Return to Cauldron Home Page

Please donate now to pay our monthly server fees:
Donate to The Cauldron
[More Info]

Community Menu
Community Home

Message Board
Board Home
Board Rules
Board Extras:
   Arcade
   Calendar
   Links

CauldronMUX [Client]
Sister Forums:
   Asatru Lore

Menu

Home
Site Info & Rules
Site Archives
Volunteers Needed
Advertise Here

Pagan Supplies
Buy Pagan Books
Buy Pagan Supplies

Books & Media
Books Home
Games Home
Music: Free | Pagan
Online Books
Pagan Book Browser
Reviews:
   Academic Books
   Divination Decks
   Fiction Books
   Pagan Books
   Speculative Books
   DVD & Videotape
Submit Review

Pagan Features
Article Library
Auctions
Chat Log Index
File Library
Humor
Lessons
Pagan Holidays
Pagan Primer
Pagan Rituals
Pagan Supplies
Pagan Youth
Polls
Reconstructionism
Spell Grimoire [Blog]
Web Resources

Pagan Living
Cauldron Cookbook
Take Political Action

Newsletter
Back Issues
Subscribe

Other Features
eCauldronMail
Greeting Cards
Syndicated Articles
World News/Opinion

Shopping
Cheap Web Hosting
Doxy's Bazaar
Witchcraft Course
Zazzle

Old Indexes
Article Index
Webcrafting Index

Network Sites
Cauldron and Candle
Cauldron's Grimoire
RetroRoleplaying
RetroRoleplaying: The Blog
Software Gadgets
The Terran Empire

Site Search
Google
Entire Web
The Cauldron

Member - Pagan Forum Alliance
Charter Member

Get Firefox! While this web site is designed to work in all major browsers, we recommend Firefox.

This site hosted on
a Linode VPS
Formerly hosted by

Why Use Dreamhost?

Site copyright
© 1998-2009
by Randall

Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > Necronomicon Search

Order from Amazon.com
Buying books via our Amazon.com links helps support The Cauldron.
Book Review:
Necronomicon: The Wanderings Of Alhazred

0738706272
Author: Donald Tyson
Trade Paperback, 269 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn
Publication date: 2004
List: US$17.95, C$24.50
ISBN: 0738706272
Price & More Info: Click Here


 
Who among us in the magickal community has not heard of, and laughed about, this book over the years? It is a book which has never existed, although some paid extravagant prices for leather-bound copies of at least one of the "translations" offered for sale over the past few decades.

The original idea for this book blossomed in the mind of H. P. Lovecraft. He quoted it as a source in some of his stories. Since the mentions first appeared in print, people have striven to locate copies of it, even though Lovecraft himself claimed it was an invented work.

Tyson offers his take on this classic work. He brings to this task a background of magickal training and an understanding of the macabre which unite to bring this work to life. Is this the "true" Necronomicon? Of course it isn't. We all know the Necronomicon doesn't exist (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). It does, however, capture a Lovecraftian flavor and tone. The information contained within these dark covers will not sit well with the "white lighters" out there, but it isn't meant to.

There are, so far as I can tell, zero resemblances between this book and that edited by "Simon" and published during the late '70s and early '80s. This book contains only a few invocations, no ceremonies, and minimal illustrations. It is, for all of that, an exceptional book.

It is difficult to classify this book. The publisher puts it under "Occult;" but its inspiration is fiction; its sources mythology and history; its general tone, for lack of a better word, "religious."

If you want the "real" Necronomicon, I'm afraid you must communicate (beyond the veil) with H. P. Lovecraft. If you want spells and rituals, there are purported versions of them available, but not within these covers.

If you wish to understand the foundations upon which Lovecraft built his concept of the Necronomicon, you will find that here. Is it certain that he knew all of this data? No. It is likely that Mr. Tyson has expanded the base of Lovecraft's knowledge. I feel it has been faithful to the "tone" of the intention of Lovecraft's work. It tells the story of the wanderings of the "author" of the Necronomicon; what he experienced. Overall, it is an excellent book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reviewed by Mike Gleason


Top | Home | Message Board | Site Info & Rules | Report Site Problems
Thanks to Cauldron Sponsors
(Sponsor The Cauldron!)

Cheap Web Hosting Report | Pagan & Magick Supplies
Witchcraft Course
Download Hundreds of Magic Spells