Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

NECRONOMICON

There are at least four versions of the Necronomicon, one of which simply repeats the first 20 pages over and over, as if the author expected that no one in his right mind would read any further before discarding it.

However, the best known - and the original work - titled The Necronomicon is a book of incantations and so-called "forbidden lore" invented by H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), a Providence, Rhode Island horror writer who has influenced almost every subsequent author in the genre. In his fiction, Lovecraft strove to make his creations as plausible as possible, and succeeded beyond his expectations with the Necronomicon, which he modelled on other fictional works in the stories of Poe and Bierce.

Lovecraft mentioned the Necronomicon in his works and it is widely believed that at least one version of the Necronomicon, originally entitled Al Azif, and allegedly written by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, a mysterious individual who was allegedly torn to pieces by an invisible monster in 738, was written by Lovecraft as a joke although this cannot be conclusively proven. It is possible that someone seized upon Lovecraft's idea and wrote it for the same reason, but no one has come forward to claim responsibility. Either way, it is certain that it is a very recent hoax.

However, according to some at least, a Greek translation of the Necronomicon appeared in 950, followed by Olaus Wormius's Latin edition in 1228 and John Dee's English manuscript around 1585. Churches and governments had often banned the book, so only a few copies still existed. Libraries held most of these under lock and key, though a few still existed in the collections of some wizards. All of this "history", impressive though it is, was undoubtably the creation of Lovecraft and his friends.

The Necronomicon soon became infamous, and Lovecraft had to send many letters to excited fans to tell them the book was his invention. A number of Necronomicon hoaxes occurred, and in 1973, the first published Necronomicon appeared. This book was introduced by L. Sprague de Camp and consisted mostly of fake Duriac script repeated over and over.

The next book called the Necronomicon appeared in 1977. Written by a man known as "Simon," this book presents a magickal system supposedly based upon Sumerian incantations. Though the picture of Sumerian mythology and religion within is not entirely accurate, some practitioners of Chaos Magick in particular have found it to be useful in their own experiments.

The Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names, which first appeared in England in 1978, was the collaborative effort of a number of authors under George Hay and Colin Wilson. Though the book asserts that Lovecraft had contact with the Necronomicon through Freemasonry, Wilson has since assured his readers that this was not the case, and stated that he and the other writers were responsible for the book's contents. The book, though too fragmentary for most practitioner's tastes, makes for interesting reading nonetheless.

A few other books with the title Necronomicon have appeared, such as two collections of the work of the Swiss artist H. R. Giger and a paperback collection of stories. No evidence has ever been found that indicates that any copy of the book existed before Lovecraft's death. Kenneth Grant and a few other occult authors have asserted that the true Necronomicon might exist - but on a higher plane accessible only to a lucky few, but this possibility is only provable on subjective grounds.

see also: CTHULHU

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc