BUT, as in all warped versions of reality, there are those Occultists who would create a tome of mighty Magics and give it a name such as The Necronomicon. There are TWO books out there in print that bear such a title and this is the poop on them:

The first is edited by some guy named George Hay and is called the Neville Spearman edition. It is a total farce! Why? Because it was created to be in sync with Lovecraft's stories that's why. Some putzes got together and made up this entire book and a pseudo-credible story about encryption of John Dee's Enochian Magic tablets. This is all hogwash! The book is such a sham that it attempts to take the gullible and give them something to do.

Does the book work? (sigh) Well as an old friend used to say, 'Any system that is consistent within and of itself, is usable as a Magical System'. The book is consistent in and of itself thus it is usable. It's really no more silly than the Neo-Pagan Trekkies using the Star Trek characters as God Forms to do rituals and spells with. Talk about ludicrous! Or the Klingon dictionary for the Klingon language and etcetea.

I have met several people well versed in the Occult, primarily in the Ritual Magic arena, who swear by the validity of the Spearman/Hay Necronomicon. I cannot vouch for it myself since I have not worked with it at all.

The SIMON Necronomicon

The next book is called the Simon Necronomicon. This book was published in the middle 1970's and is the result of the research by the late, "Horrible" Herman Slater, the proprietor of the Magickal Childe Occult shop in New York.

Slater was a businessman but also a well versed Occultist. Being well off from his business dealings, he had the wherewithal to research the Summerian and Babylonian cultures for names of their Gods, Spirits and Demons. These he culled along with the words of power, prayers, incantations and assorted sigilata from different references in the New York public library as well from his own private collection of books covering mythology, religion and magic.

Slater created a system of Summo-Babylonian Magic that worked. This he put under one cover and called it The Necronomicon.

I CAN vouch for the validity of this book since I've used its rituals, spells and incantations within it with much success! I know you're screaming, "IT'S NOT THE NECRONOMICON!" and you're right, it's NOT Lovecraft's Necronomicon. I never said it was!

Let's look at this from a logical standpoint shall we?

1. The Simon Necronomicon IS a book of Summerian & Babylonian magic.

2. It is a system that is totally consistent within and of itself.

3. It has been successfully used by hundreds of practicing Sorcerers and Magicians for years.

BUT� is it Lovecraft's Necronomicon? NO!

What it is, is a book that has a usable system of Occultism within itself but is merely called The Necronomicon by a dead businessman as a way of marketing the book! Now genius, do you see what I've been building up to all this time? Stop your damn shouting about its validity!

It is NOT a book of fake magic nor is it an unusable system! It is modern grimoire penned by Slater and (most likely) several of his cronies to make a buck or two. But he did know enough about Ritual Magic to make it a workable system. THAT, my friend, is exactly what it IS!

Frankly the funny part is that it does work. I mean if Dee and Kelly can make a claim that they received weird runic letters & instructions about Magic from a bunch of "angels" (sic) even though we know that the Christian concept of Yahweh is a myth, then that ought to show you anything will work IF you have enough belief in it.

After all, there are plenty of Enochian practitioners out there and for years I really thought they were all crazy with this "Ol Sonuf..." calls and all that jazz. Sounds no worse than "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu! Ftghan!" One is about as good as the other. Just depends on where your interest lie.

Shouts From Heaven

Oh how I just LOVE to hear the 'experienced' Ceremonial Magician proclaim at the top of their lungs about how the Necronomicon is a fake and not the real McCoy. Okay so it's NOT Lovecraft's book. Big honkin' deal! Only an idiot would keep that berating that point incessantly!

And yessiree, there are a ton of Ceremonial Magickians and Wiccan Occultists who thrive on proving to others of how much they know by telling everyone, 'The Necronomicon is a fake!' Oh my� please�

I've just showed you that there are two books, grimoires if you will, that are merely using the title of The Necronomicon (as a selling point!) One is really absurd, the Hay edition, and the other would actually be better called, A Handbook of Summo-Babylonian Magic but for marketing reasons, the name of the Necronomicon will stay with it for a long, long time.

I'd LOVE to point fingers at some of Ceremonial Magick and Wiccan dolts who've argued this with me over the years but really if you run into them, YOU'LL KNOW THEM by their hoarse voices! (LOL)

In summary, I hope I've given you something to think about and if you wish to try it, then DO SO! Why listen to cynics since they're "do-nothings" anyway? If you know anything about Magic, you should be able to use either book, but more preferably the Simon edition, in your Magical practices.