Book Discussion Donald Tyson - Necronomicon Series

[Xenophon]

I've read the Grimoire and the 13 Gates. On first perusal, interesting. On reflection, one suspects ol' Don had a marina fee or a mortgage payment falling due, hence his spate of authorship here.

 

[stalkinghyena]

Oh well shit I guess I oughta...
I recall years ago finding a copy of whichever one of the series at the main occult bookstore in town - picked it up, skimmed, and felt that weird deflation that many Star Wars fans will recall they felt as they progressed through the first expectational viewing of The Phantom Menace. Put it back on the shelf and filed under "forget".

Not that I haven't found inspirations and uses in the Tysonian aura (his Agrippa and Tetragrammaton), but the Typhonian web has more "authentic creep" (I include Simon-Levenda, with reserve) to it in the sense of those cabalistic tap dances than can make a silk purse into a sow's ear.

Found "whichever" on pdfcoffee - skimmed - glimpses of sociopathy and a quick references to potential lesbianism in relation to Shub. Okay (sighs) this better be better than his manual on sex magic (no offence to Lady Lilith, I just felt I did not need to know about Don's personal life - or did I?)

Kenny G has been dead for what, a little over a decade and I still can't find any of his opinions online of these "recensions". I did find a footnote relating to Geiger, who was crowned with the "fifth."

 

[Xenophon]

I recall a Kenny G. reference to the Simon Necronomicon is all, which is to say not Tyson's book. This was in "Outside the Circles of Time" (I think.) His position seemed ambivalent. On the one hand, Grant was the mover & shaker behind the "Lovecraft was onto something" trend. On the other he does not seem much enamored of any of the various Necronomicon versions. Sort of a round-eyed Lao Zi there, our Ken: "The Necronomicon that can be copyrighted is not the true Necronomicon."

Post automatically merged: Oct 6, 2023

All that being said, I find myself going back to Tyson's book to pluck out tidbits. (Bad phrase. I get images of my Shub self sucking at corpsely eyeballs or sumpin')

 

[stalkinghyena]

I recall a Kenny G. reference to the Simon Necronomicon

TBH I thought he was referring to a version that came out after his Magickal Revival which he complained was a Goetia ripoff, citing variant spelling of demon names. As to Tyson, I think it is interesting that I find that he agrees with Grant that the true Necronomicon is an astral grimoire. I don't that's him being influenced by Grant either, it's just how he is.

All that being said, I find myself going back to Tyson's book to pluck out tidbits. (Bad phrase. I get images of my Shub self sucking at corpsely eyeballs or sumpin')

Idk, maybe its best as a resource or coffee table book for grasping that "mood" when you need it. Tyson's organization along typical WET lines makes sense from a praxis perspective, but I find the sigils too symmetrical. Yog-Sothoth gets an embedded Yin-Yang pattern?
Of course he had to put Enochian in there. I mean, of course...

 

[Xenophon]

TBH I thought he was referring to a version that came out after his Magickal Revival which he complained was a Goetia ripoff, citing variant spelling of demon names. As to Tyson, I think it is interesting that I find that he agrees with Grant that the true Necronomicon is an astral grimoire. I don't that's him being influenced by Grant either, it's just how he is.


Idk, maybe its best as a resource or coffee table book for grasping that "mood" when you need it. Tyson's organization along typical WET lines makes sense from a praxis perspective, but I find the sigils too symmetrical. Yog-Sothoth gets an embedded Yin-Yang pattern?
Of course he had to put Enochian in there. I mean, of course...

The sigils I found rather embarrassing. I mean set them alongside Austin Spare's artistry in that direction. They have a the-proof-sheets-are-due-at-the-publisher-in-fifteen-minutes desperation about them. The Enochian? Well at least he didn't include a foreword by Dr. Dee hisself.

 

[stalkinghyena]

Lovecraft wrote of the "non-Euclidean", and weird angles and such, if I recall correctly. I found that inspiring. I would think any sigils would have to be channeled in a fit of Dyonisian madness to piping flutes, and probably written in blood - one's own or someone elses.
I still have not seen a convincing specimen of the Sign of Koth. At least Tyson didn't rely on putting sinister eyes all over his sigils - that would have been cliche. Still, his are way too Anglo-Saxon, but I will give him credit for making it "workable".

 

[Xenophon]

Lovecraft wrote of the "non-Euclidean", and weird angles and such, if I recall correctly. I found that inspiring. I would think any sigils would have to be channeled in a fit of Dyonisian madness to piping flutes, and probably written in blood - one's own or someone elses.
I still have not seen a convincing specimen of the Sign of Koth. At least Tyson didn't rely on putting sinister eyes all over his sigils - that would have been cliche. Still, his are way too Anglo-Saxon, but I will give him credit for making it "workable".

Anglo-Saxon? Referring to the Anglo-Saxon version of runes? Or just using "Anglo-Saxon" as a synonym for uptight & white?

 

[stalkinghyena]

Meh... Victorian DNA? But the sigils do look a little bit runey now that you mention it. Tyson likes runes.

 

[Xenophon]

The runes have ooomph behind them. The poor Old Ones in the Necromonicon here are decked out in a hurriedly done junior high art project.