The Three Levels of Initiation Within The Necronomicon Tradition

Greetings! I would like to welcome everyone to the Simon Necronomicon Practitioner’s Journal. If this is your first time here, please review some of our previous articles and comment on such as you find the need. Stay Blessed!

The other day I was reviewing some material in Gates of the Necronomicon by Simon, on page 223 we find the following:

“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 the individual up to forces and experiences that lie outside the purview of even traditional occult practice as it is understood in the literature….(page 224)..To the Mad Arab, any act of contacting the Dead, various spirits, or monstrous entities was an act of “opening the Gate”: the Gate to the Underworld, which is perceived by him to exist both below the earth and somewhere in space..”

The information cited above reveals yet another mystery held within the Necronomicon Tradition, opening the Eighth Gate. The Eighth Gate, according to the information just cited, involves the Calling. In a recent article entitled Is The Book of Calling A Trap Created By The Scorpion Man, we discovered that the ceremonies of Calling, after one has been initiated into the Necronomicon Current, are found in the Urilia Text, while the initiatory rites of Calling are found in the Book of Calling. According to Gates of the Necronomicon, opening the “gate” was perceived by the Mad Arab as a door that led to both below the earth and the outer regions of space. we find the same correspondence in the Urilia Text formulae. This formulae involves opening the Gate of Ganzir, the Eighth Gate. notice what is written in the Urilia Text:

“And when thou hast accomplished this, and made the proper sacrifice, thou mayest begin calling whichsoever of the offspring thou mayest, after opening the Gate.

DO NOT OPEN THE GATE, SAVE FOR AN ESPECIAL TIME THAT THOU STATE AT THE TIME OF OPENING, AND IT MAY NOT STAY OPEN FOR A MOMENT AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE HOUR OF TIAMAT, ELSE ALL THE ABYSS BREAK FORTH UPON THE EARTH, AND THE DEAD RISE TO EAT THE LIVING, FOR IT IS WRIT: I WILL CAUSE THE DEAD TO RISE AND DEVOUR THE LIVING, I WILL GIVE TO THE DEAD POWER OVER THE LIVING, THAT THEY MAY OUTNUMBER THE LIVING.”

The “gate” that is referred to in the Urilia Text in the same “gate” that is represented by the Three Seals of Masshu as mentioned in the Mad Arab’s First Testimony:

“These are the signs carved upon the grey stone, that was the Gate to the Outside:”

From the information that we have discussed so far, we can get a clearer understanding of the Mad Arab’s words found in the section Of The Zonei And Their Attributes:

“The Chaldeans were but imperfect in their knowledge, although they had understanding of the Ladder, and certain of the formulae. They did not, however, possess the formulae for the passing of the Gates, save one, of whom it is forbidden to speak.”

The Mad Arab, in the above cited passage, clearly indicates that the Chaldeans did not work with the initiatory rites of the Zonei, but with the Gate to the Outside itself. he refers to their knowledge as “imperfect,” meaning they did not have an initiatory system even though they knew about the “ladder,” what some may call the planetary realms. This reveals to us that the seven-gate initiation given to us leads the Initiate into the Urilia text formulae. I must inform the reader that use of the term “Urilia text” is not referring to the entities within this text, for that is a true trap, but to the method of Calling. Earlier in our discussion, we mentioned that this Gate can be used to access forces that exist below the earth and the outer regions of space. We find this to be true when opening this Gate based on the information given to us in the Magan Text. In the account of Ishtar’s flight to the Land of Cutha, we learn that the “fixed stars,” the outer regions of space can be accessed through this Gate. Here is one passage that supports this:

“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 by HUBUR
With the Sign of HUBUR
Lead by KINGU . . .”

The creatures spawned by Hubur represented the signs of the Zodiac. Earlier in the Magan Text, Hubur is described as the creator of these creatures that fought with Marduk:

“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.”

Hung Society Or the Society of Heaven and Earth, by J. S. M. Ward, W. G. Stirling, describes the creatures summoned by Tiamat as aspects of the zodiac. On page 73 of the said work, we find the following in the footnotes:

“In the Babylonian story of Marduk’s Fight with Tiamat, the dragon, we learn that the latter created the Scorpion-man, and other monsters, to aid her in the fight….Undoubtedly these monsters represent  the signs of the zodiac fighting against the sun, and the Scorpion-man is the sign Scorpio.”

In the Simon Necronomicon’s Introduction we find that the zodiac is relative to Enki. Let us review the information in SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777:

0	Table VII [A.C.]	Table XXV [S.]
1	. . . .	ANU (TIAMAT)
2	Sphere of the Primum Mobile	ENLIL (ABSU)
3	Sphere of the Zodiac or Fixed Stars	ENKI; LUMASHI (IGIGI)

The creature spawned by Hubur were relative to an ancient depiction of the zodiac. this is also described by the Mad Arab in his First Testimony:

“I have, at last, found the formulae by which I passed the Gate ARZIR, and passed into the forbidden realms of the foul IGIGI.”

These foul Igigi correspond to the realm of the zodiac or Fixed Stars, which is often referred to in the Greater Mysteries as the Eighth Gate. Before we proceed further, the reader should note that the Mad Arab had discovered a specific formulae for entering these realms, which he called the Gate “Arzir.” it should also be noted that these “creatures of Hubur” existed, according to the Magan Text in the realm of the great Ereshkigal. This would indicate that the Urilia Text formulae concerned itself with opening the gate to the Fixed Stars. Notice what is mentioned in the Uriia Text itself:

“Thus are the Four Spirits of the Four Spaces, and their Seasons; and they dwell between the Sun’s Spaces, and are not of them, but of the Stars, and, as it is said, of the very IGIGI themselves although this is not altogether known.”

I recently discovered an online Thelemic article entitled Hermetic Gnosticism: Epistle on the Discourse of the 8th & 9th. The website gives us a summary of the article. Notice how the articles verify the information that we have discussed so far:

“The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth is an account of a Hermetic initiation. The initiate, having already attained to the wisdom of the first seven spheres (the seven sacred planets) is instructed and then initiated by Hermes Trismegistus into the mysteries of the 8th sphere, that of the fixed stars and finally into the 9th, the sphere of God.  The initiate first learns intellectually and purifies him or herself. Then he or she receives a spiritual initiation from Hermes Trismegistus, an actual mystic experience that confirms the intellectual knowledge, encompasses it and then transcends it.“

The 8th sphere referred to by the Gnostic Church is the same as the 8th Gate that Simon discusses in Gates of the Necronomicon. Hermes Trismegistus is Thoth, or in the Necronomicon Mysteries, Azag-Thoth, wherein the Priest of Priestess is transformed into the class of Nyarlathotep. In the Simon Necronomicon’s Introduction we find the following under the subheading SUMERIA:

“Although a list is appended hereto containing various entities and concepts of Lovecraft, Crowley, and Sumeria cross-referenced, it will do to show how the Editor found relationships to be valid and even startling. AZATOT is frequently mentioned in the grim pages of the Cthulhu Mythos, and appears in the NECRONOMICON as AZAG-THOTH, a combination of two words, the first Sumerian and the second Coptic, which gives us a clue as to Its identity. AZAG in Sumerian means “Enchanter” or “Magician”; THOTH in Coptic is the name given to the Egyptian God of Magick and Wisdom, TAHUTI, who was evoked by both the Golden Dawn and by Crowley himself (and known to the Greeks as Hermes, from whence we get “Hermetic”). AZAG-THOTH is, therefore, a Lord of Magicians, but of the “Black” magicians, or the sorcerers of the “Other Side”.”

Thoth is Enki. We can  see the authenticity and consistency of the Necronomicon Tradition with the inner secret teachings of the adepts of ancient times, before Babylon was founded. The Mad Arab makes mention of a “special initiation” that occurs. These words must be of some importance for they are written twice. He mentions this initiation in the Urilia Text:

“When the Great KUTULU rises up and greets the Stars, then the War will be over, and the World be One.”

Later, in his Second Testimony, he states:

“Know that TIAMAT seeks ever to rise to the stars, and when the Upper is united to the Lower, then a new Age will come of Earth, and the Serpent shall be made whole, and the Waters will be as One, when on high the heavens had not been named.”

These two passages refer to a “special initiation” that one receives while traveling through the realms of the Igigi. There is another interesting point when we compare these two passages, is that they refer to the Underworld below the earth connecting with the Underworld in the outer regions of space. This is know in the Necronomicon Tradition as “bridging the body of Enki.” It is Enki that can reach one whether they are in the Land of the Living, below the earth, and in the outer regions of space. Notice what in mentioned in the Gate to the Outside incantation:

“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!”

We are beckoned to call upon Enki when opening this Gate, but the state of Enki before the flight, for he too is a “serpent.” It is through DinGir Enki that the lower and upper worlds are connected.This is an inner alchemy, where the Initiate merges the lower mind with the higher. It is raising the dragon currents to those that are within the zodiac. it is obtaining that peace that was in the beginning when the waters were one. It was a time when Tiamat and Enki were considered one! The Encircled Serpent by M. Oldfield Howey, states the following on page 107:

“..and Hea, or Ea, symbolized by a serpent, Lord of the Sea, and of Wisdom, later identified with Tiamat.”

It seems evident that DinGir Enki holds sway in deciding who proceeds further into the system. We find these words of the Mad Arab in the Book of Entrance:

“And the Number of ENKI is Forty a most excellent Number, and he is our Father, of all who would tread these forgotten paths, and wander into Lands unknown, among the Wastes, amid frightful monsters of the Azonei.”

Here it is then, that after initiation by the seven gates, the Initiate is to move on to the realms of the Igigi using the Urilia Text formulae. Notice what is mentioned by the Mad Arab:

“Only when ADAR has been obtained, may the Priest consider himself a master of the planes of the Spheres, and able to wrestle with the Old Gods. Once Death Herself has been stared in the Eye, can the Priest then summon and control the denizens of Death’s darkly curtained halls. Then can he hope to open the Gate without fear and without that loathing of the spirit that slays the man…..Then cane he hope to have power over the demons that plague the mind and the body, pulling at the hair and grasping at the hands, and the screaming vile Names into the airs of the Night…For what comes on the Wind can only be slain by he who knows the Wind; and what comes on the seas can only be slain by he who knows the Waters. This is it written, in the Ancient Covenant.”

He “who knows the waters” is the Initiate who has Walked the realm of the Igigi. The Mad Arab also speaks about “he who knows the Wind.” This would be the Initiate who has Walked the realms of the nine entities mentioned in the Urilia Text. Thus, we can say that the Necronomicon Tradition of three initiations, before going into Anuship, in this order:

1) Walking the Seven Gates of Initiation

2) ENKI: Walking the Realms of the Igigi, the Sphere of the Zodiac. The Initiate makes the effort to Walk each of the 12 zodiac signS according to their ancient Mesopotamian correspondence.

3) ENLIL:The Initiate now proceeds to Walk each of the entities existing in the Urilia Text, the nine sigils.

After these steps have been taken may the Initiate pursue Anuship. I would like to share my personal experiences concerning the work of the Igigi in my next essay. Thank you for listening. Stay Blessed!