Angular Gateways

Angular Gateways

A Preliminary Conjuration into the Eldritch Mysteries

by Venomous

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Angular Gateways

Tunnels through the Mind

These Great Old Ones were not composed altogether of flesh and blood. They had shape, but that shape was not made of matter. When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky.
The Call of Cthulhu

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Angular Gateways

Tunnels through the Mind

This is a work of the mind, exploration of the subconscious, and the dream world.

The other world we walk in exists within suspension of disbelief, that same aspect of the human psyche that allows one to engage in fiction.

Just like a movie, a ritual can entertain, educate, and inspire.

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This is a work of the mind, exploration of the subconscious, and the dream world. While we walk in the waking world, that of logic, reason, and of touching grass, we make no objective truth claim as to the existence of gods, or the reality of magic, but we can discuss such things in rational and even playful discourse. The other world we walk in exists within suspension of disbelief, that same aspect of the human psyche that allows one to engage in fiction. You already know how to do this every time you read a work of fiction or watch a movie without questioning fantastic things such as monsters, time travel, or other unbelievable situations. Just like a movie, a ritual can entertain, educate, and inspire.

You might discuss plot holes and continuity, but one typically doesn't conduct their daily life as if the events in the movie were real. This is the lesson of the ritual chamber, where the suspension of disbelief stays. When was the last time you were watching over your shoulder worried that Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers were following you? Never? Good. It is with such disbelief and disregard that we leave behind the creeping things we call into the mind, lest we be truly given into madness.

Using our movie analogy, the end credits, theater lights, and music signal that the story is over. Leaving the theater to the waking world outside is sometimes even a minor reality shift, depending on the storytelling of the movie and the immersion of the watcher.

These mundane examples all around us show how we engage in different operating modes and different belief systems depending on our current position in space and time.

Angular Gateways

An Invocation of Madness

They could only lie awake in the dark and think whilst uncounted millions of years rolled by. They knew all that was occurring in the universe, but Their mode of speech was transmitted thought.

So this work of the mind is an invocation of madness itself. When it is kept in check with the suspension of disbelief, within the confines of what Anton LaVey would call the Intellectual Decompression Chamber, a unique and even entertaining kind of personal exploration can be employed.

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Angular Gateways

An Invocation of Madness

These are the two roads of working the psyche-driven magic of the mind: to learn or to change something about the Self, through a deliberate act of willpower.

Magic is more than positive thinking, and magical change is, or at least I hope it is, more than a change in habits.

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Any time you engage in mindfulness journaling, daily affirmations, habit building, going to boot camp, finishing college, completing an apprenticeship, or earning a black belt, you are engaging in self-driven change in accordance with your Will. Some would call this a form of Magic, for where else in the animal kingdom does a mind contemplate itself, making a self-willed decision to initiate radical transformation?

The mechanism for that change requires the mind to be a bit... squishy. Meditation, ecstatic states, sensory deprivation, and so forth, are words that describe a similar phenomenon where the mind is in a state of susceptibility and vulnerability.

The wise initiate performs a self-inventory, both inside and outside of the Temple Mind.

From a place of self-understanding, we venture ever deeper towards first causes. This is the metaphor of the Abyss.

Buckle in, this is gonna get weird.

Angular Gateways

The Why

That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.

Cthulhu is said to dwell in R'lyeh under the sea, which in occult terms (thanks in no small part to Jung) is often seen as a metaphor for the deep unconscious mind: forgotten memories, untapped potential, even past lives if such a thing were possible.

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Angular Gateways

The Why

Three evocations by Priests and the Cult call out to the waters of the deep in the Old Speech of the alien gods, in the Celestial Speech as given by the famed occultist John Dee, and by the common tongue.

PRIEST 1

PH'NGLUI MGLW'NAFH CTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL FHTAGN.

SOLPETH BIEN, ILS VOUINA ZUMBI,

PRIEST 2

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

Hearken unto my voice, O thou dragon of the seas,

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Angular Gateways

The Why

Yet as those evocations and exhortations rise and find their home, in the deep minds of the operating magicians of the cult, a most unexpected awakening occurs. Arising with the tides and the mighty Cthulhu is the Guardian of the Gate, Yog-Sothoth! For all are one in Yog-Sothoth, Past, Present, and Future.

The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

When, after infinities of chaos, the first men came, the Great Old Ones spoke to the sensitive among them by moulding their dreams; for only thus could Their language reach the fleshly minds of mammals.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

The construction of the rite is one that started with the spark of an idea. In the course of exploring the Celestial Keys of John Dee, one could not help but to note the built-in apocalyptic imagery. Thunders, flames, oceans, angles, dragons...

Using a selective cut-up method, a number of evocations were able to be reproduced using Dee's (modernized) English.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Clavis I

The First Key in Dee's hand — British Library, Sloane MS 3191, art. 1: *48 Claves Angelicae*, Dee's fair copy of the nineteen Keys, Kraków, 1584.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

One of the things to take note of with the Enochian system is how in every tradition that has changed hands over the years, the received speech seems to have remained intact. From the cut-up English, the cut-up Enochian was assembled.

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Angular Gateways

Awake in the Abyss

Evocation I · Station: Fire

THE MAGUS

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

PRIEST 1

PH'NGLUI MGLW'NAFH CTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL FHTAGN.

PRIEST 1

SOLPETH BIEN, ILS VOUINA ZUMBI,

SOBA FAORGT NOTHOA ZUMBI,

SOBA DOOAIN ADPHAHT;

DS I ZIROP OD CHISO;

DST BRGDA OD TORZUL.

ILS IP TELOCH!

PRIEST 2

Hearken unto my voice, O thou dragon of the seas,

whose dwelling place is in the midst of the waters,

whose name is unspeakable;

which is, and was, and shall be;

which sleep and shall rise.

Thou art not dead!

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation I · Station: Fire

SOLPETH BIEN, ILS VOUINA ZUMBI,

Hearken unto my voice, O thou dragon of the seas,

❦

Clavis VI

DARSAR SOLPETH BIEN

Wherefore hearken unto my voice

Clavis VIII

TA LOLCIS ABAI UONIN

buckles to the stooping dragons

Clavis IX

BUTMONI PARM ZUMBI

from their mouths run seas of blood

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation I · Station: Fire

DST BRGDA OD TORZUL.

which sleep and shall rise.

❦

Clavis III

M OZIEN, DST BRGDA OD TORZUL

except mine own, which sleep and shall rise

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation II · Station: Darkness

DS IP TELOCH, DS BRGDA, SOBA IPAM LU IPAMIS;

That is not dead which can eternal lie,

and with strange aeons even death may die.

❦

Clavis I

SOBA IPAM LU IPAMIS

whose beginning is not nor end cannot be

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation III · Station: Water

SAPAH ZIMII DUIB.

The sounds have entered in the third angle.

❦

Clavis V

SAPAH ZIMII DUIB

The mighty sounds have entered in the third angle

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation III · Station: Water

DOOAIN NOAR MICAOLZ AAIOM.

for thy name is become mighty amongst us.

❦

Clavis III

OD DOOAIN NOAR MICAOLZ AAIOM

his name is become mighty amongst us

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Evocation III · Station: Water

CACRG AOIVEAE CORMPT.

until the stars be right.

❦

Clavis XIX

CACRG AOIVEAE CORMPT

until the stars be numbered

With some selective wordplay, I was able to find “until the stars be numbered” in Key 19 (Aethyrs) which would fit nicely as “until the stars be right”.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

The Kin of the Same

This triggered a series of translations that changed about 10% of the words in Dee's English, carefully swapping “The Great Old Ones” for “God,” and “time and space” for “creation,” for example.

ZACARe ca od ZAMRAN, Odo cicle Qaa, in Dee's hand

ZACARE, CA, OD ZAMRAN; ODO CICLE QAA; ZORGE, LAP ZIRDO NOCO MAD, HOATH IAIDA.

Move, therefore, and show yourselves; open the mysteries of time and space; be a teacher unto me, for I am the blood-kin of the same, the Great Old Ones, a true caller to the centre of Chaos.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Perhaps a little more devious, though with no intention of claiming historical accuracy, are the insertions of Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Azathoth into the keys.

Behold the face of Cthulhu, the beginning of your madness

O thou mighty light and burning flame of chaos, which opens the gates to Azathoth outside the order of the cosmos

for all are one in Yog-Sothoth.

The Nineteenth Key, the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs, in Dee's hand

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Angular Gateways

The Work

The Call and Return · Opening of the Gate

With a small core of the rite in place, I added the very few examples of the Old Speech from Lovecraft.

IÄ! IÄ! CTHULHU FHTAGN!

N'GAI, N'GHA'GHAA, BUGG-SHOGGOG, Y'HAH;

YOG-SOTHOTH, YOG-SOTHOTH!

Y'AI 'NG'NGAH, YOG-SOTHOTH H'EE—L'GEB F'AI THRODOG UAAAH

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Angular Gateways

The Work

With the work still rather short, the opening evocation was expanded to three, adjusting the body of the Enochian each time, and adding “thou art not dead”. This repeated refrain builds over time, calling and encouraging the dreaded Cthulhu to rise.

ILS IP TELOCH!

Thou art not dead!

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Angular Gateways

The Work

Participants

To help frame the rite, quotes The Call of Cthulhu inserted, spoken by the Magus. Finally, I gave voices to the various speaking roles, and basic ritual guidance to each.

THE MAGUS: Conductor of the rite. Addresses the Cult. Frames the action. Speaks in English. All lines are quotes from Lovecraft.

PRIEST 1: Speaker of otherworldly tongues. R'lyehian lines from Lovecraft, Celestial Speech (i.e. Enochian) from John Dee.

PRIEST 2: Interprets the R'lyehian and Celestial.

THE ASSEMBLY: The Cult assembled has prepared for the rite as desired.

THE WATCH: The rubric at the Gate says that a possession may occur. It is advisable that someone of sound mind and experience be designated as a guide.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

The Fire.

This is the place of birth, of rebirth, and of internal alchemy. Alchemy is the process of change by fire.

The Darkness.

This is the place of contemplation.

This is also the place of seeking answers, and of uncertainty, a place of transitions, of rest and maturation.

The Water.

This is the place of gnosis, revelation, and possession.

Water assumes the form of its vessel, it is the element of shapeshifting.

The Gate.

The Gate was not what we petitioned, yet it arrives. He Arrives. All things are one in Yog-Sothoth.

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Angular Gateways

The Work

The Keys. Claves Angulatae are 18 and 30 in number. Scry the 30 Aethyrs and record all visions to construct the temple.

If you understand Enochian magic, pick one of the Claves Angulatae and scry it. The Enochian is unchanged from the original, the English is mine, altered to find the Eldritch tone.

The Eighteenth Key and the wheel of the thirty Aethyrs, in Dee's hand

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Angular Gateways

Before the rite

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.

Read the four stories the Rite is constructed from:

The Call of Cthulhu. A cult, a risen island, Cthulhu dreaming... The rite's Magus owes most spoken words to this story.

The Dunwich Horror. Yog-Sothoth and the Necronomicon! The source of “The Old Ones were...” as well as contributes to the Old Speech.

The Shadow over Innsmouth. Ah the Deep Ones, and their half-breeds! The final closing invitation to come dwell in the abyss.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Forbidden tales of necromancy. Supports the dragon's head chant.

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Angular Gateways

Before the rite

OPTIONAL STUDY

The Satanic Rituals by Anton LaVey, specifically the Call to Cthulhu written by Michael Aquino. Its use of the Old Speech and psychodrama is well worth the study and practice.

The Pseudonomicon by Phil Hine. Forty pages of his own Eldritch workings, short and to the point.

When the Stars are Right by Scott R. Jones presents a sane and rational approach to an otherwise madness-inducing path of spirituality.

The Dark Lord by Peter Levenda introduces Kenneth Grant, who blends Aleister Crowley and H. P. Lovecraft among others into a single mythology.

Michael Aquino in 1973, wearing an inverted pentagram

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Angular Gateways

After the Call

Even now They talked in Their tombs

For we are the blood-kin of the same, the Great Old Ones.

We are not dead!

{Toll the bell to end the rite}

The combined voices of the cult, proclaiming collectively “We are not dead”, are simultaneously a self-aware moment of clarity to the individual, and a bond of brother and sisterhood when performed in a group.

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Angular Gateways

MANIFESTO

As one seeks the mysteries, it is not unlike chasing the horizon, or unlocking a puzzle box in which another, more intricate puzzle box is revealed inside.

Excelsior!

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Angular Gateways

Bibliography

Dee

British Library, Sloane MS 3191, art. 1: 48 Claves Angelicae, Dee's fair copy of the nineteen Keys, Kraków, 1584.

Donald C. Laycock, The Complete Enochian Dictionary: A Dictionary of the Angelic Language as Revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley (1994; Weiser).

Lovecraft

“The Call of Cthulhu” (1928).

“The Dunwich Horror” (1929).

“The Shadow over Innsmouth” (1936).

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (written 1927, published 1941).

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