-------------------------------
The Burning Book
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Funny, the damage a silly little book can do,
especially in the hands of a silly little girl.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
movie (2002)
There must be something in books,
things we can't imagine.
- Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
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The newly initiated adept dropped to her knees and bowed her head, her palms held open before her. She was ready to take on The Burden. Identically robed in white, her Predecessor placed The Book into the adept’s hands.
“Be Aware. Ye Book, it changeth.”
"D'Agon fhtagn."
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No book had ever really hinted of it,
though the deathless Chinamen said that there were
double meanings in the Necronomicon
of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred
which the initiated might read as they chose,
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
Expecting runes or hieroglyphics,
we found words in English. Of course, I thought.
The old man would read them as French,
a Persian as Farsi.
So it must be with revelation –
it’s not the language that matters,
but the communication of ideas.
- Richard Bach
One
No one could read the old writing now,
but things were told by word of mouth.
The chanted ritual was not the secret –
that was never spoken aloud, only whispered.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
FH: Metamessage.
BH: Metamessage.
WM: Metamessage.
- Frank Herbert
Interviewed with B. Herbert by Willis McNelly 3 Feb 1969
Meanwhile no more must be told.
There was a secret which even torture could not extract.
Mankind was not absolutely alone
among the conscious things of earth,
for shapes came out of the dark
to visit the faithful few.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
the secret cult would always be waiting
to liberate him.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster
but there — there you could look at a thing monstrous and free.
- Joseph Conrad
The Heart of Darkness
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All Inquisitor Caspar Pietro Marco Sarducci's thoughts were on and of God (as only the inquisitor knew Him). Surrounding the inquisitor were the instruments of his Calling – ingenious devices designed to produce physical and mental discomfort, pain, and/or death –, all intended purely for the redemption of wayward souls, if and when this was even possible. The standards of his profession were arrayed around him: whips, flaying knives, thumbscrews, hot coals, the Iron Maiden, the rack, even the water-boarding equipment Caspar personally favored. A sardonic smirk crossed the Inquisitor’s lips and then was gone as an iron key rattled in a lock.
A massive man in immense black robes performed a small miracle by fitting his bulk through the dungeon's door. The giant lumbered across the cell toward Inquisitor Sarducci. Another key rattled in another lock. The ogre slipped the chain that bound the Inquisitor to the wall, and with a ham-hock fist pointed to the oversized chair that dominated the center of the chamber.
“Sit.”
The beast–man commanded. Without thinking, the Inquisitor did as he was told. He found it came rather naturally to him.
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sit (v.)
Old English sittan
"to occupy a seat, be seated, sit down, seat oneself;
remain, continue; settle, encamp, occupy;
lie in wait;
- www.etymonline.com/word/sit
Siege Perilous, early 13c.,
the vacant seat at Arthur’s Round Table,
according to prophecy
to be occupied safely only by the knight
destined to find the Holy Grail),
from Old French sege “seat, throne,”
from Vulgar Latin *sedicum “seat,”
from Latin sedere “sit” (see sedentary).
The military sense is attested from c.1300;
the notion is of an army “sitting down” before a fortress.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=grail
waiting
to liberate him.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
-------------------------------
Caspar's feet did not reach the floor when he sat in the gigantic chair. The experience made him feel like a child. The inquisitor knew the psychological effect was intentional. You want to make me feel helpless. You can try, but you will not succeed. God, Himself, empowers me.
The inquisitor gasped as the chain to his leather collar was pulled taut and tethered to the back of the chair. The black-robed monster bound Caspar’s wrists and ankles to the chair with lambskin straps. Over these he locked down thick iron clamps. Caspar felt exposed, vulnerable, and truly helpless. The apish monk turned toward the door and bowed.
A hooded figure, robed in white, emerged from the darkness on the other side of the doorway. The mysterious creature's movements seemed supernaturally graceful; Caspar imagined she floated as she crossed the room to stand before him, the hem of her floor-length garment undisturbed by the movement of her feet. Her slender hands were his first glimpse of her flesh as they emerged from the voluminous sleeves to throw back the hood which had veiled her hauntingly beautiful face in its shadow.
She bowed her head in meditation. At that exact moment, Caspar saw his first true vision: a child-king, dancing on a throne. He smelled the ocean and exotic flowers foreign to him. The woman sung whispered words unintelligible to the uninitiated. Caspar was struck dumb, and fell mute. His lips frozen shut against his will. The guard placed a tall, cushioned stool just behind the woman.
"Thank you, Brother Aquino."
The inquisitor heard a voice like a siren's song, haunting and alluring. Arthur nodded, and left the room. The door clanged shut, the key rattled in the lock, and then they were alone. She appeared to slither as she raised herself up to sit, light as a feather, on the high stool.
Succubus, thou art proof, Caspar thought to himself, his mouth invisibly bound, that the Devil possesses Angelic beauty with which to tempt the Servants of God.
She smiled. Caspar suddenly suspected she heard his thoughts. Caspar felt a torturous longing building within him. His temptress reached her right hand into her left sleeve. It reemerged holding a small, hide-bound book. Her tongue darted – so snake-like, he thought – to moisten her full lips. And then the beauty in white began to read aloud.
The inquisitor had thought they were going to kill him. Instead, Caspar realized, they intended to drive him mad – or, at least, madder. He cried out. Mother of God! No sound came from his lips. It was all in his head. The room began to spin.
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sort of
spinning, spinning,
and then it was like
I was pushed from behind
and I fell
- Terrence McKenna
Alien Dreamtime
And then it was like
looking down
a very deep cave into total unpulsating blackness
until he felt himself pulled down into it,
falling and falling and falling:
But as he is slowly falling and falling slowly
he is telling himself stories now,
don’t you know that way?
- Robert Anton Wilson
The Widow’s Son
He heard a terrible, inhuman scream
and absently decided it was himself,
back in the interrogation room there,
but he was falling now
into the inward-turning spiral
- Robert Anton Wilson
The Widow’s Son
into another place
that didn’t seem like a state of mind,
it seemed like another place.
- Terrence McKenna
Alien Dreamtime
"It may appear strange, but now,
when we were in the very jaws of the gulf,
I felt more composed than when we were only approaching it.
Having made up my mind to hope no more,
I got rid of a great deal of that terror which unmanned me at first.
I supposed it was despair that strung my nerves."
"It may look like boasting – but what I tell you is truth –
I began to reflect how magnificent a thing it was
to die in such a manner,
and how foolish it was in me to think
of so paltry a consideration as my own individual life,
in view of so wonderful a manifestation of God's power.
I do believe that I blushed with shame
when this idea crossed my mind.
After a little while I became possessed
with the keenest curiosity about the whirl itself.
I positively felt a wish to explore its depths,
even at the sacrifice I was going to make;
and my principal grief was that
I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore
about the mysteries I should see.
These, no doubt, were singular fancies
to occupy a man's mind in such extremity
– and I have often thought since,
that the revolutions of the boat around the pool
might have rendered me a little light-headed."
- E. A. Poe
A Descent into the Maelstrom
BOOKS ARE BOATS.
MANY VOLUMES START DOWN THAT STREAM,
ONLY TO BE LOST
- Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol
in a droll allegory,
"The Ship That Found Herself," once
explained what happens
- Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend
Hamlet’s Mill
the shadow ship started to emerge from its shadow.
And there was ever so tiny time distortion.
And reality twisted...
- A.E. Von Vogt
Earth Factor X
Then he was in the sea, down out of the turmoil,
through the green haze, into an astonishing, clear world
of beauty and pitilessness and bleak cold survival
against malevolence
- Susan Cooper
The Dark is Rising
Maria, the angel, was dancing for him.
Then he saw her webbed feet and knew she was from the sea
and would drag him down,
down into a watery death, as he had always feared.
And then a blue lion walked past and not just his body was blue,
but all about him was a blue luminescent aura;
and he sang slowly, distinctly:
“Mark my words, you will come to know God.”
- R.A. Wilson
The Widow’s Son
I am
you and you are me
Why’s that such a mystery?
- Lenny Kravitz
Believe
the Mother of All,
the unity of many,
- R.A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
Personification of holiness.
Western Semitic. Known from inscriptions at Tyre
where a human figure stands naked on a lion,
wearing a spiral headdress
and holding lotus blossoms and serpents.
- Michael Jordan
Encyclopedia of Gods
And the angel mermaid said
“Matter of space, matter of time, matter of mind.
You will come to new good.”
- R. A. Wilson
The Widow’s Son
Mater Matuta
Sky Goddess. Italic.
The personification of the dawn light
who evolved into a fertility deity concerned with childbirth.
She is also a tutelary goddess of mariners.
See also Isis.
- Michael Jordan
Encyclopedia of Gods
Meter
Mother goddess. Greek.
The essence of the great mother of all gods,
equating most closely with Gaia.
- Michael Jordan
Encyclopedia of Gods
Mata (great mother)
Primeval mother goddess. Hindu.
The archetypal progenitor of all living things.
- Michael Jordan
Encyclopedia of Gods
mother (n.1)
"female parent, a woman in relation to her child,"
Middle English moder, from Old English modor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr
(source also of Old Saxon modar, Old Frisian moder, Old Norse moðir, Danish moder,
Dutch moeder, Old High German muoter, German Mutter), from PIE *mater-"mother"
(source also of Latin māter, Old Irish mathir, Lithuanian motė,
Sanskrit matar-, Greek mētēr, Old Church Slavonic mati), "
[b]ased ultimately on the baby-talk form *mā- (2); with the kinship term suffix *-ter-"
[Watkins]. Spelling with -th- dates from early 16c.,
though that pronunciation is probably older (see father (n.)).
Sense of "that which has given birth to anything" is from late Old English;
as a familiar term of address to an elderly woman,
especially of the lower class, by c. 1200.
Mother Nature as a personification is attested from c. 1600;
mother earth as an expression of the earth as the giver of life is from 1580s.
Mother tongue "one's native language" is attested from late 14c.
Mother country "a country in relation to its colonies" is from 1580s.
Mother-love "such affection as is shown by a mother" is by 1854.
Mother-wit "native wit, common sense" is from mid-15c.
Mother of all ________
- www.etymonline.com/word/mother
She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent.
There was something ominous and stately in her
deliberate progress.
And in the Hush that had fallen
suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land,
the immense wilderness, the colossal body
of the fecund and mysterious
life seemed to look at her, pensive,
as though it had been looking at the image
of its own tenebrous and passionate soul.
- Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
represented as spirals, wheels, concentric circles,
swastikas, firewheels, and other images.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
the spiral, symbolises the universal snake,
which in turn is the embodiment of the dynamism,
life force and regenerative powers of nature.
- Richard Rudgley
The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age
The awkward stance of the gorgon, with arms and legs at angles
is closely associated with these symbols as well.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
The dynamic energy represented by the snake image
and the spiral seems to be intimately associated
with the life-giving element of water. In Old European iconography
one of the most important members of the pantheon is the snake goddess.
She is represented either as part human, part snake,
or simply as a human covered with spiral motifs.
In the Neolithic period as in the ancient world,
the symbol of the serpent is also associated with rainfall
– an aspect of nature that is obviously of fundamental concern to farmers.
- Richard Rudgley
The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age
mead (n.2)
"meadow," Old English mæd, Anglian med "meadow, pasture,"
from Proto-Germanic *medwo (source also of Old Frisian mede,
Dutch made, German Matte "meadow," Old English mæþ "harvest, crop"),
from PIE *metwa- "a mown field,"
from root *me- (4) "to cut down grass or grain."
Now only archaic or poetic.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=mead
mead (n.1)
"fermented honey drink," Old English medu,
from Proto-Germanic *meduz source also of Old Norse mjöðr,
Danish mjød, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch mede,
Old High German metu, German Met "mead"),
from PIE root *medhu- "honey, sweet drink"
(source also of Sanskrit madhu "sweet, sweet drink, wine, honey,"
Greek methy "wine," Old Church Slavonic medu, Lithuanian
medus "honey,"
- www.etymonline.com/?search=mead
the name of one of the three Gorgons with snakes for hair,
whose glance turned to stone him who looked upon it
(attested in English from late 14c.).
Her name is from Greek Medousa, literally "guardian,"
fem. present participle of the verb medein "to protect, rule over"
- www.etymonline.com/?search=medusa
Medusa was once the goddess herself,
hiding behind a prophylactic Gorgon mask:
a hideous mask intended to warn the profane
against trespassing on her Mysteries.
- Jane Harrison
quoted in Gillian M. E. Alba's
Melusine the Serpent Goddess
Possibly related, a female figure, probably a sea-goddess
is depicted on a Minoan gold ring from the island Mochlos in Crete.
The goddess has a monstrous head and she is sitting on a boat.
A holy tree is depicted,
probably related to the Minoan cult of the tree.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
There before him was
- Philip Freeman
The Philosopher and the Druids
the very woman who had appeared in his dream.
- Philip Freeman
The Philosopher and the Druids
I felt sure that I was on the track of
a very real, very secret, and very ancient religion
whose discovery would make me an anthropologist of note.
My attitude was still one of absolute materialism,
as l wish it still were,
and I discounted with almost inexplicable perversity
the coincidence of the dream notes
and odd cuttings collected by Professor Angell.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
It was from the artists and poets
that the pertinent answers came,
and I know that panic would have broken loose
had they been able to compare notes.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
Wait a minute! Hold on!
“What the fu--?”
You come within two consonants of pronouncing
the “F” word...
dropping the “F” bomb.
Who could blame you?
This card ... why, you’ve never seen this card before.
At one time or another,
you’ve at least glanced at every card in the Tarot,
and you are absolutely positive
this one has not been among them.What the... fun?
To a degree, it resembles the star card,
except that the nude female who is kneeling beside a pool
has, on this card, green scales over the lower half of her body,
and her hands and feet are webbed like a frog’s.
Moreover, she’s wearing a headdress that resembles the tail of a fish.
At the bottom of the card where it would normally read
the Magician, the Tower, the Empress,
or in this case, perhaps, the Star,
it reads, in the usual block letters, the Nommo.
The Nommo? What the...
- Tom Robbins
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
It seemed to be a sort of monster,
or symbol representing a monster,
of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive.
If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded
simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature,
I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
the Mother of All, the unity of many,
- R.A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
“Cybele!”
Jill’s costume suddenly changed.
“Isis!”- again.
“Frigg!”... “Ge!”... “Devi!”... “Ishtar!”... “Maryam!”
“Mother Eve! Mater Deum Magna!
Loving and Beloved, Life undying -”
Caxton stopped hearing. Jill was Mother Eve,
clothed in glory. Light spread
and he saw that she was in a Garden, beside a Tree
on which was twined a great serpent.
Jill smiled, reached up and smoothed the serpent’s head
– turned back
and opened her arms.
- R.A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
Licking her chops
She looks at the lunatics
- Kongos
I’m Only Joking
Candidates moved forward to enter
- R.A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
an Octopus’s garden
- The Beatles
Octopus’s Garden
And the Merovingians came out of the sea, originally,
like the mermaid that washed ashore
in Napoli that time and was seen (THEY say)
by sober and scholarly men;
but you know the sort of things THEY say...
- Robert Anton Wilson
The Widow’s Son
The snake, fish, or winged dragon symbol is the one
that connects all these early manifestations of the goddess,
who is a chthonic force of the earth our mother.
All these forms are seen in Melusine the snake woman,
or woman with fish-tail,
who metamorphoses into a dragon
when she is dispossessed and returns to the spirit world.
The lineage of the Goddess, in her serpent and winged form,
is present through the early civilizations
of Sumer, Mesopotamia, and Babylon,
Egypt, Canaan, Palestine, Syria,
Ancient Crete, Greece, and Roman times,
through Old Europe, Celtic times,
to France, Germany, and Luxembourg of the Middle Ages,
up to the present.
- Gillian M. E. Alban
Melusine the Serpent Goddess in A. S. Byatt's Possession and in Mythology
Making a composite story out of this "evidence"
that ignores the different histories
and meanings of this art
so that it fits an interpretation
that is based on a supposed snake
that is not dated
is a real stretch of the information.
It is flat out, misleading.
- Robbins, Campbell, Brook, & Murphy
World's Oldest Ritual Site? The "Python Cave"
it greatly amiss that strangers should come
and present one of their most important deities
in such an outlandish form.
So we need to seek an explanation
- Sandra T. Barnes
Africa’s Ogun, Second, Expanded Edition: Old World and New
– a realist – Enki mixed denial with confession.
“It was not I who disclosed the secret of the gods”;
I merely let one Man, an “exceedingly wise” one,
perceive by his own wisdom
what the gods’ secret was.
- Zecharia Sitchin
The Twelfth Planet
after thoroughly studying the manuscript again
and correlating the theosophical and anthropological notes
with the cult narrative
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
we begin to awaken,
we perceive that the world is nothing at all
like the myths and superstitions
our society has imposed on us.
- Robert Anton Wilson
The Cosmic Trigger
There before him was her cult
- Philip Freeman
The Philosopher and the Druids
monstrous and free.
- Joseph Conrad
The Heart of Darkness
waiting
to liberate him.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
-------------------------------