We began our first discussion on the topic of Gatewalking, by first examining the origin of the English term ‘initiation.’ We were able to find that this term is of Greek and Latin origin meaning entrance, or a going in. Within the tradition of the occult mysteries, this process of ‘going in’ resulted in a transformation of ones’ consciousness and state of being. I find it very interesting that in the Sumerian Lexicon by John A. Halloran, the author offers us a similar definition for the term Kur of page 43:
“kur9, ku4: n., entrance (ki,’place’, + ùr, ‘entrance’).
v., to enter; to bring; to deliver (-ni- specifies delivery location); to enter before someone (with dative
prefix); to let enter (with -ni-); enter into the presence of (with -ši-); to turn round, turn into, transform
(with -da-) (singular [?] reduplication class stem; cf., sun5).”
This would mean that the term Kur, while it is usually defined as mountain, also was a term that meant initiation. Interestingly, Wikipedia offers us this information regarding the term Kur:
“Kur was sometimes the home of the dead[4],it is possible that the flames on escaping gas plumes in parts of the Zagros mountains would have given those mountains a meaning not entirely consistent with the primary meaning of mountains and an abode of a god. The eastern mountains as an abode of the gods, is popular in Ancient Near Eastern mythology.
The underworld Kur is the void space between the primeval sea (Abzu) and the earth (Ma).
Kur is almost identical with “Ki-gal”, “Great Land” which is the Underworld (thus the ruler of the Underworld is Erishkigal “Goddess of The Great Land”. In later Babylonian myth Kur is possibly an Anunnaki, brother of Ereshkigal, Enki, and Enlil. In the Enuma Elish in Akkadian tablets from the first millennium B.C.E., Kur is part of the retinue of Tiamat, and seems to be a snakelike dragon. In one story the slaying of the great serpent Kur results in the flooding of the earth. A first millennium cylinder seal shows a fire-spitting winged dragon–a nude woman between its wings–pulling the chariot of the god who subdued it, another depicts a god riding a dragon, a third a goddess.”
From the above quote we can safely conclude that the term Kur also meant initiation. This information also confirms our findings in our first discussion on the Art of GateWalking. Wikipedia defines Kur as ‘the land of the dead.’ In our first discussion, we learned that the path of the Initiate was a journey that the soul makes at the moment of death, going through the Gate of Men until it reached the Gate of The Gods. Here is a quote from our first article on the Art of GateWalking:
““In his Immortality of the Soul Plutarch writes that “the soul at the moment of death, goes through the same experiences as those who are initiated into the great mysteries. “
With this renewed understanding of the term Kur, we can now gain a deeper appreciation of how this term is used in the Simon Necronomicon. However, we must first consider what is said in the Introduction of the Simon Necronomicon, concerning the word Kur:
“( Note: the original translator had noted the resemblance between the Greek word for Lord, kurios, and the Sumerian word for mountain, kur, and for a type of underworld, chthoic, monster which is also called kur and which refers to the Leviathan of the Old Testament. Also, in this particular conjuration, the word for mountain is shadu – shaddai ?
The Old Serpent KUR is, of course, invoked every day by the Christians: Kyrie Eleison!)”
The term kurious is Greek for Lord, and it is a derivative of the Sumerian term Kur. This would seem to indicate then that the term kurios is a reference to those who were initiated by traveling through the land of the dead, as found in the Greater Mysteries. This also confirms previous information that we have discussed in some of our earlier writing, that being the Mountains of MASSHU, is also a reference to Kur. The Necronomicon of page 159 states:
“The Magick Spell of the Oldest Ones
The Incantation of the Primal Power
The Mountain KUR, the Serpent God
The Mountain MASHU, that of Magick”
If we remember in our Mountain of Masshu series, that Mashu was a way to access the ‘Land of the Living,’ but it was not in the ‘Land of the Living’ evidently. Another reference also supports this, as found in the Simon Necronomicon on pages 162 and 163:
“THEY ARE GHOULS
The spirit of the harlot that hath died in the streets
The spirit of the woman that hath died in childbirth
The spirit of the woman that hath dies, weeping with a babe at the breast
The spirit of an evil man
One that haunteth the streets
Or one that haunteth the bed.
They are Seven!
Seven are they!
Those Seven were born in the Mountains of MASHU”
This also supports our findings that the initiation rites, as mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon, are indeed Qliphothic in nature, and that our journey through the Gates, is a journey through the Underworld. Notice what is mentioned in the Theosophy Dictionary:
“The whole underworld was said to be ruled over by Nergal, god of wisdom, and was divided into seven spheres or regions, each under the guardianship of a watcher stationed at a massive portal. The deceased is represented as a traveler who must surrender a portion of his vestments (his sheaths of consciousness) to each one of the seven guardians in turn. ‘
It is now appropriate at this point in our discussion to examine passage in the Simon Necronomicon on page 123:
“THIS is the Book of MARDUK, begotten of our Master ENKI, Lord of Magicians, who did defeat TIAMAT, known as KUR, known as HUWAWA, in magick combat, who defeated the Ancient Ones that the Elders may live and rule the Earth….MARDUK was chosen of the Elders to fight KUR and wrest power from the Great Sleeping Serpent who dwells beneath the Mountains of the Scorpion.”
This passage brings up some interesting questions, as the Simon Necronomicon equates HUWAWA, KUR, and TIAMAT as one in the introduction of the Book of Fifty Names. Let us now examine each to these terms to see how they relate to TIAMAT.
Samuel Noah Kramer, in his work entitled Sumerian Mythology, makes the following observation:
“we may have three versions of the slaying-of-the-dragon myth as current in Sumer in the third millennium B. C. The first involves the Sumerian water-godp. 78] Enki, whose closest parallel among the Greek gods is Poseidon. The hero of the second is Ninurta, prototype of the Babylonian god Marduk when playing the role of the “hero of the gods” in the Babylonian “Epic of Creation.” In the third it is Inanna, counterpart of the Semitic Ishtar, who plays the leading role. In all three versions, however, the monster to be destroyed is termed Kur. Its exact form and shape are still uncertain, but there are indications that in the first two versions it is conceived as a large serpent which lived in the bottom of the “great below” where the latter came in contact with the primeval waters. For at least according to one of the versions, when Kur is destroyed, these waters rise to the surface of the earth and all cultivation with its resulting vegetation becomes impossible.”
In the above quote Kramer lists three distinct epics where Kur is defined as a serpent-like monstor. It is interesting to note that in all three accounts that are listed above, Enki, Ninurta, and Ishtar, all seemed to gain more power and authority after conquering Kur. However, there is one Sumerian deity that made a conscious choice to go into the land of Kur and remain there as part of a benevolent purpose. Examining this ancient epic may increase our understanding of Kur and also give us another perspective as to what Kur really is.
The Sumerian deity that voluntarily explored the depths of Kur, is none other than Ereshkigal. The Sumerian Tablet of Ereshkigal, gives us quite a bit of information as to the views of the Elder Gods in respects to the Underworld, or Kur. This epic is also known as “How Ereshkigal chose the Underworld.”
The account begins at the dawn of earthly creation, in which Enlil, is attributed as the deity who separated heaven and earth, and because of such, An, the heavenly one, weeps for Ki, or earth. The account then continues as such:
“After Ki, Mother Earth and Queen, was separated by Enlil, Lord Air, Master of Winds, their firstborn, from An, Sky father and King, and the primal Unity of Heaven and Earth was forever lost, in the Heights Above, An wept for Ki, longing for her embrace and kiss. His heartfelt tears met Nammu the Sea. She reached out for the Sky Lord, and Mother and grieving son made for the first time sweet Love. From the mingling of their bodies a Boy and a Girl, Divine Twins were born. Enki and Ereshkigal, they were called.”
The account continues by mentioning the close relationship that Ereshkigal and her twin brother Enki shared. These two twins are often depicted in the account as also having a close relationship with Enlil. It seems that they would all play together as close siblings would, and the account also illustrates the protective nature that Enki and Enlil had for there younger sister Ereshkigal. Notice how the account continues:
“As time went by, Ereshkigal and Enki grew with the blessings of Creation’s dawn. Curious and sometimes wise beyond their years, brother and sister played especially in the Watery Deep of Nammu the Sea. Enki would float here and there, whereas Ereshkigal swam and dived everywhere.
‘ Ereshkigal, I can’t see you! Come back to the surface, will you? Why do you have to hide within the waters when there is so much to see and do without?’ asked Enki with a sigh.
‘A rhetoric question, young brother, without doubt’, countered Enlil amusedly from the shore, where he kept watch over the Duku, the Holy Mound of Creation, and Mother Ki, his eyes gleaming with fond laughter. ‘Just let Ereshkigal be for a while. At least I could do without her whys and wherefores for a minute or so!’
‘ I heard you, Big Brother!’ replied Ereshkigal. She came out to the surface riding a wave, and immediately put all her efforts together to raise a mighty wall of splashing water towards the rock where Enlil watched over the Earth and Enki’s floating body. Both Enlil and Enki ran for cover. They were going to succeed and escape Ereshkigal’s watery rage… perhaps this time?
The account continues with Enlil sharing some of his thoughts and critisms about some of Ereshkigal’s perspectives:
“A fleeting shadow crossed Enlil’s smiling face. ‘I wish I saw things your way, Ereshkigal, just to understand and explain the unexplained. Take Kur, for example, and our dark little brothers and sisters who followed him to the land’s end. It is true Kur and the others looked different from us. But why did they leave the safety of the Duku, the mound of creation, why did they go beyond the Waters of Mother Nammu.’
‘You are worrying about Kur and the Dark Guardians again, Enlil. Why don’t you take them and Kur for what they are? Whatever and wherever they are?’ asked Ereshkigal.”
We can see here that although Ereshkigal was very close to her two borther, Enki and Enlil, she did have a deeper courage to some degree and a greater perspective. Notice how Ereshkigal responds:
“But why should we all be the same, Older Brother? Indeed, I believe we are all very, very different. In Form and Essence, despite some Resemblance in Appearance. I may be very wrong, Enlil, but I feel that if you keep fixing your eyes on but one thing, you’ll miss out what could be the other side of the same thing. Or person and being,’ remarked thoughtfully Ereshkigal.”
From Ereshkigal’s words we can see a definite analogy into her psychology, and a need to experience the journey within. Ereshkigal believes that Kur is ‘the other side of the same thing.’ Ereshkigal had insight that her brothers lacked because they were fixed and focused on what appeared in front of them. She lacked fear of what was unknown to her. She was becoming aware of her inner self and in order for her to fully discover and experience her total being, she needed to learn more about Kur. This is a very key point in our discussion and work with the Simon Necronomicon because it implies that Kur, the Land of the Dead, is a place that is within us, as well as outside of us. This would also explain why many of the rituals in the Simon Necronomicon are ‘invocations’ and not ‘evocations.’ Aleister Crowley illustrates the difference between invocation and evocation, in his classic Magic Book 4, page 147:
“To “invoke” is to “call in”, just as to “evoke” is to “call forth”. This is the essential difference between the two branches of Magick. In invocation, the macrocosm floods the consciousness. In evocation, the magician, having become the macrocosm, creates a microcosm”
Invocation is a more intimate experience and it is sometimes a reference that leads to possession, whereas, evocation is to call upon and command spirits, or ask them for information. Wikipedia offers us this definition of the term evocation:
“In more recent usage, evocation refers to the calling out of lesser spirits (beneath the deific or archangelic level), sometimes conceived of as arising from the self. This sort of evocation is contrasted with invocation, in which spiritual powers are called into the self from a divine source.”
When we compare the two terms, it seems as if the process of “invocation” is a more intimate experience, and can be compared to intercourse.. We find the term “invocation” used more often in the Simon Necronomicon. This seems to coincide with Ancient Chaldean and Egyptian thought. Francois Lenormant wrote in his classical work, Chaldean Magic its Origin and Development:
“When once these possessing demons were expelled from the body, the only guarantee against their return was to obtain by the power of incantations, an opposite possession by a favorable demon. A good spirit must take their place in the body of the man;…This beneficial possession was sometimes desired as the most happy of the supernatural effects of magic,..”
Lenormant later writes on page 146 of the same work:
“the whole edifice of sacred magic, of magic regarded as a holy and legitimate intercourse established by rites of divine origin, between man and the supernatural beings surrounding him on all sides.”
How this comes into play with our initial discussion is quite interesting. We mentioned previously that Kur, can sometimes be defined as the Land of the Dead. This desolate place dwells within us and without us, and it is through our ‘intercourse’ with these divine forces, which we summon through invocation, so that the dead part of ourselves can be resurrected back to life. Later, in the epic “How Ereshkigal chose the Underworld,” it states:
“Still, Ereshkigal l felt no fear for the Unknown and a longing embrace it and make her it own. I am not afraid of you. Of any of you’ she said out loud, and she meant it. ‘You are my half brother, Kur, and so are the dark little ones. And somehow I feel there is beauty within you all, even if you and others don’t have eyes to see. But I have. Dive into your Essence, brother, search for the seed that brought you, me and all into being. I also came from that seed. There you will find what unite us, what make us One of a Kind with the One who is All Kinds.’
Later, when find in Sumerian legend that Ereshkigal was noted as being the ruler of the Underworld. Since the above account describes Enki as being the twin-brother of Ereshkigal, it is in our best interests to see how these two (Enki-Ereshkigal) compare, to gain a deeper meaning of her purpose in Kur.
Enki was known in ancient times as the god of water (life-force) and he was known as the god of semen. This would mean that Ereshkigal, being Enki’s twin sister would also represent some of the same aspects as ENKI, but from a feminine perspective. Ereshkigal represents the menstruating woman. Let us take a deeper look at the process of menstruating to get an idea of how Ereshkigal is linked with this function.
Wikipedia offers us this definition of the word menustruation:
“The word “menstruation” is etymologically related to “moon”. The terms “menstruation” and “menses” are derived from the Latin mensis (month), which in turn relates to the Greek mene (moon) and to the roots of the English words month and moon—reflecting the fact that the moon also takes close to 28 days to revolve around the Earth (actually 27.32 days). The synodical lunar month, the period between two new moons (or full moons), is 29.53 days long.
Some authors believe women in traditional societies without nightlighting ovulated with the full moon and menstruated with the new moon.[37] A few studies in both humans[38] and animals[39] have found that artificial light at night does influence the menstrual cycle in humans and the estrus cycle in mice (cycles are more regular in the absence of artificial light at night), though none have demonstrated the synchronization of women’s menstrual cycles with the lunar cycle. One author has suggested that sensitivity of women’s cycles to nightlighting is caused by nutritional deficiencies of certain vitamins and minerals.[40]
Other animals’ menstrual cycles may be greatly different from lunar cycles: while the average cycle length in orangutans is the same as in humans—28 days[41]—the average for chimpanzees is 35 days.[42] Some take this as evidence that the average length of humans’ cycle is most likely a coincidence.”
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia offers us this information on the topic of menstruation:
“Periodic sloughing of the uterine lining in women of reproductive age. Menstrual bleeding indicates the first day of the menstrual cycle, which lasts an average of 27–30 days, although ranges of 21–60 days have been recorded. Menarche, the onset of menstruation, occurs between the ages of 9 and 16. The majority of females begin menstruating at ages 12–14. During the first few years, the duration and intensity of menstrual flow and the total cycle length may be quite variable, but regularity is gradually established. Cessation of menses, or menopause, occurs at an average age of 51, with a range of 42–60 years.
The menstrual cycle consists of cyclic changes in both the ovary and the uterus. These changes are controlled by the interaction of several hormones including follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), which are secreted by the anterior pituitary, and the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone, which are secreted by follicles in the ovary. At the beginning of the cycle, the follicle is stimulated by FSH. In response, it grows and secretes estrogen. The amount of estrogen secretion increases rapidly near the middle of the cycle. Estrogen, in turn, stimulates growth of the uterine lining (mucosa), which becomes thicker and fills with blood vessels. In midcycle, the rapid increase in estrogen causes a massive surge of LH release and a smaller release of FSH from the pituitary. This surge causes ovulation, which is the release of the ovum from the follicle. After ovulation, the follicle undergoes rapid changes and is then called a corpus luteum, which secretes progesterone in response to LH stimulation. Progesterone and estrogen together cause a further thickening of the uterine mucosa, preparing the uterus for pregnancy. If pregnancy does not occur, the corpus luteum degenerates, the uterine mucosa sloughs off, and the cycle begins again.”
The above reference refers to hormones such as, LH and FSH, which play a role in the process of menstruation. We discussed these two hormones in our previous article entitled; The Mountains of MASSHU and the Pituitary Gland. It was stated in this article that these two hormones, FSH and LH, were the very elementals that Enki had used to revive Inanna, in the famous epic describing her Descent. From our above definitions we can gather quite a bit of information, which compares with other ancient epics. Menstruation is the process where the body prepares itself for possible impregnation. If the theories are correct, as were cited in the Wikipedia article above, then in the world where only natural light existed, all women experienced their menstrual cycles at the same time. Ovulation (fertile egg is produced) occurred for all women during the full moon, and the discharge occurring, due to the shedding of the lining located in the womb, during the New Moon. The appearance of a New Moon and the effects it seemingly had on the female body in the ancient world, left a deep impression upon the influential minds of Ancient Sumeria. The structure of a woman’s menstrual cycle was the foundation of the Chaldean Covenant. Without the influence of artificial light, all woman in the ancient world experienced ovulation at the same time, which would occur during the full moon. This means that every woman produced an egg on the Full Moon, and at every New Moon every woman experienced bleeding. It is in like manner we find the GateWalker is advised to walk during the full moon, as stated on page 46 of the Simon Necronomicon:
“Second, on the Night of the Walking, which must be the thirteenth night of the moon…,”
Since ovulation occurred during the full moon in ancient times, it also represented the time of spiritual ovulation. Thus, it was the best time to enter the Gate, as it is a fertile time to develop the spiritual embryo discussed in our Mountains of MASSHU series. We also find in the Simon Necronomicon on page 48 the following:
“…differently by the Ritual of descent. This Ritual then will undertake in the fifteenth day after the thirteenth of the month..,”
This above passage speaks about the ritual for entering the realm of Ganzir, which is to be done during the New Moon. This coincides with the time of bleeding that occurs during a woman’s cycle, and also corresponds to the rites of the dead. This brings us back to the realm of Ereshkigal. However, before we continue it is important review some points from our previous discussions. Earlier in our discussion, we spoke about the initiatory rites that appear in the Simon Necronomicon, as being Qliphotic in nature. Now we have discussed information about going into the valley of death, a rite that is somewhat different than entering the Gates, would this not mean that the GateWalking rituals are not in the Underworld?
Let us first examine the meaning of the term Qliphotic, and then we can determine if the material we have discussed of recent is contradictory to our recent observations.
Hi, I’d just like to point out a minor error in this otherwise thought-provoking piece. The cuneiform sign meaning ‘to enter or bring to birth’ originally depicted a cattle-pen. This is graphically & semantically distinct from the KUR-sign meaning mountain. A quick look at Labat’s manual will clarify this. Gavin
Thanks for your comment, and for the added insights. Although, i did not go into the cuneiform glyph of Kur, which is mountain. My The term Kur can mean quite a few things other than mountain. This sometimes is even confusing to some scholars. So I just listed one to meanings of the term which has at times meant ‘enter’ and also ‘transformation.’