CTHULHU MYTHOS CULTS:

Names from the Cthulhu Mythos as they were used by the EOD and SWS in the 1960s and 1970s. By: Tani Jantsang

I wrote this to show people who are familiar with these cultural currents, but not familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos, how some of these mythos words are used; that is, they have similar meaning and sound similar. This synopsis will be clear to those already very familiar with the Hermetic, Eastern Esoteric and Kabalistic tradition. These are just notes and compared to the large amount of detailed information that was collected, this below is pretty compact. This is how a few groups, some occultists, used these terms in the 1960s and 1970s, before a large and vast proliferation of Mythos deities and races were invented by other fans and writers.

HP Lovecraft chose mythemes from Semitic and Turanian (Turko-Tatar) sources and said this himself. The inventor of terms for the fiction is put in brackets [ ]. Other notations are in parenthesis ( ). This shows fictional mythos relations to legitimate things from regular mythology or religious traditions - usually the similarities were deliberate.

Clues to Where to Look for Names and Meanings:

Emphasis ours: From (Lovecraft's) Selected Letters IV: p 386-7: "...as to those artificial names of unearthly places and gods and persons and entities - there are different ways of coining them. To a large extent they are designed to suggest - either closely or remotely - certain names in actual history or folklore which have weird of sinister associations connected with them. Thus "Yuggoth" has a sort of Arabic or Hebraic cast, to suggest certain words passed down from antiquity in the magical formulae contained in Moorish and Jewish manuscripts. Other synthetic names like 'Nug" and "Yeb" suggest that dark and mysterious tone of Tartar or Thibetan folklore. Thus when I cite the name of some wholly non-human thing supposed to be mentioned in the Necronomicon, I try to have the foundation of the word absolutely unearthly and alien, yet give it an outwardly Arabic aspect to account for the transmitting influence of the mad Arab. Typical Necronomicon names are Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, etc." (Thanks D. Harms for HPL's quote)

Emphasis ours: Also In Supernatural Horror in Literature, at the end of chapter VI, Lovecraft discusses the "till recently quite hidden" weird literature of the Jews, giving this description: "Cabbalism itself, so prominent during the Middle Ages, is a system of philosophy explaining the universe as emanations of the Deity, and involving the existence of strange spiritual realms and beings apart from the visible world, of which dark glimpses may be obtained through certain secret incantations. Its ritual is bound up with mystical interpretations of the Old Testament, and attributes an esoteric significance to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet--a circumstance which has imparted to Hebrew letters a sort of spectral glamour and potency in the popular literature of magic." This may not be correct regarding the Kaballa, but this is what Lovecraft thought. (Thanks D. Clore for HPL quote).

In order to have written this, HPL had to have specific texts or folklore in mind. It shows, at the least, that he was familiar with Arabic/Hebrew words/names and Tartar and Thibetan folklore. (spelling: Tatar and Tibetan). It does not, however show or prove that he understood the concepts in these texts or indicate that he made a study of them. There is no way to actually know what HPL read or studied that he did not mention to others, or did not have in his library.

Other writers through the years sought out words and ideas from many cultures that sounded similar and had proper similar meanings. Some did not do this, but for those that did, where they got these terms and why they used them was not hard to find. Asking them also helped!

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Cthulhu as written of by Lovecraft (HPL): High Priest of the Old Ones who are Outside, that will be unleashed through the gate which is Yog-Sothoth. I.e., An Obic Priest (center column, Kaballa) that "opens the Gate Yat-Zebaoth," (see Yog-Sothoth) among other things. Similar to releasing the Seals in the Book of Revelation. This will result in utter Chaos. Then the Old Ones will walk once again, where we walk now. When the stars are right or, "when the spaces between the stars are more wide." (The Big Crunch, cf. physics, Roger Penrose: expanding universe equals spaces between stars being wider and in this scenario the universe then reverses and begins to crunch. HPL may have been familiar with this theory before Penrose made it famous. New data shows something even more astounding and definitely Lovecraftian: that the universe is not slowing down and tending toward a crunch. In other words, objects inside of space/time do not behave as space/time itself behaves at all. The universe, the space in the universe, is expanding faster, expansion is increasing, not slowing down, according to the latest Hubble and other finds. That is, the spaces between the galaxies is literally growing more wide! Now, interestingly, it is the dark voids of space BETWEEN the matter in galaxies that is blowing up like a balloon; and the matter in the galaxies, causing gravity, puts a partial brake on it keeping it from expanding way too fast. However, the space itself is expanding faster than the matter can keep it in check. Spaces between galaxies are getting more wide! Some call this knew and as yet (2004) unknown force a repulsion force, some call it a cosmological constant, some call it dark energy. So then, the spaces between galaxies are literally getting more wide!) [HPL].

ALSO from Lovecraft: Cthulhu, or at least ancient, alien Octopoids that resemble Cthulhu, alien, enemy of Crinoids or the Star-Headed "Old Ones" or "Elder Things" in the story "At the Mountains of Madness" that came to earth [HPL]. There are also polyp-octopoids that may be the race that Cthulhu came with. Or the Polyps may be a separate race distinct from the Octopoids. The Octopoids are definitely made out to be Cthulhu's race by most readers and writers that write about them (though HPL did not specifically say that). The Polyps are the race that the Race of Yith was fleeing from, or the Yithians found them on earth and fought them. [HPL, Derleth, Jantsang, Marsh, Yith Trilogy].

Cthulhu not in fiction: Possibly similar to the Arabic Khadhulu. The word occurs in the Koran, meaning "forsaker" or "abandoner." Also note that in Aramiac Ketul-hu means, "he who is imprisoned." The Arabic root word Katala means to fetter or imprison. R'lyeh could possibly be Uralia, the Urallic lands; Ural-Altaic people are associated, in Biblical scholarship, with Gog and Magog from the line of Japhet. Also R'lyeh is an acceptable transcription of the Arabic Galiyah or r'allyah since the "g" is a glottal "r" sometimes rendered by an "r" or "r'" and galiyah means boiling.)

Cthulhu - Lovecraft: The story "Call of Cthulhu" was a deliberate parody of the Book of Revelation; HPL said this in one of his letters. In the Book of Revelation, in short and specifically, one sees someone that is "like unto" a son of man; his hair is white and his eyes are flaming fire; his voice is like many waters. He's in the midst of seven candles. In his right hand he shows seven stars and out of his mouth comes a double edged sword. He claims to be the alpha and omega, he claims that he is living though he is/was dead and that he is alive forever and ever, though he may die, he is alive (That is not dead, which can eternal lie...). He has the keys to Hell and Death. Later the visionary sees a throne and One sitting on this throne. Seeing the One on the throne is like looking at jasper and sardine stone and there is a rainbow around the throne like an emerald. Around this throne are 24 elders wearing tiaras or crowns of gold. In front of this is a sea of glass like a crystal and in the middle of the throne and around the throne are 4 living beasts full of eyes before and behind and within (like shoggoths), that never rest and that worship the One that lives forever and ever. And it goes on to say that no man of heaven, or earth, or under the earth is able to open the book or unlock the Seals. Later it is said about the One on the throne, that all must hide from Its face. Of course, the Seals that contain The Awful Stuff are opened and that heralds the end of the world.

Cthulhu - a name: Also, from the book Conqueror of the World by Rene Grousset page 21: there was a relatively well-known Mongol khan of the East: KHUTULA KHAN ["Qutula Khan" or "Qan"]. He was the uncle of Jenghiz Khan [Chinngis Khan was a title, his actual name was Temujin], and he was considered a "Mongol Hercules," half bestial, half divine, endowed with superhuman strength. Temujin's father was Yesugei. Yesugei's father was Bartan Ba'atur. Khutula Khan was Bartan Ba'atur's brother. Prince Altan was Khutula Khan's son.

Cthulhu with Derleth and the other writers' input: Tangaroa or Kanaloa, the octopus god that came to earth from outer space (Emma-ya? Xoth: Sirius, or SOTHIS, Greek). Cthulhu came here with its three sons [Carter]. It fought a war with either other gods, or its half-brother Hastur, and the land it came to sunk beneath the Pacific. It retains control over sentient swimming creatures. [Derleth, based on Tangaroa, oldest known Polynesian religion] (Note: HPL, the ship in Call of Cthulhu is the Emma.)

Ghatanothoa: Another name of Cthulhu/Tangaroa, brought to earth by aliens on Pluto, a tyrant-ruler of Mu. [HPL's intent, written for Hazel Heald]. OR: A son of Cthulhu born on Xoth a binary star (cf. Sothis: Sirius a binary star) when Cthulhu mated with Idh-yaa or Quum-yaa, [from Mu cycle, wife being Isis, Cthulhu being Osiris: Lin Carter from Churchward's Mu-Egyptian fantasy]

Zoth-Ommog: Alternate spelling "Satomaga" literally means SAT, OM, and AGA. A title for what Cthulhu itself would really be, in HPL's original story: a High Priest, or AGA, of the "SAT" and "OM" - SAT is the boundless darkness, OM is the Demiurgos, Bahu, Prana, the Root. Center column Kabalistic Tradition. OR: Another son of Cthulhu from Xoth, though alternate spelling is given by this Carter, who was occultist enough to know that UB-ASAT are the Demiurge, which he wrote in his "Eibon" story. [Lin Carter]. Any adept of the Zoth-om (Sat-Om) or Z'th-om or Zot-om according to the Yuggya. [Jantsang, Marsh].

Ythogtha: Another son of Cthulhu from Xoth. [Lin Carter] - though Lin's description of this deity or entity is identical to the Ophioneus of Pythagoreans, or Leviathan. [Hermetic-Hebrew] Ythogtha is in Yhe, he is the second Yugg deity, along with Zoth-Ommog [Carter]. Protective Spiritual Principle of the Yuggs and Yuggya [Jantsang, Marsh]. E-choc-tah: place of worms, [Amerind].

Xoth: a note on this. Xoth is the binary star where Cthulhu, wife and sons were, [Carter]. I do not think this is the same as Clark Ashton Smith's planet Zoth because Smith's Zoth was connected to Tsathoggua. In the Xothic cycle [Carter], Tsathoggua doesn't exist. Carter would not change something Smith wrote; ergo Xoth is another place. Since Carter, in the story "Curse of the Black Pharaoh" chose to write the Arabic word "Djinn" or "Jinn" like this: "Xin," we can assume then that Xoth is pronounced similarly as Djoth (the "dj" said as in the word jar) or Joth, using a soft "J" sound in the word or using Joth, such as the soft "J" sound in the word "de jure" or as the "z" is pronounced in the word "azure." Neither Zoth-Ommog nor any of the Zoth, Z'th, or Zot words of the Yuggya are connected to Smith's Zoth or Carter's Xoth.

Ubbo-Sathla: The primordial slime from which all things came to live, [C.A. Smith]. Demiurge that is linked to Azathoth [Lin Carter]. Ialdabaoth, Child of Bahu, concealed in the OM.

Abhoth: same as Ubbo-Sathla. Literally AB and OTH (father with a plural female ending!) [Hebrew]

Ubb: Progenitor of the Yuggs, the Worms of the Earth. [Lin Carter] and Yuggya and all Ubbya [Jantsang, Marsh]. Ubbia, figurative Italian-Sicilian-Cypriot slang for "Maggot" more akin to "Worm idol-worship," the Ouroboros or Worm that eats its tail (Ur-Ub, or Ur-Ob-orus later Serpent) used in "Other Nations" by T & P Marsh for the progenitor of the race of Yuggya, Yugg and all Ubbya. In that the view is that Ubbo-Sathla is the Demiurge or Bahu, but that Ubb is an Old One like Cthulhu and allied to Cthulhu, and Ubb is the progenitor of the Yuggs and the Yuggya and all Ubbya on or off Earth. [Jantsang, Marsh]. Oroborus (Or-UB-oros?) Hermetic sacred symbol representing the Cosmos's Beginning/End as if seen as One Event. The Ob - oblivion, Karmic eraser. Obeah, same in Voodoo with Damballah being the Serpent. UBer, Old Turko-Tatar - sorcerer of the dark kind (Boga is of the light kind). Ub-Aur, Bulgarian word for sorcerer or vampire. Ob-Aur, Hebrew for necromancer. Uba or Oba: idol, Turko-Mongol. UPir, vampire in Slavic languages.

Yog-Sothoth: The Gate that knows the Old Ones [HPL see above under Cthulhu]. Yat-Zebaoth [Hermetic-Kabalistic] (HPL's father's brother was a Mason possibly familiar with this tradition). HPL defined Yat-Zebaoth, the "All in One, One in All").

Azathoth: Asat-sat: non-being/being. OR Asat: non-being, the Kether-Ob-Aur [Hermetic-Kabalistic tradition], or Azoth, Ialdabaoth the Child of Chaos in alchemy. [Asat and Sat are standard Vedanta]. Arabic Izzu (power of) and Thoth (power of Thoth, or Tahuti).

Nyarlathotep: The Soul and Messenger of all the Old Ones. Hermes/Thoth, Mahakala, Sri Kala Chakra. In incarnate form, the same as Black God of Sorcerers and Witches. [HPL, Bloch, Price & other writers] Possibly from the Sanskrit name of this which is Narayana, but highly doubtful - HPL claimed he dreamed this name out of the blue in a nightmare of nightmares - after the dream he began writing CM stories! Ob-ran and Ka-ran; Ob- and Ka- ran, RAN: chaos. Right and left "hands" or aspects of Nyarlathotep [Jantsang]. Used in "Dark Hand of God" [W. Hill]. Nyarlathotep would be the Cthulhu Mythos name for the Dark Lord of Transcendent Awareness, the abyssal, inchoate Thatness in Eastern Esoteric Traditions (Dr. Price, Theology Professor, in Crypt of Cthulhu #2, confirms this would be Nyarlathotep). Nyarlathotep as depicted by other mythos writers, nasty, mean, horribly bloody like Rudra, inciting chaos, is like a Warrior Lama said to be manifesting Towo (frightful) forms; Nyarlathotep as pro diversity, pro complexity, both of which would be regarded as chaos by people wanting to keep the status quo, Nyarlathotep as pro going-with-the-flow, pro liberation is another matter way too positive for most mythos stories. Egyptian words: NY HAR RUT and then Hotep meaning "there is no rest/peace at the Gate," but there is no deity in Egypt with that name. Nyarlathotep is the Crawling Chaos [HPL]. Professor Price further and even more strongly confirms this Idea in his preface to "The Nyarlathotep Cycle," pages viii - xii, Chaosium Books, saying that in order for Nyarlathotep to fill three disparate roles such as 1. soul, 2. messenger and 3. crawling chaos of the Other Gods/Great Old Ones, the paradigm that would accommodate all this naturally would be "Saiva Advaita Vedanta, or the monistic mystical philosophy of Siva-worship championed by Gaudapada and Sankara. For Nyarlathotep to be the "soul" of the Other Gods would mean that he is their common essence, that root divinity of which the Other Gods are themselves half-real personifications on a lower level of (human) perception which Sankara called "lower knowledge" or avidya, ignorance - that is, a knowledge that correctly apprehends a penultimate level of reality." This was the Nyarlathotep in 1960s-1970s SWS terms. Professor Price goes on to explain in his preface about Nyarlathotep, "All things are temporary, and thus illusory, manifestations of it. Nyarlathotep, as the "soul" of the Other Gods is the undifferentiated Godhead, Brahman (a neutral, because impersonal or superpersonal, term). Likewise, for Nyarlathotep to be "chaos" refers to the state of Pure Being before the first moment of its illusory refraction into seeming differentiation. It is the state of Tathata (suchness) or Sunyata (emptiness, void) [also called "Thatness"] that the mystic seeks to penetrate - some by simple meditation upon the Oneness; others by fantastic and, in the case of [Hindu] Saivite-Buddhist Tantra, grotesque techniques, such as sex mysticism or the gustatory transgressions of [some cults - Price reverts to fictive terms here - but he is referring to real so-called Left Hand Path cults of India. In areas where no such silly taboos exist regarding eating, drinking or sex, practioners don't harbor such misunderstandings about the Left Hand Path.] Lovecraft, in "The Haunter of the Dark," calls the steeple-confined entity "an avatar of Nyarlathotep," a term borrowed directly from Hindu theology. An avatar (descent) is the coming of a god in a physical body to perform some mission in the world of Samsara (the realm of maya [illusion] and mortality).

Shub-Niggurath: Pan, the Androgyne Goat of Mendes, the Black Goat of the Woods. [in all fiction] Nyarlathotep would be the Real Thing Itself; Shub-Niggurath would be as Yig, this force/energy IN LIVING THINGS, Ubbo-Sathla would the Bahu or root of it in matter, [Jantsang, Marsh]. Shab (Arabic) Nigritia (Latin) - Dark Youth.

Yig or Yg. The "Y" of "YI" - Serpent of Wisdom. Word means "serpent." [HPL]

Tsathoggua: toad god [C.A. Smith] Sadogwa, alleged Mali word for an adept of the SAT, or SOD. Same tradition as related above under Ubb. Sod-ihoh, Hebrew word for same thing. The Sod is the highest initiation in the P. R. D. S. 4-level system in Hebrew.

Cthugha: fire elemental from Fomalhaut [Derleth]. Thuggee (India) cult of Kali sorcerers and actual murderers. Kali is the Black Tongue of Fire in their tradition.

Nyogtha: earth elemental. Nitthogar, Norse idea of the cthonic portion of the Tree Yggdrasail.

Ran-tegoth: a monster! Ran-tik-oth ?, literally "plural chaos-made manifest-in a yin manner" Hebrew/Hermetic; Ran is Japanese for Chaos.

Zhar: definition varies with stories. Zar: Somali, a possessing demon/sprite. Zarr: tornado causing wind god [Tierney]. Zhar: brother of Lloigor [Derleth]

Shudde-M'ell: underground squid, one species of Cthonic beings in G'harne (Africa). [B. Lumley] or Shuddam-El: Shai-urt-ab, The Worm of Destiny, Apophis, Leviathan. [Tierney]. Shidda al-Mu'ell (Arabic, shidda is violence; al-Mu'ell is causer of destruction).

Ithaqua: air elemental, the Wendigo [Derleth]. Air god of Borea, another world [B. Lumley].

Atlach-Nacha: spider-like web weaver [CA Smith, B. Lumley]. Agawanaja: weaves a spider-like web of you. [paintings of Cro-Magnon in caves]. Ha Malech Ha Moveth or the Sam-Moveth-Az, similar to Samael, the Angel of Death that weaves a web of destruction on the Tree of Life [Jantsang, Hill].

Yibb-tstll: Yggdrasil? "The Black Blood of Yibb-tstll" & Bug-Shash, Ubot-Shash? in a form that kisses/soul-stealer. Black Blood is kin to Bug-Shash. [B. Lumley]. Ophioneus, Hellenic. "The Black Kiss" Kuttner & Bloch, same idea, the kisser is a sea-creature that swaps souls, the creature is not like Bug-shash, but the power it is using is akin to it.

Daoloth: Render of veils of illusion [R. Campbell]. The Tao (pronounced Dao) inverse definition of it, "that which gives illusions," from the Great Treatise..

Other entities, Hydra, Dagon, Byatis, etc., known Classical mythology names.

Lloigor: deity related to Zhar [Derleth]. Sprites that cause mischief [Colin Wilson].

Aphoom-Zaa: related to Cthugha, caused ice ages. [fanzines].

Rlim Shaikorth: god of the ice, or the ice itself in ice-age. [fanzines]. These and most other names not included here have no "Hermetic," Eastern or any myth base for their creative invention, such as Othuyeg and/or the Lew Kthew deity cycle of James Ambuehl. For an almost complete, if not exactly up to date list of all of this, consult "The Encylopedia of Cthulhuiana" by Daniels Harms, Chaosium Books.

Race of Yith: non-material, time traveling "quantum leaping" race that can "quantum leap" singly or as a whole. Yithians had a war with a Polyp race on earth when they inhabited the entire race of cone beings. [HPL]. Race that predates matter/energy, predates the Old Ones and that is why Yithians can "quantum leap" singly or as a whole [Jantsang, Marsh]. Race that has been fleeing the Polyp race from planet Yith and does do by "quantum leaping." [Yith trilogy].

Deep Ones: fishlike, or froglike children of Dagon and Hydra and servitors of Cthulhu, pure, or hybrid with humans, native to earth [HPL, probably from Anedottus Musari of Greek myth]. Or, a large classification for all servitors of Cthulhu [Lumley]. Classical Mer-lore and world-wide mer-lore. HPL and especially Derleth solidified this mer-lore for us. The Oannes or Annedotti: Berossus referred to them as the Annedotti, the Greek name for them. The Sumerians called them Abgal and the Akkadians used the term Apkallu. In R'lyehian, the pure Deep Ones have a name for themselves: On-dy'uth. The hybrids, who are different since they go thru a transformation, are the Ghu-on'uth [Jantsang, Marsh].

Yuggs: worm-like offspring of Ubb. [Carter]. Yegg-ha, Lumley version of the same ?, he used his own spelling for this, a very similar type creature.

Yuggya: technologically advanced beings whose progenitor is Ubb. (Yugyar, old name of Tatars that lived in "Tartary" before Jenghis Khan. Yugyar (also spelled Uighyar or Uygur), whose writing written in vertical columns, is a syllabary. These are known Serpent/Dragon venerating peoples. [Yugg: Lin Carter. Yuggya worm-folk, the Yuggya Collective, Ubbya (general classification for all related creatures born of Ubb), Jantsang, Marsh]

Shoggoths: watchdogs for the Deep Ones and other Cthulhu related allies, formerly slaves of the Crinoids/Elder Things with star shaped heads. The "Ommith?" [occult lore].

Othuum: leader of the polyp-octopoid Cthulhu-spawn, like Pesh-Tlen [Lumley], the original Cthulhu spawn [HPL], trapped outside our dimension with Mu [Kuttner]. Toom: same as Proteus, Egyptian, issued from Osiris in the form of Noot "The Great Deeps" or Bahu, Demiurge.  Othuum is also the Savior of mankind in the joint story called "Othuum." 

Mi-go: Mi-gu Burmese, the Yeti, abominable snowmen.

Tcho-tcho: cho'tger (demon) or "cho cho" Tatar/Tibetan dialect, a Sorcerer who uses the Kundalini to harm, a dog (like calling a person a bitch). An Asian-like race that worship various Old Ones depending on who writes about them.

kLu - Sacred "Naga" Serpents - Bon-po

Kn'yan -gNyan - rock dwelling creatures- Bon-po, Mimigwesso - Tierney

gZer-myig - Major Sacred Books- Bon-po

Nkai, similar to Naki, Naka, Naga, Ngai. The Nagaloka (pre-Sanskrit Naga and Amerind: Nagal).

Sign of Kish and Sigil of Sarnath, literally the pentacle, 2 points up if properly drawn so that a pentagon, which looks like a house, is in the center of "five angles" or pentagonas (like the Masonic Eastern Star), Eye, Flame, and Tree image. Kish is a city in Babylon that warred with Sargon a Priest of Dagon, historical. Sarnath is where the Buddha gave the Fire sermon of the Five Dharma (truths) shown on in a star (pentacle) form, 2 points up, in Orphic/Pythagorean Pentamychos tradition or the very early Tartaros Tradition. Shown with one point up (presumably, unsure if they ever drew this) Carter and Derleth called this the Elder Sign. HPL's Elder Sign, mentioned in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," was "like a swastika" not a pentacle! It would be logical to assume that the writers changed HPL's Swastika protective sigil into something else due to the connection with the Nazis during/after to World War Two. There would be no other logical reason to so drastically alter what Lovecraft wrote. Carter then went further and claimed that it was not the sigil itself that did anything; it was the material that the sigil was made of which was slightly radioactive [Xothic Cycle]. Some beings are completely immune to that and other forms of radiation [Jantsang, Marsh].

Vach-Viraj: As a formula, an incantation to ward off Nyogtha [Kuttner] and the Cthonians [Lumley]. After the Unknown Darkness, Thatness or Aditi, Vach is the Divine Female, Viraj is the Divine Male [Brahmanic system], similar to the Boundless Darkness and the Vajra within - together Vajra-yogini, in Tantra. Vach is also referred to as Sata-rupa (Sat plus rupa - Being and Form). The same meaning to the Yuggya [Jantsang, Marsh]. (Yuggya have Zoth or Z'th or Zot, the Unknown similar to Ain Soph or Aditi; they have Vach and Viraj, and Om [Jantsang, Marsh]). A formula using this, or a yoga using this would be similar to the Chod Rite, Void Yoga and use of Siddhi to the Yuggya [Jantsang, Marsh], standard Vajrayana things.

Mnar: Na'ur - Altaic word meaning LAKE. Modern version: NOR. All lakes in the area today are still called "Nor" as in Lopnor, Kokonor, etc.

The Old Ones: Possibly an alien, demonized take-off on the (Hellenic) Chronian Mythology. Plutarch said: "Demons serve and minister unto Cronos, whose companions they were when He reigned upon Gods and men....." The Kabiri are the Elder Ones or in Hebrew Kabbir meaning Great Ones, the root has both meanings - Kabira means to be old or older, kabura means to be big or strong. Further, gabirum, that word makes them gods of the underworld, the root gabara means to bury. The idea of Kabirim prevailed in the Arabic Kabir and Hebrew Kabbir. Plutarch adopted a version. In Plutarch's story they are Powers of divination who convey the god's DREAMS to his SACRED PRIESTS on the Fortunate Isle of Ogyia-Pelagia. (Is it a coincidence that Pelagic means under the ocean?) This is the same KIND of idea here, just turned by HPL into something with a more modern and "outer space, alien" flavor to it and, of course, the deities were turned into frightening entities. Chronos is a good god of the golden age, a "prior age" - HPL and company had the Old Ones ruling in a PRIOR AGE, too - but they were not "good gods." The coming of the Old Ones is an admitted mockery of the Armegeddon story in the Book of Revelation.

About the mythos races and Old Ones:

"Jinn were powerful creatures of Arab myth. The Jinn, according to legend, came down from heaven (the sky) in the time before Adam. Therefore, they pre-exist mankind and are thus called 'Pre-Adamites'. 'Infidel pagans' worship these incredibly powerful beings. The Jinn can 'beget young on mankind'. The Jinn are usually invisible to normal men. They apparently want great influence on Earth. Much of the magick used in Arab countries concerns the Jinn (protection spells against, or spells to call them up)."

"In A Dictionary of Islam, Jinn are said to have come to the Earth ages before man existed. They were the first of Earth's masters. They built huge cities whose ruins still stand in forgotten places. Aeons later many Jinn were forced to flee Earth while others were imprisoned. Still others roam desolate places to this day. The Jinn are said to be invisible to normal men. They are, however, able to interbreed with humans but the human parent may suffer when the dark offspring is born. The Jinn will, according to legend, survive mankind."
- Parker Ryan, "The Necronomicon and Ancient Arab Magick"

"Irem is very important to Arab magick. 'Irem Zhat al Imad' (Irem of the Pillars) is the city's name in Arabic. It is popularly believed by the Arabs that Irem was built by the Jinn under the direction of Shaddad, Lord of the tribe of Ad. The tribe of Ad, according to legend, was a race roughly equivalent to the Hebrew 'Nephilim' (giants). In some versions of this myth, Shaddad and the Jinn built Irem before the time of Adam. The Muqarribun (Arab magicians) have important beliefs about Irem and it's significance. The Muqarribun, whose traditions predate Islam, believe that Irem is a locale on another level of reality, rather than a physical city like New York or Tokyo. The 'Pillars' in 'Irem of the Pillars' has a hidden meaning. Among Arab mystics, 'pillar' is a code name for 'elder' or 'old one'. Thus 'Irem of the Pillars' is really 'Irem of the Old Ones'."

"In Arab legend Irem is located in the Rub al Khali... To the Muqarribun, the Rub al Khali also has a 'hidden' meaning (incidentally the art of encoding and decoding 'hidden' meanings in Arab mystical or magickal writing is called Tawil). Rub al Khali translates as 'the empty Quarter'. In this case empty refers to the VOID and is the same as AIN in the Cabalistic traditions. Rub al Khali is the 'secret' door to the Void in Arab magickal traditions. It is the exact Arab equivalent to DAATH in the Kabbalah. To the Muqarribun the Rub al Khali is the secret gate (Daath) to the Void (Ain) in which is the 'city of the Old Ones'."
- Parker Ryan, "The Necronomicon and Ancient Arab Magick"

"Cthulhu is very close to the Arabic word Khadhulu (also spelled al qhadhulu). Khadhulu (al qhadhulu) is translated as 'Forsaker' or 'Abandoner'. Many Sufis and Muqarribun writings make use of this term (Abandoner). In Sufi and Muqarribun writings 'abandoner' refers to the power that fuels the practices of Tajrid 'outward detachment' and Tafrid 'interior solitude'."

"By the time Mohammad was writing, Shaitan was being called 'the Old Serpent (dragon)' and 'the Lord of the Abyss'. The Old Serpent or Old Dragon is, according to experts such as E.A. Budge and S.N. Kramer, Leviathan [Hebrew]. Leviathan is Lotan [Canaanite]. Lotan traces to Tietan. Tietan, we are told by the authorities on Near Eastern mythology, is a later form of Tiamat. According to the experts the Dragon of the Abyss called Shaitan is the same Dragon of the Abyss named Tiamat."
- Parker Ryan, "The Necronomicon and Ancient Arab Magick"

Hastur: not a Cthulhu Mythos entity, a shepherd god [Ambrose Bierce], a force of stagnation and stasis [Robert Chambers] the enemy of Cthulhu [Derleth], the enemy of all the old ones hinted by saying those that wear the Yellow Sign are enemies of the Old Ones [HPL]. Ha-Set-Ur - SET in a Jesus-form [Tierney] - the tyrant deity that tries to be the only deity. Hastur: Marion Zimmer Bradley, NOT CTHULHU MYTHOS, Hastur is a nice deity. In Derleth, the enemy of Cthulhu.

HPL wanted nothing to do with the Hastur tales or the people who wrote them. His negative reference to it in "The Whisperer in Darkness" was probably his way of saying to Derleth "I don't accept this entity," just as his altered spelling of Tsathoggua included as an entity and another Old One was his way of approving of CA Smith's invented entity. HPL openly wrote that he did not want Hastur to be included as an Old One or in his mythology.

Magickal Uses or Suggestions

How one may use these Cthulhu Mythos names in the Dark Tradition, either with the Pentacle (pentamychos tradition) or using the Tree of Life:

Starry Wisdom Sect (occult order in 60s and 70s) used these this way:

Septenary System:

1 and 2. Nyarlathotep would be the entire pre Light phase: (Kether, Binah). It is the Soul and Messenger of all the Old Ones.

3. Shub-Niggurath would be the Hochmah as a kind of Kundalini Principle which also creates diversity, miscegenation, and chaos (like entropy). So that's 1, 2, and 3, Sephiroth. Nyarlathotep as 1. Kether and 2. Binah; and Shub-Niggurath as 3. Hochmah.

4. Yog-Sothoth we used as Chesed (or Hesed)
5. Azathoth as Geburah
6. Daoloth as Tipereth
7. Cthugha as Netzah
8. Ithaqua as Hod
9. Cthulhu as Yesod
10. Nyogtha as Malkuth

Ubbo-Sathla would be the Demiurge or Bahu, the Cosmic Egg.

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How one may use the Cthulhu Mythos in the Pentamychos system if one goes by the above SWS method for the Septenary system. Viewing a 2-pointed up pentacle face on:

Nyarlathotep rules the entire thing (like the Asat/Sat as One - an All Seeing Eye).
Top right point: Atlach-Nacha or Na-Ran
Top left point: Ka-Ran or Ob-Ran
Bottom right point: Lloigor or Fthaggua or Aphoom Zhah
Bottom left point Zhar or Zarr
Bottom point: Ythogtha or Bug Shash

The X section of the pentacle between the two top points, where the "heart" would be (Daoloth if superimposed) would have Yibb-Tstll as we used it, the Black (Blood of) Yibb-Tstll, - but this Old One has undergone drastic changes by the creator of it, Brian Lumley. (Note that Yibb-Tstll and Bug-Shash are copyright by Brian Lumley and he does not want to share his Old Ones like the other writers do.)

Another way is this, used by other occult lodges that relate to the Mythos, the 60s-70s EOD used this method:

Azathoth is Asat - the unknown darkness/chaos
Nyarlathotep is Sat ruling the five - the All Seeing Eye and Soul and Messenger.

Top right point: Yog-Sothoth
Top left point: Cthugha
Bottom right point: Nyogtha
Bottom left point: Ithaqua
Bottom point: Cthulhu (that EOD used Othuum, not Cthulhu)

The X section is Daoloth, same as above. Tao or Daath, either/or.

Or use this method, this was also used:

Nyarlathotep as The One Darkness ruling the Star, as the All Seeing Eye.

Shub-Niggurath as a flame shooting through the center of the star from the bottom point up to the All Seeing Eye.

Top right point: Yog-Sothoth
Top left point: Azathoth
Bottom Right point: Cthugha
Bottom Left Point: Ithaqua
Bottom point: Nyogtha

In the Cosmos: Cthulhu and others, their High Priests who can see them dimly!

The X section is Daoloth, same as above. Tao or Daath, either/or.

Actually, if one wishes to really stick to the feel and intent of the original HPL, the only really outre Old Ones are Nyarlathotep the Soul and Messenger of ALL the Old Ones, Yog-Sothoth the Gate and All in One, One in All, and Azathoth the bubbling nuclear chaos. Cthulhu is quite different and HPL did say that in "The Call of Cthulhu." All of the other deities that others invented would be very similar to Cthulhu - that is, they reside in the Cosmos somewhere. They walk undimensioned and unseen - which would be a good reason why they can't come here since we do live in 3 dimensions of space (Jantsang, Marsh). The spaces between the stars (galaxies) need to get more wide before the Old Ones can come here again [HPL]. However, this still would mean that those that would come here would be like Cthulhu, Ubb, Tsathoggua, Nyogtha, Cthugha, Ithaqua and etc. Yog-Sothoth is the GATE through which these Old Ones go to and fro! Nyarlathotep is the Soul and Messenger of these Old Ones and can manifest in any form, including the form of a human being. Azathoth is "out there" more like a cosmic force than a being.

Fiction written by Jantsang and Marsh does not use the concepts of August Derleth or Brian Lumley (elemental Old Ones and their foes the Elder Gods, a dualistic good/evil system) or Lin Carter (Old Ones, their wives and children, Elder Gods and dualism to the point of being inversionist Christianity, eg, his Demon Trinity). Instead, the fiction sticks to the concepts of H. P. Lovecraft when it comes to the Old Ones and broadens them if Lovecraft himself didn't invent the races he used, and there are also new races invented. Jantsang, Marsh invented the Yuggya. The inspiration for these creatures did not come from the Cthulhu Mythos, but they can be put into a Cthulhu mythos context just as anything else can be put in there. Neither Jantsang, Marsh nor Carter invented Ubb, Uba, Ubbya, Uber or Upir - these are things common to Slavic and Tatar folklore. H. P. Lovecraft did not invent the Anedottus Musarus or Oannes of Greek myth or Mer-people (The Deep Ones) - these are creatures common to folklore around the world. I.e., H. P. Lovecraft's Deep One stories could be correctly seen as his "slice of life" in the long saga of Oceanic Humanoids.

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