Lovecraft & the Occult - Historical & Literary Influences on the Cthulhu Mythos & Necronomicon

HP Lovecraft and the mythos he developed - from the insanity-inducing elder ones, Cthulhu and his legion of great deep ones poised to erase humanity when the stars are right, to the most horrid volume imaginable, the dread Necronomicon - have emerged from pulp obscurity and dismissal to become pillars of pop-culture, literature, music and beyond. His works are known for brooding antiquarian interest, architectural and ancestral decay, profound, indeed deeply racist fear of the Other, beings whose cosmic-scale indifference threatens sanity and civilization, and occult knowledge that threatens to unlock the vault of eldritch nightmares from the gulfs beyond the stars. While Lovecraft and his often contradictory mythos have been explored at length, this episode explores just what occult influences operated and inspired Lovecraft. Was his mythos consciously or even unconsciously infused with ancient, occult lore? What exactly were the esoteric literary resources Lovecraft relied upon to build out his mythos? To what degree does authentic, historical occult knowledge actually make its way into his tales? Just what are the occult origins of Chtulhu, the Necromonicon, Yog Sothoth, the Pnakoptic Fragments and Nyarlathotep?
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#lovecraft #cthulhu #necronomicon
Recommended Readings:
Ninth edition - Encyclopaedia Britannica - digital.nls.uk/encyclopaedia-...

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

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[@chrisnicholls445]

do u have a video on Anton levay

[@brianjauch9958]

@@chrisnicholls445 He was Ann Rand with horns!

[@chrisnicholls445]

@@brianjauch9958 who is ann rand ?

[@afwalker1921]

@@chrisnicholls445 I knew Anton in the later years of his life. He was just a nice Jewish boy (Levey) who liked to mess with the normals. He also liked to drink, and the Church of Satan paid his bar tab for decades. I still have nightmares about being in his kitchen and having a big cat (tiger or other) walk through unleashed and sniff me like I'm something tasty! Those were good times...

[@chrisnicholls445]

@@afwalker1921 hey mate.........is it a Christian lie that on his death bed he repented

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

I find it amusing that Lovecraft was a strict materialist writing supernatural horror, and Doyle was a spiritualist writing strictly materialist detective stories.

[@andrewrobinson4019]

And everyone keeps telling me "write what you know..."

[@ruynobrega6918]

@@andrewrobinson4019 If that was valid advice, csi/ncis shows would never be successful.

[@TheEvolver311]

I wouldn't say lovecraft horror was "super natural" it was more the horror of the natural that is beyond human capacity. Its almost anti-mystical positioning magic simply as a extraterrestrial science which some humans have been given access to from psychic alien sleeper agents. In a lot of ways Ancient Aliens are just people portraying Lovecraftian fiction as representative of actual reality.

[@mypronounismaster4450]

​@@andrewrobinson4019 Whenever I hear that, I think of Nabokov.

[@coyotedelamancha]

@@mypronounismaster4450 X{D~

[@gustavquicksand3402]

I think what I like about Lovecraft and cosmic horror in general, that I find missing in most other sci fi, is a sense of transcendence. Obviously in cosmic horror, its usually a sort of negative transcendence, but the protagonist still has an encounter with something truly beyond them. When we encounter highly advanced beings in star trek and similar series, they're treated as little more than humans with a few extra toys. That's always made their worlds feel so much smaller and less exciting to me.

[@Rick_Riff]

That's why when someone asks if I like science fiction I always cite Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. I've never elaborated, you explained it perfectly in your comment. Thanks!

[@arete7884]

exactly that, look how many galaxies there are and how old universe is . Imagine there could be beings so foreign to our psyche like mold to our consciousness . Some occultists believe in such and that even HP by accident tapped into some of those forces .

[@GhostCharacter]

Contrariwise, I was actually surprised at how much the early seasons of TNG leaned into the cosmic and the mystical. Almost every other week, the Enterprise would encounter a being with transcendental knowledge, a creature whose existence transcended comprehensible dimensions etc...it wasn't nearly as anti-supernatural as I'd expected!

[@conceptualmessiah01]

Yeah. They eat rice and shit! Is disgraceful and heretic at the least. People like that should be used like handbags or something.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

I feel like a lot of that feeling comes from HP's dedication to mystery rather than to explanation. Way too much fantasy and sci-fi is obsessed with having systematized nuances that the reader is meant to understand. HP Lovecraft's work is perfectly content to leave the reader with open questions - his work prods the imagination rather than confirms it.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

I think the new discoveries in cosmology and physics at the time contributed to Lovecraft unique horror . He created these gigantic ancient gods 'floating' 'trough the universe . Witches hidden in mathematical dimensions ....mixing the gothic with new mysteries of science .

[@louisdemarco2913]

@Riddles of Steel i believe this is referring to the story the dreams in the witch house

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@Riddles of Steel No ? It's pretty famous story. It's either called 'the Witch' or something like 'room ...' something or another, With some math/ physics. prof finding a part of a wall in his bordingroom that has the same dimensions that he's working on , etc.

[@HossBonaventureCEO]

@@spiritualanarchist8162 You are definitely talking about The Dreams in the Witch House

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

@@louisdemarco2913 I frickin' love Dreams in the Witch House. Jenkins is one of my favorite things ever - such a horrific thing given such a goofy name!

[@padraigmaclochlainn8866]

Monsters made of fungus, fossils of elder gods deep in Antarcticas mountains, the man really took Biology and Archeology to scary levels

[@willmistretta]

I always had the impression that Lovecraft wasn't well acquainted with real grimoires and the like except by reputation and secondhand references in other fiction...and this was a good thing. The few excerpts he gives us from his imagined tomes don't read like anything else I've come across and his wild interpretation of the subject is undoubtedly more memorable for it. An actual practicing esotericist might have reigned it in a little.

[@jasonscarborough94]

If I recall correctly it wasn't that he never saw a real grimoire it was that he had seen a small handful of them, and thought they were too pedestrian and boring so he made up the type of weird forbidden books he'd wish he'd found.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

Yeah even if you're not an esotericist you might have the introspection to think: "Wait, these people just... wanted to do an evil thing for the sake of being evil? Doesn't seem that believable" and we generally see that most esoteric stuff is not intended to be malicious. It's cartoonish, but no less entertaining as long as we realize it's cartoonish.

[@josephw.1463]

@@jasonscarborough94 In _The Silver Key_ Randolph Carter goes through a similar process, until "he saw that the popular doctrines of occultism are as dry and inflexible as those of science, yet without even the slender palliative of truth to redeem them," and went on to buy "stranger books."

[@jasonscarborough94]

@@josephw.1463 Thanks, I'd forgotten about that. Its been many years since I read that one.

[@Dowlphin]

I also heard that while one would think he got the ideas from psychedelic horror trips, he was way too fearful to dabble in them.

[@AB-cm8ec]

One of the possible influences for that spooky, occult flavor Lovecraft had was through the very non-materialist Nicholas Roerich, a friend of Lovecraft who hosted Lovecraft at his home more than once, displaying and explaining paintings for him and his writings on travels in the Himalayas. This shows up in a few of Lovecraft's letters in the most casual way, referring to Roerich as "old Nick".

[@josephw.1463]

And in _At the Mountains of Madness_ , where he repeatedly describes the oddly regular shapes on the mountains as being like the Asian hill ruins in Roerich's paintings.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Did he design the costumes for the original Rite of Spring?

[@jeffreygleaves2931]

I was a big fan of Robert E. Howard growing up and knew of Lovecraft but never read him. I knew Howard and Lovecraft were pen pals, both writing for weird tales, and eventually this connection brought me to giving Lovecraft a try. The style surprised me. I thought, "Wow, this has Robert E. Howard' written all over it!" After a while I realized, no, Robert E. Howard has H.P. Lovecraft written all over his work. Howard took Lovecraft's macabre stylings and threw a hero into the stew. Conan the Barbarian, fearing no man, was terrified by the supernatural. Anyway, it was a thrilling epiphany for me with my pulp fiction fixation. Two old friends I've never met...lol

[@Bluecho4]

If you haven't already, I'd recommend completing the trifecta and reading Clark Ashton Smith's works. Another pulp writer who was a mutual correspondent and friend to Lovecraft and Howard. That is, until the respective deaths of the latter two, of course.

[@te9591]

Well yes, keep in mind how many scenes of Conan fighting or saving a maiden in a cage from a type of giant underwater monster there is.

[@funkyweapon1981]

@@te9591 I don't have enough fingers and toes for that!

[@davidplumer8766]

Well done.

[@markw.loughton6786]

He was way ahead of the curve for essentially creating the ancient astronaut theory. Also I love the fact the so called "Supernatural" elements in his tales are actually more Extra terrestrial influenced than magic.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yeah, especially in that he knew the 'ancient astronaut theory' was fictional nonsense.

[@markw.loughton6786]

@@TheEsotericaChannelVon Daniken owes his career to Call of Cthulhu lol

[@funkyweapon1981]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@TheEsotericaChannel Honestly, the only part of that theory that even has a chance of holding any water is the possibility that ancient humanity's encounters with extraterrestrials were the source of what we know as supernatural phenomena

[@NullStaticVoid]

In high School my friend Robert bought a copy of the (fictional obviously) Necronomicon at some gothy book store. It completely freaked all of us little Catholic kids out. The embossed black cover with it's silver ink. The sigils and pentagrams diagrammed inside. Growing up with Catholic fear and the adjacent voodoo in the deep south, made such a book seem like an actual piece of Satans boudoir. Decades later I bought one at a comic book store in Berkeley to make my cubicle at work a little more edgy. It completely freaked out one of my very Christian coworkers.

[@gen1exe]

Cool book for people to see your bookshelf

[@Senban9]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ_FipZ4bsinq5o

[@mikecook317]

maybe it is...

[@ahmedmahmud4238]

That's a typical spiritual trajectory. The end goal of the political construct called USA, is to rid the world of Christ and his message to mankind. Hence why the founding fathers concealed their true beliefs and plans, in symbols, like the one in your dollar. It's common knowledge.

[@cuervojones4889]

"Satan's Boudiour" is a great name for a goth store, IMO. LOL

[@axlefoley6330]

Personally, I’ve always found the concept of “beings” that “exist” whose true form are so abstract that at best our minds can’t grasp them and at worst will kill us outright from madness and fear, as fascinating.

[@narusawa74]

Thays where H.P was a genius. He never went into deep descriptions about the fiends in his stories. He uses adjectives only to let our imagination put our own terrifying creatures to picture them in our head. By doing so your novel will always scare the reader no matter what😎 He is still the GOAT in his field.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Note to self: do a thing on the history of why Latin itself is "occult/esoteric"

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Spookicius maximus!

[@benjaminbrockway5998]

I'd imagine it would just devolve to "because of the Clerical Necromantic Underground," with Latin being the Church's language, of course they'd use it.

[@shoeberrypie]

If you're playing Cleric/Paladin: Spells sound like Latin, Greek, or Coptic Wizard/Warlock: Spells sound like Hebrew, Egyptian, or Indo-Aryan languages Sorceror/Druid: Spells sound like Baltic, Gaelic, African, or Mesoamerican dialects

[@cuervojones4889]

@@TheEsotericaChannel right under your post is "Translate to English" 🤣

[@rickjohnson3215]

I found it interesting that back in the 70’s, when I was introduced to Lovecraft, I read that an antique book dealer in New York City offered $10,000 for a copy of the Latin version of the Necronomicon. Lovecraft developed such a detailed bibliography for the book that even some professionals actually bought into the reality of it. I am new to your channel and am enjoying it immensely! Thanks for your hard work and quality presentations.

[@alcosmic]

Lovecraft's work can be seen through the eyes of an intuitive person trying to cling to a rational materialist world view in the face of mounting evidence that things be contrary.

[@VIVI1337]

wow...nice.

[@lionelchan1601]

Rationalism/materialism is one thing. Utilitarianism might be an even deeper rootlessness. The "spiritual" utilitarian, systematic and left brained to the core, is at least just as horrifying in what they are willing to do.and how far they are willing to go, with their "knowledge" obtained from the ghostly voices within books. Plato's argument about the destruction of memory in literacy is also about the loss of the capacity to stay in the body and re-member. May all us KZbin commenters beware!

[@Myke_thehuman]

What part of the love craft mythos breaks materialism? Everything they see in the stories seems pretty physical. Just beyond what humans are used to seeing. Nothing about materialism says things have to be understandable to us. As far as I know.

[@ThePysgodaur]

Is that right...aye?

[@alcosmic]

@@lionelchan1601 really well said

[@yadidlechem2357]

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, this channel is by far the most educational and the quality is outstanding.

[@daviddumoor8450]

Ki$$ rul3z

[@anon5475]

The only video on lovecraft I've ever seen that didn't jump straight to his cat. He is by far my favorite author, thank you for keeping that to a minimum.

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

If you like Lovecraft another great author is Jorge Luis Borges. He blends infinity with the shortcomings of humanity in a interesting way. Also has stories about the Occult and long forgotten civilizations

[@WK-47]

Underrated comment. The Library of Babel, containing every possible sequence of words across books filling shelves in seemingly endless and identical octagonal rooms, all tended to by one poor librarian, is about as Lovecraft as you can get without dropping Cthulhu into the mix.

[@xibalbalon8668]

Im pretty sure Borges himself was a fan of Lovecraft. There are many Latin American authors that get overlooked, I'm a fan of Miguiel Angel Asturias works, the way he integrates indigenous Maya folk religion like in Mulata

[@alexanderkreitner8275]

@@xibalbalon8668 Yes, he wrote a story "There Are More Things" that he dedicated to Lovecraft.

[@matthuck378]

I'm a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos (moreso of authors other than HPL these days, but still) and one of my absolute favorite things about it is how so many people think the Necronomicon is a real book/ancient occult tome.

[@anthonyarcanumsanctumregnu9551]

I love Lovecraft and the fact that he name-drops so many books and his works always seem like true stories!

[@SaintMatthieuSimard]

My tea mug for a copy of the Liber Ivonis!

[@storkkpapi]

He also n-word drops.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

@@storkkpapi not to be an apologist, but he was product of his time

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

@Anthony Arcanum Yep, the fun part of his stories!!

[@kevincrady2831]

@@hurdygurdyguy1 He was pretty bad even by the standards of his time, but I think it should be possible for people to enjoy the cosmic horror elements of his work while letting his racism burn and die in the past where it belongs. Since the Cthulhu Mythos is an "open universe" (Cthulhu et. al. are not copyrighted, and anyone can write a CM story), we can ditch the racism and write new stories using the good parts. 😄

[@chriswardwell5170]

Edgar Allen Poe was my literally introduction to artistic exploration of the human propensity for darkness and I still love his work

[@robertbright947]

My mom gave me a copy of Edgar Allan Poe stories when I was 8 - it was the sixties and everything Poe was in vogue - my 3rd Grade teacher Mrs. McBratny took it from me and threw it in the trash (where I later retrieved it). By the early ‘70s I had read several novels and short story compilations of HP Lovecraft. Curiously, the story of being lowered by rope into a pyramid only to encounter the living Egyptian gods left a lingering mark on me. Later I read the Illuminatus Trilogy when it came out in 1976 - there I learned of Aleister Crowley (Egyptian themes prominent) and Kabbalah - I was ruined from then on…. 😂

[@angelachouinard4581]

To me sounds more like improved than ruined. Your mom was enlightened. I'm glad you retrieved your book, any teacher that throws a book in the trash should be banned from the profession.

[@St1cKnGoJuGgAlO]

Under the pyramids with houdini?

[@robertbright947]

@@angelachouinard4581 I was being facetious - Lon DuQuette often says something similar about studying Enochian Magick - I have not found it to be the case, but there it is.

[@angelachouinard4581]

@@robertbright947 ​ @Robert Bright Ah well I still enjoyed the story and having met Lon I can believe he would. But I was only a couple years older when I found Poe myself. My mom thought the library was a safe place to be but I knew how to evade the librarian. Kind of like Harry Potter in the forbidden section. You're not old enough for that was the worst thing anyone could ay to me about a book.

[@MiCHELLEannSPIRESmasterminedAO]

🤣🌹

[@stellabee2026]

impeccable timing, just finished replaying Eternal Darkness for the first time in like a decade the synchronicity 😀

[@scienceandmatter8739]

TRIBVTES FROM GERMANY. In last days i try to sleep while hearing audio dramas sadly there not many good ones....i mean not just reading with different voices and soundscape etc.

[@chompythebeast]

That's crazy, I was watching this and halfway through I was like "You know, maybe I should try to find a copy of Eternal Darkness." I rented it from Blockbuster twice as a kid and got too scared to continue both times lol. I remember playing it home alone around October at night, and then renting it again when my cousin was babysitting while my parents were out of town. Seeing this comment confirms it, I'll have to check my local Another Castle game shop

[@stellabee2026]

@@chompythebeast i suggest emulation tbh, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg if you you can actually find it. i looked up prices on discs out o curiosity and let’s just say, the $15 i spent in 2007 could be called an investment

[@faaroncarthy680]

@@scienceandmatter8739 I'm probably reading your reply wrong, If so apologies. Audio drama's, have you listened to the 'Scarifyers' it's like a pulp tribute to the occult, HP, and folk tales while also guest staring Alastair himself. Can't get enough of it😁

[@jogabrielcosta4788]

Discovered your channel today. What an absolute gift. Would you consider making a video about esoteric influences on music? Bands like Current 93 for example. Thank you and keep up the precious work!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I'd have to know a ton more about music

[@stephenbastasch7893]

Thank you for this wonderful presentation of HPL's occult literary consultations and their use in his fiction. Outstanding!

[@JKKoneofakind]

26:49 "Lovecraft ghost wrote for Houdini" This hit me with so much whiplash i went on an hour long investigations (google searches are what i actually mean) into the connections between Houdini and Lovecraft. Just returned to finish the episode but wow, that was some new stuff i did not know. "but anyway"

[@momobungle2366]

One of the greatest collaborations in American literature ever! Lovecraft and Houdini were good friends and were actually working together on a book called "the cancer of superstition" but the project was shelved when Houdini died

[@BojoPigeon]

This episode wound up causing me to remember the "Encyclopedia Britannica Kid" from the commercials of the late '80s, early '90s, which had a certain kind of horror of their own.

[@StarDreamMemories]

😂 Still unbelievably published! At least they were....I was having conversations with a local librarian. The library had purchased the 2018 or 2019 set. 😂 absolutely useless in these times.

[@BojoPigeon]

@@StarDreamMemories Perhaps not completely useless, but any usefulness would only make sense as an online resource these days.

[@StarDreamMemories]

@@BojoPigeon exactly "online" Seeeing they would be updated annually. So many homes in the 70's and 80's had a set. My husband and I reminisce on such forgotten things. Along with Sanca instant coffee!😂☕ I take a pic of it whenever I may still find a container on a store shelf.....

[@BojoPigeon]

@@StarDreamMemories Yep, we had some too (not Brittanica though). It takes up an unreasonable amount of real estate, and and quickly goes out of date, even back then.

[@randyhernandez9328]

Thx for your time and efforts on this segment Dr. Sledge i enjoyed this one .🙏

[@magpieMOB]

Thanks for making this diversion from your usual content - I really enjoyed learning more about the literary backstory to so much of modern "pop esotericism", not to pour scorn on it (I think you were remarkably gentle and charitable with the subject of Lovecraft himself), but merely to shed more light. Thanks for sharing your light with the rest of us 😊

[@dawnbeard9274]

I’m a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and was brought into Lovecraft and middle eastern archeology after reading the Nameless City

[@makschorney2514]

Well researched (as always) but more importantly well presented from an obvious fan of his work. THANK YOU

[@osirisgem]

I love this channel. It's a recent discovery but has become a fast favorite. The mix of fanboy subject matter viewed through the lense of academia is just so much fun, love it. Thank you so much

[@MrTeapots]

Lovecraft scared the living *** out of me as a youth. I thought you were about to diminish him for his lack of scholarship but you took the wiser path and praised him for his gifts as a writer. He wasn't writing scholarly treatises he was trying to scare the **** out of you lol.

[@veramae4098]

Met him first on Twilight Zone, and yes, even tho I'm 70 years old those stories with despair so high sit in my mind.

[@zeyface6366]

Yes he certainly wasn't a scholar, even being described as having "too weak a constitution for math" in his youth and just generally not seeming to knowledgeable about things He was also incredibly racist even for his time and afriad of anything remotely unknown But goddamn he was a good writer (might even be my favorite horror writer) and his writings were uniquely effective

[@paulallen3753]

several other books that Lovecraft referenced not mentioned here, that weren't antiquarian and more contemporary to his time (though I didn't write down the specific tales): The King in Yellow - Robert W. Chambers Vathek - William Beckford Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Poe I bought them on Lovecraft's "recommendation," they're all pretty good. the first four short stories in the king in yellow are excellent.

[@naomimakin1908]

Love The King in Yellow, I come back to it every couple of years 🖤

[@joshjames582]

@@naomimakin1908 It's so damn good. It's Lovecraft before Lovecraft. Many of the exact same themes and motifs expressed in such a dreamlike fashion.

[@cha5]

Also Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and some of his other stories.

[@grouchotrout444]

Fantastic well-rounded video. Well done!

[@fullercrowley]

Cool, thanks, Dr. Sledge. I recently finished reading Cthulhu as part of a compilation of other Lovecraft stories, which were compulsively (irresistibly?) readable. Many nights of eerie moods, thoughts, and visions ensured. Thanks for discussing his unique and haunting works!

[@astalkus7540]

Do you plan making a video about the Simon Necronomicon. I think its important to tell the people what it actually is by an expert like you. At least it would be fun to watch

[@gen1exe]

I'm super curious. I bet Angela Placa could do it justice as well.

[@rmt3589]

@@gen1exe I couldn't find her channel.

[@specialguest5373]

Dude - this is awesome - thanks for the thorough job youve done, amazing and inspiring!

[@andythedishwasher1117]

One of my favorite conscious tributes to Lovecraft's style and mythos was Robert Anton Wilson and Bob Shea's Illuminatus Trilogy. When you talk about how he weaved eldritch tomes both real and imagined into virtually seamless streams of reference, I'm reminded of how the Bobs demonstrated their understanding of esoteric rock n' roll from the 60s through their massive fictional playbills that included both real and fictional bands. They effectively made the reader turn it into a game with themselves to see if they could spot the fakes. Seems like Lovecraft might have been playing a similar game with occult historians of his time if my reading of his scientific attitude is accurate.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

I read their trilogy in college in the '70's! Wow, what a romp!! Great fun!

[@EphemeralTao]

One of my favorite books of all time. Lots of Lovecraft references throughout the work, as well as a good deal of Crowley and many others. Would love to see Dr. Sledge discuss Discordianism and it's origins and development in historical esoterica, which both the original _Principia Discordia_ and Wilson/Shea's Illuminatus trilogy affectionately parody.

[@atheistsgod]

@@EphemeralTao agreed. Neophilic irreligions deserve rigorous academic consideration as much as any esoteric occult philosophy! Being new doesn't preclude being useful and relevant...

[@grayaj23]

@@EphemeralTao Discordianism is probably as close as I'll ever get to an actual religion.

[@cjoneillj]

Love your vibe and delivery, thanks!

[@deannalea1515]

Thank you for sharing - I love your channel, it's always full of interesting information! Thanks again!

[@gen1exe]

Great video. I recently read Charles Dexter Ward, Lovecraft's novella with the most alchemical and occult research by the protagonist: not only does he name drop books, there are also references to the Connecticut and Salem witch trials, and an incantation in Hebrew! It makes sense that Lovecraft is a materialist: I see his fictional universe as one lacking a loving God where the only beings occultists can encounter are ancient, alien, superhuman "gods" that resemble demons more than anything. P.S. I read Margaret Murray's Witch-Cult in Western European and thought it was fascinating. Could be a great subject for a video.

[@josephw.1463]

I think the "Per Adonai Eloim..." incantation is in Latin, though it uses some Latinized Hebrew names (like "Adonai" and "Eloim"). "Veni" means "come," as in "Veni, Creator Spiritus." But whatever the language was, I'm glad you found this wonderful book and enjoyed it, as I do.

[@DNBon.an808]

Thanks for this video, I've never delved into Lovecraft (Evil Dead excluded) and this was my intro to who he was, what he wrote, and what it meant.

[@thegametroll6264]

As a blossoming writer and artist lovercraft and his works have been a beacon of inspiration for my work even more so ever since he left the mythos of yogsothothry open for interpretation by other writers.

[@waskerbasket9601]

Every time I watch your videos my reading list grows exponentially.

[@clarkefountain2258]

I've gotta say that, if you've ever been in 300 year old houses that are falling into decrepitude, as I have (i.e., in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in younger but still moldy houses in North Carolina), Poe's "House of Ussher" is all too easy to imagine... One of my friend's inherited the 300-year old Cambridge house from a mother who had neglected to maintain it for a mere fifty years, and had just piled random old stuff in most of the rooms throughout the house except the one or two she actually inhabited. Spooky.

[@gen1exe]

That's the beginning of a good story right there.

[@angelachouinard4581]

Grew up in New England, there were many such houses in Connecticut and Lovecraft's own Rhode Island. My mother's cousin lived in a 300 year old house, but the reason it was falling into decrepitude was the historical society & zoning board not allowing needed repairs (like replacing a main support beam with a metal one because of not being able to find a wood one big enough). Thanks for sharing, sometimes I forget other people have experienced this kind of thing.

[@blazingamr]

Wonderful video ❤️❤️ Thank you very much, Dr. Sledge ❤️🙏

[@nikospappas2098]

As I was watching this video I was reminded of Marlowe's text for Dr. Faustus' conjuring of Mephistopheles. It made me wonder whether Marlowe went through a similar process of ritual name dropping like Lovecraft or if he actually referenced a real historical text. Perhaps you might be able to elucidate. As always, thanks for the wonderful videos.

[@WK-47]

To me, Faust in any of its iterations transcends namedropping or anything of the like because it's both symbolic and a myth in its own right. I mean, Mephistopheles is simultaneously Satan (whether literally or functionally) and a discrete character in his own right. Dr Faustus himself is arguably similar as an archetype (the sage/sorcerer but specifically the scholar in crisis) both mythologically and in popular culture. By tapping into Germanic folklore and Christian theology, Marlowe essentially namedropped half of Western civilisation simply by writing of such fundamental symbols the way he did. That's one way to allude to real historical texts within fiction. ...but that's just me, who hasn't read Marlowe's text in over a decade and have never touched Goethe's. You raise an interesting point regardless.

[@nikospappas2098]

@@WK-47 The summoning spell in the text is: "Sint mihi Dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex Jehovoe! Ignei, aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps Belzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat et surgat Mephistopheles. Quid tu moraris? per Jehovam, Gehennam, et consecratam aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistopheles!" It sounds convincing and I was wondering if he borrowed this from another text.

[@samuel56551]

@@nikospappas2098 When you consider the wording of that Faustian "conjuration" , it doesn't actually make that much sense , nor sound particularly convincing . For example genuine grimoires regularly reference a Prince of the East , but he is called (appropriately) "Oriens" , not " Beelzebub" . Jehovah is not a triple god , even in the Christian context of the Trinity , etc. , etc.

[@nadapuesnada7716]

"Too bad for you, Marlowe." -- Raymond Chandler, ("The High Window").

[@SeekersofUnity]

Well crafted. Loved this.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I'm just glad the Lovecraft superfans didn't cancel me :)

[@SeekersofUnity]

@@TheEsotericaChannel Give them some time ;)

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

@@SeekersofUnity considering they're all about cosmic scales, you're right ;)

[@EnlightenedJourneys]

This was an amazing video and I love how effective you were at showing to us a chronological timeline of the material that lead to influence the Lovecraftian world. It makes sense why his dreams where so graphic and glorification being a specialty as this energy was present in the books in his library. I also feel like he was inspired by Robert W. Chambers who wrote The King In Yellow. In my opinion although being one of his earliest works is yet another Anomalous Author whose reality warping abilities were able to impact the genre of horror on an anomalous massive scale. Mixing the magical elements of ancient names with the mystical properties of his writings change the way one precieves the world and themselves in their relation to it. It is ancient cryptic and has an incantational level to its rhythmic tones that stir fear in the psyche. His writings open doorways that are forbidden to step through which is one thing that makes his writing so appealing to the curious mind. His unconscious could have been vomiting up the content lying dormant in the collective consciousness of the human psyche, as it corolation to the content that he was reading in the waking life and mixing it with his own fears of the unknown. This could take one to awaken the nightmare states and only go there until the riddles of the self are resolved. I could see how a persons unconscious mind would want to relate its discomfort to the self through dreams in hopes that one may one day be able to make a peaceful resolve to false beliefs that one does not know that they are holding. Usually those beliefs are attached to something that hides in some form of dogma and taboo. For Lovecraft it was social, racial and ignorance that rains down the influence of fears 😨 of what lies beneath what is known in mankind. I think that he was bullied, it reflects in every piece that is written by him. The feeling of incompetence when faced with a much larger or greater opponent. Facing the indefinite doom of not being enough to overcome ones own bullies, from here and the great beyond. In a way the alchemical process occurring through his writing his dreams down is remarkable as it speaks to something inside of everyone. I do believe his writings are folly, but only accidentally. They are folly in that he made them from the intention/aspect of being fictitious. This can be represented best in the tarot interpretation of the fool or in this case the unaware unacknowledged prophet that babbles nonsense that has some basis of occult truths.. in fact a lot of occult truths... in the essence of his writings ✍ sits a core anchor that has anomalous effects on the hearts and minds of everyone who encounters the consciousness stream of his work. This is where I think we could create a new type of writing perhaps psychic/occult horror genre. Oh if there is not already a category for this lol never know what universe I have slipped into the information slightly changes each day. Thank you Esoterica 😊 💓

[@eustace5419]

Another great one Dr. Justin

[@matthewschuh3332]

Thank you Doctor Sledge, this happens to be the very reason why I found your channel originally, I was hoping that you had done something like this already so I'm glad to be here and watching the channel by the time you did it. Fabulous scholarship as always.

[@alexanderkreitner8275]

Lovecraft's friend E Hoffmann Price introduced him to The Book of Dzyan in 1933 as he, himself, was a believer in the esoteric and read The Secret Doctrine. HPL read The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria in '26. Clark Ashton Smith was also more of a believer and Price and Smith had correspondences about topics such as astral travel and Price wrote him out an astrological chart. Price also wrote one out for HPL after he died, which was later published. "Through the Gates of the Silver Key", the collaboration between Lovecraft and Price, is probably the most honestly esoteric piece of Lovecraft's work and was surprisingly written almost entirely by HPL himself.

[@marcocampa94]

The highly ironic thing is that H. P. Lovecraft highly despised, made silly and joked about Blavatsky's Theosophy at the point some of the Outer Gods maybe be seen as a parody of Blavatsky's theology convoluted in a joke that went so far it became apparently damned serious intellectually and philosophically. It's double ironical that some esoteric groups take Lovecraft creations as serious not in the philosophical terms but in the theology originally intended (maybe) as a parody. In a way is the exact mind-blow of popular Chinese religion taking seriously the comic adventures of Sun Wukong's Journey to the West...

[@FrankMonday]

They certainly embrace a sentiment that mankind creates its own gods. And they are powerful gods, no less real than the ones in ecclesiastical visions of the clergy.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

In all fairness, this is probably a criticism you could make of most religions and faiths. After all, they're all just stories that people genuinely believe to be true without any concrete evidence. It feels more silly in the modern day mostly just because we'd often like to consider ourselves more advanced and secular. So newer religions don't get the "pass" that older ones do because "we know better now" - even though the existence of these old religions is arguably proof that we do not, in fact, know any better.

[@Senban9]

The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General at the Expense of the Particular.

[@FrankMonday]

@@monsieurdorgat6864 And you just offhandedly assume human technology or the human mind has the capability to comprehend the vast fathomless distances of space and the unseen realms surrounding us... Hubris!

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

@@FrankMonday 😅 Erm, that's a dramatic response. I mean, we do have some pretty good ideas about what we see in space now. Our telescope technology and astronomic theories are very good. I wouldn't underestimate human potential.

[@kylesnuffleupagus8591]

When I discovered Lovecraft in 10th grade, it spurred a sense of curiosity about connection. With the Necronomicon pervading pop culture, in Evil Dead 2, H.R. Giger's Artwork, Heavy Metal Magazine, RPGs of the time, the influence became an atavism inherent in every media that I sought. The true magic is that it willed itself into existence through collective imaginations.

[@pmgn8444]

Interesting! And thank you for pronouncing the tongue-twister names. I started systematically reading Lovecraft shortly after starting to binge-watch Esoterica. So for the past month, Lovecraft and Esoterica have kept me away from the eldrich horror and withering chaos that is Twitter...

[@tamlandipper29]

As a writer using the mythos this has been incredibly useful. So many thanks.

[@gailpinto4571]

Could we have a similar exploration into M.R. James' writings? This is so interesting!

[@maxmeggeneder8935]

Thank you Prof! Those are facts that I always wanted to know, but never researched. Also, I can count on your list of books on magic mentioned by Lovecraft to be complete. I knew about "Witchcraft in England" and it's influence on Wicca. Also am fascinated with Kenneth Grant and his speculations on Lovecraft. Although I never took them seriously in a scientific sense. But that wasn't his intention anyway. He wrote about his own magickal experiences and wanted to inspire other practitioners. I think it was through him that Lovecraft became such a large influence on Chaos Magic. And through him and LaVey's strange use of Lovecraft in "The Satanic Rituals" on certain modern LHP circles. Btw: The Simon "Necronomicon" is a great Grimoire, that absolutely leads to strong results, if you work it. Because whoever 'Simon' really was absolutely knew his Magick. Interesting stuff, as all your content is.

[@sardeeni]

Simon is without doubt Peter Levenda. Despite his protestations and story changes (he now admits he was a ‘close associate’ of “Simon”), there is abundant proof of his authorship (e.g as discussed in Harms’ Necronomicon Files).

[@kieferonline]

Great video on Lovecraft. I love it! Very good research on him and sharing the sources "to read what Lovecraft read." I agree with your conclusions. He name dropped strangely named and esoteric sounding works for atmosphere. When we consider the magazines he published in, their intended audience, and Lovecraft's destitution, I think he can be forgiven for not sinking even more time into his writings. Even almost a century later, we can still enjoy Lovecraft stories in a straightforward manner.

[@blakemcintire3768]

I love the modern stuff! Do Alfred Jarry and 'pataphysics next.

[@ABFrank.]

Very well done! Really informative 👏 I'll be checking more of your stuff out 📚👍

[@gmccaughry]

Who doesn't love "added Eldritch effect" LOL ;)

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Of all the people I know, you, my friend, as are an "added Eldritch effect" connoisseur :)

[@gmccaughry]

@@TheEsotericaChannel Hahahaaha.... yyyeah, perhaps indeed.

[@robertcanuti750]

There is a pseudo-Enochian phrase included in the posthumously published Lurker at the Threshold, though this may have been added by Derleth and not part of Lovecraft's original notes

[@ClassicalGuyx]

Thank you so much for the constant amazing content! Your channel has taken my studies to a whole new level!

[@richardaaron4454]

This video was really fair, thank you for your work as always.

[@Robert-Law]

Thank you very much for this overview. It is quite refreshing to hear an academic perspective on the influence of pop, weird tales as not instantly dismissive for a "trashy" intellectual diversion. Indeed, the evocation of feeling is the fiction writer's goal. And fear is a fundamental component of the human condition which we all connect to and with at some level in all aspects of life. And that kind of connection, that kind of emotion, is a powerful wavelength to explore truths about ourselves, the world, the cosmos and beyond.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

It was a fun episode to make and I enjoy Lovediddy's stuff!

[@FelipeSantos-gi3ck]

Your scripts are masterfully written Doc.. inarguable

[@andythedishwasher1117]

I suppose the reason Lovecraft counts as esoteric literature to me is the same reason any story about metaphysics or the forces beyond time counts as esoteric literature. It adds one or more possibilities of what could be happening out there into the mix. That mix is the material that occult traditions are built out of. Chaos magicians call it Chaos. I don't presume to equate the terms of other traditions or disciplines with that understanding, but I strongly suspect that other traditions have a similar concept that they utilize. I also suspect they have different concepts of how it got there and what can or should be done with it.

[@robertbradley8309]

Another fantastic video!! Dr. Sledge, what do you think of more modern occultists making the Cthulhu Mythos into a religion??

[@faaroncarthy680]

Inevitable 🐙

[@noahboss9618]

This was awesome! Would love to see more literary videos, maybe one on Arthur Machen next? 😅

[@thomashutcheson3343]

For my money, Machen prefigured Lovecraft's major themes. HPL spun them out, but Machen's imagination was the root.

[@noahboss9618]

@@thomashutcheson3343 not only that, Machen definitely read a bunch of occult texts, notably work by Thomas Vaughan, because one of his odd jobs was to catalog a whole library of them!

[@Lucius1958]

I would like to add Robert Graves as well: particularly _The White Goddess_ , which had a controversial effect within the Neopagan community; and perhaps _King Jesus_ , which explored aspects of Jewish mysticism.

[@DTOMbillhilly]

You get a like for the Metallica shout out alone. But also, Lovecraft is my favorite author so I'm glad you decided to take a scholarly look at his influences and work. Thank you.

[@user-lc4xh7ts7h]

I love reading cosmic horror and Lovecraft's mythos. I'm a fan of the monsters and creatures Lovecraft created. Even though he was a bigoted racist. You can still separate the art from the artist. Whenever I read shadow over Innsmouth. I don't see it the way Lovecraft saw it as his xenophobic fear of mixed-race breeding. I saw it as a story about fish people who are hellbent on destroying humanity in the name of their cosmic Gods.

[@radithorsnapdragon3812]

Being xenophobic and being racist aren't the same thing. Is there evidence or documentation of him actually discriminating against people? And I don't mean literary discrimination I mean actually taking action against someone.

[@marsdexter9852]

@@radithorsnapdragon3812 exactly, no proof. On the other hand people typically see the most low and obvious about another person and therefore reveal that which is true of themselves.

[@dand1253]

@@radithorsnapdragon3812 None to my knowledge, in part because Lovecraft becoming less isolated and reclusive coincided with him developing friendships with people who then worked to deradicalize him. Even at his worst, he was far more _afraid_ of those he considered 'other' than hateful (in one letter, he describes how he literally fled a store because he thought he saw an Italian person there). It's often overlooked that Lovecraft did get better over time. "At the Mountains of Madness", one of the last stories he wrote before his death, even has the protagonist experience a crushing revelation that the Elder Things - an unfathomably ancient species with radially symmetrical, almost coral-like bodies - were "men nonetheless", and weeping at having accidentally caused the death of the last surviving Elder Things through his own reflexive fear of them.

[@dand1253]

@91481 H2 - Interestingly, Lovecraft's pen pals found the Innsmouthers rather sympathetic, and saw the horror of it as a man unintentionally destroying an entire community on the word of an octogenarian drunkard. More nuanced, even outright benevolent takes on the Deep Ones have likewise been popular in Mythos fiction of the last 30 years or so. There's one - "Maybe the Stars", by S. Henderson - which I've read, and it's quite good at portraying Deep Ones as _inhuman_ , but not entirely _inhumane_ .

[@ShadeStormXD]

frankly, im against mixedrace breeding if its between humans and genuine fish monsters

[@beauwhitlock5034]

I’ve followed your channel for a couple years, and I must say, your storytelling has become very good. The way you speak really draws in the listener. Thanks again from Midtown Memphis 🐅

[@Lazarus_Cardinalis]

While I in no way agree with all the conclusions of Kenneth Grant, I do love how he presents the worlds of Lovecraft and Crowley and two sides of the same coin, but where former was afraid to take the extra step and "cross the abyss", the latter managed to do so and shed away his cosmic and existential fear and nihilism

[@EphemeralTao]

On the other hand, they were both raving white supremacist misogynists, so they had that in common.

[@danieljliverslxxxix1164]

Slight correction, or rather an expansion. Frazer's book isn't strictly speaking a work on comparative mythology but collectively a work on anthropology and he ruminates over aspects of primitive forms of sociology, superstition, religion and even sexuality. It's status as discredited is merely owed to the fact of its age; we know more about history and primitive man than Frazer ever could. It's still a fascinating read to be sure.

[@traveler804]

informative and interesting as always 🤘

[@daniel.santos]

I grew up in RI. I used to park right in front of Lovecraft's house when I went to Thayer St./RISD/Brown area because it was free street parking. While the parking meters have been installed closer and closer, I think it's still free street parking. I never knew it was his house until last year. After all that time!

[@randolphcarter4279]

Thank you, Justin! One addition - I think HPL accessed Levi and maybe swiped some of the chants from Levi in the The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. This was great.

[@PalinuroRex]

Masterful, as always. I had no idea about Scott's book en demonology!

[@ashwynfaust]

Given your academic approach for all of your videos, have you considered including a bibliography in your video notes? I have seen some other academic channels take this approach and I know I always appreciate looking through and highlighting texts of interest when I go over a bibliography, either from a paper or book. Thank you for all the amazing videos.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I nearly always have a recommended readings which is basically a works cited. This episode is basically novel research. Eh, maybe I'll circle back and do one but probably not.

[@kathyberry8924]

Thank you for your work. I really appreciate it.

[@dennisquinn7729]

Excellent as always, Justin! You need to publish this for Lovecraft scholars. It adds so much to the field.

[@muzzmacc6411]

I’m really enjoying your work. I think you need an amazon marketplace. Some kind of one-stop shop to buy and download any escoteric texts. Merchandise too?

[@TheEyeOfStone]

I have also always felt that the Pnakotic Manuscripts are more otherworldly. The notion of a book which might be older than humanity is both fascinating and terrifying to me, in about equal measure.

[@sherisennhauser7456]

Fabulous video just loved the discussion. I only recently found your channel and I’m loving it.

[@slmille4]

It’s very surprising that HPL considered himself a strict materialist given that he said “All rationalism tends to minimise the value and importance of life, and to decrease the sum total of human happiness. In many cases the truth may cause suicidal or nearly suicidal depression”. Did he differentiate strict materialism from rationalism somehow?

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

I don't think he means Cartesian rationalism here but just in the sense of "being rational"

[@slmille4]

@@TheEsotericaChannel *cough* “All rationalism” *cough*

[@slmille4]

@@TheEsotericaChannel It seems like Lovecraft wasn't materialist as in scientific materialism so much as neo-paganism "I was, and still am, pagan to the core" in the sense that pagans see gods as being part of this reality as opposed to some "true world".

[@chompythebeast]

@@slmille4 ​ I think it's difficult to extract something like Lovecraft's actual beliefs regarding materialism from individual quotes without much in the way of context. He doesn't really come off as much of an academic, so it occurs to me that more quotable lines from him might be easily attributed with greater meaning in a scholarly sense than he ever actually intended, especially given the grandiose quality of his writing style

[@slmille4]

@@chompythebeast What ambiguity are you seeing based on his quotes?

[@thetalkingbear]

I enjoy the understated humor. Thank you.

[@frapapcgaming]

At 1851 the Greek author Athanasios Stagiritis (Αθανάσιος Σταγειρίτης) wrote a collection of books called Ogygeia (Ωγυγεια) which means "Ancient".inside of one of the books can't remember which one it's a page called Dagon in Greek language Δαγων, Lovecraft literally wrote Dagon from these books,You should check'em out,Great video btw,much love from a horror fan of Greece ^^

[@aaronsiverling1059]

I read a book called NEVERCITY NOIR and didn't see the Cthulhu mythos influence until I read someone else's review and put two and two together. THE MYTHOS IS EVERYWHERE! Also, thanks for the video.

[@williamboisdenghien2849]

The connection between Dagon, the philinistine god and fishes is derived from a speculation by the biblist Julius Wellhausen. Sadly for the destiny of submerged monoliths, we now know that Dagon/Dagan is an agriculture and storm related deity (or at least that's what scholars are trying to teach us).

[@wildmen5025]

Hail Dagon!

[@samheinrichs8366]

This is the take i've been waiting to hear. So excited by your project.

[@damianharkin9487]

I’m not really a believer in magick or occult practices of any kind. That being said, one of my favourite movies of recent years is the remake of Suspiria and each time I watch it I have the unsettling feeling that there’s something real and hypnotic at work through subliminal imagery, camera movement and Thom Yorke’s score. Or it’s just really skilfully made. Either way, it spooks me in a way that few horrors of the last 20 odd years have.

[@Para2normal]

The Innocents (1963 starring Deborah Kerr) has a very similar affect on me.

[@nevisysbryd7450]

Worth noting that _that_ film actually _did_ draw on real (albeit an especially dark and modern strain) occultism.

[@pauljonesesquire]

It wasn't until I read his stories chronologically that I got the sense of something always lurking in the background like a thread that joins the whole body of work together and it freaked me out.

[@buffaloshite]

Your narration is quite beautiful; quite 'writer-ly'.

[@SaturdayAdventures]

Excellent video!

[@grimmace2131]

Good stuff, Doctor!

[@harryevans1786]

I am glad you mentioned Kenneth Grant, what do you make of his Typhonian trilogies. He kind of looses me after Hecate's fountain.

[@uponeldritchshores]

Your channel has become my favorite way to start off the weekend. Thank you again for another banger!

[@Bildgesmythe]

Thanks again for all your work! Imagine if Lovecraft had access to this channel.

[@asourpo1yphony]

So interesting, thank you so, so very much for alll your videos and every bit of effort you put into them, it really shows and your channel truly stands out among the occult genre here on KZbin. Also, I must know: WHAT is the name of that small-looking water fountain contraption featured in some of your (beautiful) introductions? I need one :0

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

It's an Absinthe Brouilleur Auto Verseur

[@populuxe1]

Lovecraft never tapped into anything deeper than what he could lift from the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica as window dressing for his particular brand of cosmic nihilism. He knew a lot about astrology, mainly in the sense of knowing the territory to vigorously refute it - though I argue in a paper he may have modelled his Great Old Ones after planetary stereotypes tongue in cheek. In his collected letters I think he mentions Crowley exactly once, disinterestedly, dismissively and in passing. Mix in that he was an adequate Latinist and it makes a superficially convincing brew.