When Necromancy and Alchemy Were One: The Black Earth

“ For this is the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Black Earth, that I have writ down at the peril of my life, exactly as I received it, on the planes of the IGIGI, the cruel celestial spirits from beyond the Wanderers of the Wastes.”

I am sure that many who work with the Simon Necronomicon are very familiar with the passage cited above. Many newcomers, however, have erroneously defined the term Black Earth, as it appears in the passage above, to the dead.

The use of the term Black Earth is quite ancient and applies to alchemy. The word itself may have been derived from one of several sources.  When ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are transmitted through Arabic, the result is “al-khem”.  On the one hand, “kemet” forms the native name of Egypt, while “khem” means “black earth”.  The word alchemy derives from the Old French alquimie, which is from the Medieval Latin alchimia, and which is in turn from the Arabic al-kimia (الكيمياء). This term itself is derived from the Ancient Greek chemeia (χημεία) with the addition of the Arabic definite article al- (الـ‎).^[2] It used to be thought that the ancient Greek word was originally derived in its turn from “Chemia” (Χημία),^[3] a version of the Egyptian name for Egypt, which was itself based on the Ancient Egyptian word kēme hieroglyphic Khmi, meaning black earth, literally land of black earth. Ultimately, the word alchemy originated from the Egyptian word Khemi, or Khem (the native name of Egypt), meaning land of black earth. On this basis, one derivation of the word alchemy is “Egyptian art”, or the ‘art of the black earth.”  In Manly P. Hall’s Secret Teachings of All Ages, we find the following on page 154:

“Regardless of its originator, it was left to the Egyptian priests to preserve alchemy for the modern world. Egypt, because of the color of its earth, was called “the black empire” and is referred to in the Old Testament as “the land of darkness.” By reason of its possible origin there, alchemy has long been known as “the black art, ” not in the sense of evil but in the sense of that darkness which has always enshrouded its secret processes.”

We are beginning to understand that the Mad Arab’s use of the term Black Earth was in relation to alchemy, not the common alchemy of today, but necromancy. . Haig A, Bosmajian in the book entitled, Burning Books makes the following observation:

The fourteenth century inquisitor Nicolas Eymerich tells us, writes Lea, “that if a man was suspected of necromancy and was found to be an astrologer it went far to prove him a necromancer, for the two were almost always conjoined.”

It was Leonardo Da Vinci who called ‘necromancy the sister of alchemy.’ It seems more than reasonable to understand that necromancy and alchemy were considered part of the same science in times of remote antiquity. There are numerous legends of an alchemist being able to turn lead (Saturnian, associated with death) into gold (a solar element associated with the Sun’s life-giving energy).

“ The passing of the Gates gives the priest both power and wisdom to use it. He becomes able to control the affairs of his life more perfectly than before,..”

The Simon Necronomicon is a book of primordial alchemy, which is symbolized by the Black Goddess.  Thrice- Greatest Hermes by Hermes Trismegistus states:

“The Pupil of the World’s Eye But Isis, also, is the black earth, and, therefore, the pupil of the eye of Osiris “

The identification of the black earth with Isis is not uncommon, not is it uncommon for the black earth to be likened to the goddess. The Magic Flute0-Volume 1 explains:

“Isis is of great significance in alchemical literature. She is the ‘black earth’ and as such of great signification. The first major phase in the alchemical process is the nigredo, in which the participating substances are made “black.”

The above passage indicates that Isis’ role in the science of alchemy was great indeed, and this applied to other earth goddesses also. The energy of the earth was a transforming aspect that was the foundation of alchemy. I encourage the reader to pursue this topic more

Stay blessed