Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred (15 page)

The magi likened Yig to the sphere of Saturn, for the reason that Yig is the most ancient of the Old Ones, and Saturn the most ancient of the planets; the serpent is coldest of beasts, and this wandering body inhabits the most distant reaches of the heavens, where the warmth of the sun is least; Yig is wisest of the Old Ones, and Saturn is wise in secrets and mysteries; serpents hunt their prey in the main at night, and Saturn inhabits the darkened depths of space; serpents are slow and sleepy when chilled, and Saturn is the slowest of the wandering bodies. They gave to Yig the number square of Saturn, as a sign and expression of his nature. It is a square of numbers having three rows and three columns, each with three cells that sum fifteen, and a total of nine cells that sum forty-five. From this square the seal of Yig is extracted, for the letters of the Hebrew script, most ancient among the writings still used by mankind, are also numbers, and the letters in the name of the god may be traced upon the square.

It is believed by the magi that this seal, made into a talisman in lead and worn close to the heart, offers protection against the biting of serpents and attracts the benevolence of Yig, or at the least averts possession by the god, for it is the custom of Yig to enter the bodies of his worshippers as a spirit, and his presence is known when they fall on their bellies and writhe on the ground in imitation of the way of all serpents, and hiss with their lips but cease to speak in words of their own tongue; for it is singular with Yig alone among the lords of the Old Ones that he never speaks, but instructs his possessed worshippers with images in their minds. In this condition they forget the use of their hands, and if they must pick up a thing they do so with their mouths, for all of the power of a serpent is in its jaws, wherefore the word
yig’a
signifies in the tongue of the Old Ones big of mouth.

The power of Yig to become present to human sight, and to work his will in the world, is greatest at two days of each cycle of the moon, when the course of the moon and the course of the sun intersect; these conjunctions are known to the astrologers as the
caput draconis
and
cauda draconis,
or in the common tongue as the Head and Tail of the Dragon. These conjunctions are sacred to Yog-Sothoth, the keeper of the gates between worlds. On these days of each month, the worshippers of Yig rejoice and celebrate his rites, but the enemies of the serpent god conceal themselves and dread in terror his approach, for his coming brings either exaltation or punishment, and no man has seen him who has not been moved either to happiness or sorrow.

he race of Yuggoth who came to our world in the distant beginning of time before the making of man, and who fought the Elder Ones and drove them deep into the south where lies frozen the land of perpetual ice, give greatest honor apart from their moon to Yog-Sothoth, whose existence is in unending harmony with all dimension and all continuance; but the creatures of Yuggoth call him in their own tongue of flashing colored lights Him Who Lies Beyond, or the transcendent lord. The
meegoh
remaining in our world in the high lands of the east continue to serve him, and act as his agents and messengers; only Yog-Sothoth has the power to open the way between their distant homeland that is beyond the changeable star known as
Thahr al Dubb al Akbar,
the Back of the Greater Bear, and their colony on Yuggoth that is beneath the sphere of the fixed stars, for he guards the heavenly gates jealously even as he creates and destroys them from moment to moment with his dancing colors.

Truly did the sage Ibn Schacabao write that the face of Yog-Sothoth is the face of the heavens itself; he and the vastness of space are the same, and the turning, interlocked circles of the spheres are the orderly progression of his thoughts, some moving fast and others slowly, even as turn the bands of the astrolabe to mark the motions of the wandering stars. He is seen only by his face; body he has none, for his body is the universe, yet not the very matter of creation but the measurements of angles and distances between, for he is composed of no tangible thing and can only be perceived as a shimmering array of ever-changing colors such as may be seen on the shell of a beetle or the wing of a dragonfly beneath the sun.

He is known by the cults of men that adore his gates as the All In One Who Is One In All. They worship him within stone circles composed of great monoliths, and the chief of these is on the grassy plains of Albion; though its builders have been forgotten, its function is unimpeded, for from it open outward gateways to all reaches of this cosmos and countless lesser gates. It is the great mother of doors, and Yog-Sothoth holds the key. These gates he cannot open wantonly, but only when the stars align and the angles come right for passage. A gate is opened when he appears, and his face of flashing colored spheres, all overlapping and turning one within another at varying rates, is the gate, and the key, and the way. Those who pass through become for a timeless aeon Yog-Sothoth, knowing all things that were, that are, and shall be; but having transited the gate they forget everything save only for a lingering sadness and sense of regret that cannot be set into words; and so profound and enduring is this sorrow that many are those who find life unbearable after opening the face of the transcendent All.

While there are men who have dared to seek glimpses beyond the threshold, and to accept him as a herald, they would have been more prudent to have shunned commerce with him; for as Ibn Schacabao relates, it is written in the Book of Thoth how fatal is the payment for but one glimpse of his face. Neither is it permitted that those who pass through the higher gates ever return, for in the empty spaces transcending our world are patterns of shadow that grasp and bind. The thing that stumbles by night, the wickedness that defies even the Elder Seal, the throng that gather watchfully at the secret portal possessed by each tomb and make themselves fat on what grows out of the corpse within: all these abominations are less than he who guards the gateways, he who will guide the rash traveler that speaks the words rightly beyond all the spheres and into the void of unnamable hungers. For he is called Tawil

At’Umr, the First Ancient One, which the scribe has rendered imperfectly in our tongue as the Prolonged of Life.

When the road of the moon and the road of the sun cross in the heavens, then is Yog-Sothoth exalted and empowered to open the spaces between the stars, and greater still is his power when the sun and moon copulate, and the gateways spawned are his children, for he is sun and moon united in lust. The sweat of the sun falls, but the dew of the moon rises to maintain his balance of turning circles.

This is the invocation, cried out in the tongue of the Old Ones, that calls him at these pregnant times within the circles of stone, having met all requirements of worship and sacrifice:

N’gai, n’gha’ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y’hah!

Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth, aï!

Yhah, bugg-shoggog, n’gha’ghaa, ngai!

The charm to open the gate is to be inscribed with the seal of the
caput draconis
and may be voiced following the preliminary summons on either day of the month, for both Head and Tail of the Dragon are times when the heavens are in balance, so that on these days the way may be opened or closed; and the charm of opening is this:

Y’ai ’ng’ngah,

Yog-Sothoth 

h’ee-l’geb 

f’ai throdog 

uaaah!

The charm to be inscribed and cried out with the seal of
cauda draconis
for the sealing of the gate that was opened by Yog-Sothoth is the same but turned against the course of the sun, even as the first charm follows his golden chariot; the charm of closing is this:

Ogtbrod ai’f

geb’l-ee’h

Yog-Sothoth ’

ngah’ng ai’y

zhro!

In this way are unlocked the gateways of the soul, and also of the flesh, but after another manner. Soul can carry flesh with it, either upward or downward, either into the light or into the shadow; yet flesh has no will to bear the soul where the soul refuses to travel, and if the gateways of flesh are opened without the willing concord of the mind, the body becomes hollow and a vessel for demons, and the soul a wraith howling in the wind.

In invocation of the First Ancient One, or when summoned before him by his power, the supplicant demonstrates his fidelity to the god by falling to his knees and placing his palms over his eyes with the fingers up, then rhythmically bowing at the waist until his head touches the ground, as though in silent lamentation. This he does nine times, having a care to the number, for if the obeisance is given incorrectly or the number is more or less, the god will blast to glowing cinders the body of his careless worshipper.

The searchers of the heavens who dwell in the valley of the Tigris have joined Yog-Sothoth with the sphere of Jupiter, for the reason that mighty Jove is the father of lesser gods, who rules their comings and goings and holds the keys to the gates of Olympus; to journey all must seek his sufferance, and all owe him the tax that is levied at the entrance of the city from travelers seeking to pass either to or fro. They held the belief that the seal of this god formed upon the square of numbers sacred to the sphere of Jupiter, having four rows and four columns, each of which sums thirty-four, and sixteen cells overall, the sum of which is 136, when inscribed on a square of tin would avert the wrath of Yog-Sothoth and would afford good luck and protection to the traveler on his road; to which belief the wise may ascribe little value, for many are the stragglers after the caravans who wear this square about their necks, and their bones lie white on the sands where the carrion hawks have scattered them.