Newsgroups: alt.magick

Kendrick Kerwin Chua writes:
>
>I contradict my own desire to see this issue die out by posting a response. . .
>
>Whatever the Necronomicon is, based on fiction, based in fact, based in
>dark, possibly Satanic origins or based in ancient Sumerian faith, the
>book means something to everyone.
>
>To some it is a work of fiction, an annoyance best left ignored.
>
>To some it is a psychological construct, a "book" which derives its
>power from those who believe in it, and not necessarily existence.
>
>To some it is the gospel, a "guidebook to living in the twenty-first
>century" (paraphrased from the Simon edition).
>
>And to some it is a curiosity, something mysterious, something they
>heard about in a story or from a friend, the title of a gaming magazine,
>the title of some book of art by H.R. Giger, the name of a Heavy Metal
>band.
>
>Whatever it is, the Necronomicon means whatever you want it to mean. 
>Believe in it.  Disbelieve it.  Worship it.  Write your own.
>
>It's your choice, and you can damn well think whatever you want about
>it, just like you can any other subject.
>
>My own opinion about the N-con?  That's my business.
>
>
Exactly right; it means something different to each person. Some time ago
I was struck by the persistence of people who wanted (in the face of any
rational evidence) the book to exist; I was even more struck by the efforts
made to stamp out suggestions that the Necronomicon was anything other
than a fictional device. It was like seeing the world in a nutshell. Of
the two parties I found the self-appointed guardians of Truth and 
Right-Thinking to be the more offensive, often literally so, and I never miss
an opportunity to annoy the shit out of them. 

There is a real, magical issue underlying the extended joke, and it has to
do with power and freedom. This isn't alt.right-thinking; this is alt.magick,
and one of the most difficult things magicians have to do is carve out the 
freedom within which their power develops. Other people oppose that freedom at 
every step, and even the magician finds the same, inherited, freedom-denying
forces at work, locking up the power - "you mustn't think this, you musn't
think that, you musn't do this, you musn't do that". That is why I said the
argument about the Necronomicon is like the world in a nutshell; the people
who desperately want it to exist want it to be written by someone else, to
have a mythical authorship; the people who correct anyone
suggesting anything other than the canonical truth (that Lovecraft devised it,
that Alhazred was a childhood fantasy etc.) have a self-appointed role as
guardians of consensus reality.

In neither case is there freedom to create. The world is nailed in place. 
The Necronomicon is only a word, it means anything I want, and
as magicians we have to be able to find our freedom to make it mean anything
we want; instead of being a dead thing with a fixed and ordained role
it comes alive once more. I wrote the FAQ in that spirit, that the Necronomicon
was my property and I could do anything with it that I wanted. I had great
fun creating my own history. I really admire people who have written
versions of the N., not as a grubby con-trick, but as a creative exercise,
and if it was done by someone with power the result would be worth taking
seriously. 
  
The N. may seem a silly object to use as a metaphor for the general situation,
but as I say, I have been impressed that some people passionately want it
to exist, some people are determined to stamp out heresy, and most people
think the issue too silly to be worth the time of day.

Colin