5. What is a "Necromicon"? Shouldn't it be Necronomicon?

Probably the most frequently asked, see this post from Joshua Geller:
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From: joshua@coombs.anu.edu.au (Joshua Geller)
Subject: Re: Necronomicon FAQ
Date: 23 Oct 92 10:11:39 GMT

oh shit.

due to the fact that I'm at home at 1200 baud and my editor sometimes skips characters under these conditions, this group was created as 'alt.necromicon' rather than 'alt.necronomicon'.

I am now going to rmgroup it and newgroup the new one.

sorry for any inconvenience.

josh

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This is the reason for the misspelling. No one has created a new group with the correct spelling as of yet, due to the low volume of messages on netnews.alt.necromicon.

6. Does the Necronomicon really exist?

Reference this question to seven years of e-mail and dozens of flamewars. I respectfully submit instead this post from Thyagi Nagashiva (and withdraw any official opinion)....

Please note that my stance on the Necronomicon in this context is not in conflict with the fact that I have said the Hay Necronomicon is a fake. Just because something is not what it claims does not mean it cannot be useful. The Hay Necronomicon does claim to be the ancient word of Abdul Al-Hazred, but in fact was the product of many men's imaginations and hard work. Does this reduce its value or its utility?

Please feel free to work it out for yourself.

Just as a side note: The first line of this answer once read "Reference this question to five years," not seven. I have been at this for far too long...

9210.16 e.v.

Liber Grimoiris

The Parallels of East and West:
Termas, Grimoires and The Necronomicon

By Frater I Nigris (666)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The word of Sin is Restriction.

[... text deleted ...]

In the west such texts have sometimes been attributed to God or to a person who had an experience attributed to God (The Revelation of St. John, for example). In orthodox religion they are called 'revelations'. In heretical or 'occult' traditions they are called 'grimoires'. More often than not they are said to be of ancient or mystically powerful origin. As Richard Cavendish explains in The Black Arts, 1967, Putnam:

"...the writers of old grimoires, or magical textbooks, which instruct the reader in methods of calling up evil spirits, killing people, causing hatred, and destruction or forcing women to submit to him in love, did not think of themselves as black magicians. On the contrary, the grimoires are packed with prayers to God and the angels, fastings and self-mortifications and ostentatious piety. The principal process in the Grimoire of Honorius, which is usually considered the most diabolical of them all, overflows with impassioned and perfectly sincere appeals to God and devout sayings of the Mass. It also involves tearing out the eyes of a black cock and slaughtering a lamb, and its purpose is to summon up the Devil." p. 3.

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Cavendish confines his writings about 'grimoires' here to those which are intended to aid the adept in summoning demonic entities, descriptions complete with bodily movements and 'barbarous names' of evocation. It seems that many such texts are in existence, having survived the ravages of an orthodox fear, yet not all of them concern this subject.

When looking at the origin of grimoires and termas, what is being cited as their 'source' (e.g. 'Abraham the Jew', the source of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage; or 'Aiwaz/Aiwass', the source/channel of The Book of the Law) is a certain state of consciousness. Whether this state of consciousness is in some way related to any historical or extra-terrestrial figure I leave to the discernment of the reader.

Given all this, there is no reason why a text could not be referred to ahead of time by its source, the 'intended' recipient, or a knowledgeable or intuitive third party. The state of consciousness is there to experience by those with the courage and ability. The scripture will be received by the adept in any case, and there is no reason why more than one copy of said text could not be obtained, though individual minds being what they are it will most likely be a different 'version'. Perhaps this is the reason that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John differ as much as they do.

THE NECRONOMICON

When we then turn to the text referred to as The Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft, we are hard-pressed to render a 'verdict' as to its legitimacy. If indeed the text preceded Lovecraft, then this does not guarantee that it has come down to us unedited. If the idea and title were used by Lovecraft as a result of suggestions from others without an extent text, then perhaps its 'source consciousness' hid the text until a later time. If Lovecraft fabricated even the IDEA of the tome along with its title, then perhaps he was simply a 'third party' to a state of consciousness which we may never assess.

The writing of this tome at ANY time after Lovecraft's fabrication, in the special context of termas and grimoires, does nothing to disprove its value or its origin. Just because Lovecraft was perceptive enough to imagine such a text, this does not mean that it did not exist in some fashion (be it within or WITHOUT the dimension we call 'earth').

The ONLY means of evaluating the various versions of The Necronomicon, therefore, is in comparison with Lovecraft's writings and through personal experience of the tome in question. Given sufficient qualification and connection, the adept may then be able to analyze the contents of the version in question and discern whether it represents a clear reflection of the source consciousness.

Two points regarding even this method must be understood. First, Lovecraft's own ideas about the text may have been faulty. Therefore, his description in his writings regarding the text are questionable. One can only say, given that one feels a specific version of the text varies from Lovecraft's description yet represents a valid grimoire, that these two 'Necronomicons' are different and possibly of different origin.

Second, ALL such evaluations are subjective and therefore deserve the skepticism of other students. We can not arrive at 'objective knowledge' about this, and thus no review can be considered absolute in its authority. Certainly some adepts' opinions may be accepted over others by the researcher, but even this is a personal preference and cannot constitute the final word in the matter.

Therefore, regardless of the history or origin of The Necronomicon, whether or not Lovecraft fabricated it or reflected it in some way, all claims that writings entitled The Necronomicon are useless or based in ignorance must be taken in context - as personal opinions. Those who pass such judgements make a claim to adeptship themselves in order to perform such an evaluative role. Unless we can vouch for the ability and awareness of those who do the reviewing, it is a mistake to take them too seriously.

The best means of evaluating grimoires and termas is personally, and only then after taking steps to develop our mind to such an extent that exposure to their occulted energies will not also expose us to danger or in some way disclose that for which we are unprepared. Some grimoires, it is said, can NEVER be prepared for in this way and have powerful effects upon ALL those with sufficient perception to comprehend their horrible secrets.

In the realms of consciousness, 'time' and the 'transmission of teachings' are not the simple concepts that many would have us believe. Be warned that some who 'approve' or 'contest' the validity of a scripture are either myopic or have political goals - the enslavement of your mind!

[(7) Many thanks for the opinions and the information that Thyagi has provided. KKC]

7. What is the Voynich Manuscript?

The Voynich was first connected to the Necronomicon in Colin Wilson's short story, Return of the Lloigor, written in the style of Lovecraft. In short, the Voynich is an encoded text accompanied by botanical illustrations and pictures of nudes, all scribbled in some unknown alphabet by an unknown author, perhaps the unseen Abdul Al-Hazred. It could be either a magickal grimoire or a gardening guide, because no one has come up with a definitive crack of the cipher, if it even is a cipher and not just random scrawling. Those who have access to internet should check out internet.voynich for more information.

[(8) Thanks to Karl Kluge from CMU. KKC]

8. Where can I find more information?

Well, there's this nifty bibliography that Laurie Brandt posted several times:

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From: JBrandt@AAA.Uoregon.edu (Laurie E. W. Brandt (Pegasus))
Subject: Bib necro
Date: 3 Nov 1992 06:07:53 GMT

Selected Bibliography

Albright, W. F. "The Anatolian Goddes Kubaba" Archive fur Orientforschung, V(1929).
Berosus .History of Babylon. ca 280 B. C. E.
Calder, W. M. "Notes on Anatolian Religion" Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society, XI(1924).
Cameron, George. G. Ancient Persia in .The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. p. 77-97.
Cassuto, U. .The Goddess Anath. Jerisalem, The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1971.
Crem, C. W. .The Secret of the Hittietes the Discovery of an Ancient Empire. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.
Cumont, F. .Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. New York, NY: Dover, 1956.
Denton, Robert C. ed. .The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955.
Engnell, Ivan .Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East. Uppsala, 1945.
Farnell, Lewis R. . Greece and Babylon: A Comparative Sketch of Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic Religions. Edinburgh: T&T; Clark, 1911.
Frankfort, Henri .Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the Art & Religion on the Ancient Near East. London, Gregg International, 1939.
--- ed. .The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: an Essay on Speculitive Thought in the Ancient Near East. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1946.
---.Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Near Eastern Religion as the Intergration of Society & Nature. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1948.
Furlani, G. "The Basic Aspect of Hittite Religion" Harvard Theological Review XXXI (1938).
Gadd, C. J. .Ideas of Divine rule in the Ancient Near East. London, British Academy 1948. (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology Series, 1945).
Garstang, John "The Sun Goddess of Arinna" Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology VI (1914). Gotze, Albrecht .The Hittite Ritual of Tunnawi. New Haven CT: American Oriental Society, 1938.
Gurney, O. R. "Hittite Prayers of Mursilis II" Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology XXVII (1940).
Guterbock, H. G. "The Hittite version of the Kumarbi Myths, Oriental Forerunners of Hesiod" American Journal of Archaeology LII(1948).
---. "The Song of Ullikummi" Journal of Cuneiform Studies 5(1951), 6(1952). Harpper, R. F. .The Code of Hammurabi. Chicago 1904.
Hook, Samuel Henery. Myth and Ritual. Oxford, 1933. ---. The Origins of Early Semitic Ritual. London, British Academy 1938. (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology Series, 1935).
---. ed. Myth, Ritual and Kingship. Oxford, 1958.
---. Babylonian and Assyrian Religion. Oxford, 1962.
Jastrow, M. .Babylonian -Assyrian Birth Omens. Giessen, 1914.
King, L. W. .Babylonian Magic and Sorcery. London, 1896
---. Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings. London, 1907
---. A History of Babylon. London, 1915.
---. A History of Sumer and Akkad. London, 1910.
---. Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition. London, British Academy 1918. (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology Series, 1916).
Kramer, Samuel Noah ed. Mythologies of the Ancient World. New York,NY: Doubleday 1961.
---. History Begins at Sumer, Thirty Nine "Firsts" Man's Recorded History. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959.
--- .Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spirtual and Literary Achievement in in the Third Millennium B. C. . Philadelphia, 1944.
Langdon, Stephen Hurbert Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars. London, 1935. (Schweich Lectures, 1933).
---. The Legend of Etana and the Eagle. Paris 1932. .Semitic. Volume V of Mythology of All Races. Archaeological Institute of America Boston, Marshall Jones and Co. 1916- 1932.
Loftus, William Kennett .Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shus, "Shushan the Place" of Esher, in 1849-52. New York, NY: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857.
LOragne, H. P. .Studies on The Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World. Oslo: Institutte for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, 1953. Pallis, Svend. A. The Babylonian Akitu Festival. Ancient Mesopotamian Texts and Studies, Copenhagen, 1926.
Pfeiffer, R. H. .State Letters of Assyria. New Haven, CT: 1935
Pritchard, James B. Ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton, 1950.
Ransome, Hilda M. .Sacred Bee in Ancient times and Folklore. London, Gordon Press 1937.
Smith, Sidney. The Early History of Assyria. London 1928.
Thompson, Reginald Campbell trans. The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia. London, Luzac's Semitic Text & Translation Ser Nos 14-15, 1903-1904.
---. Semitic Magic Its Origins & Development. London 1908.
---. The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Niveveh and Babylon. London, Luzac's Semitic Text & Translation Ser Nos 6-7, 1900.
Speiser, E.A. Ancient Mesopotamia; in .The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. p.34-76
Spretnak, Charlene .Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Per-Hellenic Myths. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978.
Wells C. Bradford, E.A. The Hellenistic Orient; in .The Idea of History in the Ancient Near East. p.135-167.
Wilson, J. V. K. .The Rebel Lands: An Investigation into the Origins of Early Mesoptamian Mythology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Wolkstine, Diana and S. N. Kramer .Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York: Harper and Row, 1983.
Wooley, C. Leonard "Hittite Burial Customs" Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology VI (1914).

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In the near future (probably Fall of 1994), Llewellyn books may be publishing a book, tentatively titled The Practical Guide to the Necronomicon. If you have any ideas or opinions on this possibility, please e-mail me so that I can pass those words on to the author and the publisher.

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Also, there are FAQ's on several newsgroups that mention the Necronomicon and give additional information, including

netnews.alt.horror
netnews.alt.horror.cthulhu
netnews.alt.magick
netnews.alt.satanism
internet.voynich

Also, various authors and magazine articles have been published on the subject, too numerous to list here. This FAQ along with the rest, should give you a fairly complete base of information on which to form an opinion, if any.