Originally posted by Full_Vision
reply to post by Frakkerface
As for the Necronomicon being fictional, its been, to my knowledge - please correct me wherever i am wrong in this, it remains disputed.. but
Lovecraft does tie into the publishing of it in the late 1970s.. the problem is there are a few different copies around and a lot of those are
entirely crap.. but a good friend of mine who is in his late 50s and has practiced the arts since his youth and is also a historian, demonology being
somewhat of a specialty to him, confirmed the seals, incantations and the information in the copy i have about each Elder God and the ancient Demons
that can be called upon for various reasons depending on the person trying to contact these beings. ..he confirmed them to be accurate.. so much so he
borrowed my copy to make the seals of the proper materials...
So yes and no to the fiction aspect of the book lol
Lovecraft 1st referred to the Necronomicon in 1922.
“As for bringing the Necronomicon into objective existence—I wish indeed I had the time and imagination to assist in such a project...but I’m
afraid it’s a rather large order—especially since the dreaded volume is supposed to run something like a thousand pages! I have ‘quoted’ from
pages as high as 770 or thereabouts. Moreover, one can never produce anything even a tenth as terrible and impressive as one can awesomely hint about.
If anyone were to try to write the Necronomicon, it would disappoint all those who have shuddered at cryptic references to it.”
H. P. Lovecraft—from a letter addressed to James Blish and William Miller, Jr.
There are historical “Books of the Dead” coming from both Egyptian and Tibetan cultures, and in some manner their existence may have inspired HPL.
These books contain incantations essentially designed to aid the disembodied soul on its journey through the Underworld of each mythology for which
they were written. In the excerpts Lovecraft wrote in his tales, supposedly coming from the Necronomicon, we mainly find cautionary erudition
concerning magical powers and practices stemming from alien entities with godlike powers, who are said to exist in other dimensions, neither alive nor
dead, and who will return to earth someday “when the stars are again right.” Thus, the premise of Lovecraft’s book differs from what is found in
these real books of the dead, as well as the theory and practice found in existing grimoires, which are manuals explaining how to summon up demonic
entities, usually based on Judeo-Christian mythology. His was truly an original conception.
Of course, it was inevitable that a number of people would eventually see fit to produce books called Necronomicon to cash in on the gullibility of
those who did not get this elaborate inside joke.
Here follow some of the prominent ersatz Necronomicons that you may enounter.
The most widely distributed version is the Necronomicon by Simon. The Magickal Childe, one of New York City’s most famous occult shops, published a
deluxe leather-bound copy of this book in 1977, which was later released as a paperback by Avon books in 1980, and so it became a mass market release
reaching many thousands of readers.
In my conversations with Herman Slater, the owner of the Magickal Childe, he noted that “Simon” did exist, but hinted that his stated pedigree was
about as authentic as that of the Necronomicon invented by Lovecraft. Slater recounted that, over the years, customers to his shop continually asked
for copies of this book mentioned in Lovecraft’s tales. So a market clearly existed for a ritual book that somehow might be passed off as
authentic—if it were somewhat like that mentioned by HPL. The book thus fabricated by the mysterious Simon is an artful blend of pseudo-Sumerian and
Goetic ritual, with names crafted to resemble those of Lovecraft’s invented monster gods. More importantly for many would be Black Magicians who
bought copies, it had performable rites and plenty of arcane sigils. It was more than enough to sucker-in the gullible and it still sells well
today.
Satanists understand that any prop that is sufficiently stimulating can be used in personal ritual, so if the materials contained in this book send
the proper chill down your spine, then certainly avail yourself of them. As Magistra Nadramia has said: “Working with and expressing your emotions
in the ritual chamber using this particular little black book is perfectly valid Satanic magic. A careful look at The Satanic Bible will tell you that
Dr. LaVey encouraged the magician to use any and all elements of fiction, fact and fancy to create his Intellectual Decompression Chamber.”
Just don’t fool yourself outside the ritual chamber into the belief that you are using some authentic ancient tome handed down by Elder Gods to
their human, or humanoid, servitors.
Next is the George Hay Necronomicon. It was originally published in Great Britain by Neville Spearman, Ltd. in 1978, and in paperback by Corgi Books
in 1980 (see image at left), and has been more recently reprinted by Skoob Books.
In his essay “The Necronomicon—The Origin of a Spoof” (printed in issue #23 of Crypt of Cthulhu magazine, published back in 1984), Colin Wilson,
the writer of the introduction to this volume, clearly states that this book was a fraud wrought by himself with the assistance of several of his
associates. It is a fascinating article and it details the genesis of this version, and the steps taken to make it seem plausible. Wilson states,
“The fact that he [Gerald Suster—a serious student of magic], found it necessary to denounce such an obvious spoof indicates that we succeeded
beyond my original expectations.”
Of course, unless you are an avid fan of Lovecraftiana, it would have been easy to have missed this revelatory essay, as Crypt of Cthulhu is just a
fanzine (though one with excellent credentials) with a rather limited circulation. It has not been reprinted in any mass media, nor included in
subsequent editions of this book.
[An aside of interest: the art on the cover of that issue of Crypt of Cthulhu was called “Stele of Cthulhu” and was drawn by myself, long before I
became the High Priest of the Church of Satan.]
Swiss surrealist painter H. R. Giger was inspired by Lovecraft’s fiction to invoke realizations of some of his eldritch themes in Giger’s unique
biomechanical style. Eventually, the first major published compendium of his images, most rendered via airbrush, was entitled H. R. Giger’s
Necronomicon. It was published in 1977 by Sphinx Verlag of Switzerland. The current version now sports an introduction by popular horror and fantasy
author Clive Barker and is printed by Morpheus International. This book was given to director Ridley Scott during the pre-production of Alien, and the
images therein seduced Scott into hiring Giger to design the titular character. The rest has been movie history, as Giger’s imagery has spawned many
imitators in almost a new biomechanical sub-genre of science fiction cinema. A later collection of his images would naturally follow as H. R.
Giger’s Necronomicon 2, printed in 1985 by Edition C of Switzerland. The currently available edition is also printed by Morpheus International.