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Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred

Page 24

by Donald Tyson


  By his necromancy he has rendered himself deathless, and though he appears outwardly to age, his body remains forever youthful and strong. If, by some mischance, his body were shattered into pieces, and death came upon him in such a way that it could not be forestalled, he would rise again, such is the command he has of the arts of the grave; for from his essential salts he would rise, and the bones that once wore flesh would be clothed in flesh anew. He fears not the assassins of the Sons of Sirius, who ever seek to penetrate his walls as punishment for his theft of their precious scrolls, for his walls are impregnable to men; nor does he concern himself with the wandering bands that worship Shub-Niggurath who threaten him because of his revelation of the secrets of her covenant; the malice of the captive spawn of Cthulhu, which has never forgiven him for his betrayal beneath the library of the monastery of the magi, is his amusement, for what power has that being entrapped within its iron cage?

  For as long as his essential salts persist upon the face of this world, so long shall the poet endure and mock his enemies in verse. There is no death that would erase his substance so utterly that he cannot arise renewed and reborn. It is in this dual assurance of impregnability and immortality that he offers his journey of life within these pages, which are illuminated for the wise but remain shadowed from the gaze of fools. Here are secrets found in no other book, for they are known to no other man. Their purchase is beyond price, but it is the whim of the poet to scatter them upon the dust, and through the future years, like precious pearls, either to be gathered up by men of perception or trodden beneath the hooves of swine.

  You who read this book first will bless the name Alhazred; yet when you read it for the second time will you curse his name bitterly and lament with tears that you ever held it; yet there are a few who will read it a third time and give blessing once again, and to those few all doors lie open.

  Table of Contents

  Prefatory Note

  Concerning the Life of Abdul Alhazred

  Necronomicon

  Howlings in the Desert

  Rapture of the Empty Space

  Lustful Demons and Angry Demons

  The Eaters of the Dead

  Many-Towered Irem, Its Wonders and Pitfalls

  The Dweller in the Caverns

  The Lost City Beneath Irem

  The Starlit Chamber of Seven Gates

  The First Portal, Leading to the Plateau of Leng

  The Second Portal, Leading to the City of Heights

  The Third Portal, Leading to Sunken R’lyeh

  The Fourth Portal, Leading to Yuggoth

  The Fifth Portal, Leading to Atlantis

  The Sixth Portal, Leading to Kadath

  The Seventh Portal, Leading to the Temple of Albion

  What May Be Safely Written of the Old Ones

  Yig, Corresponding with the Sphere of Saturn

  Yog-Sothoth, Corresponding with the Sphere of Jupiter

  Cthulhu, Corresponding with the Sphere of Mars

  Azathoth, Corresponding with the Sphere of Sol

  Shub-Niggurath, Corresponding with the Sphere of Venus

  Nyarlathotep, Corresponding with the Sphere of Mercury

  Dagon, Corresponding with the Sphere of Luna

  The Great Seal of the Old Ones, Known As the Elder Seal

  The Underground River A’zani

  Memphis, City of Mummies

  Concerning the Tombs of Wizards

  The Uncanny Ways of Cats, and Their Cult

  The Riddle of the Sphinx Interpreted

  The Resurrectionists in the Storehouse of Kings

  The Essential Salts and Their Use

  The Valley of the Dead

  Walking Corpses Above the Second Cataract

  The Book Markets of Alexandria

  The Ziggurats and the Watchers of Time

  The Tower of Babel and the Fall of the Watchers

  The Ruins of Babylon

  U’mal Root and Its Manner of Harvest

  The Valley of Eden

  The Wisdom Seat

  The Monastery of the Magi

  Inner Grounds of the Sons of Sirius

  The Secret Purpose of the Magi

  Why the Stars Are Not Right

  The Thing Beneath the Library

  Why the Old Ones Do Not Die

  Concerning Shoggoths

  The Formula of Yug

  The Well of Life

  The Relic of the Hebrews

  Wanderers on the Road to Damascus

  The Rite of the Companion

  Terms of the Covenant with Shub-Niggurath

  Soul Bottles

  The Lane of Scholars

  The Secret of Damascus Steel

  The Burial Ground at Damascus

  The Conclusion to the Journey

 

 

 


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