To Limit the Divine

An excellent shrine from Pagan artist Marcel Gomes

OK, am I little cranky this morning? Perhaps. This is one of those general statements of things-I-think, whorth exactly what its worth...

I tend to doubt cliché wisdom. Much of what passes for common-or-garden, bar-stool spirituality isn’t worth a crap, really. “All is One” So fucking what – hammer that nail with this cheese. “The Universe is mental – my mind makes reality”. Look out for that bus... One oft-recited nostrum is that one cannot or must not “limit the divine”. Allow me to dissect…

My first assertion is that limitation is absolutely required for real existence. Limitation is identical with definition. It is the edges that define – the limits. That might be band-width limits, conceptual limits or material limits, but all things, material or ideational are describable and definable because they are limited. If there could be things not describable or definable, we don’t (couldn’t) know of them.

My second assertion is that the divine, or spirit-world, is a part of the natural system, a segment of the whole cosmos. I expect the spiritual to reflect the material, and vice versa – as above, so below, etc. Thus I expect real divine things to have limitation, boundary and definition. Since I dismiss the notion of ‘one God’ I can dismiss several philosophical quandaries that come with it. As a polytheist it makes sense to me that the divine part of nature contains many persons, many beings, each defined by their limitation (or limited by their definition, as ya like). Odin isn’t Aphrodite isn’t Orpheus – the gods are the gods.

Let’s look at limitation in another way. One of the most reliable means of increasing power is through limitation. If you want that water to turn a wheel you must limit it to a channel cut in the earth. If you want those electrons to flip a switch you must limit them in a properly-connected wire. Even were one to posit some oceanic all-consciousness-style godhead, it would have to take more limited form in order to be at all present in the world. Even in monistic religions (not in monotheistic ones) the divine manifests as the many persons of the gods. 

So, when a modern Pagan undertakes to make real contact with the divine in the person of one of the gods it is reasonable for us to approach the god in a clearly delimited and focused way. This is the merit of using a formal shrine, of making a throne, a specific locale in which you ask and expect the power of the god to manifest. This is why it is valuable to make sacred space – to say “this space is different, separate, and specific”. The essential mechanism of formal theurgy is the manifestation of divine power in the idols and tools of the magician’s shrine. This is made possible by the creation of a narrow channel – by the skillful application of limitation. The proper image, properly-colored gear, proper offerings and incense, all create a narrow symbolic channel through which the divine power enters the material world.

So I would say that the work of limiting the divine is central to really knowing the divine. Like any real knowledge, some knowledge of the spiritual world must be acquired a piece at a time, one being at a time. To know the forest is to know each of the trees. We set ourselves to meet the god and spirits through our efforts, counting on their good will and our good method to allow the meeting. By providing a limited channel for the divine, we make it real in the real world, and greatly increase our chances of generating real blessing.

In Praise of the Court of Brigid.

I just received word from one of our ADF students, Davin Mac Lugh, about results he obtained

working with one of the Court of Brigid spirits. It’s going slowly, but a few more magicians each season are taking up the work.

Do head over to his blog, The Druid of Fisher Street, for the whole story. I liked his closing:

As in this experience, my hard science mind told me that he would most likely not survive, and yet he did! So something must have intervened, and that something was most likely the spirit I called upon.  So long as the hard sciences cannot in some way measure magic they will not accept it.  Honestly, I am ok with that.  I hope they never can measure it.  I hope there will always be forces in this world that can’t be understood with measurement; forces that must be felt and experienced and always leaving us a bit lost as to how it worked.  This is the re-enchanting of the world.  This is how it is done; one magical working at a time.  

May the Blessings of the Goddess Brigid continue to flow into the world through her Courtiers!

Summer Journal

Yes! I walk by day… at least some days… days when I haven’t walked with whiskey until some unwholesome and unholy hour with equally whiskey-soaked Druids and Pagans. Then I only walked by afternoon.

Yes, fellow kids, it’s been such a looong exposition. I did finally get my new little book out, and have a next project in the pipe, but for now I think I shall just rant on a while.

Summer Travel

• Starwood - Our round of non-stop action began with Starwood, the 33^rd year of the fest I helped to found and organize. It was a good year, a little under-attended but very juicy for me. We upped our game at the midnight ADF ritual by making and burning a shrine-house just for the occasion. The OTO was back at Starwood for the first time in decades, with a performance of the Gnostic Mass. The team busted their hump to bring in a full temple and team, and it was an excellent performance. L. and I worked the Dagda Audience, and did two concert performances. We were especially honored to be part of the opening act for the Thursday night Celtic Band, Dulahan. Starwood rocks on – be there next year!

Making the sacrifices in the Trout Lake Nemeton

• Portland, & Eight Winds – We decided to make gathering of ADF’s western Region, the Eight Winds Festival. This year it was held at the home of our Archdruid, Kirk Thomas, at Trout Lake Abbey. The Abbey is the shared premises of both Kirk’s Druid Sanctuary and of his partner’s Buddhist monastery and temple, so it’s a very cool vibe, set near the Columbia river gorge in southern Washington state. The event was delightful – intimate, focused and renewing.

We also arrived in the region a couple of days early, on Monday evening, to do some tourism in Portland/Seattle. Arriving on Monday probably wasn’t the smartest choice, since we wouldn’t be in the region for either weekend, and there just isn’t much to do on Tuesday night, even in Seattle. We did manage a whirlwind bookstore tour of Seattle, being especially impressed with Edge of the Circle Books. I was sorry to miss meeting the boss – bad scheduling again.

In Portland we did manage to get to the Lovecraft Bar, just in time for the dance lights to go on so that I couldn’t really scope or snap the décor. Cool joint though – giant arra-agga-bandar on the ceiling, skull-totems, and walls covered with classic movie stills and pulp illos. Once again, I missed the boss, though even the barman was a fan. 

Next day we went to Powell’s Books, called “The World’s Largest Booksore”. I believe it. Three stories of a full city block, with a satellite building. The ‘occult’ section was better than most modern Pagan boutiques (who can’t really make a buck on books anyway). Only the airline luggage limitations preserved my self-control.

Fortunately one touristy thing did start on Wednesday afternoon – the Oregon Brewers’ Festival. Eighty one, yes 81 taps, each representing a local or national microbrew (one from Ohio). Live music, summer heat and a copacetic crowd – my idea of summer fun.

• Lughnassadh - While we didn’t actually travel beyond our back-yard for this, it came so soon after the last travel, and we spent so little time at the house that it felt like another event. We host a weekend of light-weight games, music, crafts etc. This year was a bit underattended in the Saturday phase, but we had a nice crowd for the rite on Sunday afternoon.

Working Our Burros Off.

Recent readers will know that we have acquired new acreage here at Tredara. Despite our travels, we wanted to get a few things done for our Lughnassadh Gathering. Especially, we wanted to finish a road from behind our barn, through the swampy part of the woods, and up into the new areas.

It’s been a wet summer here, though cooler than the last couple, but we began the work on the road in nearly 90 degrees, the day after a punishing rain. The woods were quite flooded, which did have the advantage of telling us just how high we had the build the road. In a couple of sessions with friends, and some other days of humping it along with just L and I, we moved some eighteen tones of gravel and built maybe eighty feet of hard road. All in-between the above travels; I’m not so much bragging as whining…

On the morning of Lughnassadh weekend our local mechanic (who seems likely to be a treasure) got our new ancient tractor started, and we were able to begin serious mowing. The brush-hog does it all, and AJs mower-mania meant that a lot got done fast. We were ready to camp folks at ‘the top’ (the new patch is significantly higher and dryer…) by Friday evening, which had been our goal.

Likewise, the shower on the back of the barn is done! A few sturdy folks used the shower over the weekend though, so it’s tried and proven. Now for the on-demand hot water.

We don’t quite know what it’ll all be yet, but we’re building it! 

Coming Up

• Summerland Gathering Down in the lovely Yellow Springs area of Ohio. One of our Fave events; we’ll be working the Audience With the Dagda for the third time. I think a Court working for the Big Fella is going to be in order.

• Midnight FlameFestival way up in the tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula. This will be our first trip to see the mead-hall of Grove of the Midnight Sun. I’ll probably be teaching, but don’t know what yet.

• Genius LocusWork: L. and I will be working the next phase of the work during this waxing cycle. I’ll try to write something up.

Things should liven up here on the old bloggo as we move into fall. One more general Cthulhu background article, then reviews. More occult journaling. Thanks for reading!
On we go!

Spirit Talk - Reflections on Pagan Theologies

I've finally completed the collection of theology articles from this blog. For regular readers I must warn that it is precisely collected articles from here - nothing you haven't seen. It might still be useful as something for Mom to read, or to sit in waiting rooms ; ). If you want a hard copy, you can get it here.

In any case, here's the introductory essay:

Talking About Spirits

The Seedlings of Pagan Theologies

 I am primarily an occult weirdo. My approach to spirituality and religion is shaped first by the practices and models of the English-speaking magical and occult movements of the last 200 years. My personal work is informed by my understanding of the ways of the Iron Age Celts, especially the Gaels, and I frame my practice in those symbols and terms. In addition I have worked to understand the practices and models of traditional contemporary polytheist and animist peoples, both in the European and post-European context and outside of it. From these elements I have attempted to build a meaningful and productive spiritual practice, and contribute to the development of public Pagan religion.

 

The notable thing about the above self-description is that I find it a satisfactory description of my work with no mention of what I believe, in the conventional religious sense. That’s because, like many modern Pagans, my religion is centered not in my beliefs or thoughts, but in my practices. My work is to design a set of practices that will allow me to experience the presence of the Gods and Spirits (warning, I capitalize randomly, or like a drunken German). It is not an effort to convince myself that I ‘know the truth’ about reality, material or spiritual, but rather an effort to live my life more fully and truly, with greater depth of insight and experience.

 

Modern Paganisms are religions of method, rather than of philosophy. Induction of trance is reckoned more valuable than deduction about the nature of the Gods. A rite well-performed is more characteristic than a member well-informed. It is not particularly required to believe anything specific at all in order to practice Paganism, though it may be customary to act as if certain beliefs were true. For instance in my ways it is customary to address Gods and Spirits as specific, individual people. We do not address an abstract ‘unity’, but rather approach the divine as many distinct persons. However this is a ritual convention – it governs style of language, choices in images and offerings. The system in no way demands that the ritualist have any specific opinion about just what the Gods and Spirits “really” are. Opinions among practitioners range from views of the Gods as metaphors to active personal involvement with them as persons. In ritual they are approached as individual entities, because that’s what custom requires, regardless of personal opinion.

 

Perhaps this helps us to understand why theological thought hasn’t become a common part of the Pagan revival. Since correct opinion or belief is not a defining characteristic of participation or of self-identification, it simply hasn’t generated much output. In many ways this reflects ancient Paganisms, which left behind only a small number of texts that might be considered ‘theological’ by later standards. Ancient Paganism didn’t really self-define theologically until multiple ethnic and tribal religions began to meet in the first cosmopolitan cities. It achieved its clearest delineation in contrast to (and under the influence of) early Christianity.

 

The modern situation seems similar. In the first decades of the Neopagan revival – the middle of the Twentieth Century - writers focused almost exclusively on ritual, producing dozens of versions of seasonal celebrations, initiation rites and common-meeting rites.  Theological discussion was usually limited to reciting the traditional (and neotraditional) tales of the gods. If higher-order discussions occurred they were usually framed in the doctrines of modern occult Hermeticism.  

 

By the beginning of the twenty-first century that was changing. Both study and the results of practice were leading Pagans to view the Gods and spirits (though initially mainly the Gods) as individual and specific beings, rather than as cultural markers for universal principles.  In my opinion the scholarship behind this trend is a combination of the study of what we know of the old religions of Europe, and   especially the study of modern polytheisms and spiritisms in practice, such as the African Diaspora traditions, authentic Tantra and the shamanic work of northern Asia. An anthropological look at those paths will not find post-Golden-Dawn duotheism.

 

From a more spiritual perspective, I think it is likely that Neopagans of the English-speaking world (the only milieu about which I am competent to speak) are succeeding in our decades-long preliminary invocations of the Gods and Spirits. In my own case, I began calling out to the Gods under Hellenic names as a young occultist. I used their names as little more than ‘words of power’ alongside names of the Hebrew and other gods and spirits. Youthful practical magical work (‘spellcasting’) involved more specific invocations of some of the deities, and my first sense of personal involvement with a god was with the Greco-Roman Hermes-Mercurius.  Later I completed ritual evocations of the elemental and planetary powers that helped me understand them as more than flavors of energy.  

 

Shamanic practice may have played a part in the change, as well. While the trend for ceremonial calling of spirits would not arrive for decades, ‘core shamanism’ (techniques borrowed from Asian and South American sources, stripped down to culture-free basics) introduced many western Pagans to the experience of direct individual contact with spirits. While initial efforts tended to focus on cultureless ‘power animal’ beings, the mythological impulses of Neopaganism in the 1980s soon applied the same methods to the gods and spirits of pre-Christian Europe, producing more direct conversations with persons of the gods than previous methods commonly produced.

 

Scholastically, the trend in the late 20^th century was the study of the available remnants of pre-Christian religion. Moving away from occult literature into history, archeology and anthropology, Neopagans learned the details of ancient cult, and noted that the Unitarian and monist elements of modern Hermeticism were merely a concession to societally-enforced monotheism, whether in Edwardian England or in the fifth century c.e. In the early 90s a more energetic polytheism arose driven largely by the rise of ethnic revival Paganisms.

 

Pagan study turned, in the last decade of the twentieth century, toward the real religions of the ancient world. We read the myths, but also the work of archeologists and anthropologists as they began to piece together a more realistic picture of what ancient religion was like. The ritual forms of revival witchcraft – a combination of early-modern ritual magic with Masonic elements – began to be replaced with forms recovered from scholarship. The Scandinavian Pagans (‘Heathens’) were early adopters of the pouring of physical offerings in their rituals. Ar nDraiocht Fein, the Druidic group with which I work, took up the making of offerings into the fire or pit, and the presence of dozens of ADF congregations around North America has helped to spread the practice. Hellenic, Baltic and Latin Pagan groups also formed, discovering similarities and common ideas.

 

This is a personal document, and these essays are my personal notions and opinions. As a result they reflect my own preoccupations and interests. Thus, I have simply not addressed the portions of the Neopagan community that have trended in more monistic directions, referring to a single principle as ‘Spirit’, or even a God/Goddess or the like. Likewise I haven’t interacted in these essays with Goddess monotheism, or with feminist theology either Christian or Pagan. Some of those themes are addressed in some of these essays, but not systematically. I have no interest in ‘disproving’ other polytheistic models. While such modern constructions may disagree with my own perceptions of the nature of the Gods, that doesn’t preclude me from solidarity with those who hold those ideas. I have never been to a Pagan circle where they were concerned with my opinion of the nature of their Aphrodite, or whomever, as long as I would sing along respectfully.

 

My history leads me to a position similar but not identical to what is called, in this decade, hard polytheism. I think that most gods are individual persons, separate from one another to the degree that all apparent things are separate. I approach the gods and spirits as a crew of individuals, sometimes addressed collectively, but never as ‘aspects of a unity’. My meditative practice may vary somewhat from that position, but my ritual practice does not. However I feel that some hard polytheists take this rather too far, asserting that every variant name of a deity must represent a distinct person. In my opinion this is supported neither by what we know of ancient practices, nor by modern experience. However this point is perhaps too technical for this introduction.

 

Instead let me offer these short essays and snippets as food for thought. Perhaps my own history mirrors that of the movement, at least of some branches of it, and my conclusions have been well-received by some readers of my blog. Even should you disagree entirely I think there is merit in the questions being raised, and good to be gained by formulating your own opinions on these topics.

 

Cthulhu Occultism Part 4: GOO and Other Squirmy Horrors

 

Nor is it to be thought, that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They rule again.

(The Dunwich Horror, H.P. Lovecraft)

 

The above is the single longest and most coherent paragraph ever written by Lovecraft on the nature of his alien cosmic 'gods'. For the most part he was content to use their strange names in hints and veiled references, implying bodies of lore which he would never actually write.We can profitably digress here to briefly discuss the names and nature of these beings. Vast lists of names invented by dozens of horror writers over decades can be compiled. Since the focus of this paper is on Lovecraft’s own writing I’ll offer just a short summary of the beings that the Old Gent himself invented. For the sake of brevity I will focus on five primary beings that were invented by Lovecraft himself, from whole cloth, and which played a part in numerous tales. If I have left out your favorite Eldritch Horror, please forgive me.

 

Azathoth – Outside the ordered universe [is] that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes

Dream-Quest of Unknown Kaddath

In Dreams In the Witch-House we read of …the Throne of Azathoth at the center of Ultimate Chaos.

 

Azathoth was the first of the GOO (Great Old Ones) to be invented by Lovecraft. It seems to combine elements of his Arabian Nights fascination with his interest in quantum physics, a path traceable along the path of HPL’s interests as his life progressed. Azathoth first appears in the Dreamlands cycle tales; which largely preceded the mythos tales. They were influenced by the Irish fantasist, Lord Dunsany (Edward Plenkett). It was from Dunsany that Lovecraft learned the notion of an invented pantheon of deities and fantasy settings. Rather than set his glittering cities on another planet or in the hollow earth, Lovecraft created a landscape of dreams, somewhat objectively real, into which ‘skilled dreamers’ could find their way. We’ll look at that in more detail in a later chapter. In the Dreamlands Azathoth seems to be more of the Arabian nights sort of daemonic figure, who is promoted to the center of the Mythos pantheon as time goes by. By the time he appears in Dreams he is a strange thing sitting at the confluence of the quantum planes through which the mortal hero wanders. He is also presented as the chief god of the Witch-cult, though not the chief actor. That place belongs to another of the GOO.

 

Nyarlathotep - And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences - of electricity and psychology - and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare.

Nyarlathotep

 

There was the immemorial figure of the deputy or messenger of hidden and terrible powers - the "Black Man" of the witch cult, and the "Nyarlathotep" of the Necronomicon.

Dreams In The Witch House

 

Dreams in the Witch House. 

 

Nyarlathotep begins in HPL’s stories as a traveling wonder-worker, a cross between NikolaTesla  and one of the various popular cult gurus of his time. He crosses the country – the world – with his show of horrors and wonders and leaves behind him ordinary people filled with extraordinary images and ideas. In the Dreamlands he is plainly a god, inspiring terror and manipulating events in secret. Once again HPL claimed to have heard the name first in a dream but the Egyptian tone of the word is obvious, and the central imagery of the figure is ancient Egyptian.

 

As the figure evolves we learn the story of Nephren Ka, a Khemetic sorcerer who makes a pact with Nyarlathotep. He becomes a Pharaoh, only to eventually be ousted, his name and face erased from monuments, leaving a number of ‘faceless Pharaoh’ images for hapless modern protagonists to excavate. Lovecraft’s influences here are obvious. From our present time the mix of Egyptian antiquities seems a central part of ‘occult’ practice. In Lovecraft’s day it was all quite esoteric, not to mention often misunderstood. Lovecraft was drawing on the newspaper headlines of his day more than any esoteric doctrine.

 

Lovecraft returns to themes of Nyarlathotep as herald and voice of the Great Old Ones. Unlike the other entities he does not seem restrained or imprisoned, and appears in several forms to mortals. While Lovecraft returned occasionally to the idea of witchcraft, he did little with the tropes of practical magic or spellcasting. Rather he elevated the blasphemies of the medieval witches’ sabbath into a strange cosmic gnosis, in Dreams in the Witch House. Obviously this was inspirational to both Kenneth Grant, as we have mentioned, and to his later imitators.

 

Yog Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.

The Dunwich Horror

 

It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self — not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence's whole unbounded sweep — the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of earth have whispered of as YOG-SOTHOTH, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of Yuggoth worship as the Beyond-One, and which the vaporous brains of the spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable Sign...

Through the Gates of the Silver Key

 

The most directly magical of the GOO, Yog Sothoth is invoked by Lovecraftian sorcerers as both a source of magical power and as a means of bringing through things from ‘Outside’ into the mortal world. This concept of the Outside is central to Lovecraft’s cosmicism, and one that meshes well with world occult traditions. Likewise many cultures have liminal figures and gatekeeper gods that resonate with Yog Sothoth. However HPL’s description takes us beyond any human norms. Yog Sothoth never assumes a human form. It appears, when it must, as “a congeries of iridescent globes” - a phrase that puts me in mind of aerial wads of frog or fish eggs.

 

However inhuman, Yog Sothoth can be conjured, and conjured by. He fathers children in The Dunwich Horror, and aids the alchemical sorcerers to raise the dead in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. He – it – remains a lurking presence, seldom revealed.

 

I’ll venture outside the Lovecraft authorial canon a moment to mention the August Derleth Mythos story (often sold as a collaboration with HPL, but based purely on a few of his notes) “The Lurker on the Threshold”. Typically, Derleth attempted to reveal what HPL left implicit. His character describes Yog Sothoth as:

 

...great globes of light massing toward the opening, and not alone these, but the breaking apart of the nearest globes, and the protoplasmic flesh that flowed blackly outward to join together and form that eldritch, hideous horror from outer space, that spawn of the blankness of primal time, that tentacled amorphous monster which was the lurker at the threshold, whose mask was as a congeries of iridescent globes, the noxious Yog-Sothoth, who froths as primal slime in nuclear chaos beyond the nethermost outposts of space and time!

 

The title of this novella – “The Lurker on the Threshold”, recalls the Theosophical term “The Dweller on the Threshold”. This refers to an evil or dangerous entity that blocks the occult student from making proper progress toward spiritual goals. The Dweller must be overcome if the student is to progress. Considering the voracious and even seductive nature of the GOO this seems related to Yog Sothoth only by the idea of the Threshold itself, and the coolness of the name. The Lurker is waiting to get in, not to keep us out.

 

Cthulhu

It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed Its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway into the tainted outside air of that poison city of madness. … The Thing cannot be described—there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order.

The Call of Cthulhu

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

 

In Cthulhu we find ourselves moving from the quantum realm to the realm of Newtonian matter, more or less. Unlike the first three entities, Cthulhu has a specific material form, and a specific existence in the history of earth.

 

Cthulhu is described as the ‘cousin’ of the GOO, and as their High Priest. He is specific enough in shape to have a world-wide tradition of idols depicting him, and is said to have ruled the Earth in the Old One’s names in the ancient prehistory of the world. He established his city of R’lyeh in the pacific ocean, and from there presided over a period in which the GOO were more readily present in the world, along with other interstellar or transdimensional races. One of the latter is said to have invented humanity, breeding earth-life in their vats of quasi-sorcerous science and creating us as a slave race.

Without attempting to fix a chronology (HPL never did), we read that at a certain point there was conflict between Cthulhu’s administration and other races. Perhaps it was this, or perhaps simply a change in cosmic alignment that caused R’lyeh to sink beneath the sea, imprisoning Cthulhu in a sleep of death. The GOO were also shut further away from material earth, and the race of humanity slowly became the masters of bits of the world.

 

In the present day of the Cthulhu Mythos, Great Cthulhu is dead beneath the Pacific ocean in his great throne tomb. Of him it was written in the Necronomicon “That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange eons, even death may die.”

Cthulhu is said to ‘wait dreaming’ for the stars to be right again, enabling him to rise and restore the gates to the Old Ones. His dreams reach out to sensitive minds among mortals, and he leads them to deeds of ritual worship and sorcery (and art and creativity…) that amount to madness in the eyes of society. It is most plainly Cthulhu who inspires human cult activity, along with Yog Sothoth and Nyarlathotep. Those three might be considered the great trinity of Lovecraftian cultism, but there is another being invented by HPL himself who deserves mention.

 

Shub-Niggurath

Ever Their praises, and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods. Iä! Shub-Niggurath!

Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

The Whisperer in Darkness

 

The least thoroughly-drawn of Lovecraft’s primary Great Old Ones, Shub-Niggurath nevertheless has resonances with occultism that make it interesting to this analysis.  While there is some dispute about their identity, The title Black Goat of the Woods With a Thousand Young is usually thought to describe Shub-Niggurath, and when HPL employed the figure in his revisions (stories he rewrote for others under their names, for a fee) he plainly associated it with the many-breasted goddesses of the Middle East. Shub-Niggurath is as close to a goddess as HPL wrote, and so has a certain durability among occultists.

 

Lovecraft may have been consciously imitating European witch-lore in his use of the goat. Certainly he associates this GOO with his ‘witch-cult’, perhaps again influenced by the popularity of Margaret Murray’s work. While the witch-cult in Dream in the Witch House centers around Nyarlathotep, in The Thing On the Doorstep we find Edward Derby, the hapless protagonist, saying:

 

"My brain! My brain! God, Dan - it's tugging - from beyond - knocking - clawing - that she-devil - even now - Ephraim - Kamog! Kamog! - The pit of the shoggoths - Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young!...

"The flame - the flame - beyond body, beyond life - in the earth - oh, God!"

As always, we can only ‘dimly espy’ what might be the point of involvement with these beings.. In the tales only a very few mortals ever seem to benefit from working with the mythos – and that benefit is usually depicted as a successful transformation into a monster. The Innsmouth worshippers of Father Dagon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_One gain gold and immortality, at the expense of their humanity. Ephraim Waite becomes a mad murderer in his pursuit of unending life. Joseph Curwen’s experiments lead only to sorrow for himself and his descendants. 

 

The Great Old Ones are so alien to human life and thought that to us they are mainly simply hazards. If they have any discernible agenda it seems only to regain entry into the mortal world, to return and rule where they once ruled.

On to part 5

Dear Readers, it's off to Starwood at the end of this week, so I'll try to post something when I get home. Hope you're having a marvelous summer...

Genius Locus Work, 1

OK readers, I have not abandoned the Cthulhu occultism series - the next installment is nearly done. In the meantime Life keeps keeping me busy, so I'll blog on some of that.

 I’ve lived here for 22 years. This patch of land, bought by the wife many years before I showed up, is a bit of lake-shore wetland, in an area dominated by nursery agriculture and vinyards. The north-eastern slope of the shore of Lake Erie, where we sit, produces a delayed winter frost that extends our harvest season until Samhain, most years and benefits the grapes. It also puts us in that small zone of ‘lake effect snow’ that runs from here to Buffalo.

 

Our bit is actually a low spot, with drainage from built-up plantings leading to ditches. For this reason is is unsuited for nursery planting, and in fact the main meadow had to be cleared and raised, by digging a pond and using the dredged soil for fill. Other dry areas had been used for vegetable gardens. By the time I arrived, L. and I became committed to turning the place into our private park and Pagan ritual and meeting space. At first that was in context of Wicca, and her coven was privileged to have an outdoor circle throughout its tenure. In time it became Our Druidry, and we built a good temple in one corner of the place.

 

We’ve lit the fire here, developed various other shrines and hallows around the property, and been elbow-and-knee deep in the place for many reasons. However we have never done specific work to meet and know the spirit intelligences of and in the land. I suppose that this is the result of our evolving theory and understanding. Our experience has continued to lead us toward a spiritist approach. We are no longer so much concerned with the ‘energies’ of the land, so much as meeting the ‘beings’ that are embodied in it. As we move into this next phase we intend to use our recent magical models to gain the knowledge and conversation of the Queen of our local Court.

 

In this we position ourselves somewhat in a Gaelic mythic cosmos. I’m unconvinced that Iron Age Pagans had a totally animist view, in which every plant and stone has an individual spirit. Rather I suspect that they found the world full of spirits who ‘oversee’ portions of the world, a spring or glade of trees. It is my opinion that such beings were those called ‘the sidhe-folk’ by later Gaels, along, perhaps, with the souls of such of the human Dead as were fated to dwell in the land, and certain mighty daemons of the gods. In the medieval visions of the later ‘fairy faith’ the mightiest of such local spirits, or the guiding intelligence, was often called the King and/or Queen, with some preference in the lore for a female ruler.

 

We intend to take all that none too literally, but still to be searching for ‘the Court of the Queen’ of our bit of land. The basic outline of the work, as I conceive it, is thus:

1: Work the Welcome Charm, and seek good omens

2: Light a Claiming Fire on/for the new portion of the land. In Gaelic lore the way new land was claimed was to light the first fire upon it.

 

Those we will do this weekend. The next steps may be delayed by the onrushing festival of festivals in July.

 

3: Call our Familiars and send them, or have them send a spirit, as an emissary to seek out the Queen’s Court, and announce us. We will ask them to return in Three days with news.

4: Consecrate a meeting place or gate physically on this land as a transition-point for vision-jouneys.

5: Pass the gate into the Threshold vision of this land, and meet the Familiar on his return. See whether we can get a name of the local Chief by which to conjure, and other intelligence. This phase might involve several visions, perhaps including a general convocation of the smaller spirits of the immediate land.

6: Conjuring the Herald – a rite to call a major local spirit to act as our ‘herald’ to the Court. This may or may not involve actually calling the Queen/Chieftain as well – some will depend on the data gathered from the visions.

7: Work with the Queen – somewhere between conjuring and devotion… we’ll see.

 

The latter portions will be highly directed by results in the earlier portions. We will see.

 Here is text for the two charms we'll work as we take possession of the new patch.

1: A Charm for Seeking Welcome

• Prepare an offering of water from your own home, including a few drops taken from your own home shrine or consecrated ritual work. Take a divination tool, as well.

• If possible, enter the area from the west, carefully survey the place, walking once deisil around it. Look for a spot in which you can be comfortable, and feel in place in the landscape. Open your Eye of Vision according to your ability, and offer the water in three pourings, speaking a briocht as your skill allows, or use a charm such as this:

The world is in me, and I am in the world

The Spirit in me is the Spirit in the world.

To you, place of beauty, place of honor,

To you (name the place) I bring this offering in peace.

From the Deep in me to the Deep in you

From my Fire to your Fire

A gift of honor, a gift of worship

in hope of your welcome

That there be peace between us in all things

Biodh se abhlaidh!

 

• After you have poured three times, and spoken the charm, stay for a while with your Eye of Vision open.

• Take an omen to determine whether the spirits of the place have accepted you. If the answer is no then you must depart, and perhaps try another day. If the answer is yes then you may proceed to other works in that place.

 

2: A Charm for Lighting a Claiming Fire

• Coming into the place of the Hallows, work the Charm of Welcome, seeking a good omen.

• Go to the four corners of the place, however you have chosen them, and there cut a square of turf, or soil. Bring that turf to your center, and with one turf or measure of soil or stone from each corner or quarter make a raised platform upon which a fire can be laid.

• This is the charm to be said as each turf is cut.

I take this turf for the work of the Hearth

That the Sacred Fire be lit,

That the Old Bargain be remade,

For the claiming of this place.

Stand fast and hear me, wights of this weald,

And I will give to you good offering.

 

• Using the turf, soil and stones, and adding material as desired, a firm raised platform should be made, either square or round. This might be lined with rocks for stability or decoration, but the intention is to raise the fire higher, not to contain it within walls. For a claiming fire this need not be large or permanent, but the soil can simple be spread and the fire laid.

• Let the fire be kindled with as many woods as possible from the trees of the land, or the herbs of the land, or even the flotsam of the land, so long as it is lifted from the ground, and not taken from any live tree.  If the initial kindling can be made with proper and symbolic woods, according to your understanding, that is best.

• The spark for the fire should be brought, if possible, from your own hearth. If this is not possible the fire should be lit by friction, or by the light of the sun with a burning glass. As the fire is kindled recite this charm:

I kindle this fire

In the presence of the Mighty, Noble and Shining Ones.

In the power of the Dagda, the Ruad Rofessa

In the power of Brigid of the Triple Charms.

Without malice, without envy, without jealousy, without fear,

Without terror of anything under the sun,

And the Spear of the Champion to protect us.

I kindle here upon this ground

A flame of Wisdom, Love and Power

A flame of hospitality and peace

To my foes, to my friends, to my kinsfolk all

To the brave, to the knave, to the thrall

From the lowliest things that liveth

To the names that are highest of all.

 

• When the fire is burning well take a small torch, perhaps three tapers bound together, and light it from the fire. Also take up a cup of meador ale or whiskey or milk, as you will. Go once deisil around the Fire, stopping at each quarter to make offering, beginning in the West. Saying:

 

This land I claim as hearth-land. Hear me, spirits in the (West) and receive this simple gift in token of more to come. Let there be peace between us and the (West).

 

And likewise, substituting in each of the directions.

When all is done, conlude with a final blessing, perhaps:

The Blessings of the Holy Ones

Be on me and mine

My blessings on all beings

With peace on thee and thine

The Fire, the Well, the Sacred Tree

Flow and flame and grow in me.

Thus do I seal the love of the land.