The arcane truth of the Necronomicon

As soon as you start researching the topic of Satanism, you inevitably run across references to the Necronomicon, a book translated as:

• The book of the dead
• Book of dead names
• Book of the laws of the dead

It’s a book so powerful and dangerous it can drive the reader to madness. A scary prospect as I know of only one book that really does drive the reader to madness and mental instability and that’s the bible.

The Necronomicon is supposedly full of powerful magic rituals, summoning spells, protection spells, and arcane sigils. It’s even suggested you should focus on and meditate on the symbols and spells of the Necronomicon.

It has a fascination and somewhat sinister history with its origins going back to 700CE. The “Mad Arab” was first to mention the book. An anonymous Simon was supposedly able to make a translation at great risk to himself. And there are connections to John Dee making a translation in 1586, which has since been “lost” or more likely destroyed. There are even links to a PDF full of grainy page scans for those brave enough to dig deeper. Reading arcane knowledge on the Internet can be a scary proposition.

Previously, it was thought to only exist in five “secret” locations:

• The British Museum
• The Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Widener Library of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• The University of Buenos Aires
• The library of Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts

It is even suspected the Voynich manuscript is a coded version of the Necronomicon.

This all sounds pretty damn bad ass, so what is this diabolical book and how do you get a copy?

Ay, there’s the rub. The Necronomicon is a literary invention of horror writer HP Lovecraft, a book he repeatedly said was a fictional grimoire, a figment of his imagination that has never existed.

Despite the claims, there is no Necronomicon, it was never translated by John Dee, or banned by the Pope. There is no Alhazred, Simon, or Mad Arab. Lovecraft himself made the false connections to John Dee to make his fake tome more “believable.”

This is supported by scholars who show Necronomicon is not a proper combination of Greek words

Abdul Alhazred is not a correct Arabic name.

And “Abdul Alhazred” is a pseudonym Lovecraft gave himself as a five-year-old. That’s a damn creative 5 year old, well done, good show.

But, I have a copy, complete with sigil on the cover, how do you explain that?

To cash in on the occult, Satanic Panic, and grimoires as seen in D&D, a fake Necronomicon was created in 1980. There are some early versions that came onto the scene in 1978, but the Simon Necronomicon of 1980 is the most prevalent and widely known. It was published by Avon Books, the same publishers of the Satanic Bible, no coincidence there.

Even though it exists as a paperback, the Necronomicon is still a real fake grimoire. It’s not quite a hoax in the sense it was never purported as being real. Lovecraft admitted right from the start he made it up.

But, it’s got magic symbols, text in ancient languages, and spells, clearly it has some mystical and magical power to it!

Well, no, because spells and magical incantations are not a thing. However, just like a team jersey, if you feel it has lucky powers and your teams wins, then it has lucky powers for you.

If you read and believe in the spells of the Necronomicon and then something happens, it has magical power and meaning for you. It’s nothing more than timing and coincidence, but you are free to believe whatever you like.

Even though the Necronomicon is a fantastically cool title for a book, and is used in movies, comics, and TV shows (It’s in the Evil Dead with Bruce Campbell) it’s not a real book. Ok, it is real in the sense someone published a book with that title, but it’s not some ancient and arcane Sumerian, Babylonian, or Gothic text with ties to John Dee, with mystical powers, or is so dangerous it had to be banned.

It’s a great story though.