The 13 Gates of the Necronomicon

by Donald Tyson

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  A range of purple hills that divides the familiar dreamlands from those that are wilder and less well-known. They lie beyond the foothills of the land of Ooth-Nargai, and can be seen against the horizon from the city of Celephais. Lovecraft called the Tanarians "potent and mystical, behind which lay forbidden ways into the waking world and toward other regions of dream."

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  This great tower temple with its sixteen sides covered in carvings, its flattened dome, and its lofty, pinnacled belfry rising from the center of the dome, looms above the rooftops of the onyx city of Inquanok. Around the perimeter of the high dome are arrayed tripods that are ignited into flame at regular ritual times each day. The temple is set in the center of a walled garden having seven arched gateways that are never closed. Above each gate is carved the head of a different god. Beside each gate within the garden is a priest lodge. This walled garden is at the center of an open round plaza from which radiate the main streets of the city like the spokes of a wheel. The garden is a popular haunt for the people of Inquanok, thanks to its tiled paths, quaint shrines to lesser gods, and various fountains and reflecting pools designed to catch the light from the ignited tripods.

  When the bell in the belfry above the dome clangs at certain hours, the masked and hooded black-robed priests of the temple exit its seven doors and march in a stately goosestep in seven long single files toward the lodges beside the open gates of the garden, carrying golden bowls of steaming liquid, accompanied by the music of horns and viols and voices issuing in invitation from the lodges. The priests enter the lodges, but are never seen to emerge. It is presumed that they return to the temple by means of underground tunnels. No one but the Veiled King of Inquanok is permitted to enter the temple by any of its doors.

  The rumor circulates among the people of the city that the masked priests are not quite human. They inspire a vague dread in curious onlookers who gather in the garden to watch the procession and view the lighting of the tripods when the hour of the bell arrives. The chanted rhythms of the formula used by the priests are said to be recorded in scrolls that are older than the Pnakotic Manuscripts.

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  Called "the City of a Thousand Wonders" and "the Demon City," it is protected by grim, gray walls. Above them rise the spires of its temples, which reach so far into the sky that their tops cannot be discerned. Lovecraft characterized it as "fascinating and repellent." Those who pass into it through its huge carven gate Akariel, and who gaze upon the idol of Lathi, its ruling god, never leave it again. They join the throngs of daemons and the mad things no longer men who shuffle along its white streets of unburied bones.

  (The White Ship)

  A city of gilded spires on the golden river Oukranos, in the jungle land of Kled.

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; Through the Gates of the Silver Key)

  A range of high mountains in the dreamlands, beyond which lies the Vale of Pnath. Lovecraft calls them awful and sinister. They guard terrible valleys where dwell the burrowing bholes (or Dholes).

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  A snow-capped mountain, one of the high mountains upon which the gods of Earth are supposed to dance. The men of the dreamlands avoid the peak at night, for the gods do not like to be observed.

  (The Other Gods)

  Called the City of Cats, it is a city in the dreamlands beyond the river Skai where cats are revered. It is a crime punishable by death to kill a cat in Ulthar. Randolph Carter traveled there to consult the priest, Atal, concerning the whereabouts of Kadath in the Cold Waste. Barzai the Wise, who once dared to look upon the dancing gods of Earth, was a native of this city. It is said by the zoogs that within Ulthar is the last copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, which were made by waking men, but were carried into the dreamlands by the hairy cannibal Gnophkehs, who overcame many-templed Olathoe in the land of Lomar.

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; The Other Gods; The Cats of Ulthar)

  A small village of dome-shaped houses, on the caravan road from the south that turns sharply west at Urg and runs to the town of Selarn. The tavern at Urg is a favorite stopping place for traders and miners. If you continue onward in a northerly direction from Urg along the quarry road, you come to the place where onyx is mined.

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  In The White Ship, Xura is "the Land of Pleasures Unattained," which from a distance at sea appears to be a land of bright flowers and fertile arbors, from which can be heard snatches of music and song. Its shoreline is edged with lilies. As it is approached nearer, the breeze carries out from it the stench of rotting corpses. In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Randolph Carter referred to the "charnel gardens of Xura."

  (The White Ship; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  A lake on the great isle of Oriab that lies some distance inland from the port city of Baharna. Lake Yath is connected to the sea by means of a canal with granite gates that runs under Baharna. On the shore of the lake opposite the canal are the ruins of a city of bricks that is so ancient even its name has been forgotten.

  (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  A city in the dreamlands that contains a yellowed papyrus written by the dream-sages of Zakarion, who are so exalted they have never known incarnation in waking bodies of flesh.

  (Ex Oblivione)

  A land of terraces that are covered with trees and greenery, from which rise whiteroofed temples. It is a land of forgotten dreams and thoughts of beauty, and those who walk upon its terraces never return. This region of the dreamlands was described to Randolph Carter by Basil Elton, the lighthouse keeper of the North Point lighthouse, just off Kingsport, who had seen it in his dreams-the same lighthouse keeper who is the narrator of The White Ship. While in the dreamlands, Carter spoke to the men of a trading ship with violet sails, which was bound for the land of Zar with a cargo of "strange coloured lilies."

  (The White Ship; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)

  The Key to the Seventh Gate

  Sun passes through Gemini: June 21 July 20

  Constellation is represented by the twin boys of Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux, who had the same mother but different fathers.

  Right Pillar: Castor (Greek: Eques-The Horseman; Arabic name: Al-Ras al-Tau'am al- Mukaddim-Head of the Foremost Twin). Astronomical designation: Alpha Gemi- norum. Astrological nature: Mercury. Influence: skill with horses, wisdom, studies and intellectual pursuits. Magnitude: 1.9. Color: white. Sun crosses: July 13. Location: the head of the northern twin. Comments: Castor was the son of Tyndarus, the king of Sparta. At one time this star was the brightest in Gemini.

  Left Pillar: Pollux (Greek: Polydeuces-the Immortal One; Arabic name: Al-Ras alTau'am al-Mu'akhar-Head of the Second Twin). Astronomical designation: Beta Geminorum. Astrological nature: Mars. Influence: strength, fierceness, violent actions. Magnitude: 1.2. Color: reddish. Sun crosses: July 16. Location: the head of the southern twin. Comments: Pollux was the son of the god Zeus. Presently the brightest star in Gemini.

  The astral gate of Gemini lies between the star of its right pillar, located on the head of the northern twin, and the star of its left pillar, located on the head of the southern twin. The Sun enters the gate by crossing the longitude of Castor, the star of the right pillar, around July 13. The solar transition of this narrow gate takes only three days. The Sun exits the gate around July 16, when it crosses the longitude of the star of the left pillar, Pollux.

  The key to the Seventh Gate opens the constellation Gemini, allowing entry into the corresponding part of the walled city of the Necronomicon that contains the landscape of the dreamlands. Use it for divining information about the dreamlands, or to obtain oracular dreams or visions concerning places in the dreamlands.

  Seal of the Seventh Key on the Seventh Gate

  Face the direction of the compass ruled by the Seventh Gate, which is south
by westthat is, slightly to the right of due south. Visualize the closed gate set in the southern wall of the city in front of you, making it more than large enough to enter without bending your head. Take the time to create on the astral level the details of the gate so that it so that it appears to be a real city gate in your mind's eye. Imagine each aspect in succession and impress it on your mind, periodically returning your attention to reinforce each part as it begins to fade in the imagination.

  With the image of the gate held clearly in your mind and projected upon the astral level to the compass direction south by west, speak the following invocation to Yog-So thoth, which is the invocation for all the gates, save only that the names of the pillars, the constellation, and the gate, change for each:

  Guardian of the Gate! Defender of the Door! Watcher of the Way! Who art the stout Lock, the slender Key, and the turning Hinge! Lord of All Transition, without whom there is no coming in or going out, I call thee! Keeper of the Threshold, whose dwelling place is between worlds, I summon thee! Yog-Sothoth, wise and mighty lord of the old Ones, I invoke thee!

  By the authority of the dreaded name, Azathoth, that few dare speak, I charge thee, open to me the gateway of Gemini the Twins that lies between the blazing pillar Castor on the right hand and the blazing pillar Pollux on the left hand. As the solar chariot [or, lunar chariot] crosses between these pillars, I enter the city of the Necronomicon through its Seventh Gate. Selah!

  Visualize the key of the Seventh Gate in your right hand some six inches long and made of cast bronze. Feel its weight, texture, and shape as you hold it. Extend your right arm and use the point of the key to trace upon the surface of the gate the seal of the key, which should be visualized to burn on the gate in lines of white spiritual fire. Point with the astral key at the center of the gate and speak the words of opening:

  In the name of Azathoth, Ruler of Chaos, by the power of Yog-Sothoth, Lord of Portals, the Seventh Gate is opened!

  Visualize the gate unlocking and opening inward of its own accord upon a shadowed space beyond. On the astral level, walk through the gateway and stand in the dark space beyond. The key in your hand is your seal of authority. Focus your mind upon the place in the dreamlands you wish to scry remotely, or travel to in the astral body. In a more general sense, this ritual and this gate maybe used to generate and to enter lucid dreams.

  After fulfilling the purpose for which this gate was opened, conclude the ritual by astrally passing out through the gate and visualizing it to close. Draw the seal of the Seventh Key on the surface of the gate with the astral key you hold in your hand, and mentally cause it to lock itself shut, as it was at the beginning of the ritual. Speak the words:

  By the power of Yog-Sothoth, and authority of the supreme name Azathoth, I close and seal the Seventh Gate. This ritual is well and truly ended.

  Allow the image of the gate to grow pale in your imagination and fade to nothingness before you turn away from the ritual direction.

  The Eighth Gate

  ovecraft's fascination with astronomy began in 1903 when his mother gave him an astronomical telescope. From his grandmother on his mother's side of the family, who died when he was six, Lovecraft had inherited a small library of books on astronomy. Most prized among them was the Geography of the Heavens by Elijah H. Burritt, first published in 1835. He began to haunt the Ladd Observatory of Brown University, which was about a mile north up Tin-top Hill from where he lived, taking every opportunity the tolerant director, Professor Winslow Upton (1853-1914), who was a family friend, allowed him to view the night sky through the observatory telescope, an instrument of much greater power than his own. He delighted in studying the surface of the Moon, and found it frustrating that half the Moon was forever turned away from the Earth. He complained in a 1916 letter to a friend that the long hours of observation gave him a permanent curve in his neck.

  From 1906 to 1918 Lovecraft contributed monthly articles on astronomy to local Providence newspapers. He gave illustrated lectures on astronomy to clubs, using lantern slides made for him by one of the assistants at Ladd Observatory, and spent much time reading the books in the Observatory library. For years Lovecraft seriously considered becoming an astronomer, but he was never able to gain the necessary education in mathematics for this exacting profession, due to difficulties he had remaining in school. He was subject to periods of nervous collapse that compelled him to withdraw from school for long intervals. Although Lovecraft never wrote about such matters, it seems likely that he found social interaction with large groups of other young people an immense strain.

  His interest in astronomy gave Lovecraft a scientific awareness of the vastness of the universe, not only its vastness in the dimensions of space, but in time as well, and it showed him the insignificance of our own planet in the greater scheme of things. Always inclined to rationalism, Lovecraft had rejected religion at a young age due to the inconsistencies in the lessons he received at Sunday school. His study of astronomy confirmed in him the atheistic philosophy to which he had already been inclined. It shows itself in his fiction in the form of the pitiless indifference with which the Great Old ones regard humanity.

  In religion, man is the center of the universe, the single most important creation of God, but in astronomy man is only one species among millions on a single tiny planet circling an ordinary star in a common spiral galaxy composed of billions of stars that is itself only one among countless billions of galaxies. The recognition of this truth so deeply impressed Lovecraft that he became something of a nihilist, unable to believe that anything any member of our tiny species might accomplish could truly matter in the cosmic scheme of things, either for good or for ill. He deliberately distanced himself emotionally from the human race, and thought of himself as an observer rather than a participant.

  Part of the joy of amateur astronomy is the lore of star names. The more prominent visible stars were named by the Greeks, and after them by the Arabs and Persians, in the process acquiring an extensive mythology. Star names such as Aldebaran, Algol, and Betelgeuse are Arab. Other stars, such as Sirius and Polaris retain their Greek names. Lovecraft was familiar with the ancient lore of the stars. The winking red star Algol was regarded by the Arabs as the most evil of all the stars. Lovecraft made it the seat of the adversary in his story Beyond the Wall of Sleep. In the story Polaris, the faithful and unvarying Pole Star becomes a kind of celestial conscience that spans thousands of incarnations of a soul tormented by his sense of failure and guilt.

  Conditions on the surfaces of the planets were unknown in Lovecraft's time, allowing him free reign to imagine any conditions he wished. Mars was believed to be a cold, dry world, but Lovecraft had by the age of seventeen already dismissed the theory of astronomer Percival Lowell that its red surface was crossed by channels of water, and that green patches were visible between them. Venus was usually presented in popular literature as a jungle world, and no one could have guessed how hot Venus was at its surface, so Lovecraft naturally made Venus a jungle world in his story Within the Walls of Eryx, co-written with Kenneth Sterling. Lovecraft placed various alien races on some of the moons of the outer planets, and he built an entire mythology around recently discovered Pluto, which he called Yuggoth and associated with the Mi-Go. He speculated in his fiction about an undiscovered planet beyond the orbit of Pluto, which he named Kynath, and would have been fascinated by the recent discovery of several large bodies beyond Pluto.

  He even gave his fantasy free reign regarding the far side of the Moon, which he playful referred to as the "dark side" in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. As an amateur astronomer, Lovecraft knew full well that the Moon does not have a dark side-all sides of the Moon receive an equal amount of light and darkness-but just as the myth of the great cataract that falls off the edge of the world beyond the Pillars of Hercu les has reality in the dreamlands, so does the myth of the Moon's dark side, which in Lovecraft's fiction is the gathering place of Earth's cats, and coveted by the giant cats of Sat
urn. In folklore and myth, the cat is a lunar animal. It made sense for Lovecraft to give his talking cats the power to leap from the rooftops to the Moon, since the Moon was their natural place.

  No planets had been observed around other stars while Lovecraft was alive, simply because not even the most powerful telescope of his day was up to the task of seeing them, but it was not difficult to postulate that many of the stars visible in our night sky have planetary systems similar to that of our Sun. In The Dreams in the Witch House Lovecraft described the home planet of the Elder Things, in a star system with three suns of different colors, all three of which were sometimes in the sky at the same time, casting three differently colored shadows in three directions from anyone standing under them.

  Lovecraft based the climax of his story Beyond the Wall of Sleep around a nova, or new star, that appeared in the heavens near Algol in the year 1901. In the story, this new star was the returning alien soul that had been trapped in the body of Catskills hillman Joe Slater until his death. The story was written in 1919, but Lovecraft set it in 1901 to take advantage of this rare celestial event. Only a passionate amateur astronomer such as Lovecraft would ever have imagined basing a horror story on a nova. In the story, the nova flares immediately after Slater's death. This made no sense, as Lovecraft must have been well aware, since even had the alien soul been able to traverse space in an instant, it would have taken many years for the light of the exploding nova to reach the Earth. It's another example of Lovecraft's playfulness where astronomical matters were concerned.

  A red or orange star, also known as Alpha Tauri, in the constellation Taurus, that is mentioned by Lovecraft in two of his stories. It was suggested to Randolph Carter by the bearded priests Nasht and Kaman-Thah that the Kadath he sought might not even be in the dreamlands surrounding the Earth, but might lie in some unguessed dreamlands around a planet that circles the star Aldebaran, or the star Fomalhaut. August Derleth placed the city of Carcosa on a planet circling Aldebaran, but this was not done by Lovecraft, for whom Aldebaran was merely a red star in the night sky.