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Babylon / Baghdad Occult
Science 4 |
Part III: The Historical Necronomicon
(With a note... on the career of Dr. John Dee)
The Nephilim's music, and their mythical similarities, however, are not
the only links between these two themes. The British novelist and occult
author, Colin Wilson, has written some effective fiction... within the Mythos
(HPL's writer friends... were encouraged to use the Mythos characters and
themes... within his lifetime, and younger writers... have carried on the
tradition in the decades since... right down to Stephen King).
In 1978 Wilson, with Robert Turner and Colin Langford, published an
ambitious and interesting study... entitled simply, The Necronomicon, which
gives clues... to a heretofore unsuspected human link... between the Cthulhu
Mythos and the Nephilim: the Elizabethan occultist and astrologer Dr. John
Dee (1527-1608).
The Necronomicon... is more than just the title of Wilson's own work, of
course; it is the title of his subject, the most famous and central icon...
of the Cthulhu Mythos... after Cthulhu Itself.
One of the connecting elements
of the Mythos tales, the Necronomicon is described, as the comprehensive
reference work on the Great Old Ones - their names, characteristics, lore,
and the magical rites used... to summon and foster them.
Accursed and terrifying, everywhere it goes... it's said to bring madness and
horrible death.
A fairly comprehensive history... of this dark tome has been
built up throughout the Mythos, and Lovecraft summarized much of it... in his
own 1936 essay, Chronology of the Necronomicon.
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Thus we learn... that it was written by a Damascene poet, Abdul Alhazred
("the mad Arab"), circa CE 730. Alhazred, is said to have composed the text...
after ten years' solitary travel in the great southern desert of Arabia,
the Roba-el-Ahaliyeh or Rub-al-Khali ("emptiness") where he had found the
forbidden city... of Irem of the Pillars, and records... left by a race,
older than humanity.
Originally titled, Al Azif, a term referring to the “nocturnal rustling of
insects” thought to
indicate the presence of demons, it first acquired the
title Necronomicon... when translated
into Greek... about CE 950, and has borne
the Greek title... in its translations and travels since.
(Though this is generally rendered into English... as "The Book of Dead
Names", Lovecraft himself... translated the name, which he found in a dream,
as Nekros
Nomos Eikon, "Image of the Law of the Dead.")
Quotes from its text... are scattered through the stories, such as
the one, with which we opened or the famous, "That is not dead... which
can eternal lie, and with strange eons...
even Death may die."
And, though it's always alleged... to be fabulously rare and
near-fatal to possess... copies
of it, HPL and friends assert, have the
unnerving habit of turning up... in dusty little used
book stores and otherwise innocent attics. |
Lovecraft states, that Dr. Dee – (a real person) was the scholar... who
accomplished the translation... of the mad Arab's blasphemous black tome... into
the English language.
And what does this have to do with the Nephilim? Simple: Dr. Dee was also
the man responsible... for bringing into our world, in collaboration... with the
crystal-gazer, Edward
Kelly, (of whom, Aleister Crowley... claimed to be the
reincarnation), the language known
as Enochian.
The origins and history of Enochian alone... have taken volumes of
occult study. Its name derives from the same Books of
Enoch... in which we find the tale... of the Nephilim, and
Dee and Kelly... called it so... because they believed - and
theirs is the only testimony we have - that it had been dictated
to them... by angels.
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The Golden Dawn... considers it to be ancient, with traces of it... to be found,
in the sacred mysteries of oldest time, though Dee and Kelly's source... did
not specify. Indeed, the Biblical patriarch Enoch - who is said to have
"walked with God" and to have written the Apocryphal books... which
bear his name... with the attendance and help of a company of angels
- is identified by some... with Egyptian Thoth, and believed to
represent a great adept order.
Some occult writers... claim it to be the language used... by the Watchers and
the Nephilim,
in which they left their writings and inscriptions, (Kainam's
stone perhaps?). The set of incantations... known as the Enochian Keys or
Calls, and the accompanying alphabetic lexicon, have been scrutinized by
scholars... in every sort of linguistic discipline and have
stood the test.
It is a true language, with its own consistent grammar and syntax,
and it is not based on any human language... living or dead... of
which we have knowledge. It stands... as a most impressive
piece of evidence... that non-Terran intelligences... exist and
have communicated with humanity.
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This, in Lovecraft's universe, makes Dr. John Dee... the single most expert
human being...
in the field of intelligence... beyond the Earth; the only person...
who has both transcribed dictation... in the language of the Watchers
themselves, and translated the book... of the
Great Old Ones... in all its
fathomless antiquity.
Lovecraft must have read (or at least read of) Dee's work and settled upon
him... as a likely choice, and he continued to figure in the "modern history"
of the Necronomicon, as we'll see.
Wilson's book... is devoted largely to tracking down the "true history" of
the Necronomicon
and Lovecraft's experience with it. He begins with the
research... of one Dr. Stanislaus Hinterstoisser... to the effect that the
source manuscript - from which Al Azif and the Necronomicon are derived -
is not the work of one man at all, mad poet or otherwise.
It is assembled... from a potpourri of Akkadian, Babylonian, Sumerian,
Persian, and sundry ancient source documents - those in turn, of course,
having faithfully transcribed it... from yet earlier sources... back to the
voices of the proto-humans... who first heard the Old Ones speak in their
sleep.
Titled, "Al-Kitab al-Mani, The Grand Compilation", it was rendered into
Arabic... by the
mystic Alkindi (Ya'kub Ibn Ishak Ibn-Sabbah al-Kindi, d. CE
850) and, writes Hinterstoisser, "claimed to contain... the remnants
of a magical tradition... predating mankind". |
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This reminds one... of Madame Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine", based on the
unimaginably ancient Mani Koumbourm... by way of the Book of Dzyan, which
similarly describes... the pre-human occupation of earth... by chaotic beings...
from another plane, and their banishing by the forces of Order. Here
again, we have the assertion... that magic is older than our race, and was
brought here... by others from Outside.
Sadly, Wilson reports, the Herr Doktor died suddenly... during the course of
Wilson's writing - as people in these fields of inquiry... tend to do... in the
Mythos - and thus, was never able to clarify... some of his more puzzling
references. Wilson, however, takes this thread, plus
that of Dr.
Dee's involvement and a skein of others and weaves an entertaining yarn.
He argues that HPL's father - allegedly a practicing Egyptian Freemason -
was in possession
of none other... than a copy of the Dee English translation
of the Necronomicon, which if
true... would in all probability... have
influenced the young Lovecraft in his work, if not in his personal beliefs.
Relative to this, it's worth noting... that in one of the pivotal Mythos
stories, The Dunwich
Horror - which explains the importance... to the Old
Ones' plan of "those They have
begotten on mankind" - the wizard, Wilbur Whateley... owns precisely this volume: "the priceless, but imperfect copy... of Dr. Dee's English version... which his grandfather had bequeathed him".
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The high point of the book, however, isn't Wilson's work, but rather that...
of his fellow-researcher, Turner and the computer expert Langford. In an
enjoyable tour-de-force... of technological detective writing, they purport
to prove... that they have found the Dee
translation (or a fraction thereof)
in real life, in the British Museum Library, hiding behind
the innocent
tag of "Sloane MS. 3189".
This cryptic 16th-Century manuscript, is the Liber Logaeth, also called in
Latin, Liber Mysterorum Sextus et Sanctus, "Sixth Book of the Holy
Mysteries", and sometimes confusingly referred to... as the Book of Enoch. ("Book of Enochian" would be better.)
Turner describes his discovery of the MS. while studying the Museum's
holdings of Dr.
Dee's papers; deducing that... it was written in an
extraordinarily complex cipher, he
submitted a copy to Langford... to have
the code broken by computer analysis.
(One has to pity the person... trying
to decode a phrase... which even when unscrambled
would read "Ph'nglui
mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" - "In his house at
R'lyeh... dead
Cthulhu waits dreaming".)
Langford then takes over and details his exhaustive efforts to decode the
text - which, I
regret to say, turned out not to be in Enochian (now that
would have been something!)
Successful at last, he concludes the volume...
with the alleged results of his work, which
do indeed, read for all the
world... like excerpts from the Necronomicon... as quoted in the tales of the
Mythos. |
As astonishing and fascinating as it would be... to find a real 16th-Century
copy of
the material... Lovecraft used to such effect, this account and its
results... contain an
element... which should make any serious Cthulhu scholar...
regard it with grave doubt.
This is its description of the strong role...
played by the Elder Gods... against the Great
Old Ones.
Lovecraft himself, though he did use the term "Elder Gods" on occasion,
named only one member of the Elder pantheon: Nodens, Lord of the Abyss, a
borrowing... from Arthur Machen's classic: The Great God Pan.
Certain of HPL's writing circle, however, especially August Derleth, took the notion up
eagerly and created an entire circle
of Elder Gods, who had banished the Great Old Ones
in wrath and
stood ever ready... to defend humanity again.
One can hardly imagine HPL approving this trite cosmic-war theme or the
notion... that humankind might sleep secure... from future Old One threat, and we do have some
evidence that he did not. It was his custom - and his
little joke, enjoyed by fans for decades - to show his approval... of any new
Mythos invention... of a writer friend, by
including it... in his own next story,
thus officially welcoming it... into the canon.
The Elder Gods... are the
dramatic exception to this habit. Though other inventions of
Derleth's
were warmly welcomed - and Derleth himself, under the antique form of his
family name, (the Comte D'Erlette), was included... as the author of the
hideous Cultes
des Goules, another tome of dark lore... frequently found...
shelved beside the
Necronomicon... in those shadowy little bookstores -
Lovecraft never used any Elder
God... besides his own Nodens... in a tale.
This is so unusual... that it is hard to see it, as anything, but HPL's polite
but definite
rejection of this radical alteration... of the darkness and
terror of the Mythos. Given
that, if any one of the Mythos writing circle...
had seen the "true Necronomicon" one
could fairly assume... it was HPL
himself, one finds it hard to believe... in a Necronomicon which contradicts
his version so sharply.
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