The Necronomicon
by Simon
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Book Reviews of The Necronomicon
Book Review: Wow...
Summary: 3 Stars
Wow... a lot of controversy here... there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said, except this. For those of you who seriously want to know the truth, there are a few concepts to understand, and you can look them up easily on the WWW if u have enough time...
1. Chaos Magick (a.k.a. Chaos magic)
2. Truth within lies
3. Power is earned, not given or bought.
4. Sigil Magick (see Chaos magick)
5. Collective Conciousness
So after you've looked into these, a few things should be realized... Chaos Magick largely involves the power of the mind, but will almost always rely on diffrent methods to make things happen (using the macrocosm to activate your microcosm... silly idea, but nessecary at some point.). That method could easily be used in this book because of 2... Much like "The Key of Solomon" (Both versions), which can be found at www.sacred-texts.com btw, if u don't wanna pay for a copy (along with "The Egyptian Book of the Dead", mentioned previously), this book won't let u do sh*t in itself, and pretty much says so in the begginning, though not as clearly as The Key of Solomon (I own a copy of this version of the Necronmicon). That centers around 3, which is that power, particularlly in Magick is not just handed out. It is earned, either by attainment or suffering, and genrally both with the priority being towards the first one. As for Sigil Magick (4), one can attach a 'spiritual' person (should you prefer that word to multidimensional or microscopic) to an idea or concept to make that happen. Then, by using what is called collective conciousness, as other realize that spirit is relative to that symbol, that spirit can appear where that symbol is present and come forth when invoked.
That's really all you need to understand, but as for my experiences with this book, the research clearly indicates it is only moderatly (At most) based on any kind of reality... however, some of the names have significance, hte book has some kind of magickal charge to it, and it I personally read it in a wrong way, certian people do appear, whou many would describe as 'evil', not in 'physical' form, but rather in a form where I can percive them in my soul.
It seems as if the symbols had some relevance at some time, but were strongly altered (they don't look anything like a Kabbalistic symbol in their structer, as based on planetary charts, but their format is the same. Just as Agrripa obviously altered his moon sigil, perhaps the 'mad arab' did this too...?), but seem to have an energy that indicates a new level of power fueled strongly by belif.
So all in all, my conclusion is that points 1-5 should be relevant to whoever reads this, and that if it has any power, it is laregly in a Chaotic Mage sort of way, while also tied in with a bit of (summerian?) diffrent magick.
I honestly don't know much about summerian magick, and focus more on Hunuistic and Kabbalistic Magick, in my studies of magick, but this seems to be the most obvious thing to me...
Oh, but here's a hint for you guys if you want to see if either the 'Key of Solomon' or 'The Necronomicon' has any relevance, and you have decent spiritual perception (I think Christians often call this discrenment). Sandlewood. If you can figure that out you';ve earned it.
Book Review: No way to know for sure
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the more intriguing copies of the so-called Necronomicon.
There is a great deal of debate and confusion as to whether the ancient book of magick ever truly existed (exists?) or whether it was an invention of H.P. Lovecraft. This debate will probably never end, as there is a wealth of information and dis-information to support either argument.
Regardless of who is correct, this book is intensely interesting. Scholars of religion and archeology will find that there are some shocking "coincidences" in the book. Much of the book IS consistent with the traditions, parables, and beliefs of Sumerian and other ancient Middle Eastern peoples, as well as more "modern" religious texts.
Aleister Crowley himself while publicly denouncing the Necronomicon, derived his own system of magick using the same Enochian magick that had been "created" by the alchemist Dr. John Dee and his assistant William Kelley. They supposedly had obtained a copy of a Greek translation of Alhazred's manuscript,the Necronomicon. More than just a book of magick, the Necronomicon was a record of the traditions of the dead- hence the name of the book. Alhazred's intention (at least in part) was to create a historical work chronicling the ancient gods and traditions from the very birth of civilization in Mesopotamia. -One of the most interesting passages in this book is a creation story quite similar to Genesis, but more than 2000 years OLDER.
A more historically accepted parallel to the Necronomicon is The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The primary difference being that the Necronomicon was intended as a resource for the living. The Book of the Dead was intended to help the Ka, or spirit, in the afterlife. But I digress...
Dee and Kelly employed the magick in the Necronomicon, and derived the system of magick which they dubbed Enochian (referring to another ancient tome, The Book of Enoch.) Dee later translated the Necromomicon into English. This is supposedly how some copies of the myserious book made their way through time.
Whether THIS book is the real thing or not, many of the entities and parables talked about are the same ones which appear in the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, and farther back in the mythology of the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Sumerians. The etomology of the names is strikingly similar. In fact, sometimes the names are the same. Of course, we could never know how much of this is from Abduhl Alhazred himself, and how much of it was added, paraphrased, and just plain mistranslated over the centuries.
The fact that the same parables and entities appear again and again in the records of man, albeit with varying degrees of similarity, makes me wonder. Are these merely the creations of man, our human attempt to answer why we are here? Or are there truly unseen entities which have been in contact with man, or influenced mankind by one means or another?
In conclusion, I'd say the entities referred to here are just as real as ghosts, angels, or demons. And the tales are as believeable as those from the more "acceptable" texts of existant religions. So take it for what it's worth.
Book Review: Truth-seekers are always persecuted
Summary: 1 Stars
This book wil answer a lot of your questions about life, death, ancient secrets, and lots of other things. All you fools who mock it just need to look at your fingers after reading it - they'll be turning black already, as proof of what's happening to your soul! That's why Avon books used a crappy font on cheap newsprint. Yeah, I know it's Avon. But I've seriously communicated with Aleister Crowley, Jim Morrison, and Sherlock Holmes before on Ouija board, and those have a Parker Brothers logo on them.
Those of you who say this is fake simply haven't done your research, or perhaps simply aren't acclimated to various arcane occult disciplines. Lovecraft said he made it up, but he was just covering it up so the people who gave him the information wouldn't kill him - duh! I know cause this friend of mine had a copy in high school - an old publisher's galley copy, with the REAL spells and everything - the version you buy now changes some words so the spells won't work. I mean, people, just do some research. There are things beyond our knowledge, if you just keep an open mind. Is that so hard?
Anyway, this friend of mine used to do lots of spells and rituals out of this book, and I know for a fact that he was manipulating the forces that are beyond our knowledge, because I saw it myself. He raised demons up out of his basement. He saw visions of the old Gods (who, frankly, are looking a little water-logged after all that time in the sunken tombs in the Pacific), and he made it rain, like, three times. We even built a shrine to Cthulu using the "Squid Head" Star Wars figure, which is actually supposed to be Cthulu (Lucas knows everything. He's read this book. He knows the truth, because, unlike a lot of you closed-minded reviewers, he apparently did some REAL research on Abdul al-Hazred. Once you realize this, Jar-Jar makes a lot more sense.) There are things that happened around this shrine that I can't possibly describe here, but they were MUCH better than the other stuff I got out of casting ancient spells from old books - and certainly better than I ever got when I tried to cast the spells from Harry Potter (for the record, some of those are based on real spells, but most of them aren't, and the whole thing about wands is just ridiculous).
He and I and this one other guy started a circle. He himself, though, went too far into it. I warn you, ONCE YOU START, YOU CAN'T TURN BACK. After about a month he spent most of his time huddled and shivering and chanting the names of the old gods - no kidding. He had to drop out of school, and his parents sent him off to some place cause they though he was smoking pot. The other guy from the circle learned to manipulate things before they could manipulate him, though - he works for Avon now (not the publisher, though, the cosmetics people - being able to manipulate strange forces makes him an AWESOME makeup salesman). I'm only giving this one stars. It would be five, but I'm taking away one because it messed my friend up, one because the font sucks, one because of the letters I'll probably get because of this, and one because I lost a toe in one of the rituals, and that just sucks.
Book Review: Reality check
Summary: 2 Stars
Okay, I've seen lots of arguements over this, so lets see if we can put some of this to rest.Fact is, the Necronomicon is a fabrication of H. P. Lovecraft. He said so HIMSELF in a letter dated January of 1934 that he made up the Necronomicon and the entities from the Cthulhu Mythos such as Azathoth, Sothoth, and others.
Now, does that totally invalidate this book and others that claim the same title? Not quite. If you subscribe to the thought form theory, that free-willed and conscious entities can be created on the astral plane by the thought forms of large groups of people, then you can of course evoke such entities. However, why on earth bother? If the entities from Necronomicon were indeed created from thought forms, they were based on the entities from Lovecraft's book. And the entities he wrote of were quite evil and attempt to destroy those who summon them. True, almost all evocations such as those from the Goetia are not actually physically summoned up (and thus can't hurt you on the material plane) and are instead viewed from the astral plane through scrying mirrors by a seer, but how can you even trust any information the Necronomicon beings give you? I certainly hope those of you evoking these beings are doing divinations before following the advice of these entities.
As a practicing clerical necromancer I haven't even bothered to pick up this book or any other so called Necronomicon, I consider my own evokings of demons and spirits crazy and dangerous enough as it is, but at least most of the beings I've evoked haven't been after my head.
I've spoken to too many occultists and heard their descriptions of these Necronomicon books to waste my time with it. But if you actually practice the rituals in this book (and I'm willing to bet 90% of the reviewers here haven't) and get results, and are happy with said results, by all means continue so long as you take care.
As for the reader suggesting we read Malleus Maleficarum, yea that's a real magick grimore that any witch would read. Considering it was nothing more than a manual for the Inquisition to track down, prosecute and eliminate witches and magick users I can't imagine why it hasn't gotten much of a following amoung Wiccans.
As for Mr. Napier, actually the people really involved in magick don't bother advertising it much more than a few explainations and pentacle necklaces, we call it "hiding in plain sight". That's why few see mages with extreme success in the material world, we don't want anyone to know exactly how we got there if they are not ready for the knowledge. Not one non-magick user who knows me in real life has any clue as to what I do and what it gets me, they think my cross and pentagram necklace is just a decoration. I'd much rather none of them know the full truth. And I'd rather my practices not get much of an interest or following, too much dangerous things for fools to play with. As for my day job of designing submarine hulls on CAD machines, I'd have to say my life doesn't involve D&D or living in my mom's basement. So in regards to your stereotypes, your ignorance is showing. And no, you weren't aiming at me.
Book Review: Does it Work? Thats not the Point
Summary: 1 Stars
Ok does this book actually work? Yeah it probably can work for some stuff. The jokers who slapped it together ripped off enough Kabbalah and other actually ancient magical traditions to get some thing going. Of course if you want to practice black magic the basics aren't as hard as some people seem to think. Take for example summoning a demon. People do this every day with out even ever hearing the word grimoire. Its getting the demon to do what you want and getting it to go away that are the tricky parts.
For magic to work really effectively you want a couple things. Sure at its most basic its a question of will, personal power and what ever you summon to help you out. Yet certain things ie: true names, symbols tied to what your trying to accomplish, incense, ritual and so on can help. This book is a bad source for these things. Many of its spirits and gods are wholey fabricated either by the author or by various horror writers (Xthuhlu and Xastur for example). Others are a mish mash of pagan pantheons from the ancient world. Before you try invoking a name you should bother to do a medicrum of research on what your invoking. You can't do that with names of made up beings. Sure you can get SOME THINGS attention but that some thing is going to have the advantage of anonymity. You won't know what any of its names are, you won't know its origins or its goals. You might as well call it Mickey Mouse because the name will be just as applicable. As for the legit deities there are far older rituals for appeasing and asking for there aid.
So what purpose does this book actually serve? Reaserach by occultists strongly suggest it was in fact meant to be a practical joke. Several rituals are designed to back fire if you don't know enough about real magic to make them work( Crowley was fond of that to). The excelnt book "The Necronomicon Files" can give you more information on that.
As to it being an authentic book of history or part of our past as humans its absolutely not. Lovecraft made up the necronomicon to use in his stories. The name was never used any where prior to the 20s when he began writting and to my knowledge didn't appear as a grimoire until the 70s when this book was published. ITs a johnny come lately hoax. Why do people need it? I can drive not 20 minutes from my house to a borders book store and find half a dozen translations of grimoires that were originally penned in the middle ages if not earlier. Heck you can find them online for free. If I was foolish enough to start conjuring demons I'd go to a source thats been around a while not line the pockets of some anonymous occultist who seems to lack the creativity to come up with some thing truly original.