The core of the Necronomicon is a collection of words, some "naming", some "doing", some defining the context in which "naming" and "doing" have relevance or effect.
In terms of information theory, "naming" words - nouns, proper names - may be characterised as 'data'; while "doing" words - verbs - may be characterised as 'instructions'. The usefulness of any information imparted, however, depends on having a context established in which it (or its interpretation) can act to deliver that reversal of the normal thermodynamic progress towards increasing entropy with time, or increasing disorder, which experimental physics leads us to expect. Meaningful information evokes Order from Chaos - non-meaningful information simply floats along with the thermodynamic continuum.
In my book 'Liber Cyber' I sought to highlight the importance
of information which defines and/or controls system structure by defining
a separate meta-information category termed a 'Cybermorph'. This concept
has subsequently been picked up by other authors, and, in my view, it is
above all useful in that it provides a means of modelling real world situations
which facilitates interaction with them on a magical level.
Any magical language or collection of magical names or devices, if it is
worth its salt, demands be viewed in terms of Cybermorphy. If the magical
language works, either in terms of being able to project some alteration
on objective reality, or in terms of being able to project subjectively
some consciousness change or paradigm shift upon a user, then what is being
effected is some modification to the 'system structure and control', or
Cybermorph, either of the wider environment or of the individual. The influence,
in terms of this analysis, is Cybermorphic.
Just about any language which has ever evolved or been
invented has been used at some time or another for a magical application.
What separates out 'tongues' like Enochian and the Necronomicon vocabulary
is that they have probably never been used for a non-magical purpose. The
background of the invention or discovery processes pertaining to these
languages, either in ancient or modern times, is irrelevant in this context.
Language has the ability to alter mood, and in some respects it is even
more versatile than music. Most people who can read can experience some
mood alteration through visual input from the written word as much as by
audible input from the spoken word. Music, while it can be just as powerful
(if not more so) in audio terms, has visual appeal in its written form
only to a small minority of people; although this is not to deny that a
gifted orchestral conductor might experience gnosis while gazing, for example,
at the score of a Mahler symphony. For most people the consciousness modification
can only occur only if the music represented by the notes on the page is
actually heard.
Written music is similar to language in that the marks on the page contain
data (the notes) and instructions (when and with what intensity to play
them), but this wealth of information is quite meaningless without the
system structure and control, or Cybermorphic, information which defines
how the symbols are to be interpreted - e.g. which notes relate to which
lines or spaces on the stave. What makes music a bit weird is that this
Cybermorphic information cannot actually be expressed easily in the language
of written music itself - to define the Cybermorph, the conceptual framework
which makes sense out of nonsense, we have to move to a more versatile
language, like English or German or Esperanto, or even Enochian at a pinch.
Thus while any language can function in one way or another on a magical
level, some are more restricted in their applications, requiring Cybermorphic
context to be defined in another language.
In terms of magical effectiveness, there does, moreover, seem to be some
dilution of potency proportional to frequency of use. This might be elucidated
by consideration of codes or cyphers for information transfer. Most people
understand or recognise Morse Code, at least to the point of knowing that
...---... is SOS; similarly most computer folk understand ASCII code, at
least to the point of knowing that 1000001 (41 hexadecimal) is the letter
'Upper Case 'A'. Therefore, to us, these codes are non-mysterious, there
is no encryption. To an Ancient Greek, though such codes would be entirely
mysterious - although it might be obvious that there was some information
content in any message, because the Cybermorphic content was unknown, the
encryption would be complete, and the quasi-magical character of any such
message thereby amplified.
As a language becomes "dead" so also there is an apparent increase
in its magical potency. The ancient Egyptian language "died"
in the 6th Century of the Christian Era, and for centuries afterwards it
was assumed that all texts written in the heiroglyphic script were magical
in character - some people would still take that attitude. Nontheless,
since the essential Cybermorphic clues to interpretation were elucidated
by Maspero from the Rosetta Stone, we have come to learn that many extant
dynastic papyri are little more than wage slips and restaurant bills. A
similar quasi-magical veneer accretes to the old Rongo-Rongo script of
Easter Island, to Hittite script, and to pre-Celtic Ogham.
Any obscure signs or scratchings or sounds may be perceived as containing
within them some sort of information - this might even apply to lines between
ancient monument sites; and the more the interpretation of such information
may be seen to be in doubt, the greater the tendency to attribute some
magical component, often in a negative context.
Thus, because of ill-understanding, many occultists are fearful about the
words of the Necronomicon, as well as Enochian, and other 'barbaric' tongues.
What can be understood diminishes in its ability to shock or otherwise
alter consciousness. This can be illustrated by reference to the film industry
- we are much less shocked by the image sequence of someone having their
head chopped off, or their throat cut, if we appreciate exactly how the
special effects department has produced the images. We then view the sequence
in the light of technical criticism. The same applies to magical systems
- the more the basic premises are understood, the more one tends to an
appreciation of the technical validity, or otherwise, of the system, and
the less susceptible one becomes to involuntary influence being exerted
by any actual magical content.
Probably the most common magical or quasi-magical process
involving language is that of prayer, particularly within the context of
the world views of the major religions "Of the Book" - that is
Judaism, Christianity and Islam (in order of appearance). I would assert
that because most of the mystery has been stripped out of those religious
paradigms, so they have become less effective in magical terms.
The power of Christian prayer, for example, seems sadly diminished in these
days. As an example, in the topical case of the unfortunate Mr Terry Waite,
it took no less than 1763 days of almost continuous prayer by a multitude
of Christians led by no lesser an eminence than the Archbishop of Canterbury
to result in that individual's captivity coming to an end - yet, in the
newspapers, that eventual freedom is being trumpeted as a triumph of prayer!
No occultist could hope to derive any credibility as a result of a such
a lacklustre performance. Waite himself probably derived more direct benefit
from the truly miraculous arrival in his place of confinement of the postcard
of John Bunyan - a stochastic occurrence deriving from a single spontaneous
act on the part of a total stranger having no position of influence in
the Christian heirarchy.
To use a language magically a structural context must
be available through which that magic can be visualised as having its effect.
That context does not necessarily have to be objectively "True".
The potency of Christian prayer, to continue with that commonplace example,
may well be seen to have declined over the years. In the 11th Century,
for instance, the singing of Psalms at the tomb of St Aethelthryth in Ely
could strike dead a Norman bailiff seeking to take possession of the Abbey's
treasures. Today's Christian Saints appear to be less effective with the
delivery of such impressive results - perhaps the best way to defeat the
Cybermorph which imposes the sharp end of the recession would be to campaign
for the re-institution of the cult of Aethelthryth. Baliffs dying like
flies would probably prompt a rethink of policy!
The mythic context for Enochian language lies in the magical workings of
Dee and Kelley by which the language was communicated as much as in any
alleged ante-diluvian or pre-Babel origin. Similarly the fictional works
of Howard Phillips Lovecraft provide the mythic or Cybermorphic context
for the Necronomicon. For the magic to be effective the context does not
have to be objectively "True", though it helps if it is internally
consistent. The mythic substance of most of the religions 'of the Book'
has become so hopelessly inconsistent through schismatic squabbles and
the ravages of hypocrisy over the centuries, that it really should not
come as any surprise, for instance, when the Army of the Great Satan overwhelms
the Army of God in short order during the 'Mother of All Battles', without
any apparent contribution from supernatural sources whatever - a confrontation,
some might say, between two bankrupt philosophical paradigms, where, despite
the rhetoric, the outcome is settled entirely on the basis of technology.