[Until recently, hoax Necronomicons appeared exclusively in English, but an increasing number have been published overseas, especially in Spanish- and Italian-speaking countries. One of these is the work of Frank Ripel, head of the Italian Ordae Rosae Mysticae. John and I have yet to see a copy - but Mexican author Luis Abbadie has. Here are his comments. I should note that his comments are slanted toward fans of the Cthulhu Mythos, and that when he refers to this and other works as real, he is following a time-honored tradition of attempting to reconcile these fictional sources as if they were real ones.]
La Magia Estelar: El Verdadero Necronomicón (The Stellar Magick: The True Necronomicon)
Author: Frank G. Ripel
Original title: La Magia Stellare (Il Vero Necronomicon)
Hermes Edizioni, SRL
Roma, Italia
Translated by Marcos fagit
Editorial Kier, Buenos Aires 1988
Argentina
Allow me to clear a few points. [The following notes apply to the classifications of beings in Lovecraft's work; if you're not familiar with these categories, go here, then use your browser's "Back" function to return. - DH]
The term "Antiguos" used in the Kier translation, although literally means "Ancient Ones", is a word frequently used to refer to the Old Ones, since the literal translation of Old Ones - Viejos - is a word that absolutely lacks the intensity or richness of meaning that "Antiguos" conveys. (For example, a "libro viejo" (old book) is dated, battered; but a "libro antiguo" (ancient book) is valuable, treasurable).
Thus, the classic terms for the Great Old Ones in Spanish are both Grandes Antiguos and Grandes Primordiales (literally, Great Primal Ones; I believe this one was coined by Lovecraft expert Rafael Llopis, probably inspired in "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" - but it might otherwise have been F. Torres Oliver, Llopis' friend and undisputed ultimate Lovecraft translator).
The Elder Gods, on the other hand, are usually called either Dioses Mayores (a possible, but poor, translation of "Elder Gods", which sounds like "Greater Gods"), or Dioses Arquetípicos (Archetypal Gods).
The Ancient Ones themselves are referred as either Grandes Antiguos -- leading to confusion - and Primigenios (I don't know if there is a translation; Greek for "The First Generated", or "The First Spawned").
Anyway, although everybody has their preferred terminology for their fiction, the terminology of Grandes Primordiales (Great Old Ones), Dioses Arquetípicos (Elder Gods) & Primigenios (Ancient Ones) are tacitly accepted as the definitive terms when talking about them.
On to The True Necronomicon.
Here, Ripel says that the Necronomicon cama forth 4,000 years ago. "The original text of the Necronomicon (The Book of Dead Names) is a derivation from the Sauthenerom (Book of the Law of Death), the Book that hides the ancient knowledge of the Gods. With the Greek title of Necronomicon we present the Book's original version, not one of its spurious versions, such as, for example, the Arabic one, made in Damascus (730 A.C.) by Abdul Alhazred (!)." Then he goes on to say that this spuriousness is unavoidable, given the way the book passed through several cultures since 2000 B.C.
The way I see it - from a Necronomicon lore point of view [meaning if we try to reconcile this with the fiction - DH] - this might be part of Alhazred's work, Ripel's claims notwithstanding, and it's the Sautheneron itself that is --at least part of it - 4,000 years old, but reproduced in Alhazred's work (I wonder if the Sauthenerom is the Typhonian Text mentioned by Don Webb in a recent issue of Realms of Fantasy as "the source of the Necronomicon").
(The full text of the Sabean Necronomicon is almost sixty pages long).
1. Of the Old Ones and Their Spawn
Most of this chapter is almost exactly the similarly-titled chapter from the Liber Logaeth [the Hay edition of the Necronomicon - DH], plus a new opening sequence and another new section inserted near the end. These parts are most interesting, if somewhat hard to interpret. In them we find the greatest contribution of the Sabean Necronomicon to Mythos lore. It is well worth quoting the opening paragraphs:
Now, Naxyr is elaborated on in both Part Two of this book and in the Sauthenerom. Naxyr is, to put it simply, the unmanifested universe. In the Sauthenerom, it is further specified that, after Azathoth explodes - when the universe becomes manifest - Naxyr becomes Naryx, the manifested universe. Still, both this Necronomicon and the Pérez-Vigo Necronomicon [an edition published in Spain which derived its material from Ripel's edition - DH] ignore Naryx and mention Naxyr as the Ancient Sovereign (Soberano Primigenio) who punishes the actions of the Old Ones - obviously, within the now-manifested universe. Still, this is not an accurate description of Naxyr; acccording to the Sauthenerom and Ripel's comments, Naxyr could be the "container" within which Azathoth Explodes, spreading Suthoth, the primal matter, throughout the universe (more on that later), which was used by Yog-Sothoth to shape all things. In Kenneth Grant terms [Grant is an English occultist who has worked with the Cthulhu Mythos - DH], Azathoth is Hadit and Naxyr is Nuit. Yog-Sothoth - who, I've found in some web sources, is usually considered as Nuit (the infinite contraction opposed to Azathoth's infinite expansion) - is interpreted by Ripel as the Shaper, the Giver of Form, like Dee and Crowley's Choronzon.
A word regarding the Suthoth. From a Mythos lore point-of-view, I believe this substance was used as an entity - Sothoth - by the author of The Sussex Manuscript, perhaps mistakenly, perhaps not. In fact, Baron Frederick, or whoever made the faulty Sussex translation, might have written that Sothoth created Yog-Sothoth because he misread a line from the Sauthenerom which says that "formless energy, called Suthoth, cannot dispose of itself", and after all, if this is the primal matter, might Suthoth not be the substance the Great Old Ones create physical forms for themselves with? (What is driving me crazy is, this fits too well to be a coincidence! But if The Sussex Manuscript was unpublished when Ripel wrote his books, how could he have gotten a copy? Unless - he trailed off ominously...) [The Sussex Manuscript, concocted by Fred L. Pelton, was first published in the Eastertide, 1989 issue of Crypt of Cthulhu, yet the original manuscript has been lost. Might Ripel have found it? Or is this mere coincidence? -DH].
The Nyarlathotep part is a brief paraphrase of the Sauthenerom (and suspiciously similar to some verses used by the Golden Dawn which say "In front of Thoth the Aeons were formulated"). The "mýstery of Oth" is a reference to an epic legend told in the Sauthenerom about how, before time began, Nyarlathotep quested for the Seal of Oth and, with it, made a being called Nadur give voice to the names of the gods, bringing them into existence. Curiously, "Oth" is a Yuggothic word used in Anton LaVey's Cthulhoid rituals, meaning "language".
Naxyr sometimes plays the role of the Elder Gods in common Mythos lore, punishing the Old Ones, but in the secons part of this chapter they are exiled to the "Lower Land" by the Ancient Sovereigns - a title also given to Naxyr. Oddly, Nodens [usually classified with the Elder Gods - DH] is listed in passing as one of the Old Ones.
2. Of the Worlds Where They Dwell
Here it is briefly said that, when they were expelled from the Lower Land - I know, they were imprisoned in the Lower Land in the last paragraph; maybe it's the translation, or a typo - the Old One were secluded in twelve worlds (the twelve spheres of a Qabalistic Tree of Life given by Ripel from the Spheres of Yog-Sothoth?) so that they wouldn't find each other, but Hastur found the gates between the worlds. Naxyr locks Cthulhu, Hastur, Nuhram (don't ask me... it's the first time I've heard this name), Azathoth, Dagon, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth, each in the lands of Han, Lag, the ruins of Hacthne, Hug, the spaces of Vahrn and the threshold of the land of Nahat, respectively, while Shub-Niggurath roams free. Then comes an unrelated account of how the will of the Ruler of All came forth the Lords of Righteousness of the Threefold Cloak, to balance life and impart justice upon living beings who came after them.
They were a bunch of losers, as it turns out.
The Lords lived happily in a planet while there was no life in the universe, but when life flourished, they went into hiding. And when the time came to do their work, they refused to abandon their (physical?) forms, in order to await and regulate the transformations of the universe, their own actions caused unbalance in them who were the Lords of Balance. Thus, they vanished, and living creatures, lacking their balance, were corrupted. But it is foretold that the Lords of Balance shall return, first as common mortals, until they rediscover their true nature. (When I first read this book, a bad case of fever gave me a wonderful nightmare from which I will some day write about how these Lords return, each incarnated in five creatures, not one, and having to rebuild themselves...)
3. Strength and Potency of the Old Ones
Gives three Words of Power which were used by the Old Ones to bring the Lords of Righteousness forth from the Lowerd Land, and before that, from eternal space. (hadn't it been Naxyr who brought them forth from nothingness in the previous chapter? Ah well...)
4. Of the Operational Techniques Inherent to the Force To Be Emitted in Particular Times, and More Precisely to Use It in the Search of the Lords of Righteousness
An astral travel technique invoking the five Lords of Righteousness.
5. Of the Unknown City
In a distant planet was the city of Kadhoth (to be pronounced Kadmot - so it says), whose inhabitans praised the five Lords of Righteousness so much that they went to live there, but their wisdom consumed itself inside them and they fought themselves to this day, and the Other Gods took the city to the center of all (Azathoth?). Confusing, but pleasantly Dunsanian.
6. Of the Greatness of the Signs and the Sigils that were Used by the Old Ones
Or, the dumbest-looking seals and sigils this side of a kindergarden's wall. Anyway, the Seal of Anth-rur-oohn can summon any kind of entity; the Seal of Nuuh-rsh-oo merely focuses and enhances your own willpower; the Seal of Eehl-shu-nlo can be used for anything - but only by those who can; the Sign of Llorr draws stellar energies, and the Seal of La-rol-sha is for defense and attack. The weakest chapter.
7. Of Material Things and That Which May Have Influence Upon Them
Great stuff - if you can decipher it. Without any concrete instructions, it explains how the magician may build "machines", composed of a physical part and a spiritual part - although some machines are only one or the other. The spiritual part is made through visualization. Reminds me of a spell - Create Gate Box, I think - in CoC Keeper´s Compendium [actually in the main rulebook to the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game -DH], where you build the boxes and visualize the non-euclidian angles.
8. The Domain of the Old Lords
This time, the Lords of Balance dwelt in the planet Haostosh, in a city of peace and harmony. Then, a race of men was born in Haostosh, and went to take the city from them. They vanished, as usual, and a long time later the sacrilegous people were struck down.
9. Of the Runes of Power
Includes some cool Alhazredian prose and descriptions of outer horrors; in short, don´t meddle, or nothing will be left of you, not even the dust of the lower regions where the hirsute Heerg-ro shuffle their palmed legs.
Here is an ancient alphabet which is called Nuug-Sooth - yet has absolutely nothing to do with the Nug-Soth alphabet from Liber Logaeth [see the Hay Necronomicon, p. 125 -DH]. Maybe the Nug-Soth had an hieratic alphabet as well as a common one.
10. Of Hastur the Mighty, and of His Voice which Resounds in the Forgotten Astral Spaces
Partly paraphrases the Hastur chapter of Liber Logaeth [see Hay, p. 126 -DH], with some new portions.
ll. Of the Omnipresence of Nyarlathotep and the Worlds in the Making
A cool Dunsanian parable, where Nyarlathotep is a benevolent, tragic god whose golden age was hopelessly destroyed by the rose of filthy humanity (!). Then he went to sleep forever in Kadath, along with his sons. Good stuff.
12. The Cold Waste Called Leng
Expands upon the Liber Logaeth description [see Hay, p. 128 -DH].
13. The Millenia-Old Kadath
A long text, almost a poem, with prophecies, praises, and more; like Crowley's Book of the Law, but tasteful and subtle.
14. Yog-Sothoth and the Gate which Represents Him
Describes Yog-Sothoth like the Guardian of the Threshold from Guaita, Crowley, or the Golden Dawn, as incarnating the magician's own dark side.
15. Of the Thirteen Globes which Constitute the Body of Yog-Sothoth [see Hay p. 132 -DH]
Briefly tells how those who fail to triumph over Yog-Sothoth and cross the Threshold will become the maggots that dwell in the globes. They are also described as shells, identical to the Qabalistic Qliphoth or Tree of Death.
16. Of the Sleeping Cthulhu and His Dreams
A cool, dramatic description.
17. Of Great Shub-Niggurath and His Thousand Young
A short description; I love the last part:
18. Of the City Between the Two Magnetic Poles and of the Dho Formula to be Able to See It
The title says it all. But, even though it gives the whole procedure, Dee's Necronomicon (or, at least, one of them) tells us that the Dho Formula is a series of words that must be spoken repeatedly, and this chapter gives none. From its name, it follows (I think) that the Dho-Hna formula makes use of the Dho Formula; so, is it among the words of power given in the Dho-Hna Formula? - or is the Dho-Hna ineffective because it lacks the Dho Formula? It can be either way.
19. The Dho-Nha Formula
It is no typo. As I see it, there is a series of progressive steps in the use of the Dho Formula. The first is to have a vision of the City between the Magnetic Poles; the second - the Dho-Nha - is to visit it in the astral form; and the third - the Dho-Hna - is to physically visit it. Anyway, the astral visit must be brief, for the stone from which the city is built will suck the magician's life force. Also, undescribed Guardians will destroy him unless he gives the Saltue of the Lords of Righteousness of the Threefold Cloak, which cannot be taught; it is known by those who have the gift for magick.
20. Of the Knowledge and the Dominions of the Old Gods
A strange, philosophical chapter, on the Lords, Life, Death, and Becoming.
21. Of the Black Crystal Placed in the Atlantean Temple of Ast-Or-Maarh
The Crystal of Astar, brought from the stars, was kept by the secret cult of the god Ast-or-maarh. Although the cult was destroyed along with Atlantis, the crystal still abides, and will be used by the Gods when they return, for human hands shall never be able to even touch it.
22. Dagon, the Lord of the Deep
Dagon sent his 222 Black Servants to teach primitive, beastly humanity, even though he knew that the rise of human civilization would cause disaster. Men offended the Gods, and they threw a mass of half-formed matter and smote the crowds with it, as a last act before going to their Cthulhu-like slumber. (Oannes and the Akpallus?)
23. Of the Four Angles that Sub-Divide Earth (North)
24. Of the Four Angles that Sub-Divide the World (East)
25. Of the Four Angles that Sub-Divide Earth (South)
26. Of the Four Angles that Sub-Divide the World (West)
The last four chapters are brief , sinister vignettes, warning of unnamed horrors that will come from each direction upon the unwary. The first one (North) is seemingly derived from the Kadath chapter of Liber Logaeth [see Hay p. 129 -DH.]
Preamble
An ambiguous description of the Qabalistic relation of the order (ORM) with the Typhonian OTO.
0. The Threefold Test
Briefly descrives the division of the nine degrees of the ORM in three stages, and gives a physically impossible solitary Tantric rite. Disss-gus-ting!
1. The Illumination
A commentary on the first chapter of the Sauthenerom, describing how, when Atlantis sank, Cthulhu and Hastur (?!?) survived and founded the dynasty of demigods in Egypt (c.9850 B.C., according to the Papyrus of Turin), while Ichtonh (?) and Mithra (??) visited the lands of the Incas (???). The way I see it, the Sauthenerom (which, as the Pérez-Vigo Necronomicon seems to show, is actually part of the Necronomicon, or at least transcribed in it) complements The Sussex Manuscript, and these entities are - just like the ones described in the first part of The Sussex Manuscript (as I see it) - priest-rulers of some pre-human race. And the mention of the Incan culture in the Sautheneron is a confusion of Ripel due to the people of Cuzco mentioned in The Sussex Manuscript.
2. The Power of the GodsAbsolutely abstruse, occult, Qabalistic, gematrical discussion of the Book of The Law, concluding that the Great Old Ones - or Deep Ones, in Kenneth Grant misnomenclature - will return in the year 2000. How tacky.
3. The Threefold Temple
Okay, this is where brains get blown up. Through a long, in-depth discussion of the Sauthenerom, Ripel goes from explaining that the Magickal Mysteries of Atlantis were taught in three initiatory stages - the white, red, and black temples - to discuss the origin, nature and composition of the universe around Naxyr, Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and the Suthoth, using terminology and concepts from Qabala, Crowley, Hindu religion, and - heaven help us - Carlos Castaneda... and the scary part is, he actually pulls it through! The guy must be either a genius or on black lotus acid to make sense out of that salad of concepts. Fittingly, Azathoth winds up the Universal Mind - the only explanation for a reality where such a mess may be coherent!
4. The Time of the Gods
After a peek at the thirteen-sphered Tree of Death of Yog-Sothoth, complete with names allegedly transcribed from the ones rendered with the Nug-Soth (not Nuug-Sooth) alphabet in an Italian Qabala, we are treated to a series of revelations regarding Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the City between the Magnetic Poles, space and time, received by Ripel from Neehmeeh, a goddess who is admittedly his personal Aiwass.
And finally, we get the recipe for a fumigation.
1998 © Luis Abbadie. All rights reserved.