Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (ny'rl'thot'p) Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.magick,alt.necronomicon,alt.horror.cthulhu,alt.religion.wicca,sci.skeptic,alt.paranet.skeptic,alt.aliens.imprisoned,alt.tv.x-files Subject: The Book of Power: Evaluating the Necronomicon (was ...) Organization: Sonoma Interconnect,Santa Rosa,CA(us),http://www.sonic.net Lines: 186 Sender: yronwode@sonic.net Message-ID: <89enj6$orb@bolt.sonic.net> References: <88bm0l$l7v$1@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca> <20000216173045.03883.00001570@ng-ce1.aol.com> <88gf57$fan@bolt.sonic.net> <88ioet$d5v$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <88p6q3$i38@bolt.sonic.net> Reply-To: spam@luckymojo.com X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.4 (NOV) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 20:59:03 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.224.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 951771543 208.201.224.36 (Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:59:03 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:59:03 PST Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:21578 alt.mythology:57474 alt.magick:181086 alt.necronomicon:10273 alt.horror.cthulhu:53555 alt.religion.wicca:281760 sci.skeptic:396824 alt.paranet.skeptic:21001 alt.tv.x-files:543601 "Boots" : >I have a question concerning the mythological(?) power that of the >necronomicon. Is the possessor suppose to first believe that the >power that could be bestowed? If so, why? the obsession with the Necronomicon is typically on the part of hyper-intellectuals (academics) whose knowledge and experience would otherwise preclude the belief in said object by virtue of their solid grounding in the sciences. one might compare the Lovecraftian scenarios involving the Necronomicon and "Cthulhu Mythos" with the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Stalker, and, especially, X-Files (in its single, monster-episodes). the Necronomicon is both cherished by supposed cultists who would like to assist the Old Ones or some other Lovecraftian entity to achieve its pinnacle of power ("when the stars are right"), often at the expense of the human species, and feared by conspiracy-buffs who are somehow clued to the nefarious cosmic interlopers ready to gobble up our little planet. this brings to light immediately the tendency of participants and converts to the ostensible goals of these extraterrestrials to be insane, mad, sociopathological, or twisted into shadows of their former human selves. those who research on the fringes of such cults tend to begin resembling that which they are studying (compare Mulder in the X-files and how he is seen in the FBI as a fruitcake). in fact, the power objects such as the Necronomicon which may be used by Lovecraftian storytellers (whether between the pages of a book or in such interesting contexts as role- playing games) are usually coercive, corrupting of those who come into contact with them, and yet there is the promise, like so many Cosmic Antagonists, some future role of power as an underling to the New Aeon Rulers. sometimes the very experience of having contact with the book at all is sufficient to warrant its pursuit without regard for the possible consequences (compare how Dr. Pretorius and his assistants and obsessed followers react to his Resonator in the Lovecraft-inspired film "From Beyond": their search for extended human experiences and becoming a part of an ambiguous psychic conglomerate monster defies rationality). the Necronomicon specifically contains the rituals and symbols needed to summon powerful entities who, if they don't decide to have hir for dinner, may (the lure) be beneficent to the spell-worker, no matter the price that one must pay for the ritual. this appears to be a kind of Faustian pact, untold short-term glories and promises of future shelter from a coming Apocalypse which one is helping to make happen exchanged for assisting antagonists to the human species in gaining a foothold (compare the corporate enterprise in films like 'Aliens' who try to keep and breed the alien species, yet in Lovecraftian material assitance will more often activate through ritual summoning, conversion of other cultists, or merely laying the groundwork for others to do likewise). some of the cultist conversion occurs through the dimension of dreams (as with Cthulhu, who is said to be contacting converts therein). here is an egregore of the Book of Power, including grimoires such as "The Lesser Key of Solomon" or "The Goetia", the "Book of Shadows", which may be said to contain (at least access to) unspeakable power and a technological description beyond the bounds of ordinary scientific understandings. the Necronomicon falls into coercive or destructive end of these books, which span from simple books of spells and formulae to cosmic formularies and tools of the Sorcerer Supreme ("The Book of the Vishanti" in Doctor Strange comics), to social contracts with deities ("Torah", "Old Testament", "New Testament", "Qur'an") of a presumed positive attitude toward humans and reservoirs of mystical power ("The Book of Five Rings", "Tao Teh Ching", "I Ching", "Diamond Sutra", termas of various sorts, cf. "Liber Grimoiris" by Frater Nigris at http://www.luckymojo.com/avidyana/gnostik/grimoiris.tn). >What would be vitually important for a ...human, a mortal, >to be convinced the books powers are real in order to make >them work? Or am I mistaken the necronomicons powers for >pyschokinesis/magic? there are two levels from which to respond to this question: (1) from the context of the stories associated with Lovecraft's constructions: the character's stated or implied motivations in encountering the Necronomicon or its class of magical item (2) from the context of nonfictional usage of these kinds of magical items regardless of their fictional descriptions and reputations (1) there is no rational motivation for individuals who, knowing what the reader knows, to pursue these books, determine their reality, or apply them toward nefarious and sociopathological ends. usually the characters 'fall under the spell' of the nefarious object, their curiosity leads them to an understanding of "what humans ought never know", their academic standards are abandoned in favor of their gradually increasing obsession with possessing and shelting others from the horrible effects of the Book of Power. the premise behind the fictional stories is usually that the character begins from a standpoint of radical disbelief, yet whose skepticism inspires hir to examine even what could seem flaky leads in a survey of whatever subject they happen to find compelling (esp. archaeology, anthropology, or similar sciences in which the alien might be discovered amongst general historical simian remains or cosmological traces). the character cannot HELP but become convinced of the aweful horror that everything she knew about the world as presented from 'the scientific method' is WRONG, and that, lurking just beneath a filmy coating of conspiracy or occultism, such objects of power exist and would lead to catastrophes in both academic as well as existential human realms if the objects of power were to '"get into the wrong hands". (2) where this fits in with the world outside of fiction is of course the controversy surrounding the Necronomicon in its various versions promoted by post-Lovecraftian authors and "discoverers". how much one is willing to accept of the outlandish (and classic, for its genre) fiction Lovecraft penned determines immediately what one is to make of and to what ends one might find use for the book. at the most intellectual and academic end of the theoretical spectrum, books in and of themselves do not contain power. their contents may make certain natural human experiences possible for those who choose to perform in the manner that may be described therein. the rituals or knowledge which is contained in the Necronomicon, being a reflection of the works of a fiction author, will never amount to much more than amusing entertainment or the basis for a peculiar kind of ceremonial magic (on par, possibly, with that that uses the medieval grimoires as its basis). at best one might use a Necronomicon to further one's spiritual development, at worse become lost in a fantasy world absent the discernment between fact and fiction, true power and insanity. from the perspective of the most liberal-minded rationalist, books can contain configurations of information which may have transformative effects upon the people and cultures to whom they are exposed. fictional works like Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" contain believable theories (mixed with fiction) about how religio-magical texts may function as a kind of information-virus that can be instrumental in shaping entire societies, perhaps the whole of the human species. the Book of Power, from this more imaginative perspective, could catalyze personal and sociological changes undreamt by previous authors. while it might be a stretch to accept Elder Gods transported through time and space vying for the minds and souls of a hominid species on a speck of dirt circling a medium- sized star (the rationalist evaluation of many a science- fiction story), there is no arguing that certain texts have become the focus of intense human obsession, and may have some innate structural or conceptual content which makes possible what would othewise seem outlandish and unnatural. as a demon-summoner, the Necronomicon appears to be the apex of challenge to the adventurous, and symbolizes, if not functioning as, the mechanism by which one might bring into one's personal sphere of consciousness that alien element, forgotten and displaced by the development of civilization and higher "education". from the perspective of the religious, the Necronomicon must seem the epitome of evil, surely the comparable Shadow of the Bible to Christians, a textual Satan that can only result in doom and the demise of human concerns at the expense of faint promises to a deluded few. its very existence or fable must be denied and rejected so as never to give rise to human behaviours that replicate the cruel and insane outcomes depicted in Lovecraft's fiction. the general attraction of the Necronomicon are not that it contains secrets of parapsychology, E.S.P., telekinesis, or precognition, but that it affords allegiance with potent and dangerous entities whose fictional basis is disputed by many of those who make a study of gods and spirits with the intent of communication and pact-making. n'yrl'thot'p