelleth ye vapourous Lord S'ngac who eternally pondereth ye Mystery of Chaos.

Trace ye Angle-Web with ye Scimitar of Barzai and offer the mystic suffumigations with the incense of Zkauba.
[INLINE]

Enter ye Web by the Gate of the North and reciting the incantation of Na (thus):
ZAZAS, NASATANADA, ZAZAS ZAZAS
Proceed to ye South-most Pinnacle by the Path of Alpha whereupon make ye, ye Sign of Kish, pronouncing the
triple-Word of power thrice, (thus so):
OHODOS-SCIES-ZAMONI!
Proceed thence to ye Angle of the North-East chanting the third verse of ye Fifth Psalm of Nyarla- thotep
seglecting not to make the quintuple genuflection on passing through ye curve locus-(thus):

The All-One dwelleth in Darkness, At the centre of All dwelleth He that is the Darkness; And tfiat Darkness
shall be eternal when all shall bow before the Onyx Throne.

Pause at the Third Angle and make ye once more the Sign of Kish speaking the words that clear the portal and
stay the course of time: ABYssus-D|AcoNrsus, ZEXOWE-AZATHOTH!) NRRGO, IAA! NYAR-LATHOTEP!

Follow the Third Path to the Pinnacle of the West and there perform the obeisances in silence (bow low thrice
and give the gesture of Voor). Turn and tread the Path of Transfiguration leading to ye Ultimate Angle. Open up
the Abyss Gate by the ninefold affirmation (thus):
ZENOXESE, PIOTH, OXAS ZAEGOS, MAVOC NIGORSUS, BAYAR! HEECHO!
YOG-SOTHOTH! YOG-SOTHOTH! YOG-SOTHOTH!

13

Make ye the Sigil of Transformation and step thou forth into ye Gulf.

13. Ye Voice of Hastur

Hear ye the Voice of dread Hastur, hear the mournful sigh of the vortex, the mad rushing of the Ultimate Wind
that Swirls darkly amongst the silent stars.

Hear ye Him that howls serpent-fanged amid the bowels of nether earth; He whose ceaseless roaring ever fills
the timeless skies of hidden Leng.

His might teareth the forest and crusheth the city, but none shall know the hand that smiteth and the soul that
destroys, for faceless and foul walketh the Accursed One, His form to men unknown.

Hear then His Voice in the dark hours, answer His call with thine own; bow ye and pray at His passing, but
speak not His name aloud.

14. Concerning Nyarlathotep

I hear the Crawling Chaos that calls beyond the stars

14

And They created Nyarlathotep for Their messenger, and They clothed Him with Chaos that His form might be
ever hidden amidst the stars.

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 men's dreams He whispers, yet who knoweth His form?

15. Ye Adjuration of Great Cthulhu

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl fhtan.

A supplication to great Cthulhu for those who would have power over his minions.

In the day and hour of the moon with sun in scorpio prepare thou a waxen tablet and enscribe thereon the seals of
Cthulhu and Dagon; suffumigate with the incense of Zkauba and set aside.

On Hallowmas eve thou must travel to some lonely place where high ground overlooks the ocean. Take up the
tablet in thy right hand and make of the sign of Kish with thy left. Recite the incantation thrice and when the
final word of the third utterance dieth in the air cast thou the tablet into the waves saying: 'In His House at R'lyeh
Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming, yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth.'

And He shall come unto you in sleep and show His sign with which ye shall unlock the secrets of the deep. Ye
Incantation

O Thou that lieth dead but ever dreameth, Hear, Thy servant calleth Thee. Hear me O mighty Cthulhu! ' Hear me
Lord of Dreams ! In Thy tower at R'lyeh They have sealed ye, but Dagon shall break Thy accursed bonds, and
Thy Kingdom shall rise once more. The Deep Ones knoweth Thy secret Name, The Hydra knoweth Thy lair;
Give forth Thy sign that I may know Thy will upon the Earth. When death dies, Thy time shall be, and Thou
shalt sleep no more; Grant me the power to still the waves, that I may hear Thy Call.

(At ye third repeating of ye incantation cast forth the Tablet into ye waves saying):

In His House at R'lyeh Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming, yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth.

15

16. To Summon Shub-Niggurath Ye Black

Where the stones have been set up thou shalt call out to Shub-Niggurath, and unto he that knoweth the signs
and uttereth the words all earthly pleasures shall be granted.

When the sun entereth the Sign of the Ram and the time of night is upon ye turn thy face to the North wind and
read the verse aloud:

Iah ! SHUB-NIGGURATH !

Great Black Goat of the. Woods, I Call Thee forth ! (Kneel) Answer the cry of thy servant who knoweth the
words of power! (make the Voorish sign) Rise up I say from thy slumbers and come forth with a thousand more!
(make the sign of Kish) I make the signs, I speak the words that openeth the door! Come forth I say, I turn the
Key, Now ! walk the Earth once more !

Cast the perfumes upon the coals, trace the sigil of Blaesu and pronounce the words of power:

ZARIATNATMIX, JANNA, ETITNAMUS, HAYRAS, FABELLERON, FUBENTRONTY, BRAZO,
TABRASOL, NISA, VARF-SHUB-NIGGURATH ! GABOTS MEMBROT !

And then the Black one shall come forth unto thee and the thousand Horned Ones who howl shall rise up from
the Earth. And thou shalt hold before them the talisman of Yhe upon which they shall bow to thy power and
answer thy demands.

16

When thou would banish those that you have called forth intone the words: IMAS, WEGHAYMNKO,
QUAHERS, XEWEFARAM

Which closeth the Gate, and seal with the sign of Koth.

17. To Call Forth Yog-Sothoth
For Yog-Sothoth is the Gate.
He knoweth where the Old Ones
came forth in times past and where
They came forth again when
the cycle returneth
When thou would call forth Yog-Sothoth thou must waite until the Sun is in the Fifth House with Saturn in trine.
Then enter within the stones and draw about thee the Circle of evocation tracing the figurines with the mystic
scimitar of Barzai.

Circumambulate thrice widdershins and turning thy face to the South intone the conjuration that openeth the
Gate: Ye Conjuration
 O Thou that dwelleth in the darkness of the Outer Void, come forth unto the Earth once more I entreat thee.
 O Thou who abideth beyond the Spheres of Time, hear my supplication.
(Make the sign of Caput Draconis)
 O Thou who art the Gate and the Way come forth come forth Thy servant calleth Thee.
(Make the Sign of Kish)
 BENATIR! CARARKAU! DEDOS! YOG-SOTHOTH! come forth! come forth! I speak the words, I Break Thy
bonds, the seal is cast aside, pass through the Gate and enter the World I maketh Thy mighty Sign!
(Make the Sign of the Voor)
Trace the pentagram of Fire and say the incantation that causeth the Great One to manifest before the Gate:

17

Ye Incantation

Zyweso, wecato, keoso, Xunewe-rurom Xeverator. Menhatoy, Zywethorosto zuy, Zururogos Yog-Sothoth!
Orary Ysgewot, homor athanatos nywe zumquros, Ysechyroroseth Xoneozebethoos Azathoth! Xono, Zuwezet,
Quyhet kesos ysgeboth Nyarlathotep!; zuy rumoy quano duzy Xeuerator, YSHETO, THYYM, quaowe xeuerator
phoe nagoo, Hastur! Hagathowos yachyros Gaba Sub-Niggurath! meweth, xosoy Vzewoth!

(Make the sign of Cauda Draconis)

TALUBSI! ADULA! ULU! BAACHUR!

Come forth Yog-Sothoth! come forth!
***
And then he will come unto thee and bring His Globes and He will give true answer to all you desire to know.
And He shall reveal unto you the secret of His seal by which you may gain favour in the sight of the Old Ones
when They once more walk the Earth.
***
And when His hour be past the curse of the Elder Lords shall be upon Him and draw Him forth beyond the
Gate where He shall abide until He be summoned.

18

{Editor's Note: Included on this page are a number of sigils and a magic circle. These illustrations are not in the
Manuscript but were referenced from other texts, including, but not limited to; Key of Solomon (see Additional
Ms. 36,674, British Museum Library) and Three Books of Occult Philosophy- Cornelius Agrippa.}
To Conjure of Ye Globes

Know ye that the Globes of Yog-Sothoth be thirteen in number, and they be the powers of the Parasite-hoard
which are His servitors and doeth His bidding in ye world.

Call them forth whenever thou shall have need of anything and they shall grant their powers unto ye when ye
shall call them with the incantations and make their sign.

His Globes have diverse names and appeareth in many forms.
 The first is GOMORY, who appeareth like a camel with a crown of gold upon his head. He commandeth twenty-
six legions of infernal spirits and giveth the knowledge of all magical jewels and talismans.

 The second splrit is ZAGAN, who appeareth like a great bull, or a King terrible in aspect. Thirty-three legions
bow before him and he teacheth the mysteries of the sea.

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 The Third is called SYTRY, who taketh the form of a great Prince. He hath sixty legions and telleth the secrets
of time yet to come.

 ELIGOR is the fourth spirit; he appeareth like a red man with a crown of iron upon his head. He commandeth
likewise sixty legions and giveth the knowledge of victory in war, and telleth of strife to come.

 The fifth spirit is called DURSON and hath with him twenty-two familiar demons and appeareth like a raven. He
can reveal all occult secrets and tell of past times.

 The sixth is VUAL his form is of a dark cloud and he teacheth all manner of ancient tongues.

 The seventh is SCOR, who appeareth like a white snake, he bringeth money at your command.

 ALGOR is the eighth spirit, he appeareth in the likeness of a fly. He can tell of all secret things and granteth the
favours of great Princes and Kings.

 The ninth is SEFON. He appeareth like a man with a green face and hath the power to show where treasure is
hidden.

 Tenth is PARTAS, He hath the form of a great vulture, and can tell ye the vertues of herbs, stones, make ye
invisible and restore sight which is lost.

 The eleventh spirit is GAMOR, and when he appeareth like a man can marvellously enform ye of how to win
favours of great persons and can drive away any spirit that guardeth over treasure.

 Twelfth is UMBRA, He appeareth like a giant; he can convey money from place to place if thou bid him and
bestow the love of any woman that thou desirest.

 The thirteenth spirit is ANABOTH who taketh the form of a yellow toad. He hath the power to make thee
marvellous cunning in nigromancy, he can drive away any devil that would hinder ye and tell of strange and
hidden things.
When thou wouldst call up ye Globes thou must first make upon the earth this sign:

And evoke of them thus:
EZPHARES, OLYARAM, IRION-ESYTION,
ERYONA, OREA, ORASYM, MOZIM!

By these words and in the name of YOG-SOTHOTH who is thy master, I do most powerfulIy summon and call
ye up
O....N....

That thou mayest aid me in my hour of need.

Come forth I command ye by the sign of Power!

(Make the sign of Voor)

20

And then the spirit shall appear unto thee and grant thy requests.

But if he remaineth invisible to thine eye, blow the dust of Ibn
Ghazi and he will immediately take his proper form.

When thou wouldst banish what ye have called up eraze thou their sign
with the scimitar of Barzai and utter the words:

CALDULECH ! DALMALEY ! CADAT !

(and seal with the sign of Koth).
Nota: If on their appearance the spirits obstinately refuse to speak cleave the air thrice with the scimitar and say:
ADRICANOROM DUMASO! And their tongue shall be loosened and they will be compelled to give true
answer.

18. Ritual for summoning Yog-Sothoth and opening the Gate

Banishing:
(could be replaced with other banishings. Uses Salt, water and incense.)

Zazii, Zamaii, Puidmon the Powerful, Sedon the Strong, El, Yod, He, Vau, He, Iah, Agla, protect me and help
me when I summon the Gate! (light incense and candles)

No evil may approach from the North! No evil may approach from the East! No evil may approach from the
South! No evil may approach from the West! No evil may approach from Zenith! No evil may approach from
Nadir! (bow towards the directions)

The Flaming Circle locks everything in! Draba, draba, kalta, kalta, entemoss! The Flaming Circle locks
everything out! Draba, draba, kalta, kalta, entemoss! Accar, Zour and Maroud! Lock the circle and let no evil
pass through!

Draba, draba, kalta, kalta, entemoss! (participants walk round the circle. Salt, water and incense is sprinkled)
The Summoning:
Per Adonai Elohim, Adonai Jehova Adonai Sabaoth, Metraton Ou Agla Methon, Verbum Pythonicum,
Mysterium Salamandrae Cenventus Sylvorum, Antra Gnomorum Demonia Coeli God, Almonsin Gibor Jehoshua
Evam Zariathnatmik, Veni, Veni, Veni!

(Put your hands above your head, with the thumbs and index fingers together so they create a equilateral triangle.
Turn the right hand so its halve of the triangle points down, creating a paralellogram. Turn the left hand, creating
a downwards pointing triangle. Move it down to your forehead, turning it upwards, so the final result is a triangle
on your forehead.)

Hear me! King of Infinite Space! Planetmover! The Foundation of Fastness! Ruler of Earthquakes! The
Vanquisher of Terror! The Creator of Panic! Destroyer! The Shining Victor! Son of Chaos and the Void! The
Guardian of the Abyss! God of the Outermost Darkness! Lord of Dimensions! Riddle-knower! Guardian of The
Secrets! Lord of the Labyrinth! Master of the Angles! God of the Whiporwills! Omegapoint! Lord of the Gate!
Opener of the Way! The Oldest! All-in-One! The One by Life Prolonged! Umr At-Tawil! Iak-Sathath! YOG-
SOTHOTH NAFL'FTHAGN!!! Your servant call upon you!

(Take the staff and turn it first so it points Right-Left, then Up-Down, then Forward-Back. Then twist it, and
visualize how it is turned to point into the fourth dimension, perpendicular to the other directions. It will show
the eightrayed star of Chaos.)
Opening of the Gate:
(The staff is held horizontally.)

Yog-Sothoth knows the Gate. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the Gate. Past,
Present and Future, all is one in Yog-Sothoth.

By that which is not to be named, By Azathoth, By Nyarlathotep, By Shub-Niggurath, By the two snakes, By
that which created the Voids, By Kadath in the Cold Waste, By the Plateu of Leng, By Yuggoth, By the moon-

21

lens, By the inprisoned, By the free, By Samas, Gibil and Nusuku, By the High Name of Ea, By the Seven
Demons, Guardian, let the Gate be opened!

By Chaos, By the Void, By the Light, By the Darkness, By the Air, By the Fire, By the Water, By the Earth,
Key, open the Gate!

By my sacred oath, Let those who want to leave come out! Let those who want to enter come in! Let us see intp
the Hiding Light! Let us see into the Blinding Darkness! Rend the Veil! Crush the Mirror! Reveal the Illusion!
See, the Gate opens!

(slowly turn the staff from horizontal to vertical, and make the sign of the Rending of the Veil.)

See, the Nodes are filled with Power! See, the Lines are filled with Power! See, the Angles twist and open!

The Necronomicon
Anti-FAQ
by Colin Low
September 1995
from DigitalBrillance Website

This anti-F.A.Q. was compiled using information obtained from "The Book of the Arab", by Justin Geoffry,
Starry Wisdom Press, 1979

I owe an immense debt to Parker Ryan for his research on Arab magical practices.

Colin Low has never read the Necronomicon, never seen the Necronomicon, and has no information as to where
a copy may be found.
Index
 Q. What is the Necronomicon?
 Q. Where and when was the Necronomicon written?
 Q. Who was Abdul Alhazred?
 Q. What is the printing history of the Necronomicon?
 Q. What is the content of the Necronomicon?
 Q. What are the "Old Ones"?
 Q. How are the "Old Ones" Evoked?
 Q. Why is the Necronomicon connected with Norse mythology?
 Q. What happened to the purloined manuscript of Michael Psellus?
 Q. Why did the novelist H.P. Lovecraft claim to have invented the Necronomicon?
 Q. Who was Nathan of Gaza?
 Q. Where can the Necronomicon be found?
 In conclusion
 Other Links

What is the Necronomicon?

The Necronomicon of Alhazred, (literally: "Book of Dead Names") is
not, as is popularly believed, a grimoire, or sorcerer‟s spell-book. It was
conceived as a history, and hence "a book of things now dead and gone".
An alternative derivation of the word Necronomicon gives as its meaning
"the book of the customs of the dead", but again this is consistent with the
book‟s original conception as a history, not as a work of necromancy.

The author of the book shared with Madame Blavatsky a magpie-like
tendency to garner and stitch together fact, rumour, speculation, and
complete balderdash, and the result is a vast and almost unreadable
compendium of near-nonsense which bears more than a superficial
resemblance to Blavatsky‟s The Secret Doctrine.

In times past the book has been referred to guardedly as Al Azif, and also
The Book of the Arab. Azif is a word the Arabs use to refer to nocturnal

22

insects, but it is also a reference to the howling of demons (Djinn). The Necronomicon was written in seven
volumes, and runs to over 900 pages in the Latin edition.

Where and when was the Necronomicon written?

The Necronomicon was written in Damascus in 730 A.D. by Abdul Alhazred.

Who was Abdul Alhazred?

Little is known. What we do know about him is largely derived from the small amount of biographical
information in the Necronomicon itself. He was born in Sanaa in the Yemen. We know that he travelled widely,
from Alexandria to the Punjab, and was well read. He spent many years alone in the uninhabited wilderness to
the south of Arabia. He had a flair for languages, and boasts on many occasions of his ability to read and
translate manuscripts which defied lesser scholars. His research methodology however smacked more of
Nostradamus than Herodotus.

As Nostradamus himself puts it in Quatrains 1 & 2:
"Sitting alone at night in secret study;
it is placed on the brass tripod.
A slight flame comes out of the emptiness
and makes successful that which should
not be believed in vain.
The wand in the hand is placed
in the middle of the tripod‟s legs.
With water he sprinkles both the hem
of his garment and his foot.
A voice, fear; he trembles in his robes.
Divine splendour; the god sits nearby."
Just as Nostradamus used ceremonial magic to probe the future, so Alhazred used similar techniques (and an
incense composed of olibanum, storax, dictamnus, opium and hashish) to clarify the past, and it is this, combined
with a lack of references, which has resulted in the Necronomicon being dismissed as largely worthless by
historians.

He is often referred to as "the mad Arab" or "the mad Poet", and while he was certainly eccentric by modern
standards, there is no evidence to substantiate a claim of madness (other than his chronic inability to sustain a
train of thought for more than a few paragraphs before leaping off at a tangent). It is interesting that the word for
madness ("majnun") has an older meaning of "djinn possessed", the significance of which will become clear
below (see What are the Old Ones?). Alhazred is better compared with figures such as the Greek neoplatonist
philosopher Proclus (410 - 485 A.D.). Proclus was completely at home in astronomy, mathematics, philosophy,
and metaphysics, but was sufficiently well-versed in the magical techniques of theurgy to evoke Hekate to
visible appearance. Proclus was also an initiate of Egyptian and Chaldean mystery religions. It is no accident that
Alhazred was intimately familiar with the works of Proclus.

What is the printing history of the Necronomicon?

No Arabic manuscript is known to exist. The author Idries Shah carried out a search in the libraries of Deobund
in India, Al-Azhar in Egypt, and the Library of the Holy City of Mecca, without success. A Latin translation was
made in 1487 (not in the 17th. century as Lovecraft maintains) by a Dominican priest Olaus Wormius.
Wormius, a German by birth, was a secretary to the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, Tomas de
Torquemada, and it is likely that the manuscript of the Necronomicon came into
his possession during the persecution of Spanish Moors ("Moriscos") who had
been converted to Catholicism under duress and did not exhibit the necessary
level of enthusiasm for the doctrines of the Church.

It was an act of sheer folly for Wormius to translate and print the Necronomicon
at that time and place. The book must have held an obsessive fascination for the
man, because he was finally charged with heresy and burned after sending a copy
of the book to Johann Tritheim, Abbot of Spanheim (better known as
"Trithemius"). The accompanying letter contained a detailed and blasphemous
interpretation of certain passages in the Book of Genesis. Virtually all the copies

23

of Wormius‟s translation were seized and burned with him, although there is the inevitable suspicion that at least
one copy must have found its way into the Vatican Library.

Almost one hundred years later, in 1586, a copy of Wormius‟s Latin translation surfaced in Prague. Dr. John
Dee (left), the famous English magician, and his assistant Edward Kelly (below, right) were at the court of the
Emperor Rudolph II to discuss plans for making alchemical gold, and Kelly bought the copy from the so-called
"Black Rabbi", the Kabbalist and alchemist Jacob Eliezer, who had fled to Prague from Italy after accusations
of necromancy. At that time Prague had become a magnet for magicians,
alchemists and charlatans of every kind under the patronage of Rudolph, and it is
hard to imagine a more likely place in Europe for a copy to surface.

The Necronomicon appears to have had a marked influence on Kelly, because the
character of his scrying changed, and he produced an extraordinary
communication which struck horror into the Dee household. Crowley interpreted
this as an abortive first attempt of an extra-human entity to communicate the
Thelemic Book of the Law. Kelly left Dee shortly afterwards. Dee translated the
Necronomicon into English while warden of Christ‟s College, Manchester, but
contrary to Lovecraft, this translation was never printed - the manuscript passed
into the collection of the great collector Elias Ashmole, and hence to the
Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Parts of the Necronomicon were translated into Hebrew (probably in 1664) and circulated in manuscript form,
accompanied by an extensive commentary by Nathan of Gaza, mystical apologist for the pseudo-messiah
Sabbatai Tzevi. This version was titled the Sepher ha-Sha‟are ha-Daath, (the Book of the Gates of Knowledge).
The story surrounding this version is so unusual that it is treated fully below (see Who was Nathan of Gaza).

There are many modern fakes masquerading as the Necronomicon. They can be recognized by a total lack of
imagination or intelligence, qualities Alhazred possessed in abundance.

What is the content of the Necronomicon?

The book is best known for its antediluvian speculations. Alhazred appears to have had access to many sources
now lost, and events which are only hinted at in Genesis or the apocryphal Book of Enoch, or disguised as
mythology in other sources, are explored in great detail. Alhazred may have used dubious magical techniques to
clarify the past, but he also shared with the 5th century B.C. Greek writers such as Thucydides a critical mind,
and a willingness to explore the meanings of mythological and sacred stories. His speculations are remarkably
modern, and this may account for his current popularity. He believed that many species besides the human race
had inhabited the Earth, and that much knowledge was passed to mankind in encounters with beings from
"beyond the spheres" or from "other spheres".

He shared with some Neoplatonists the belief that the stars are similar to our sun, and have their own unseen
planets with their own lifeforms, but elaborated this belief with a good deal of metaphysical speculation in which
these beings were part of a cosmic hierarchy of spiritual evolution. He was also convinced that he had contacted
beings he called the "Old Ones" using magical invocations, and warned of terrible powers waiting to return to
re-claim the Earth. He interpreted this belief (most surprisingly!) in the light of the Apocalypse of St. John, but
reversed the ending so that the Beast triumphs after a great war in which the earth is laid waste.

What are the "Old Ones"?

It is abundantly clear that Alhazred elaborated upon existing traditions of the "Old Ones", and he did not invent
these traditions. According to Alhazred, the Old Ones were beings from "beyond the spheres", presumably the
spheres of the planets, and in the cosmography of that period this would imply the region of the fixed stars or
beyond. They were superhuman and extrahuman. They mated with humans and begat monstrous offspring. They
passed forbidden knowledge to humankind. They were forever seeking a channel into our plane of existence.

This is virtually identical to the Jewish tradition of the Nephilim (the giants of Genesis 6.2 - 6.5). The word
literally means "the Fallen Ones" and is derived from the Hebrew verb root naphal, to fall. The story in Genesis
is only a fragment of a larger tradition, another piece of which can be found in the apocryphal Book of Enoch.
According to this source, a group of angels sent to watch over the Earth saw the daughters of men and lusted
after them. Unwilling to act individually, they swore an oath and bound themselves together, and two hundred of

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these "Watchers" descended to earth and took themselves wives. Their wives bore giant offspring. The giants
turned against nature and began to "sin against birds and beasts and reptiles and fish, and to devour one another‟s
flesh, and drink the blood". The fallen angels taught how to make weapons of war, and jewellery, and cosmetics,
and enchantments, and astrology, and other secrets.

These separate legends are elaborated in later Jewish sources such as the Talmud, which make it clear that
Enoch and Genesis refer to the same tradition. The great flood of Genesis was a direct response to the evil
caused by humankind‟s commerce with fallen angels. The fallen angels were cast out and bound:
"And I proceeded to where things were chaotic. And I saw something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor
a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound
together in it, like great mountains, and burning with fire. Then I said:
‟For what sin have they been bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?‟
Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, and was chief over them and said:
‟Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? These are the number of the stars of heaven
which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time
entailed by their sins, are consummated.‟"
Arab traditions hold that the Jinn or Djinn were a race of superhuman beings which existed before the creation
of humankind. The Djinn were created from fire. Some traditions make them a lesser race than human beings,
but folk-tales invariably endowed them with unlimited magical powers, and the Djinn survive to this day as the
genies of the Arabian Nights and Disney‟s Aladdin. Islam has subordinated the Djinn to the Koran, and like
elves and fairies they have lost their dark and extremely sinister qualities with the passage of time. In Alhazred‟s
time the older and darker traditions of the Djinn were still current, and Arab magicians ("muqarribun") would
attempt to gain forbidden knowledge and power through commerce with the Djinn.

How are the "Old Ones" Evoked?

It is now generally agreed by occult scholars that the Enochian system of Dee and Kelly was directly inspired by
those sections of the Necronomicon which deal with Alhazred‟s techniques for evoking the Old Ones. It must be
remembered that the Necronomicon was primarily intended as a history, and while it provides some practical
details and formulae, it is hardly a step-by-step beginner‟s guide to summoning praetor-human intelligences. Dee
and Kelly had to fill in many details themselves, so their system is a hybrid of ideas taken from the
Necronomicon and techniques of their own invention

There seems little doubt that the Sigellum Dei Aemeth (above), the Enochian language, and the Enochian Calls
or Keys are authentic borrowings, and we must doubt Dee‟s claim that Kelly received them from the archangel
Uriel. Bulwer Lytton, who studied Dee‟s manuscript of the Necronomicon in the last century, asserts bluntly
that they were transcribed directly from the book, and if they were received from Uriel, then it was Alhazred
who did the receiving!.

The very name of their system, "Enochian", is a clue, if there were no other, that it was inspired by the age-old
traditions recorded in the Book of Enoch, and it was Dee and Kelly‟s intention to contact the Nephilim, or Great
Old Ones. The manuscript of the Book of Enoch was lost until the late 17th. century, and Dee would have had
access to only the few fragments quoted in other manuscripts, so the name of their system would be somewhat
enigmatic if we did not know that they had access to Alhazred‟s compilation of legends concerning the Fall and
the end of the world. There is no doubt that Alhazred would have had access to the Book of Enoch, as it was
current throughout the Middle East in the ninth century.

Another clue can be found in the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs, the nineteenth of the Enochian Calls. Aleister
Crowley called this Call "the original curse on the Creation". It is uttered as if by God, and is an appalling (and
immensely literate [1] ) curse on the world, humankind, and all its creatures, ending,
"And why? It repenteth me that I have made Man."
This is identical to the sentiment of Genesis 6.6 where it states,
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart".
This verse immediately follows the verses which describe the evil done by the Nephilim and the resulting
sinfulness of the world, and it is followed by God‟s decision to wipe out all the life on earth with a great flood.
Aleister Crowley, using his immense knowledge of the Bible, recognized the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs for what
it was: God‟s curse on the Nephilim and the evil they had caused. It was this curse which cast them out of the
earth and consigned them to the Abyss.

It is difficult to underrate this clue. To summarize: the key or gate to exploring the thirty Aethyrs is a Call in the

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Enochian language, said by Dee to be the language of the angels, and this Call is the curse by which the
Nephilim were assigned to the Abyss in the first place. This is consistent with an age-old practice for controlling
demonic power: whatever means have been used to subordinate an entity in the past can be used by the magician
as a method of control. This formula is used in almost every mediaeval grimoire.

In some cases the magician is quite explicit in naming precisely those occasions where the entity has been
controlled by means of a formula. The entry into the thirty Aethyrs begins with a divine curse because it is a
means to assert control over the entities it evokes: the Nephilim. The Fallen Ones. The Great Old Ones. This
establishes beyond any doubt that the Enochian system of Dee and Kelly was identical in spirit, and almost
certainly in practice, to the system of Alhazred as described in the Necronomicon.

Crowley knew. One of his most important pieces of magical work (recorded in The Vision and the Voice) was
his attempt to penetrate the Aethyrs using the Enochian Calls. He did this while crossing the North African
desert in the company of the poet Victor Neuberg. Why the desert? Crowley says he had "no special magical
object" in going there, and he "just happened" to have the Enochian Calls in his rucksack. He is dissembling. He
chose the desert for this work because he had had difficulty in entering into the 28th.

Aethyr during his initial investigations in Mexico, and wanted to reproduce Alhazred‟s praxis as closely as
possible. Alhazred carried out his more significant investigations while wandering in the Rub al Khali, a vast
and empty desert wasteland in the south of Arabia - the remoteness from other human beings helped to shift his
consciousness into the utterly alien perspectives of the Aethyrs. Crowley had read Alhazred‟s account (see
below) and it was in his nature to attempt to emulate people he particularly respected and admired - he spent a
good part of his life trying to outdo the exploits of Richard Burton, the explorer, adventurer, writer, linguist and
field researcher into obscure oriental sexual practices.

Why is the Necronomicon connected with Norse mythology?

The apocalyptic nature of Norse myth, and detailed comparisons between Ragnorok and events prophesized by
Alhazred, have caused a number of commentators to speculate whether there might be a connection, however
unlikely this must seem at first sight. Recent research has revealed a bizarre and completely unexpected link.

In Norse myth the gods of the earth and humankind, the Aesir and Vanas, exist against a backdrop of older,
hostile powers, represented by the frost and fire giants who dwelled to the north and south of the Great Abyss
Ginnunga-gap, and also by Loki (fire) and his monstrous offspring. At Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, these
old powers return once more and lock in mortal combat. Most deadly of these adversaries is Surtur and the fire
giants of Muspelheim, who complete the destruction of the world.

This is essentially Alhazred‟s prophecy of the return of the Old Ones. This is Crowley‟s prophecy of the Aeon of
Horus, the god of conquering fire. The fire giants of Muspelheim are none other than the Djinn, and it is even
plausible that Surtur is a corruption of Surturiel. Uriel, the angel set to watch over the Nephilim, is named after
the Hebrew word for fire. Like Surtur, he carries a fiery sword.

Uriel comes up again and again in connection with the Necronomicon. While ostensibly one of the mighty
archangels of the Presence of God, there is a shadow side which surfaces from time to time and one wonders
whether he guards the Nephilim or commands them. This could reflect our ambivalence towards fire, but it could
also be that angels and Old Ones are the flip sides of the same coin.

These links between Alhazred‟s Necronomicon and the myth of Ragnorok, frail though they may seem, are no
longer believed to be a coincidence, and the story of how the Necronomicon arrived in Iceland is quite
remarkable. The story begins in the town of Harran in northern Mesopotamia.

The town of Harran was remarkable in that while the rest of the region was conquered by the Arabs in 633-643
A.D. and converted to Islam, the Harranians did not. They continued to practice paganism and worshipped the
moon and the seven planets. Even more remarkable was the fact that they possessed large numbers of hermetic
and neoplatonic documents, and when they were eventually pressed (in A.D. 830) to name a prophet "approved"
by the Koran, they named Hermes Trimegistus and his teacher Agathos Daemon. Many Harranians moved to
Baghdad where they maintained a distinct community and were known as Sabians.

Their familiarity with Greek gave them access to a wide range of literature, and many became famous in areas
such as philosophy, logic, astronomy, mathematics and medicine. Alhazred speaks of the Sabians and describes

26

them as being "famous for lore and knowledge of things long gone". It is highly probable he studied with them.
It was a learned community that had managed to maintain direct links with the paganism, philosophy and secret
traditions of both the Arab and Greek worlds long after they had been proscribed elsewhere.

The Sabians survived as a distinct community up to the 11 th. century, but the forces of Islamic orthodoxy
increased to the point where we hear nothing of them after about the year 1050. It was about that time (Norse
sources imply a date of 1041 or 1042) that a large body of documents arrived in Byzantium and came into the
hands of Michael Psellus, the famous historian, neoplatonist and demonologist. The bulk of the documents
formed what has know come to be known as the Corpus Hermeticum, but there were other documents, including
a Syriac copy of Al Azif, which Psellus promptly translated into Greek. There seems little doubt that a prominent
Sabian must have moved from Baghdad to Byzantium in a search for a more tolerant atmosphere. Whether he
found it is unclear!

The 11th century was what the Chinese call "interesting times". Duke William of Normandy invaded England
and killed King Harold Godwinson. King Harold Godwinson‟s daughter married Prince Vladimir Monomakh
of Kiev (whose own mother was the daughter of Constantine IX Monomachus of Byzantium). The Russians,
assisted by large numbers of Scandanavians, invaded Byzantium in 1043, an event witnessed by Michael Psellus
himself standing at the side of the Emperor. Harald Hadrada ("the Ruthless"), who later became king of Norway,
joined the Byzantine army with a large following of northmen ("Varanger"), campaigned widely, and ripped out
the eyes of the Byzantine emperor Michael Caliphates in 1042. King Harald Hadrada of Norway invaded
England in 1066 and was killed by King Harold Godwinson ... who was killed by Duke William at the Battle
of Hastings. There are few soap operas to compare with these pan-European goings-on. So much for the Dark
Ages.

The popular image of Vikings in furry jerkins and horned helmets is inaccurate. They were among the best
equipped and most experienced heavy infantry available at that time. Their trade routes spanned thousands of
miles, from North America, to Greenland, Britain and Ireland, the entire Atlantic coast of Europe, and through
Russia to Byzantium. They were employed in significant numbers as bodyguards (Varanger) to the Byzantine
emperors. Most Varanger spoke fluent Greek. The exact year in which Harald went to Byzantium is unclear due
to a minor mismatch between Norse and Byzantine sources, but the account in the Heimskringla claims he
served the Empress Zoe the Great sometime around 1030-40. The description of their arrival in longships is
spell-binding:
"Iron shielded vessels
Flaunted colourful rigging.
The great prince saw ahead
The copper roofs of Byzantium;
His swan-breasted ships swept
Towards the tall-towered city."
It was the custom in those days that when the Emperor died, the Varanger were permitted to plunder the palace
and anything they laid hands on, they could keep. These were turbulent and violent times (with the Empress Zoe
strangling husbands in the bath) and Harald took part in three such plunders. According to the chronicle he
amassed great wealth.

Harald had two close companions, Halldor Snorrason and Ulf Ospaksson. Halldor was blunt, imperturbable and
dour to the point of rudeness, the son of Snorri the Priest, a leading Icelandic chieftain. Ulf was extremely
shrewd and well-spoken and eventually married Harald‟s sister-in-law, becoming a Marshall of Norway. He was
an incorrigible schemer, a keen poet, fluent in Greek, and he like to spend time with Psellus, partly to discuss
Greek poetry, but mainly to keep a finger on the pulse of Byzantine palace politics. He watched Psellus
translating Al Azif, discussed its contents, and in the confusion of a palace plunder arranged for a number of
Psellus‟s manuscripts to be "removed". Fortunately Psellus still had the original Syriac version, otherwise the
Necronomicon would have been lost to history.

At this point we must conjecture. We do not know how Halldor obtained Al Azif. We know that Ulf and
Halldor returned to Norway with Harald, and Halldor went back to Iceland, taking with him the story of Harald‟s
adventure and a great deal besides. We know this because Halldor‟s descendent was Snorri Sturluson (1179 -
1241), the most famous figure in Icelandic literature and the author not only of the Heimskringla and many other
important works but author of the Prose Edda and the source for almost all of our surviving knowledge of Norse
myth. It is known that Sturluson had a large quantity of material available for his historic researches, and we can
now be reasonably certain that elements from the Necronomicon were mingled with traditional Norse myth in
Sturluson‟s description of Ragnarok.

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What happened to the purloined manuscript of Michael Psellus?

Good question ...

Why did the novelist H.P. Lovecraft claim to have invented the Necronomicon?

The answer to this interesting question lies in two people: the poet and magician Aleister Crowley, and a
Brooklyn milliner called Sonia Greene. There is no question that Crowley read Dee‟s translation of the
Necronomicon in the Bodleian, probably while researching Dee‟s papers; too many passages in Crowley‟s
"Book of the Law" read like a transcription of passages in that translation. Either that, or Crowley, who claimed
to remember his life as Edward Kelly in a previous incarnation, remembered it from his previous life!

Why doesn‟t Crowley mention the Necronomicon in his works? He was surprisingly reticent about his real
sources. There is a strong suspicion that ‟777‟, which Crowley claimed to have written, was largely plagiarized
from Allan Bennet‟s notes. His spiritual debt to Nietzsche, which in an unguarded moment Crowley refers to as
"almost an avatar of Thoth, the god of wisdom" is studiously ignored; likewise the influence of Richard Burton‟s
"Kasidah" on his doctrine of True Will.

I suspect that the Necronomicon became an embarrassment to Crowley when he realized the extent to which he
had unconsciously incorporated passages from the Necronomicon into "The Book of the Law".

In 1918 Crowley was in New York. As always, he was trying to establish his literary reputation, and was
contributing to The International and Vanity Fair. Sonia Greene was an energetic and ambitious Jewish émigré
with literary ambitions, and she had joined a dinner and lecture club called "Walker‟s Sunrise Club" (?!); it was
there that she first encountered Crowley, who had been invited to give a talk on modern poetry.

It was a good match. In a letter to Norman Mudd, Crowley describes his ideal woman as
"... rather tall, muscular and plump, vivacious, ambitious, energetic, passionate, age from thirty to thirty five,
probably a Jewess, not unlikely a singer or actress addicted to such amusements. She is to be ‟fashionable‟,
perhaps a shade loud or vulgar. Very rich of course."
Sonia was not an actress or singer, but qualified in other respects. She was earning what, for that time, was an
enormous sum of money as a designer and seller of woman‟s hats. She was variously described as,
 "Junoesque"
 "a woman of great charm and personal magnetism"
 "genuinely glamorous with powerful feminine allure"
 "one of the most beautiful women I have ever met"
 "a learned but eccentric human phonograph"
In 1918 she was thirty-five years old and a divorcee with an adolescent daughter. Crowley did not waste time as
far as women were concerned; they met on an irregular basis for some months.

In 1921 Sonia Greene met the novelist H.P. Lovecraft, and in that same year Lovecraft published the first novel
where he mentions Abdul Alhazred ("The Nameless City"). In 1922 he first mention the Necronomicon ("The
Hound"). On March 3rd. 1924, H.P. Lovecraft and Sonia Greene married.

We do not know what Crowley told Sonia Greene, and we do not know what Sonia told Lovecraft. However,
consider the following quotation from "The Call of Cthulhu" [1926]:
"That cult would never die until the stars came right again [precession of the Equinoxes?], and the secret priests
would take Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His rule of earth. 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 earth would flame
with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom."
It may be brief, it may be mangled, but it has the undeniable ring of Crowley‟s "Book of the Law". It is easy to
imagine a situation where Sonia and Lovecraft are laughing and talking in a firelit room about a new story, and
Sonia introduces some ideas based on what Crowley had told her; she wouldn‟t even have to mention Crowley,
just enough of the ideas to spark Lovecraft‟s imagination. There is no evidence that Lovecraft ever saw the
Necronomicon, or even knew that the book existed; his Necronomicon is remarkably close to the spirit of the
original, but the details are pure invention, as one would expect. There is no Yog-Sothoth or Azathoth or
Nyarlathotep in the original, but there is an Aiwaz...

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Who was Nathan of Gaza?

Nathan of Gaza precipitated one of the most profound events in the history of Judaism. In 1665, while only 21 or
22 years old, he proclaimed that Sabbatai Tzevi was the Messiah. In itself this would not have been
extraordinary, as there had been other messianic claimants in the past, but due to the extraordinary personalities
of Nathan and Sabbatai Tzevi, the news of the Messiah‟s coming spread like wildfire all over Europe. The
repercussions of this event lasted for centuries. Judaism would never be the same.

Nathan was born in Jerusalem in 1643 or 1644. He married the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Gaza and
moved there. He was a brilliant student of Torah and Talmud, and took up the study of Kabbalah in 1664. The
atmosphere at that time was charged with the expectation of the coming of the Messiah. The brilliant and
charismatic Kabbalist Isaac Luria had hinted that the process of restoration was near to completion, and the
time of the redemption and the Messiah was nigh. One of the key attributes of Luria‟s Kabbalah was the belief
that, due to a primordial catastrophe during the creation of the universe, the souls of human beings had become
immersed in a grossly material world which was nigh to the realm of the Klippoth. The Klippoth were the
source of evil. The word means a husk or shell, and the implication is that the Klippoth were the husks or shells
of materiality which ensnare the spirit.

Luria’s Kabbalah was based on very old traditions. One such tradition was that God created several worlds
before this one, but they were unbalanced, unstable, and disintegrated. The 3 rd century Rabbi Abbahu wrote,
"God made many worlds and destroyed them until he made the present universe".
This was combined with the Biblical legend of the Kings of Edom which were but are no more, to produce a
highly elaborate myth concerning the creation of the universe. The quality that Kabbalists call Din, or judgment,
is that quality which separates on thing from another. The Klippoth represent an extreme embodiment of this
quality.

The creation of the universe was essentially a process of definition and separation, and hence an expression of
Din, but the powers of Din were too concentrated for a viable universe and had to be separated out for a second,
viable creation to take place. These concentrated shards of the original creation, pure Din, fell into the abyss.
Unfortunately some sparks of light fell with them, so that the Klippoth were more than just empty shells. They
had life. Not much life, but enough. Human sinfulness reinforces the Klippoth because it transfers some of our
life to them. If I am selfish, for example, I am creating a separation between myself and another, so the Klippoth
are reinforced by my selfishness.

The need to free the sparks of light from the Klippoth was one of the dominant themes of Kabbalah. It was
believed that living according to the commandments of the Torah and combining this with mystical insight,
concentration, and intention, could help to free the trapped sparks, but living sinfully was a sure way of
strengthening the Klippoths‟ hold. In later developments the Klippoth were regarded as primordial, demonic
powers with seven kings, reflecting the seven destroyed worlds of the original creation.

The Klippoth held a strong fascination for Nathan of Gaza. Sabbatai Tzevi appears to have been a manic-
depressive. In his manic states he had the most extraordinary force of personality, and there are many reports of
his face literally shining like the sun. In his ecstatic states he would do things which no pious Jew would do.
Nathan wrote a document entitled Treatise on the Dragons (the dragons being the Klippoth) which was an
attempt to mythologize Tsevi‟s behaviour, explaining it in terms of the Messiah‟s need to descend into the world
of the Klippoth to redeem the remaining sparks (just as Christ is depicted harrowing Hell, and Orpheus descents
into the Underworld to rescue his love). The mythic credentials of the Treatise on the Dragons are impeccable.

Before the publication of the Treatise, Nathan circulated a curious document, the Sepher ha-Sha’are ha-
Daath. He described this as a commentary on two chapters of the Book of the Alhazred, an ancient history of the
world. The title means "the Book of the Gates of Knowledge". The word for knowledge, da‟ath, has a technical
meaning. When the Bible was translated into Greek, the word da’ath was translated as gnosis. Da‟ath has a very
peculiar status in Kabbalah, being a kind of non-existent, a nothingness. In modern Hermetic Kabbalah it is
sometimes represented a hole or gate into an abyss of consciousness. Crowley‟s experiments with the Call of the
Thirty Aethyrs led him into this abyss.

Da’ath has a dual aspect:
 on one hand it is our knowledge of the world of appearance, the body of facts which constitute our beliefs and
prop up the illusion of identity and ego and separateness
 on the other hand it is revelation, objective knowledge, what is often referred to as gnosis

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The transition between the knowledge of the world of appearance and revelation entails the experience of the
abyss, the abolition of the sense of ego, the negation of identity. From within the abyss any identity is possible. It
is chaos, unformed. It contains, as it were, the seeds of identity. It is from this point that an infinity of gates open,
each one a gateway to a mode of being. These are what Nathan is referring to as the "Gates of Knowledge".

Nathan‟s purpose appears to have been to develop a methodology for a systematic exploration of the realms of
the Klippoth, as part of his mission to redeem the sparks, using some of Alhazred‟s techniques. It is an
extraordinary development of Alhazred‟s work, identifying the Klippoth with the primordial Old Ones. It has a
modern counterpart in Kenneth Grant‟s Nightside of Eden.

Nathan developed a huge following and for many years Judaism was riven with charges of heresy. Many
prominent Rabbis and community leaders sided with Nathan, and it took most of a century for the drama to
unwind. Eventually the Sabbatean movement went underground, and while it is a certainty that a copy of the
Sepher ha-Sha‟are ha-Daath exists in a private library somewhere, no one is admitting that they have it.

Where can the Necronomicon be found?

Nowhere with certainty, is the short and simple answer, and once more we must suspect Crowley in having a
hand in this. In 1912 Crowley met Theodor Reuss, the head of the German Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and
worked within that order for several years, until in 1922 Reuss resigned as head in Crowley‟s favour. Thus we
have Crowley working in close contact for 10 years with the leader of a German masonic group. In the years
from 1933-38 the few known copies of the Necronomicon simply disappeared; someone in the German
government of Adolf Hitler took an interest in obscure occult literature and began to obtain copies by fair means
or foul.

Dee’s translation disappeared from the Bodleian following a break-in in the spring of 1934. The British Museum
suffered several abortive burglaries, and the Wormius edition was deleted from the catalogue and removed to an
underground repository in a converted slate mine in Wales (where the Crown Jewels were stored during the
1939-45 war). Other libraries lost their copies, and today there is no library with a genuine catalogue entry for
the Necronomicon. The current whereabouts of copies of the Necronomicon is unknown, but there is a story of a
large wartime cache of occult and magical documents in the mountainous Osterhorn area near Salzburg - this
may be connected with the recurring story of a copy bound in the skin of concentration camp victims.

In Conclusion

One thing which struck me very forcefully while researching this document was that the Necronomicon was not
a book out of time and out of place. Alhazred did not compose it in a vacuum. Extraordinary though its content
is, it is little more than an extrapolation of existing knowledge. Many writers have followed similar lines, though
not to such extremes. If we were to marry Blavatsky‟s Secret Doctrine to Grant‟s Nightside of Eden, and ask
Nathan of Gaza to edit the result, then we would have something similar in spirit if not in content to Alhazred’s
magnum opus.

Perhaps we expect too much from the book. It is, after all, only a book. No real book, however esoteric, can fill
the shoes of a mystery, and it is the mystery that people aspire to. The mystery of the creation. The mystery of
good and evil. The mystery of life and death. The mystery of things long gone. We know that the universe is
immense beyond any power of imagining. What is out there? What has happened? What alien powers impinge
on us?

The ancients asked these questions. They were not afraid to weave myths and they were not afraid to imagine.
We do it too, but our Star Treks and Babylon Fives reassure us that the universe is a safe and comfortable place
where everyone speaks English and goes to Living with Diversity classes.

The Necronomicon succeeds not because of its content, but because of the existential terror induced by its
existence. It doesn‟t reassure. It doesn‟t tell us the universe is a safe, cozy place. It tells us we are just a speck of
dust in a vast and alien cosmos, and lots of strange things are going on out there. Look in any current astronomy
or astrophysics textbook.

You know it’s true.

30

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