Greetings! I would like to welcome everyone to Papers In the Attic, a blog page dedicated to the workings of the Simon Necronomicon. Readers can find important information about the Necronomicon Tradition and other related subjects listed in our menu section. Please feel free to post your comments, questions and opinions, as we will try to answer these to the best of our ability. Enjoy!
In one of our recent discussions entitled, Redefining The Necronomicon Tradition, which can be accessed at the following link; http://warlockasyluminternationalnews.com/2011/04/06/redefining-the-necronomicon-tradition-2/ the question came up as to whether the term “Necronomicon” should be used in conjunction with Ancient Mesopotamian spirituality? Over the past few weeks, I was able to do some more research and approached my altar to ask the DinGir their opinion on the matter. I was fascinated with the results that I found because it solidifies, not only on an occult level, but amongst scholars that predated H. P. Lovecraft that the term “Necronomicon Tradition” is proper terminology to use in describing the rites that Initiates of the Gate-Walking Community participate in.
Commentary On The Old Testament, Volume 8, written by Daniel Denison Wilson in 1901, page 330, states:
“It may be that the Sumerian, or ancient Babylonian, is meant as a particular tongue of the Chaldeans or “wise men.” These “Chaldeans” were the dominant race who in the sixth century B. C. and for centuries afterward monopolized the highest priestly and learned offices. It is not strange that the words “Chaldean” and “sorcerer” became almost synonymous terms,..In later times the Chaldeans practiced necromancy of the grossest kind, and most abominable to pious Jews.”
The information cited above, indicates that the Chaldeans were involved in acts of necromancy, but it seems that the author has a hard time admitting this and attributes such act to a later period. This is probably due to the author’s religious beliefs, since Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, was called a Chaldean himself. We can be certain of this from other source material.
In 1921, Lewis Bayles Paton made the following observation in the historical work, Spiritism and The Cult of the Dead in Antiquity, on page 215 he states:
“The Abode of the dead.- The Sumerian population of Babylonia had reached a high stage of civilization before the Semites arrived on the scene. Primitive conceptions of the dead as resting with their kinsmen in the family grave the Sumerians had outgrown. They conceived of the shades as dwelling together in a mighty realm, and as socially organized after the manner of an ancient Babylonian kingdom.”
This shows us that the ancient Sumerian’s system of spirituality had evolved around a reverence for the dead, and this was the custom before the arrival of the Semites. This is also mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon. An example of this can be seen in the opening words of the Magan Text:
“The verses here following come from the secret text of some of the priests of a cult which is all that is left of the Old Path that existed before Babylon was built..,”
The ancient Sumerians consisted of two ethnic types, the Ethiopians and the Semites. It is important for the reader to take note of this point because many people, as well as, modern scholars focus only upon the Semitic culture of ancient Mesopotamia and not Negroid people living in these lands. Ancient Mesopotamian studies can be tricky to the unlearned and those not studied, because terms like “Sumeria” apply primarily to the Semitic population and not the Negroid inhabitants. So when people use these terms and argue that the Sumerians were not black and etc, this is correct, however, it does not escape the fact that this ancient land was inhabited by a Negroid people. The reason that I am bringing this up in this stage of the discussion, is to clarify the fact that the rites of the Semitic population living in Sumeria did indeed inherit some of its spirituality from the Negroid people living in the same land, but the acts of necromancy were mostly maintained by the aboriginal people of this land. In 1888, Isaac Myer made the following observation in a work entitled; Qabbalah: The Philosophical Writings of Solomon Ben Yehudah Ibn Gebirol, page 453:
“The sorcery of the Chaldeans was of two kinds; one, came from the power of the gods constraining the action of demons, which partakes of the characteristics of a religion, and may be termed White Magic: the other sought to propitiate the demons. The latter is witchcraft and devil worship, it is necromancy or negromancy..”
Myer clearly indicates that the magic of the Chaldeans were of two kinds, he even calls the latter “negromancy.” This is primarily because necromancy is heavily associated with the ancient rites of Negroid people. This is mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon’s Introduction:
“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”.”
A close friend of mine, who I am often in debate with, Dan Harms, author of Papers Falling Out of An Attic Window http://danharms.wordpress.com/ has often questioned me about my use of older references for source material on this blog page. He is correct that there are more modern sources available on ancient Mesopotamian spirituality, but these modern sources only focus upon the art, culture, and practices of the amalgamated and Semitic people, not the Negroid population that existed in these lands. My use of older reference material is primarily due to the fact that the workings of the Simon Necronomicon pertain to the practices of the Negroid indigenous population living in this land even before the Semitic tribes arrived into what is called “Sumeria” by western scholarship. The outer rites, as found in the Book of Calling were utilized by both the Negroid and Semitic populations, but the workings of Ganzir and the Urilia Text (which is what the Gate-Walking rites are an initiation of) were thought to be profane by the Semitic population. The reader should note that Lovecraftian scholar Dan Harms has made a great contribution to the Necronomicon Tradition and his authorship is one that exists without prejudice.
Earlier in our discussion, we cited material from Lewis Bayles Paton and his work Spiritism and the Cult of the Dead in Antiquity. In the Introductory section of this work, Paton writes:
“In the Neolithic caves of Palestine, that were inhabited by a pre-Semitic race, offerings of food and drink were deposited with the dead and their bones were used as amulets. Anthropologists agreed that no savage race exits which does not believe in some sort of immortality and practise some rites in honour of the dead.”
Earlier in Paton’s writing, he identifies this “savage race” as Africans, Native Americans, East Indians, and Asian people. Proof of a Negroid rite in ancient Sumeria is shown in the work of Godfrey Higgins. Godfrey Higgins is noted in the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry. He was an archaeologist, Freemason, and fought against Napolean, and writer of the infamous Anacalypsis. In the Anacalypsis Volume 2, first published in 1833, Higgins writes the following on page 364:
“In consequence of the prejudice (for it is really prejudice) against the Negro, or I ought rather to say, against the possibility of a Negro, being learned and scientific, arising from an acquaintance with the present Negro character, I admit with great difficulty the theory of all the early astronomical knowledge of the Chaldees having been acquired or invented by his race, and that the Chaldees were originally Negroes. But this prejudice wears away when I go to the precursors of the Brahmins, the Buddhists, and when I reflect upon the skill in the fine arts which they must have possessed when they executed the beautiful and most ancient sculptures in the Museum of the India-house, and the knowledge of astronomy shewn in their cycles of stones, &c, &c. That the Buddhists were Negroes, the icons of the God clearly prove.”
The Anacalypsis was written by Godfrey Higgins in his efforts to find the common origin of all culture and religions, and many of his findings he came in way of artifacts that predated the Semitic invasion of what is known today as Mesopotamia. He identified this ancient culture as being Negro. However, scholars today, focus only on the accomplishments of the Semitic people living in the area in later times, though ancient to us. These same scholars will use terms that the Negroid population never referred to themselves as, and this is where the novice can get confused. It was the same efforts to keep the accomplishments of the Negroid population in Egypt unnoticed. The proper term is Kemet. So to say that the Egyptians weren’t black is relatively true because the Negroid population didn’t refer to themselves as Egyptians, but as Kemetians. Egypt describes a time period where other groups had invaded the land and amalgamated with the indigenous population. Terminology is very important in archaeology, as well as, occult studies, but is often lacking in modern occult material as they use improper terms to describe the “indigenous” population, or they use a term for an invading tribe of people in conjunction with the indigenous people living in the conquered land. So the Necronomicon Tradition focuses on the indigenous rites on what today is called Mesopotamia. We can be certain of this in how some of the Simon Necronomicon is worded:
“THE verses here following come from the secret text of some of the priests of a cult which is all that is left of the Old Faith that existed before Babylon was built, and it was originally in their tongue, but I have put it into the Golden Speech of my country so that you may understand it. I came upon this text in my early wanderings in the region of the Seven Fabled Cities of UR, which are no more,..”
“These incantations are said by the hidden priests and creatures of these powers, defeated by the Elders and the Seven Powers, led by MARDUK, supported by ENKI and the whole Host of IGIGI; defeaters of the Old Serpent, ….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…”
Readers are advise to reviews the following posts, which show more evidence of a negroid population in ancient Sumeria:
http://warlockasyluminternationalnews.com/arra-sign/
http://warlockasyluminternationalnews.com/2009/12/09/the-identity-of-the-sumerians-as-seen-in-ancient-art/
But how can we be sure that the workings of the Simon Necronomicon have to do with the indigenous Negroid population of what is called “Sumerian.” One reference of this is what is found in the Simon Necronomicon Spellbook:
“THESE SPELLS were originally worked by the mystics of ancient Sumeria, a mysterious civilization that flourished in what is now knows as Iraq over two thousand years before the birth of Christ. No one knows who the Sumerians really were, or where they came from. Some say they came from the darkest parts of Africa, where they were a nomadic people.”
The other indication is found in the Mad Arab’s words that follow:
“I have traveled on the Spheres, and the Spheres do not protect me. I have descended into the Abyss, and the Abyss does not protect me. I have walked to the tops of mountains, and the mountains do not protect me. I have walked the Seas, and the Seas do not protect me.”
This is a very important passage of the Mad Arab’s work for it reveals the reason philosophy of the ancient Cult of the Dead. Spirits of the heavens, or celestial gods had no sway over a person dying, only the dark gods could prevent death. Interestingly, throughout all religions, only the gods that have visited the underworld possessed the power of resurrection. An example of this can be seen even in the world of Christianity, wherein the Old Testament Yahweh imposes the principle from ‘dust you are to dust you shall return.” However, in the New Testament we find Jesus is able to resurrect others after he visits the underworld, where he makes a treaty with the powers of darkness. This is first symbolized by his baptism, where he descended down under the waters and rises above them. It is also expressed in his mythological death and resurrection. Notice what is mentions by Paton in Spiritism, The Cult of the Dead:
“The great gods whom men loved and adored were gods of the upper world and of the living; their sway did not extend into the dark abodes of the dead…When death came it was a sign that their favor was withdrawn, or that they were unable to help against the powers of darkness. The disembodied spirit passed out of their jurisdiction into that of divinities with whom in life it had established no friendly relations.”
It is important for the Initiate to establish a relationship with the forces of darkness for reasons cited above. This was the case with one of the most legendary kings in history. Paton continues on page 261:
“The dark holy of holies of Solomon’s temple, with its anteroom, in which a lamp was kept burning and bread and incense were offered, was the counterpart of an ancient Canaanite tomb…,Sacrifice is a rite that has meaning only in the cult of the dead. The blood, in which the life of the animal resides, is poured out in order that the shades may drink of it and renew their vigour. Offerings of food and drink are not needed by celestial deities, but are needed by spirits of the dead, and have been offered to them from the earliest times…,and were afterward extended to other divinities..,”Here we find that the Mad Arab words cited above reflect the indigenous Cult of the Dead, or the Negroid rites of ancient “Sumeria.” Another way we can determine that the workings of the Simon Necronomicon are those of the Negroid rite, is due to the many similarities between its workings and those of African spirituality, namely Ifa, sometimes referred to as Yoruba. The similarities between Ifa and the workings in the Simon Necronomicon are too numerous to mention, but I will give one example.
Oshun is an Orisha in the Yoruban religion is associated with love, beauty, intimacy, wealth, and diplomacy. Oshun is associated with Venus and corresponds to Inanna, or Ishtar, upon which we read the following in the Simon Necronomicon:
“The Goddess of Venus is the most excellent Queen INANNA, called of the Babylonians ISHTAR. She is the Goddess of Passion, both of Love and of War, depending upon her sign and the time of her appearance in the heavens. She appears as a most beautiful Lady, in the company of lions….Her color is the purest White. Her manifestation is in the metal Copper, and also in the most beautiful flowers of a field, and in the saddest death of the battlefield, which is that field’s fairest flower.”
The Mad Arab’s description of Inanna/Ishtar corresponds directly to the Orisha Oshun. Also it should be noted that Ishtar’s color is white. Interestingly, Oshun’s color is yellow, but it was white at one time and changed for the following reason, as explained by the following website http://agolaroye.com/Oshun.php:
“Oshun’s color is yellow now and when I say now I mean that is the color that represents her in this time life. When Oshun was first born she had on a white dress. This was the only dress that Oshun had and owned. But everyday Oshun would go to the river and wash her only white dress. After a while Oshun noticed that her white dress was starting to fade into a bright yellow. Oshun was amazed and happy that she had a yellow dress because none of the adult orishas owned or had anything with the color yellow. From that day forward, yellow became the primary color to the orisha Oshun.”
In another website, we find additional information that compares greatly to Inanna/Ishtar http://www.7-angeles.com/ochun.html:
“In one story, she had to become a prostitute to feed her children and the other Orishas removed her children from her home. Oshun went insane from grief and wore the same white dress every day; it eventually turned yellow. Aje’-Shaluga, another Orisha, fell in love with her while she was washing her dress. He gave her money and gems which he collected from the bottom of the river he lived in. They were married and she was reunited with her children.”
From those who are familiar with the history of Ishtar, know well that the priestesses of Ishtar were called prostitutes. It should be noted that “prostitute” originally meant “temple priestess.” If we take into consideration that the cult of Ishtar was revered by the Negroid Chaldees, then we can see how this myth concerning Oshun, explains to what happened to Ishtar’s cult; or did Simon know this already?:
“THESE SPELLS were originally worked by the mystics of ancient Sumeria, a mysterious civilization that flourished in what is now knows as Iraq over two thousand years before the birth of Christ. No one knows who the Sumerians really were, or where they came from. Some say they came from the darkest parts of Africa, where they were a nomadic people.”
The connections between the Ifa and ancient rites of Sumerian, can be observed in more detail in one of our previous posts, though this topic is open to more exploration; http://warlockasyluminternationalnews.com/the-necronomicon-keys-of-sumerian-reconstruction-is-found-in-african-history-part-2-the-watcher/
From the view of the information above, let us know look into the answer of whether or not the term “necronomicon” is appropriate in describing ancient “Mesopotamian” spirituality? We can safely say yes, primarily since scholars use a term relative to the word “Necronomicon.” The following references are made by noted scholars who have no involvement with the Necronomicon Tradition:
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, states the following on page 25:
“The two terms more likely refer to two distinct groups of otherworldly being; the chthonic gods summoned to assist in the retrieval of a conjured ghost and the ghost itself attested in Mesopotamian necromantic traditions…In the first half of King Saul’s inquiry the woman refers to the appearance of the gods of the netherworld (“chthonic gods {elohim} coming up from earth) that were typically invoked in Mesopotamian necromantic rituals for their ability to assist in the retrieval of particular ghosts.”
Although the above passage is relative to Biblical information it sounds like an essay from someone versed in the Necronomicon Tradition. Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, written by Marvin W. Myer and Paul Allan Mirecki, states the following on page 90:
“… with the mid-first millennium divination and (in particular) necromantic traditions from Mesopotamia are remarkable.”
These references indicate that there is indeed a “necromantic tradition,” as it is called by scholars, which was relative to a form of spirituality that existed in ancient Mesopotamian. So the term “Necronomicon Tradition” is relative to form of ancient Mesopotamian spirituality and from the information discussed so far, it would be the Negroid rites that existed in ancient Mesopotamian.
