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We have received a lot of emails in response to our recent post entitled Understanding The Urilia Text\’s Placement In The Simon Necronomicon. Based on such, I thought it would be good to expand on this topic and reveal some of the mysteries of the Urilia Text and how it is used by Initiates of the Necronomicon Tradition.
First, I must point out that the meaning of the Urilia Text is NOT clearly spelled out in any of the writings attributed to Simon to protect the novice from self-imposed harm. In order for an Initiate to successfully work with this rite, it must be understood by the Practitioner, which means that on some level, he/she, has been guided to this understanding by the DinGir. Many people, due to their “power-hungry” desires, have shocked themselves by sticking their fingers in high voltage sockets, and the Urilia Text is such a power source. The Mad Arab outlines the three areas of study that the Necronomicon Tradition consists of in his First Testimony:
“Know, then, that I have trod all the Zones of the Gods, and also the places of the Azonei, and have descended unto the foul places of Death and Eternal Thirst, which may be reached through the Gate of GANZIR, which was built in UR, in the days before Babylon was.”
In the passage cited above, the Mad Arab illustrates the three levels of initiation, those being; the Zones of the Gods, the places of the Azonei, and the Gate of Ganzir.
The “Zones of the Gods” corresponds to the seven gates of initiation. once these have been passed, the Initiate can summon the gate deities in the same method or formulae used to invoke one of the 50 Names of Marduk, using a particular Gate seal.
The “Gate of Ganzir” is invoked by using the incantation that appears in the Book of Calling that follows:
“BAAD ANGARRU! NINNGHIZHIDDA! Thee I invoke, Serpent of the Deep! Thee I invoke, NINNGHIZHIDDA, Horned Serpent of the Deep! Thee I invoke, Plumed Serpent of the Deep! NINNGHIZHIDDA! Open! Open the Gate that I may enter! NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Remember! In the Name of our Father, ENKI, before the Flight, Lord and Master of Magicians, Open the Gate that I may enter! Open, lest I attack the Gate! Open, lest I break down its bars! Open, lest I attack the Walls! Open, lest I leap over It by force! Open the Gate, lest I cause the Dead to rise and devour the Living! Open the Gate, lest I give the Dead power over the Living! Open the Gate, lest I make the Dead to outnumber the Living! NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Open! May the Dead rise and smell the incense!”
What about the Gate of Arzir? We find the following in the First Testimony:
“I have traveled among the stars, and trembled before the Gods. I have, at last, found the formulae by which I passed the Gate ARZIR, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul IGIGI.”
The Mad Arab makes it clear that the Gate Arzir is a formula that used to pass into the realms of the Igigi. In the Necronomicon Tradition, the Igigi equates to the realms of the Fixed Stars. Notice what we find in THE SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777, which appears the SN’s introductory notes:
“Sphere of the Zodiac or Fixed Stars = Enki; Lumashi (Igigi)..”
Here we see that the Igigi correspond to the Azonei. Although, the Mad Arab describes the Igigi as “foul,” we can only imagine that this dark metaphoric language is used so that the Initiate does not rush through the rites to get to this level. We can be certain of this, based on another passage:
“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.”
The “Book of the Black Earth” was received on the “planes of the Igigi.” It should be noted that the Simon Necronomicon is divided up into 12 sections, each corresponding to a different zodiac sign. This would also seem to indicate that his First Testimony is a parable, but it does reveal that the location of the Mountains of Masshu is the realm of the zodiac:
“When I was only a youth, travelling alone in the mountains to the East, called MASSHU by the people who live there, I came upon a grey rock carved with three strange symbols. It stood as high as a man, and as wide around as a bull. It was firmly in the ground, and I could not move it.”
Still the reader may wonder how all of this is connected to the workings of the Gate of Arzir? Notice what is mentioned in the Book of Entrance:
“For this reason, few have ever opened the Gate of ADAR, and spoken to the Horned One who resideth there and giveth all manner of wisdom regarding the operations of necromancy, and of the spells that hasten unto death. Only when thou hast shown thy power over the Maskim and the Rabishu, mayest thou venture forth to the Land of the IGIGI, and for that reason was this Covenant made, that none shall safely Walk through the sunken valleys of the Dead before having ascended to MARDUK, nor shall they breach the Gates that lie beyond ADAR until they have seen the Signs of the Mad God and felt the fury of the hellish Queen.”
Here we see that the Initiate must first ascend to the Gate of Marduk before going into Ganzir. This is to ensure that the “astral body” is equipped to handle the shock of the lower aspects of the astral kingdom. We are told in an earlier passage that the Initiate visits Ganzir to gain power over the Apsu:
“This will not give thee power over the ABSU, however, this power being obtained differently by the Ritual of Descent. This Ritual thou wilt undertake in the fifteenth day after the thirteenth of the month when thou hast summoned the Gate of MARDUK to open. For MARDUK slew the Fiends, and INANNA, the Goddess of the Fifteen, conquered the Netherworld, where some of theirs still dwell. This is a most perilous Rite, and may be undertaken by any man who as the formulae, whether he has passes the previous Gates or not, save that it is best advised to have passed through MARDUK Gate before venturing forth into the Pit.”
So why would one need to visit Ganzir to travel to the Azonei? This is explained for us in Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon, page 92. Also notice in this cited information the reference to “daath” in correspondence to Thoth, or Azag-Thoth, as we discusses in our prior article mentioned earlier in this discussion:
“To the Egyptians, the Underworld -a word transliterated variously as DWAT or TUAT or DAT –lay under the earth, as in most early religions. However, they simultaneously perceived the Underworld as existing in the sky, beyond the planets and the zodiacal signs, just as the sages of ancient India believed the Seven Rishis to exist both below and above the earth. Our term “underworld” may be, therefore, misleading. Instead, a certain kind of primordial plane or level may be implied by the concept of DAT.”
The information, quoted above, reveals that the “underworld” was believed by the ancient to exist both below the Earth and in the vast regions of outer space. It would therefore, make since that a rite similar to Ganzir would be used to access the great Igigi. Gates of the Necronomicon continues on page 90:
“Prior to this “awakening” or “opening,” the deceased has passed through seven gates in the Underworld and undergone various trials. After this ceremony, the deceased will leave the tunnel of the Underworld and reappear–not in our world–but in the heavens as a Star, an Asar, an Osiris. The Underworld, therefore, seems to be entered by the deceased from our side upon death and exited on another side upon rebirth…”
This passage compares greatly to what we read in the SN’s Introduction:
“AZAG-THOTH is, therefore, a Lord of Magicians, but of the “Black” magicians, or the sorcerers of the “Other Side”.”
The Ancient Art of Gate-Walking article clearly indicates that the seven gates of initiation lead the Initiate through the same passage that the soul of the deceased venture. In Biblical lore, we are told that the “wages sin pays is death,” but if death is the karma of “sin,” how can we ever experience forgiveness in the state of death? It is a metaphor- so that the Initiate can purge his being while alive on Earth and not go through the cycle of purification till oblivion of ones’ identification. This process is achieved through a continuous motion, back and forth though the gates, also known as Gate-Walking. This back and forth motion was likened to sexual movements, which strengthened the “astral body,” also known as the body of Ishtar, and thereby making her the “mistress of the gods.” The body of Ishtar (astral body) draws in the energy from the Gates that are visited by the Initiate in the Gate-Walking Process. Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon, states the following on page 150:
“However, the entire process of passing through the Gates as outlined in the Necronomicon has the effect of slowly building up the astral body over the entire seven-month period, very similar to the way in which the deceased passed through the seven Underworld Gates in he Egyptian mummification process…The very nature of the Necronomicon rituals themselves accelerates the formation of the astral body,..”
When the Initiate is stripped of the old persona and made anew, the astral body strengthened, they are to venture forth into the Gate of Arzir, where the purported miraculous powers are achieved. Gates of the Necronomicon, page 96 states:
“In the Sumerian epic, the Goddess Inanna (later, Ishtar of the Babylonians) descends into the Underworld and, at each of the Seven Gates, must remove an article of clothing, until she arrives naked at the end of the journey. In Asiatic shamanistic rites, the descent into the Underworld is accompanied by more brutal losses: one is torn apart by demons, dismembered, disemboweled, decapitated, and put back together after one’s inner organs have been “washed.” The self is torn apart and put back together again, at the end of which the self ascends up a pole or a tree to the stars.”
As long as the Initiate engages in walking and re-walking the Gates, he/she, will experience internal conflict. this is primarily due to the fact that each gate reveals a different perspective than the other. The view of Earth from the Moon is vastly different from the one on Mars. The main thing that must be aborted during ones’ initiation is the need to “be right.” The Urilia Text states:
“When the Great KUTULU rises up and greets the Stars, then the War will be over, and the World be One.”
The body of Ishtar is the astral body. It is has seven centers that are linked to the Seven Gates of the Underworld, and through these centers the astral body is able to feed itself. Note what is written by the Mad Arab in the Book of Calling:
“Know, fourthly, that it is become the obligation of the Priests of the Flame and the Sword, and of all Magick, to bring their Power to the Underworld and keep it chained thereby, for the Underworld is surely the Gate Forgotten, by which the Ancient Ones ever seek Entrance to the Land of the Living,..”
While energies from the seven gates empower the body of Ishtar, the astral body, the mind of the starry body is Tiamat herself. In the Urilia text we read:
“…the Ancient Worm, TIAMAT, the ABYSS, also called KUTULU the Corpse-God, yet who lies not dead, but dreaming; he whom secret priests, initiated into the Black Rites, whose names are writ forever in the Book of Chaos, can summon if they but know how.”
Gates of the Necronomicon, page 154, states:
“Once past the MARDUK Gate, it is possible to descend into the Pit itself-past the Gate called GANZIR–and to hallow the Underworld. Marduk, as vanquisher of Tiamat–the Sumerian Leviathan–gives the power necessary to preserve oneself in the face of the terrifying sights of this, the deepest layer of the human mind and brain…(page 155)..For the Underworld is just another name for the world that exists in the stars.”
The information cited above explains what is mentioned in the SN’s introduction:
“Therefore, the Goddess of the Witches has two distinct forms: the Ancient One, Goddess of the Dragon-like telluric Power which is raised in Magickal rituals, and the Elder Goddess, Defeater of Death, who brings the promise of Resurrection and Rejuvenation to her followers those who must reside for a time after death and between incarnations in what is called the “Summerland”.”
We are able to ascertain that the Urilia working is a Calling to the “fixed stars,” based on our comparison with certain passages that appear in the Simon Necronomicon. The Book of Calling, for example, is a rite where one can invoke the powers gained through initiation. Gates of the Necronomicon page 218 states:
“Whereas the Walking is a strictly self-initiation process, the Calling involves the exercise of powers that have been attained through initiation.”
The rites of the Calling and the Walking are different only in that the Initiate invokes the Gate, circles the Gate the amount of times as the star’s number, but the formulae is the same. Notice what “spirits” can be invoked as described in the Book of Calling:
“In the Ceremonies of Calling, any type of Spirit may be summoned and detained until It has answered your questions or provided you with whatever you desire. The Spirits of the Dead may be invoked. The Spirits of the Unborn may be invoked. The Spirits of the Seven Spheres may be invoked. The Spirits of the Flame may be invoked. In all, there may be One Thousand-and-One Spirits that are of principal importance, and these you will come to know in the course of your experiments.”
So if the “Spirits of the Dead” can be invoked with the formula presented in the Book of Calling, as some of these are listed in the Urilia Text, then the formulae given in the Urilia Text is used to invoke another energy. These two distinct energies as listed in the Magan Text. They are described in the account concerning Ishtar:
“And the Demons rose
And the Spirits of the Dead
And went with her out of the Gates
Looking neither right nor left
Walking in front and behind..”
Before we continue, the reader should note that in a previous article we identified Kutulu (Tiamat) with the Watcher in the article Excerpt From The Atlantean Necronomicon: KUTULU. Based on the information cited from the Magan Text, Ishtar left the Gates of the Underworld “looking neither right nor left,” confirms that the Initiatory rites of the Simon Necronomicon also take place in the Underworld, for the Book of Entrance gives us the following instructions during the Gate-Walking process:
“Seventh, thou must needs arrive back at the centre of the Gate, before thine altar, at which time thou must fall to the ground, looking neither to the right nor to the left at what may be moving there, for these Operations attract many kinds of wandering demon and ghost to the Gates,..”
The fact that KUTULU is the Watcher can be summed up in the Book of Entrance’s later passages:
“..strike the Sword of the Watcher that It may depart, and give the incantation of INANNA which say how she conquered the realm of the Underworld and vanquisheth KUTULU. “
Some may wonder why in the SN’s Introduction we are told that Tiamat is the Goddess of the Witches, along with Ishtar/Inanna, but in the above passage we see that Inanna “vanquished” Kutulu (Tiamat)? First we should take into consideration that the term Tiamat means, “Maiden of Life,” and corresponds to the Egyptian Goddess Maat. However, the power of Tiamat is similar to working with high voltage, so care needs to be taken. We find the following in the SN’s Introduction:
“…the Dragon or Serpent is said to reside somewhere “below the earth”; it is a powerful force, a magickal force, which is identified with mastery over the created world; it is also a power that can be summoned by the few and not the many.”
Getting back to our topic at hand, we are told, according to the Magan Text, that in the realms of the Underworld exist both the “Spirits of the Dead” and the “Demons.” Since the Spirits of the Dead can be called in the formulae presented in the Book of Calling, the formulae then given in the Urilia Text is used for the Fixed Stars. we can determine the identity of the demons based on previous passages in the Magan Text:
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge confirms the points made in this discussion is his classic work entitled The Babylonian Legends of Creation, pages 16-17 we read:
“The first act of TIAMAT after the death pf Apsu was to increase her number of allies. We know that a certain creature called “UMMU-KHUBUR” at once spawned a brood of devilish monsters to help her in her fight against the gods. Nothing is known of the origin or attributes of UMMU-KHUBUR, but some she was a form of TIAMAT…(page 17)…Not content with Ummu-Khubur’s brood of devils, Tiamat called the stars and the powers of the air to her aid, for she “set up” (1) the Viper, (2) the Snake, (3) the god Lakhamu, (4) the Whirlwind, (5) the ravening Dog, (6) the Scorpion-man, (7) the mighty Storm-wind, (8) the Fish-man, (9) the Horned Beast. These bore (10) the “merciless, invincible weapon,” and were under the command of (11) King, whom Tiamat calls “her husband.” Thus Tiamat had Eleven mighty Helpers besides the devils spawned by Ummu-Khubur. We may note is passing that some of the above-mentioned helpers appear the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac which Marduk “set up” after his conquest of Tiamat….this fact suggests that the first Zodiac was “set up” by Tiamat, who with her Eleven Helpers formed the Twelve Signs; the association of evil with certain stars may date from that period.”
Budge’s observations confirm for us that the Fixed Stars were of Tiamat’s creation, and that stars were associated with “evil.” Interestingly, we are told the following in the SN’s Introduction about the Urilia Text:
“After the long and poetic MAGAN text, comes the URILLIA text…..It has more specifically to do with the worship of the Serpent, and the nature of the cults that participate in the Concelebration of Sin.”
Simon tells us that the Urillia Text has to do with the worship of the “serpent.” The serpent can symbolize many things, but for the point of our discussion, and the rites of the Necronomicon Tradition, it has everything to do with working with the zodiac. Mark A. Pinkham, in the book, The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom, states the following:
“When the hero Marduck had defeated the Serpent Goddess Tiamat he divided her body into 12 parts or children and placed them in the sky as the 12 signs of the Zodiac.”
The idea of stars as being evil, or as the Mad Arab would say, the most ancient evil, started at a very early date. In 1889, Sir Norman Lockyer, mentioned the following about the ancient Babylonians in Nature-Volume 40, page 360:
“….and the planets were regarded as evil spirits which disturbed the harmony of Nature…..While the Semitic religion emerged from tribal monotheism, the Akkadians followed a sect professing Mazdeism–that is, a religion admitting two principles, one good and one bad; but they thought that, as the good gods would not hurt them, it was wise to propitiate the bad ones, and propitiation easily led to worship. That is how the seven planets,…became their cheif deities.”
Based on this information, the ancient people of Mesopotamia, viewed the planets as evil spirits originally and offered them sacrifice to curb their evil influence from effecting their lives. There is a passage that appears in the Simon Necronomicon that can also be found in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster, which goes as follows:
“Stoop not down, therefore,
For an Abyss lies beneath the World
Reached by a descending Ladder
That hath Seven Steps
Reached by a descending Pathway
That hath Seven Gates
And therein is established
The Throne
Of an Evil and Fatal Force.
For from the Cavities of the World
Leaps forth the Evil Demon
The Evil God
The Evil Genius
The Evil Ensnarer
The Evil Phantom
The Evil Devil
The Evil Larvae
Showing no true Signs
Unto mortal Man.
AND THE DEAD WILL RISE AND SMELL THE INCENSE!”
The passage cited above refers to the seven planets! The Chaldean Oracles Of Zoroaster (1661) Translated by Thomas Stanley gives an interpretation of the Oracles themselves and gives us the following summation of the passage:
“Stoop not down, for a præcipice lies below on the Earth,
Drawing through the Ladder which hath seven steps; beneath which
Is the Throne of Necessity.” /
He calls the Descention into wickednesse, and misery, a Precipice; the Terrestrial and Mortasl Body, the Earth: for by the Earth he understands mortal Nature, as by the fire frequently the Divine; by the place with seven Wayes, he means Fate dependant on the Planets, beneath which there is seated a certain dire and unalterable Necessity: The Oracle therefore adviseth, that thou stoop not down towards the mortal Body, which being Subject only to the Fate, which proceeds from the Planets,…..”
Since the planets casts “fates” that were hard to deter, the ancients regarded them as some what evil. Just imagine what happens during a Mercury retrograde. The energies emanated from the planets takes up no discretion in who, or what they effect. This is why the Mad Arab was able to successfully evade the fate decided by the planets, due to his working with the Urilia Text, as he mentions in his First Testimony:
“My fate is no longer writ in the stars, for I have broken the Chaldean Covenant by seeking power over the Zonei. I have set foot on the moon, and the moon no longer has power over me. The lines of my life have been obliterated by my wanderings in the Waste, over the letters writ in the heavens by the gods.”
The Mad Arab was able to evade the fates of the planets because of his workings with the Fixed Stars, and though it appears to be a horrific description of what may have happened to him, in order to guard these secrets from the ignorant and curious, he was successful in his undertakings, as mentioned in the Book of Calling:
“And the Power of Man is the Power of the Ancient Ones
And this is the Covenant..”
The “power” described in the above passage, refers to the power of choice, even an angel, or planetary spirits do not have the “power” to alter their orbits, but man is capable of obtaining this power. The Chaldean Covenant is based on man’s coming into being and first recognizing what he/she is subtly influenced by, how the forces of nature and the stars programs him, but by learning this, he is also able to learn how to observe his emotions and thoughts as the result of both planetary and stellar emanations, and has a choice of allowing them to pass through his being or not. If I can describe someone’s persona based on their zodiac sign, then they re not free of their machine, but instead they are controlled by it. Lovecraftian scholar, Dan Harms, knew this years ago. In the Necronomicon Files, page 194, he states:
“Simon says that the mere act of invoking these creatures means that you have switched sides to the Ancient Ones.”
In view of Harms’ observation we can say that the ‘worker of Chaos’ in the Necronomicon Tradition, refers to a person who has free will and choice not subject to the “fates” dictated by the planets. Aleister Crowley was among these workers of Chaos, and due to such, the editorial team of the Simon Necronomicon dedicated the book to him:
“For he believed himself to be the incarnation of a god, an Ancient One, the vehicle of a New Age of Man’s history, the Aeon of Horus, displacing the old Age of Osiris. ”
So it is that the Body of Ishtar (astral body) is draws in the energy of the seven gates, which represents ultimately the seven stars of the Big Dipper. During the walking the planetary influence is displaced by the particular star of the Big Dipper, as the Initiate gradually frees himself from the planetary bonds and aligns with the stars of the Big Dipper, which is why Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon discusses the Big Dipper so heavily. The seal of the planet is relinquished and “buried” in the Gate. Notice what is said in Gates of the Necronomicon:
“Indeed, just as the Gates of the Necronomicon each have a planetary analogue, so do the seven stars of the Northern Dipper. The five planets and two luminaries familiar to astrologers were believed to be the grosser forms of the seven principal stars of the Northern Dipper.”
Since the Seven Gates and the zodiac exist in the Underworld, the Urilia Text calls for the use of the Invocation of Cutha. notice, however, that Enki is called the “Father” of both sides of the Underworld, as Enki possessed the power to raise someone up from this world:
“NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Remember! In the Name of our Father, ENKI, before the Flight, Lord and Master of Magicians, Open the Gate that I may enter!”
It is for this reason that we find the words of the Mad Arab timely in our discussion:
We have received a lot of emails in response to our recent post entitled Understanding The Urilia Text\’s Placement In The Simon Necronomicon. Based on such, I thought it would be good to expand on this topic and reveal some of the mysteries of the Urilia Text and how it is used by Initiates of the Necronomicon Tradition.
First, I must point out that the meaning of the Urilia Text is NOT clearly spelled out in any of the writings attributed to Simon to protect the novice from self-imposed harm. In order for an Initiate to successfully work with this rite, it must be understood by the Practitioner, which means that on some level, he/she, has been guided to this understanding by the DinGir. Many people, due to their “power-hungry” desires, have shocked themselves by sticking their fingers in high voltage sockets, and the Urilia Text is such a power source. The Mad Arab outlines the three areas of study that the Necronomicon Tradition consists of in his First Testimony:
“Know, then, that I have trod all the Zones of the Gods, and also the places of the Azonei, and have descended unto the foul places of Death and Eternal Thirst, which may be reached through the Gate of GANZIR, which was built in UR, in the days before Babylon was.”
In the passage cited above, the Mad Arab illustrates the three levels of initiation, those being; the Zones of the Gods, the places of the Azonei, and the Gate of Ganzir.
The “Zones of the Gods” corresponds to the seven gates of initiation. once these have been passed, the Initiate can summon the gate deities in the same method or formulae used to invoke one of the 50 Names of Marduk, using a particular Gate seal.
The “Gate of Ganzir” is invoked by using the incantation that appears in the Book of Calling that follows:
“BAAD ANGARRU! NINNGHIZHIDDA! Thee I invoke, Serpent of the Deep! Thee I invoke, NINNGHIZHIDDA, Horned Serpent of the Deep! Thee I invoke, Plumed Serpent of the Deep! NINNGHIZHIDDA! Open! Open the Gate that I may enter! NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Remember! In the Name of our Father, ENKI, before the Flight, Lord and Master of Magicians, Open the Gate that I may enter! Open, lest I attack the Gate! Open, lest I break down its bars! Open, lest I attack the Walls! Open, lest I leap over It by force! Open the Gate, lest I cause the Dead to rise and devour the Living! Open the Gate, lest I give the Dead power over the Living! Open the Gate, lest I make the Dead to outnumber the Living! NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Open! May the Dead rise and smell the incense!”
What about the Gate of Arzir? We find the following in the First Testimony:
“I have traveled among the stars, and trembled before the Gods. I have, at last, found the formulae by which I passed the Gate ARZIR, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul IGIGI.”
The Mad Arab makes it clear that the Gate Arzir is a formula that used to pass into the realms of the Igigi. In the Necronomicon Tradition, the Igigi equates to the realms of the Fixed Stars. Notice what we find in THE SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777, which appears the SN’s introductory notes:
“Sphere of the Zodiac or Fixed Stars = Enki; Lumashi (Igigi)..”
Here we see that the Igigi correspond to the Azonei. Although, the Mad Arab describes the Igigi as “foul,” we can only imagine that this dark metaphoric language is used so that the Initiate does not rush through the rites to get to this level. We can be certain of this, based on another passage:
“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.”
The “Book of the Black Earth” was received on the “planes of the Igigi.” It should be noted that the Simon Necronomicon is divided up into 12 sections, each corresponding to a different zodiac sign. This would also seem to indicate that his First Testimony is a parable, but it does reveal that the location of the Mountains of Masshu is the realm of the zodiac:
“When I was only a youth, travelling alone in the mountains to the East, called MASSHU by the people who live there, I came upon a grey rock carved with three strange symbols. It stood as high as a man, and as wide around as a bull. It was firmly in the ground, and I could not move it.”
Still the reader may wonder how all of this is connected to the workings of the Gate of Arzir? Notice what is mentioned in the Book of Entrance:
“For this reason, few have ever opened the Gate of ADAR, and spoken to the Horned One who resideth there and giveth all manner of wisdom regarding the operations of necromancy, and of the spells that hasten unto death. Only when thou hast shown thy power over the Maskim and the Rabishu, mayest thou venture forth to the Land of the IGIGI, and for that reason was this Covenant made, that none shall safely Walk through the sunken valleys of the Dead before having ascended to MARDUK, nor shall they breach the Gates that lie beyond ADAR until they have seen the Signs of the Mad God and felt the fury of the hellish Queen.”
Here we see that the Initiate must first ascend to the Gate of Marduk before going into Ganzir. This is to ensure that the “astral body” is equipped to handle the shock of the lower aspects of the astral kingdom. We are told in an earlier passage that the Initiate visits Ganzir to gain power over the Apsu:
“This will not give thee power over the ABSU, however, this power being obtained differently by the Ritual of Descent. This Ritual thou wilt undertake in the fifteenth day after the thirteenth of the month when thou hast summoned the Gate of MARDUK to open. For MARDUK slew the Fiends, and INANNA, the Goddess of the Fifteen, conquered the Netherworld, where some of theirs still dwell. This is a most perilous Rite, and may be undertaken by any man who as the formulae, whether he has passes the previous Gates or not, save that it is best advised to have passed through MARDUK Gate before venturing forth into the Pit.”
So why would one need to visit Ganzir to travel to the Azonei? This is explained for us in Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon, page 92. Also notice in this cited information the reference to “daath” in correspondence to Thoth, or Azag-Thoth, as we discusses in our prior article mentioned earlier in this discussion:
“To the Egyptians, the Underworld -a word transliterated variously as DWAT or TUAT or DAT –lay under the earth, as in most early religions. However, they simultaneously perceived the Underworld as existing in the sky, beyond the planets and the zodiacal signs, just as the sages of ancient India believed the Seven Rishis to exist both below and above the earth. Our term “underworld” may be, therefore, misleading. Instead, a certain kind of primordial plane or level may be implied by the concept of DAT.”
The information, quoted above, reveals that the “underworld” was believed by the ancient to exist both below the Earth and in the vast regions of outer space. It would therefore, make since that a rite similar to Ganzir would be used to access the great Igigi. Gates of the Necronomicon continues on page 90:
“Prior to this “awakening” or “opening,” the deceased has passed through seven gates in the Underworld and undergone various trials. After this ceremony, the deceased will leave the tunnel of the Underworld and reappear–not in our world–but in the heavens as a Star, an Asar, an Osiris. The Underworld, therefore, seems to be entered by the deceased from our side upon death and exited on another side upon rebirth…”
This passage compares greatly to what we read in the SN’s Introduction:
“AZAG-THOTH is, therefore, a Lord of Magicians, but of the “Black” magicians, or the sorcerers of the “Other Side”.”
The Ancient Art of Gate-Walking article clearly indicates that the seven gates of initiation lead the Initiate through the same passage that the soul of the deceased venture. In Biblical lore, we are told that the “wages sin pays is death,” but if death is the karma of “sin,” how can we ever experience forgiveness in the state of death? It is a metaphor- so that the Initiate can purge his being while alive on Earth and not go through the cycle of purification till oblivion of ones’ identification. This process is achieved through a continuous motion, back and forth though the gates, also known as Gate-Walking. This back and forth motion was likened to sexual movements, which strengthened the “astral body,” also known as the body of Ishtar, and thereby making her the “mistress of the gods.” The body of Ishtar (astral body) draws in the energy from the Gates that are visited by the Initiate in the Gate-Walking Process. Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon, states the following on page 150:
“However, the entire process of passing through the Gates as outlined in the Necronomicon has the effect of slowly building up the astral body over the entire seven-month period, very similar to the way in which the deceased passed through the seven Underworld Gates in he Egyptian mummification process…The very nature of the Necronomicon rituals themselves accelerates the formation of the astral body,..”
When the Initiate is stripped of the old persona and made anew, the astral body strengthened, they are to venture forth into the Gate of Arzir, where the purported miraculous powers are achieved. Gates of the Necronomicon, page 96 states:
“In the Sumerian epic, the Goddess Inanna (later, Ishtar of the Babylonians) descends into the Underworld and, at each of the Seven Gates, must remove an article of clothing, until she arrives naked at the end of the journey. In Asiatic shamanistic rites, the descent into the Underworld is accompanied by more brutal losses: one is torn apart by demons, dismembered, disemboweled, decapitated, and put back together after one’s inner organs have been “washed.” The self is torn apart and put back together again, at the end of which the self ascends up a pole or a tree to the stars.”
As long as the Initiate engages in walking and re-walking the Gates, he/she, will experience internal conflict. this is primarily due to the fact that each gate reveals a different perspective than the other. The view of Earth from the Moon is vastly different from the one on Mars. The main thing that must be aborted during ones’ initiation is the need to “be right.” The Urilia Text states:
“When the Great KUTULU rises up and greets the Stars, then the War will be over, and the World be One.”
The body of Ishtar is the astral body. It is has seven centers that are linked to the Seven Gates of the Underworld, and through these centers the astral body is able to feed itself. Note what is written by the Mad Arab in the Book of Calling:
“Know, fourthly, that it is become the obligation of the Priests of the Flame and the Sword, and of all Magick, to bring their Power to the Underworld and keep it chained thereby, for the Underworld is surely the Gate Forgotten, by which the Ancient Ones ever seek Entrance to the Land of the Living,..”
While energies from the seven gates empower the body of Ishtar, the astral body, the mind of the starry body is Tiamat herself. In the Urilia text we read:
“…the Ancient Worm, TIAMAT, the ABYSS, also called KUTULU the Corpse-God, yet who lies not dead, but dreaming; he whom secret priests, initiated into the Black Rites, whose names are writ forever in the Book of Chaos, can summon if they but know how.”
Gates of the Necronomicon, page 154, states:
“Once past the MARDUK Gate, it is possible to descend into the Pit itself-past the Gate called GANZIR–and to hallow the Underworld. Marduk, as vanquisher of Tiamat–the Sumerian Leviathan–gives the power necessary to preserve oneself in the face of the terrifying sights of this, the deepest layer of the human mind and brain…(page 155)..For the Underworld is just another name for the world that exists in the stars.”
The information cited above explains what is mentioned in the SN’s introduction:
“Therefore, the Goddess of the Witches has two distinct forms: the Ancient One, Goddess of the Dragon-like telluric Power which is raised in Magickal rituals, and the Elder Goddess, Defeater of Death, who brings the promise of Resurrection and Rejuvenation to her followers those who must reside for a time after death and between incarnations in what is called the “Summerland”.”
We are able to ascertain that the Urilia working is a Calling to the “fixed stars,” based on our comparison with certain passages that appear in the Simon Necronomicon. The Book of Calling, for example, is a rite where one can invoke the powers gained through initiation. Gates of the Necronomicon page 218 states:
“Whereas the Walking is a strictly self-initiation process, the Calling involves the exercise of powers that have been attained through initiation.”
The rites of the Calling and the Walking are different only in that the Initiate invokes the Gate, circles the Gate the amount of times as the star’s number, but the formulae is the same. Notice what “spirits” can be invoked as described in the Book of Calling:
“In the Ceremonies of Calling, any type of Spirit may be summoned and detained until It has answered your questions or provided you with whatever you desire. The Spirits of the Dead may be invoked. The Spirits of the Unborn may be invoked. The Spirits of the Seven Spheres may be invoked. The Spirits of the Flame may be invoked. In all, there may be One Thousand-and-One Spirits that are of principal importance, and these you will come to know in the course of your experiments.”
So if the “Spirits of the Dead” can be invoked with the formula presented in the Book of Calling, as some of these are listed in the Urilia Text, then the formulae given in the Urilia Text is used to invoke another energy. These two distinct energies as listed in the Magan Text. They are described in the account concerning Ishtar:
“And the Demons rose
And the Spirits of the Dead
And went with her out of the Gates
Looking neither right nor left
Walking in front and behind..”
Before we continue, the reader should note that in a previous article we identified Kutulu (Tiamat) with the Watcher in the article Excerpt From The Atlantean Necronomicon: KUTULU. Based on the information cited from the Magan Text, Ishtar left the Gates of the Underworld “looking neither right nor left,” confirms that the Initiatory rites of the Simon Necronomicon also take place in the Underworld, for the Book of Entrance gives us the following instructions during the Gate-Walking process:
“Seventh, thou must needs arrive back at the centre of the Gate, before thine altar, at which time thou must fall to the ground, looking neither to the right nor to the left at what may be moving there, for these Operations attract many kinds of wandering demon and ghost to the Gates,..”
The fact that KUTULU is the Watcher can be summed up in the Book of Entrance’s later passages:
“..strike the Sword of the Watcher that It may depart, and give the incantation of INANNA which say how she conquered the realm of the Underworld and vanquisheth KUTULU. “
Some may wonder why in the SN’s Introduction we are told that Tiamat is the Goddess of the Witches, along with Ishtar/Inanna, but in the above passage we see that Inanna “vanquished” Kutulu (Tiamat)? First we should take into consideration that the term Tiamat means, “Maiden of Life,” and corresponds to the Egyptian Goddess Maat. However, the power of Tiamat is similar to working with high voltage, so care needs to be taken. We find the following in the SN’s Introduction:
“…the Dragon or Serpent is said to reside somewhere “below the earth”; it is a powerful force, a magickal force, which is identified with mastery over the created world; it is also a power that can be summoned by the few and not the many.”
Getting back to our topic at hand, we are told, according to the Magan Text, that in the realms of the Underworld exist both the “Spirits of the Dead” and the “Demons.” Since the Spirits of the Dead can be called in the formulae presented in the Book of Calling, the formulae then given in the Urilia Text is used for the Fixed Stars. we can determine the identity of the demons based on previous passages in the Magan Text:
“The demons of all the Abyss lay there
Dead but Dreaming, they clung to the walls
Of the House of Death
Faceless and terrible
The ANNUNAKI stared out
Blind and Mad AZAG-THOTH reared up
The Eye on the Throne opened
The Dark Waters stirred
The Gates of Lapis Lazuli glistened
In the darkness
Unseen Monsters
Spawned at the Dawn of Ages
Spawned in the Battle of MARDUK and TIAMAT
Spawned in HUBUR
With the Sign of HUBUR
Lead by KINGU . . .”
The creatures that were spawned by Hubur are the Fixed Stars. This is accounted for in another passage that appears in the Magan Text:
“HUBUR arose, She who fashioneth all things,
And possessor of Magick like unto Our Master.
She added matchless weapons to the arsenals of the Ancient Ones,
She bore Monster-Serpents
Sharp of tooth, long of fang,
She filled their bodies with venom for blood
Roaring dragons she has clothed with Terror
Has crowned them with Halos, making them as Gods,
So that he who beholds them shall perish
And, that, with their bodies reared up
None might turn them back.
She summoned the Viper, the Dragon, and the Winged Bull,
The Great Lion, the Mad-God, and the Scorpion-Man.
Mighty rabid Demons, Feathered-Serpents, the Horse-Man,
Bearing weapons that spare no
Fearless in Battle,
Charmed with the spells of ancient sorcery,
. . . withal Eleven of this kind she brought forth
With KINGU as Leader of the Minions.”
In the Simon Necronomicon’s SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777, each of the zodiac constellations is aligned with a creature of HUBUR. Here are a few examples:
| 15. | Aries | AGRU (XUBUR) |
| 16. | Taurus | KAKKAB U ALAP SHAME (KINGU) |
| 17. | Gemini | RE’U KINU SHAME U TU’AME RABUTI (VIPER) |
| 18. | Cancer | SHITTU (SNAKE) |
| 19. | Leo | KALBU RABU (LAKHAMU) |
| 20. | Virgo | SHIRU (WHIRLWIND) |
| 21. | Jupiter | UMUNPADDU |
| 22. | Libra | ZIBANITUM (Ravening Dog) |
| 23. | Water | BADUR |
| 24. | Scorpio | AKRABU (SCORPION-MAN) |
| 25. | Sagittarius | PA-BIL-SAG (HURRICANE) |
| 26. | Capricorn | SUXUR MASH (FISH-MAN) |
| 27. | Mars | MASTABARRU |
| 28. | Aquarius | GULA (HORNED BEAST) |
| 29. | Pisces | DILGAN U RIKIS NUNI (WEAPON) |
“The first act of TIAMAT after the death pf Apsu was to increase her number of allies. We know that a certain creature called “UMMU-KHUBUR” at once spawned a brood of devilish monsters to help her in her fight against the gods. Nothing is known of the origin or attributes of UMMU-KHUBUR, but some she was a form of TIAMAT…(page 17)…Not content with Ummu-Khubur’s brood of devils, Tiamat called the stars and the powers of the air to her aid, for she “set up” (1) the Viper, (2) the Snake, (3) the god Lakhamu, (4) the Whirlwind, (5) the ravening Dog, (6) the Scorpion-man, (7) the mighty Storm-wind, (8) the Fish-man, (9) the Horned Beast. These bore (10) the “merciless, invincible weapon,” and were under the command of (11) King, whom Tiamat calls “her husband.” Thus Tiamat had Eleven mighty Helpers besides the devils spawned by Ummu-Khubur. We may note is passing that some of the above-mentioned helpers appear the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac which Marduk “set up” after his conquest of Tiamat….this fact suggests that the first Zodiac was “set up” by Tiamat, who with her Eleven Helpers formed the Twelve Signs; the association of evil with certain stars may date from that period.”
Budge’s observations confirm for us that the Fixed Stars were of Tiamat’s creation, and that stars were associated with “evil.” Interestingly, we are told the following in the SN’s Introduction about the Urilia Text:
“After the long and poetic MAGAN text, comes the URILLIA text…..It has more specifically to do with the worship of the Serpent, and the nature of the cults that participate in the Concelebration of Sin.”
Simon tells us that the Urillia Text has to do with the worship of the “serpent.” The serpent can symbolize many things, but for the point of our discussion, and the rites of the Necronomicon Tradition, it has everything to do with working with the zodiac. Mark A. Pinkham, in the book, The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom, states the following:
“When the hero Marduck had defeated the Serpent Goddess Tiamat he divided her body into 12 parts or children and placed them in the sky as the 12 signs of the Zodiac.”
The idea of stars as being evil, or as the Mad Arab would say, the most ancient evil, started at a very early date. In 1889, Sir Norman Lockyer, mentioned the following about the ancient Babylonians in Nature-Volume 40, page 360:
“….and the planets were regarded as evil spirits which disturbed the harmony of Nature…..While the Semitic religion emerged from tribal monotheism, the Akkadians followed a sect professing Mazdeism–that is, a religion admitting two principles, one good and one bad; but they thought that, as the good gods would not hurt them, it was wise to propitiate the bad ones, and propitiation easily led to worship. That is how the seven planets,…became their cheif deities.”
Based on this information, the ancient people of Mesopotamia, viewed the planets as evil spirits originally and offered them sacrifice to curb their evil influence from effecting their lives. There is a passage that appears in the Simon Necronomicon that can also be found in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster, which goes as follows:
“Stoop not down, therefore,
For an Abyss lies beneath the World
Reached by a descending Ladder
That hath Seven Steps
Reached by a descending Pathway
That hath Seven Gates
And therein is established
The Throne
Of an Evil and Fatal Force.
For from the Cavities of the World
Leaps forth the Evil Demon
The Evil God
The Evil Genius
The Evil Ensnarer
The Evil Phantom
The Evil Devil
The Evil Larvae
Showing no true Signs
Unto mortal Man.
AND THE DEAD WILL RISE AND SMELL THE INCENSE!”
The passage cited above refers to the seven planets! The Chaldean Oracles Of Zoroaster (1661) Translated by Thomas Stanley gives an interpretation of the Oracles themselves and gives us the following summation of the passage:
“Stoop not down, for a præcipice lies below on the Earth,
Drawing through the Ladder which hath seven steps; beneath which
Is the Throne of Necessity.” /
He calls the Descention into wickednesse, and misery, a Precipice; the Terrestrial and Mortasl Body, the Earth: for by the Earth he understands mortal Nature, as by the fire frequently the Divine; by the place with seven Wayes, he means Fate dependant on the Planets, beneath which there is seated a certain dire and unalterable Necessity: The Oracle therefore adviseth, that thou stoop not down towards the mortal Body, which being Subject only to the Fate, which proceeds from the Planets,…..”
Since the planets casts “fates” that were hard to deter, the ancients regarded them as some what evil. Just imagine what happens during a Mercury retrograde. The energies emanated from the planets takes up no discretion in who, or what they effect. This is why the Mad Arab was able to successfully evade the fate decided by the planets, due to his working with the Urilia Text, as he mentions in his First Testimony:
“My fate is no longer writ in the stars, for I have broken the Chaldean Covenant by seeking power over the Zonei. I have set foot on the moon, and the moon no longer has power over me. The lines of my life have been obliterated by my wanderings in the Waste, over the letters writ in the heavens by the gods.”
The Mad Arab was able to evade the fates of the planets because of his workings with the Fixed Stars, and though it appears to be a horrific description of what may have happened to him, in order to guard these secrets from the ignorant and curious, he was successful in his undertakings, as mentioned in the Book of Calling:
“Know, seventhly, of the Things thou art to expect in the commission of this Most sacred Magick. Study the symbols well, and do not be afraid of any awful spectre that shall invade thine operation, or haunt thine habitat by day or by night. Only charge them with them the words of the Covenant and they will do as you ask, of thou be strong. And if thou performest these operations often, thou shalt see things becoming dark; and the Wanderers in their Spheres shall no more be seen by thee; and the Stars in their places will lose their Light, and the Moon, NANNA, by whom thou also workest, shall become black and extinguished,
AND ARATAGAR SHALL BE NO MORE, AND THE EARTH SHALL ABIDE NOT
And around thee shall appear the Flame, like Lightning flashing in all directions, and all things will appear amid thunders, and from the Cavities of the Earth will leap forth the ANNUNNAKI, Dog-Faced, and thou shalt bring them down.”
It is for this same reason that “man” is said to be the power of the Ancient Ones in the Magan Text:“And the Power of Man is the Power of the Ancient Ones
And this is the Covenant..”
The “power” described in the above passage, refers to the power of choice, even an angel, or planetary spirits do not have the “power” to alter their orbits, but man is capable of obtaining this power. The Chaldean Covenant is based on man’s coming into being and first recognizing what he/she is subtly influenced by, how the forces of nature and the stars programs him, but by learning this, he is also able to learn how to observe his emotions and thoughts as the result of both planetary and stellar emanations, and has a choice of allowing them to pass through his being or not. If I can describe someone’s persona based on their zodiac sign, then they re not free of their machine, but instead they are controlled by it. Lovecraftian scholar, Dan Harms, knew this years ago. In the Necronomicon Files, page 194, he states:
“Simon says that the mere act of invoking these creatures means that you have switched sides to the Ancient Ones.”
In view of Harms’ observation we can say that the ‘worker of Chaos’ in the Necronomicon Tradition, refers to a person who has free will and choice not subject to the “fates” dictated by the planets. Aleister Crowley was among these workers of Chaos, and due to such, the editorial team of the Simon Necronomicon dedicated the book to him:
“For he believed himself to be the incarnation of a god, an Ancient One, the vehicle of a New Age of Man’s history, the Aeon of Horus, displacing the old Age of Osiris. ”
So it is that the Body of Ishtar (astral body) is draws in the energy of the seven gates, which represents ultimately the seven stars of the Big Dipper. During the walking the planetary influence is displaced by the particular star of the Big Dipper, as the Initiate gradually frees himself from the planetary bonds and aligns with the stars of the Big Dipper, which is why Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon discusses the Big Dipper so heavily. The seal of the planet is relinquished and “buried” in the Gate. Notice what is said in Gates of the Necronomicon:
“Indeed, just as the Gates of the Necronomicon each have a planetary analogue, so do the seven stars of the Northern Dipper. The five planets and two luminaries familiar to astrologers were believed to be the grosser forms of the seven principal stars of the Northern Dipper.”
Since the Seven Gates and the zodiac exist in the Underworld, the Urilia Text calls for the use of the Invocation of Cutha. notice, however, that Enki is called the “Father” of both sides of the Underworld, as Enki possessed the power to raise someone up from this world:
“NINNGHIZHIDDA, Spirit of the Deep, Watcher of the Gate, Remember! In the Name of our Father, ENKI, before the Flight, Lord and Master of Magicians, Open the Gate that I may enter!”
It is for this reason that we find the words of the Mad Arab timely in our discussion:
“And who is their Master? Of this I do not know, but I have heard them calling ENKI which is surely a blasphemy, for ENKI is of our Race as it is writ in the Text of MAGAN. But, perhaps, they called Another, whose Name I do not know. But surely it was not ENKI….And I have heard them calling all the Names of the Ancient Ones, proudly, at their Rites.”
Enki is the one who ultimately decides who is able to enter the realm beyond the seven gates. Some may have to work through the gates for several years before coming into the Gate of Arzir. This, however, is an act of love since the rites of the Azonei impart supernatural gifts that one cannot take lightly.
“And against the Ancient Ones, there is only defence. Only a madman, indeed, such as I am called!, can hope to have power over Them that dwell in the Outer Spaces, for their power is unknown, and the number of the hordes uncounted, and each day they breed more horrors than a man’s mind can conceive, the sight of which he can hardly bear. “
Initiation in any form is a blessing. Simon sums it up once again in Gates of the Necronomicon:
“For this reason, the Gates should have been mastered first before undertaking the Calling operations, for the Calling involves opening the last Gate–the Eighth Gate, if you will–which opens up the individual to forces that lie outside the purview of even traditional occult practice as it is understood in the literature. Nothing–no one–can prepare you for the experiences that await the opening of this Gate; it is, in a sense, entirely personal. For that reason, no one can save you should you rush into these operations without a solid background in the symbol structure.”
We know now that the “Eighth Gate” is the Calling as presented in the Urilia Text.
Warlock Asylum (The Dark Knight)
Wow !
GREAT Post ! I really appreciate the Wisdom, in Your Post.
Waking up in the morning and finding yet another incredible post is a very good start of the day!
Unfortunately I am not yet advanced enough to put your wisdom to use, however, great articles such as these will certainly benefit a lot of Gate-Walkers, and I’m grateful for your wisdom as it greatly increases our understanding of the Book and its Workings.
Keep up the good work!
Many blessings!
Nightcaller.
thank you both for your encouraging words.
this is absolutely fascinating. once again, you are to be commended Brother, for sharing your knowledge freely with those of us that follow this path. thank you so very much. your work is very inspirational to me. Cheers!
Happy Birth Day to You ! 🙂 May the DinGir Shine on You.
thank you for your thoughts
Indeed, Happy Birthday! 🙂
Many Blessings!
My regards, Nightcaller.
thank you for the blessings
Hi, I had recently sent a message in Facebook with some info for You, I hope you have received it.
Sorry, I didn’t receive it.
Ok, I am sending the info in the E-mail, with the subject “Reference from Jyotishmoy “. I hope this time you will get it.
thank you. i received it.!