Greetings!
I would like to thank everyone who has supported the SIMON NECRONOMICON GATEWALKER’S INFO PAGE! Lately, we have been discussing some of the other aspects of the Simon Necronomicon, in fairness to those who are subscribing to the correspondence course. This is our second discussion about the Simon Necronomicon Pantheon entitled Worshippers of the Ancient Ones. Many readers and students of the Simon Necronomicon have analyzed and debated the relationship between the Elder Gods and the Ancient Ones. While there are historical records that point to negative forces that were banished by the Chaldeans in their rites, the term Ancient Ones is somewhat of a modern creation from August Derleth’s involvement with the Lovecraftian Necronomicon Tradition. Notice what is mentioned by Wikipedia under the subject Cthulhu Mythos:
“Derleth’s take on the mythos was to try to conform it to his own Roman Catholic values and dualism. Instead of a universe of meaninglessness and chaos, Derleth’s mythos is a struggle of good versus evil.[15] Derleth once wrote:
As Lovecraft conceived the deities or forces of his mythos, there were, initially, the Elder Gods… [T]hese Elder Gods were benign deities, representing the forces of good, and existed peacefully at or near Betelgeuze in the constellation Orion, very rarely stirring forth to intervene in the unceasing struggle between the powers of evil and the races of Earth. These powers of evil were variously known as the Great Old Ones or the Ancient Ones…
—August Derleth, “The Cthulhu Mythos”[16]
Lovecraft was an atheist,[17] and claimed that Kant’s ethical system “is a joke.”[citation needed] Derleth’s theories about the Cthulhu Mythos thus differ from Lovecraft’s concept, which was not really a cohesive, singular entity, but rather a collection of ideas that could be used in separate works to provoke the same emotions.[18]
The Elder Gods of Derleth’s mythos never appear in Lovecraft’s writings, except for one or two termed “Other Gods” such as Nodens in Lovecraft’s “The Strange High House in the Mist” (though perhaps this is an example of how “very rarely [they stir] forth”; i.e., usually never). Furthermore, in Lovecraft the Great Old Ones, or Ancient Ones, have no unified pantheon. Indeed, the term “Ancient Ones” appears in only one Lovecraft story, “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” actually a collaboration between Lovecraft and his friend and correspondent E. Hoffmann Price.”
From the above quote, we can see that some of the aesthetics in the Simon Necronomicon are a reflection of this. However, we should be aware of the fact that throughout Man’s evolution, his gods and demons have also evolved.. The characteristics and energies that were revered in ancient times are only honored by a select few, many of which practice their traditions while remaining solitaire. The Simon Necronomicon also supports this analysis in its Introduction, under the subtopic SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777, it states:
“THE CHART that follows is based on research presently available to the Editor with regard to Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian religions. Entries in parentheses refer to the state of correspondences before the advert of the Elder Gods, the Race of MARDUK; that is, it reflects the nature of the cosmos before the Fall of MARDUK from Heaven.”
The above quote indicates that the GateWalking Process that appears in the Simon Necronomicon is not classified on the premise of duality. Therefore, the Chart equates ENKI with the IGIGI and ANU with TIAMAT. There are negative or chaotic forces, that existed in the magical workings of the Chaldeans, however, the idea of a battle between the forces of good and evil is a metaphor for the war that exists within Man. The URILLA Text, mentions on page 202 of the Simon Necronomicon the following:
“And a man may cry out, what have I done, and my generation that such evil shall befall me? And it mean nothing, save that a man, being born, is of sadness, for he is of the Blood of the Ancient Ones, but has the Spirit of the Elder Gods breathed into him. And his body goes to the Ancient Ones, but his mind is turned towards the Elder Gods, and this is the War which shall be always fought, unto the last generation of man; for the World is unnatural. When the Great KUTULU rises up and greets the Stars, then the War will be over, and the World be One”
So a great part of this work involves transforming what is dead within us, or ancient, into that which is useful. Some followers of the Simon Necronomicon Tradition have gotten stuck on the idea of there being two classes of deities that are at War. So for some of us the question may arise that if there isn’t a war between two sets of deities, as it seems to suggest in the Simon Necronomicon, then why is it written in such a way? How can I find these things in the Simon Necronomicon itself?
The Simon Necronomicon advises us in its Introduction, under the subtopic, The Mythos and the Magick:
“These were the sorcerer’s handbooks, and generally not meant as textbooks or encyclopedias of ceremonial magick. In other words, the sorcerer or magician is supposed to be in possession of the requisite knowledge and training with which to carry out a complex magickal ritual, just as a cook is expected to be able to master the scrambling of eggs before he conjures an “eggs Benedict”; the grimoires, or Black Books, were simply variations on a theme, like cookbooks, different records of what previous magicians had done, the spirits they had contacted, and the successes they had. The magicians who now read these works are expected to be able to select the wheat from the chaff, in much the same fashion as an alchemist discerning the deliberate errors in a treatise on his subject.”
One reason why this ideology of the Ancient Ones warring with the Elder Gods appears in the Simon Necronomicon, is because it works as a filtering process, and enables only those with right intent to access the energies and true meaning of the Necronomicon Tradition. How so? When the student approaches this work with this idea of duality in divinity or a war between the gods, he/she is approaching the information from a false sense of self, or from what some might call the false ego. It is due to such attitudes that no real transformation occurs and the student enters the path of self-deception. The student falls unto this path of self-deception because they assume that the quality of goodness is based on choice and since they have not used the teachings to discover what is real about themselves and their own weaknesses, the candidate for initiation obtains a false idea about his or her own self, and their ability to do. In Search of the Miraculous, written by P.D. Ouspensky, Gurdjieff is quoted as saying:
“Objective knowledge, the idea of unity included, belongs to objective consciousness. The forms which express this knowledge when perceived by subjective consciousness are inevitably distorted and, instead of truth, they create more and more delusions. With objective consciousness it is possible to see and feel the unity of everything. But for subjective consciousness the world is split up into millions of separate and unconnected phenomena. Attempts to connect these phenomena into some sort of system in a scientific or philosophical way lead to nothing because man cannot reconstruct the idea of the whole starting from separate facts and they cannot divine the principles of the division of the whole without knowing the laws upon which this division is based”
Sadly enough the student thinks that he/she can battle cosmic forces that were strong enough to bring the phenomenal world into being, or they make the assumption that the very same gods that are responsible for their existence actually need their help in fighting against chaotic forces. These ignorant assumptions prevent the student from obtaining any real transformation, even when Walking the Gates, since the student’s false assumptions about themselves doesn’t allow their being to develop, but serves only to deceive the mind into thinking that the “work” is about a mental choice, and this is something that contradicts the whole legacy of Ancient Middle Eastern teachings.
This sort of ignorance is also predominant in the New Age Movement, where so-called enlightened individuals still allow Christian ethics to govern their traditions. Christianity in itself also fell victim to this same ignorance. I usually ask my students to read the Bible after Walking the Gates, to see if their understanding of the scriptures has changed. Jesus mentions in Revelation 22:16 that he is the “morning star” or “Lucifer.” Jesus was the serpent who offered Eve the fruit. Jesus was the Initiate who was betrayed by the Scorpion Man, or the Sun in Scorpio, for thirty pieces of Silver likened to the Sun traveling thirty degrees through the sign of Scorpio. Jesus was sent to earth to die in the same manner that the Initiate walks through the Seven Gates of MASSHU, to shed their old personality, or die and then ascend to a heavenly consciousness. It is interesting to note that the resurrection of Jesus, is celebrated during the same time that the ancient people of Mesopotamia celebrated DUMUZI’s resurrection during a holiday called Easter, which is a derivative of the name ISHTAR. The example of Jesus shows us just how far the act of misinterpretation can go due to the false ego.
There is another example of how the false ego can put the Initiate on a path of self-deception, which was recorded in Ancient Babylon. It is known as the Myth of Adapa. This legend actually concerns the process of Initiation, but since Adapa allows his false self to get into the way of true understanding he eventually loses out on immortality. Adapa is still able to perform many things, but his false self does to allow him to take the food of life that was offered to him by ANU. We can see how Adapa confidently responds as he faces threats from the South Winds:
“”South Wind, though you send your brothers against me
however many there are,
I shall break your wing!”
In the account Adapa mentions that he would break the wing of the South Wind. The usage of the term wing is a clear indication that Adapa was speaking about the same entities that are mentioned in the Siomon Necronomicon, as mentioned in the URILLA Text:
“The Lord of Abominations is HUMWAWA of the South Winds,… Know that HUMWAWA and PAZUZU are brothers. HUMAWAW is the eldest, who rides upon a silent, whispering wind and claims the flocks for his own.”
Interestingly, In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought. He is also described with two sets of wings. It is likely however, that the above passage was used to illustrate the ancient Sumerian custom of displaying images of PAZUZU to ward off attacks from LAMASHTU. The fact that Adapa mentions breaking the wing of the South Wind clearly illustrates his skilled use of magic. Yet his proficiency in magic did not assure him Immortality. Scholars have long thought that Adapa’s refusal of eating the Food of Life, was due to his following the instructions given to him by ENKI, and to a large degree ENKI has been seen as a trickster god due to such accounts. Let us take a deeper look into the epic of called the MYTH OF ADAPA, to see what role ENKI had to play in the outcome of things. Notice the following passages:
“Ea, aware of heaven’s ways, touched him
And . . . made him wear his hair unkempt,
Clothed him in mourning garb,
Gave him instructions, “
It is interesting to note how ENKI told Adapa to keep himself unkempt when visiting heaven. This clearly indicates that this account is of Sumerian origin and not that of Ancient Babylon. S. N. Kramer mentions in his book The Sumerians that the Sumerians looked upon the afterlife as a dismal reflection of the Land of the Living. The divisions of the Heavens came during the Babylonian period. He also notes that when one was to descend into the Netherworld they were not to partake of its food or wear good clothing. This shows us that this account is indeed of Ancient Sumerian origin. Let us continue:
“”Adapt, you are to go before king Anu.
You will go up to heaven,
And when you go up to heaven,
When you approach the Gate of Anu,
Dumuzi and Gizzida will be standing in the Gate of Anu,”
DUMUZI and GIZZIDA (another name for NINNGHIZHIDDA) are both Underworld deities. This supports our recent observation that this account occurred in the Underworld. It also supports the observations made in the SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL TO 777 placing ANU in the same region as TIAMAT. Let us continue:
“’They are Dumuzi and Gizzida.’
They will look at each other and laugh a lot
Will speak a word in your favor to Anu,
Will present you to Anu in a good mood.
When you stand before Anu
They will hold out for you bread of death, so you must not eat.
They will hold out for you water of death, so you must not drink.”
Notice what is mentioned later in the account and how the above passage is contradictory to ANU”S statement:
“”Why did Ea disclose to wretched humankind
The ways of heaven and earth,
Give them a heavy heart?
It was he who did it!
What can we do for him?
Fetch him the bread of eternal life and let him eat!”
They fetched him the bread of eternal life, but he would not eat.
They fetched him the water of eternal life, but he would not drink.
They fetched him a garment, and he put it on himself.
They fetched him oil, and he anointed himself.
Anu watched him and laughed at him. “
We can see that ENKI told Adapa not to eat the Bread of Eternal Life, as described by ANU. Interestingly, there are no accounts amongst the Ancient peoples of Mesopotamia where a set of Older Gods deceived Man. If anything, it was what the Simon Necronomicon would describe as the Elder Gods, that brought about the flood, destroyed cities, and etc. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul. MN. Llewellyn Worldwide. 2005. p. 300 gives us the following definition to the term maskim:
“Maskim, in Babylonian occult tradition, was the seven evil spirits associated with the seven planets. They were thought to rise in the west and set in the east, just opposite of the solar path; and the brought ever illness, calamity, and destruction to humanity. Impressive rituals to ward off the influence of the Maskim still survive in Mesopotamian clay records. A.G.H.”
The above quote shows us that the some of the negative forces that were encountered by the Ancient Sumerians, were actually dark sides, of the planetary deities, or what the Simon Necronomicon would describe as the Elder Gods. The reason why Adapa failed to eat the Bread of Eternal Life, was due to his trust in ENKI, or his belief in the good guys versus the bad guys. If Adapa was thinking with his true self, and not just looking to feed his ego, he would have asked himself why would ENKI’s father, ANU, offer him something that was harmful? Therefore, why would the Initiate consider that the Mother of the Gods TIAMAT, is evil and not her children? If the Initiate has not learned the nature of their false self, they will indeed deceive themselves into applying these ‘good guys versus bad guys’ into their ideology. The problem with this is that the Initiate creates a feeling of contentment for themselves because they feel that they are supporting the ‘good side.’ It is important that the Initiate learn to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff.’ Notice what is stated in the Introduction of the Simon Necronomicon:
“There was a battle between the forces of “light” and “darkness” (so-called) that took place long before man was created, before even the cosmos as we know it existed. It is described fully in the Enuma Elish and in the bastardised version found in the NECRONOMICON, and involved the Ancient Ones, led by the Serpent MUMMU-TIAMAT and her male counterpart ABSU, against the ELDER GODS (called such in the N.) led by the Warrior MARDUK, son of the Sea God ENKI, Lord of Magicians of this Side, or what could be called “White Magicians” – although close examination of the myths of ancient times makes one pause before attempting to judge which of the two warring factions was “good” or “evil”. MARDUK won this battle – in much the same way that later St. George and St. Michael would defeat the Serpent again – the cosmos was created from the body of the slain Serpent, and man was created from the blood of the slain commander of the Ancient Army, KINGU, thereby making man a descendent of the Blood of the Enemy, as well as the “breath” of the Elder Gods; a close parallel to the “sons of God and daughters of men” reference in the Old Testament. Yet, though the identity of the Victor is clear, there were – and are – certain persons and organisations that dared side with the vanquished, believing the Ancient Ones to be a source of tremendous, and most unbelievable, power.
Later it mentions the following in the Introduction of the Simon Necronomicon, under the topic The Devil:
“Although the Christian religion has gone to great lengths to prove that the Devil is inferior to God and exists solely for His purpose, as the Tempter of Man – surely a dubious raison d’etre – the Sumerian Tradition acknowledges that the Person of “Evil” is actually the oldest, most Ancient of the Gods. Whereas Christianity states that Lucifer was a rebel in heaven, and fell from God’s grace to ignominy below, the original story was that MARDUK was the rebel, and severed the Body of the Ancient of Ancient Ones to create the Cosmos in other words, the precise reverse of the Judeo-Christian dogma. The Elder Gods evidently possessed a certain Wisdom that was not held by their Parents, yet their Parents held the Power, the Primal Strength, the First Magick, that the Elder Ones tapped to their own advantage, for they were begotten of Her.”
This illustrates that areas where the Initiate has to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff.’ The above to quotes appear to be contradictory, but not when the idea of a war between the gods is removed.
Warlock Asylum
