Pseudonomicon

by Phil Hine

First published in a very limited edition in 1994, and reprinted only once since, The Pseudonomicon has been extremely difficult to find. By special arrangement with Dagon Productions, we have brought it back in this revised and expanded edition. Of The Pseudonomicon the author " It is generally agreed by experienced magicians that working with the Cthulhu Mythos is dangerous due to the high risk of obsession, personality disintegration or infestation by parasitic shells. Whilst giving this opinion due consideration, I have decided to release this material since, before the throne of Azathoth, questions of who is sane and who is mad become inconsequential." "Each god brings its own madness. To know the god---to be accepted by it, to feel its mysteries---well you have to let that madness wash over you, and through you. This isn't in the books of magic. Why? For one thing, it's all too easily forgotten, and for an other, you have to find it out for yourself. And for those who would sanitize magic, whitening out the wildness with explanations borrowed from pop psychology or science---well, madness is something that we still fear---the great taboo. So why did I choose Cthulhu---High Priest of the Great Old Ones---lying dreaming "death's dream" in the sunken city, forgotten through layers of time and water? It sounds so simple to say that I merely heard his "call"---but I did. Gods do not, generally, have a lot to say, but what they do say, is worth listening to." With a new Introduction and a completely new, and greatly expanded section on Banishing.

Genres: Occult, Nonfiction, Magick, Magic, Spirituality, Paganism, Tarot

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Phil Hine is an author and occasional lecturer on a variety of occult & related subjects, when he gets time away from producing print & digital magazines & IT Management. He edited an acclaimed Pagan magazine - Pagan News for five years.

Reviews

[Steve Cran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short read that breezes you effectively into Chaos magick. I should warn you however that this book may shake your foundations and give you a different view of magic then what you are used to. Getting to know the deities of the Ctullu mythos is a process that may well lead to madness. But then again why practice magic if you are not ready to have your visions of reality challenged and deconstructed. To fully know the gods is to let their madness was over you. Ctullu is a giant octopus being that dwells in the deeps of the ocean in a city called Ryeleh. When he opens one of his eyes from his sleep it send a psychic ripple across the planet. But if you read HP Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror or Mountains of Madness you would realize that these deities care not a whit for human kind and you may ask yourself why you would wanna work wit such entities?

Phil Hine is a leader in the Chaos Magic community he launches into a short pamphlet sized book on some ways you can work with these deities, advantages and who these deities are. The cool thing I like about Chaos magick is that it is a form of freestyle magic that is based on using techniques that work for you and totally throws out the dogma. Who needs dogma and since when does it bring success or liberation. Most successful people have broken away from dogma and done their own thing. Freethinking.

Working with Ctullu mythos is uncharted territory no one has written extensive works on how to work with these deities. So there is plenty of room to experiment and find what works for you. While it is not said in so many words workibng with the mythos is really about self transformation and change. By merging with these deities into their world you cast spells to change yourself and evolve. To reach these deities you have to go to lonely desolate places usually out there in nature. This is not like the Golden Dawn Temple where you need to practice indoors for best results. Reaching and working with these deities may well involve using means of achieving ecstasy to reach gnosis. Several techniques to reach gnosis are discussed. Techniques include words of power, shape shifting, dream control, slipping into fear and personality deconstruction. Practice this and it will change your life.

Who are these deities in the Ctullu mythos and who would want to worship deities that are in reality fictitious and are the product of HP Lovecraft's imagination. The first being discussed is Yog Soggoth. He is the gate keeper of the Great Old Ones.He is your first experience when dealing with the old ones. Coming into contact with this being may invoke fear and it is this phase that is called "Fear The Beast" It is essential that one try to feel their fear and ananlyze every detail of it. In other words feel it 100 percent. Azazoth is called the blind idiot god. Comparable to a blob with an eye in the Middle. He takes on many forms and then slips back into formlessness, He churns the surface and forms the shapes. This entity challenges us to foranm inner vision and not stay with any form permanently. Azazoth is an experience. Nyalerthrop is the man dressed in black who attends the witches sabbat. He is the gate way to the gods and work with him develops your magician self. Ctullu is already described. Shub Niggurath is the goat of the woods and very reminiscent to pan the goat god. He is the genius loci of the local wild place. Now why work with fictitious deities? A systems effectiveness cannot be measured solely in terms of inner coherence but effectiveness is increased the more one believes in the the system. belief is the central factor. believe in it and it works.

This is a fun book that will help lead ti radical change if adhered to properly which means do what works for you. Most of us use banishing rituals before and after. This sets the mood for a magical working yet one can use other means for entering into the magical mind set. For example silence of soft music can be used to enter into the state as well as to exit the state. Yet what if the magic is still lingering maybe you do not want to banish it right away maybe you wanna discuss or find a less abrupt means of banishing it. It is freestyle magic you do what works for you even if you cannot fully communicate what you have experienced because it is for you only. I enjoyed reading the Feat of ghouls. I will not go into descritptions save that you will wanna check this out yourself. The Most powerful mind cling to the fewest fixed principles.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way back in the early 70s, when the last of the Great Old Ones still walked the Earth, I was deeply immersed in Lovecraft fandom, a small but active subculture that published zines, held conventions, and corresponded in a suitably Lovecraftian manner. Of all the fans I met then, I only had one encounter with an intense, bearded young fellow who believed it was all true, or thinly disguised truth. Then came the Lavey Satanic Rituals book with its moronic invocations of various elder gods, followed by the first books claiming to be the actual Necronomicon, and the slow spreading miasma of Lovecraft awareness to the multitude. I bailed out in the late 70s and pretty much stopped paying attention until relatively recent epochs. It didn't take long to discover that there is now a thriving cult that takes the mythos seriously, equating it with Thelemic magic and other esoteric traditions. A friend gave me this little pamphlet for Xmas and I have to admit I enjoyed reading it. The premise here is that, of course it's a fictional cosmos, but as a system of myth and the basis for ritual, it can yield real "magick," or at least a species of chaotic enlightenment. Apart from the general entertainment of the concepts, it begs the question about the bases of all ritual and religions, the importance of belief (a cynic would say delusion) to finding a path in the world. The other minor insight it bestowed was how suited the elaborate world of HPL's creation and its expansion by other writers, Dungeons and Dragons, and other cultural currents is to magic practices, the fandom itself being a kind of church, with emphasis on form and pronunciation and dialectical debates on the "actual" structure of the mad universe as portrayed by the church's "prophets." And, of course, it's impossible to read a booklet like this and not wonder what the old gent himself would think of it. As a rigorous materialist, appalled perhaps, but as a fantasist, I hope he would at least be bemused.

[Valenfore Alestreneon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most dangerous type of Magik you can ever practice. Hine does a phenomenal job addressing the dark night of the soul in the beginning as well as the flaws of Occultism to try to make everything into a "symbol". Beware though. If you're Magikally inclined but not mentally strong and have not rectified your inner ills, you may be in big, BIG trouble as Lovecraftian Magik is practically it's own Talisman, much like the Ouija Board. Personality dissentigration does suck, I've been through it and years later I'm still not fully recovered, but I've definitely grown a lot and found my true calling and have a better personality than I did before mine dissentigrated. It feels like I've "passed through a membrane" exactly as he described. But be careful... very careful. If you don't know yourself well, don't touch this form of Magik.

[Shea Mastison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this a second time, especially after reading Liber Null/Psychonaut soon before, was enlightening. Using the Lovecraft mythos to channel ones magic is an idea that I thought I had originated--never being too concerned about the objective truth surrounding magic, I figured that it was a realm of fiction uniquely suited for a modern magician.

If Lovecraft is your thing, or if you're into what's commonly called "chaos magick" (ugh, I hate the whole 'k' nonsense)--then check this out.

[Alessandro Schümperlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro interessante, con la declinazione nell'uso di trickster ed affini della chaos magic in salsa grandi antichi. Il disclaimer iniziale del libro vale tutto il libro. POI interessante disamina in merito al meccanismo della chaos magic e grandi antichi

[Alex Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best book I've encountered that attempts to create a manual for lovecraftian magick

[Otto Hahaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tämä on pikkuinen läpyskä, jonka saatavuus on välillä vähän ongelmallista. Tämä löytyi pdf-tiedostona netistä, ja luin sen. Mutta nyt huomaan, että saisi sen ihan ostettuakin ilman suurempia ongelmia. Hmm...

Kaikki täysijärkiset tietävät, että Lovecraft keksi kaiken omasta päästään ja mitään kirjaa nimeltä Necronomicon ei ollut olemassa ennen kuin Lovecraft laittoi nuo kirjaimet paperille 1920-luvulla. Tämä ei tietenkään ole estänyt erilaisia ihmisiä erilaisin motiivein laittamaan myyntiin Necronomicon-nimisiä kirjoja. Tämän kirjan nimi on Pseudonomicon, eli nyt ei yritetä väittää, että tämä olisi SE kirja, mutta selvästi samoilla apajilla liikutaan. Mitä siis?

Kaikki täysjärkiset tietävät, että Lovecraft keksi kaiken omasta päästään ja mitään Suuria Muinaisia ei ollut olemassa ennen kuin Lovecraft laittoi kynänsä paperille ja kirjoitti niistä. Mutta aika varhain tietyt salatieteilijät kuitenkin omivat hahmot ja laittoivat ne osaksi omia systeemejään. Ymmärtääkseni ensimmäinen oli Kenneth Grant. Sitten vuosikymmenet kuluvat ja lopulta eteemme tupsahtaa tämä kirja, joka kuuluu kaaosmagian hyllylle.

Tässä välissä joku voi tuhahtaa, että eikös sitten joku voisi tehdä magiasysteemin, joka pohjautuu vaikka Terry Pratchettin tarinoihin. Noh, sellaiseen viitataan, kts. ”Octarine Magic/Gnosis”.

Homma menee vähän sillai, että (a) tyypit tietää, että esim. Cthulhu on keksitty hahmo, mutta ei se estä käyttämästä häntä hyödyllisenä symbolina. Ja nyt mennään jo hyvin syviin vesiin(hah!), koska nyt jää epäselväksi kuinka symboli hra C on, eli oletetaanko, että symboli tarttuisi videolle, jos olisi tarpeeksi uskalias yrittämään? Ilmeisesti moderneilla okkultisteilla on tästä erilaisia mielipiteitä. Ja (b) täysjärkisyys ei ole välttämättä toivottu ominaisuus, vaan tarkoitus on ottamalla yhteys Suuriin Muinaisiin päästä siitä eroon. Hajottaa pää, jotta sen voi koota uudestaan kokoon parempaan järjestykseen. Mutta mitä tämä tarkoittaa käytännössä, jää vähän epäselväksi minulle.

Lovecraftilaisten hahmojen kanssa peuhatessa jotkut yleisesti tunnetut säännöt muuttuvat. Jopa minä tiedän, että yleensä rituaali menee niin, että ensin kutsutaan henki/enkeli/demoni, rupatellaan sen kanssa ja lopuksi olento lähetetään pois. Suuria muinaisia ei oikein pysty lähettämään pois, jos ne suostuvat ilmaantumaan, ja niiden kutsuminenkin on kyseenalaista. Pikemminkin pyritään kosketuksiin heidän kanssaan. Tämä voi olla yllättävää tai jopa shokeeraavaa sellaiselle joka on enemmän inessä skenessä, mutta ulkopuolisempi saattaa vain todeta, että aijaa vai sillai.

Mutta pari ensimmäistä lukua voi lukea mainiona ja vetävänä fantasiatarinana, melkeinpä proosarunona, jossa pohditaan magian olemusta. Sitten kun aletaan käymään läpi tarkempia ohjeita, niin ulkopuolinen voi vähän kyllästyä.

[Panczito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grubo. Książkę czytałem z dużym dystansem i chyba tak trzeba ją właśnie odbierać. Interpretacja bogów z mitów jest dla mnie idealna. To jest zdecydowanie szersze postrzeganie sił które opisuje Lovecraft niż byłem do tego przyzwyczajony. W zasadzie pogodziłem się że już nigdy nie przeczytam z tej dziedziny nic wartego uwagi. Moim zdaniem te zeszyt ma OGROMNY potencjał jeżeli chodzi o prowadzenie gier RPG. Jest tu jasno przedstawione jak myśli kultysta, jakie może mieć motywacje, jak zmienia się jego psychika i czego można sie po nim spodziewać. Jako fan-fic polecam w opór jednak z zastrzeżeniem aby się odpowiednio nastawić. Książka troche wymaga od czytelnika jednak w zamian daję o dziwo sporo.

[Siân · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got excited about this book when i started it! Chaos magick within the Cthulu mythos??? yes please! but I dunno, I think I wanted more. It was ok but maybe I was hoping for more detail. I loved the pathworking at the end but I think I would have liked more on his practice and examples of things he experienced whilst working in that world.

I bookmarked a few bits though which I found were quite insightful and I'll be reading more of Phil's work.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this booklet was Hines explanation of the Old ones:
different patterns on a fractal surface that is continually seething and changing. Their shapes, forms and identities arise out of our interaction with them at any given point.

Otherwise, possession and shamanic methods talk - just not my cup of tea.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a bit overly slim, this book does explain how one can achieve spiritual experiences working with Lovecraft’s mythos.

[TMK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting primer, really enjoy Hine talking about magical events over rituals.

[Ana Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the way Phil Hine writes and and I did enjoy reading this book, but in the end I felt that the book could go a little bit further.

[Elektra Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well well, what a way in to chaos Magic via HP Lovecraft! Not sure I'll be delving to the deeps any time soon, or inviting any of the old ones in through a two way door, but it's a fun and fast read.

I'm really drawn to chaos magic because it's so unstuffy and feels way more natural and real. Phil Hine has a way of distilling some deep philosophy into gorgeous nuggets. I took loads of highlights and think I'll turn to his inimitable brand of wisdom when I feel like I need some sage advice - from a very cool wizard not an unapproachable, patronising one.

[Lizbeth Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one many years ago, and back then I did not fully appreciate it. Now that I re-read it, I can say it is one of the best of its kind. I am not particularly interested in becoming acquainted with the Old Ones on a personal level, let alone going mad. (Or at least, not madder than I already am. ;) However this little volume gives a plethora of information on how the Old Ones can be understood in relation to our human perception of the world, as well as some very valid observations on the way magickal experience cannot be explained or communicated. The writing is crystal clear, avoids metaphysical jargon, has an excellent sense of humour and offers interesting hints/ information if someone wants to get personally involved. Though short in length, it can be used as a solid introduction for someone who is tickled by the idea of the Old Ones in magickal work, and they can expand from there. Highly recommended.

[Edric Unsane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pseudonomicon is interesting if you are interested in working in the Cthulhu Mythos magically. This book wasn't for me, but it still contains some great interpretations and ideas for incorporating the mythos into your practice.

[Rory Tregaskis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can be read as an extension of the mythos itself because it adds weight to the idea all this stuff is actually real, which is part of the life of their own the stories have taken on. Or you can take it at face value in chaos magick terms and accept that these entities exist in the realm of the unreal, not really sure why you'd want to though. Either way, it's exactly the sort of thing you shouldn't mess with which makes it very appealing.

[Rodrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este pequeño libro contiene información muy relevante para todos aquellos interesados en los Mitos de Cthulhu desde una perspectiva ocultista como en su momento hizo Kenneth Grant (el cual por supuesto se nota la influencia sobre Phil Hine al escribir el libro) y la Esoteric Order of Dagon actualmente. Creo que como introducción a este tipo de práctica mágica es excelente y muchas de las conclusiones a las que el autor llega me parecen bastante acertadas

[Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short but awesome book on Lovecraftian magick. It gives suggestive ideas instead of detail oriented rituals so if you lack imagination or not of an artistic bent this might not be for you. I especially enjoyed the latter of the book going into the pathworking and his account of a Tsathoggua healing with his friend. Excellent read!

[Marlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet. 60 pages of reading and is now out of print from what I understand. I found it organized a lot of already gathered information gathered from online resources, my old main resource for all thing occult.

An eye opener.

[Scott Ferry · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better books on comprehensive workings with Lovecraft Mythos

[Matt Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably not for the inexperienced or the weak minded at least not to do themselves, but a useful illustration of the principles of Chaos Magic.