Necronomicon Tarot

The symbolism of these vividly illustrated cards corresponds with astrology, the elements, and the Golden Dawn, while the 78-card decks structure honors the boundaries of traditional tarot. The book features detailed descriptions of the cards and the meaning for both upright and reversed positions.

H. P. Lovecraft's compelling character, Abdul Alhazred, is brought to life in this epic tale detailing the mad sorcerer's tragic history and magical adventures. Alhazred tells his own life story, beginning with himself as a poor, handsome boy in Yemen who attracts the attention of the king for his divine skill in poetry. As the court poet, young Abdul lives a luxurious life at the palace, where he studies necromancy and magic. But falling in love with the king's daughter leads to a foolish tryst, which is ultimately discovered. As punishment, Abdul is tortured, brutally mutilated, and cast into the desert, known as the Empty Space. Battling insanity, he joins a tribe of ghouls and learns forbidden secrets from a stranger called Nyarlathotep. Thus begins his downward spiral into wickedness. Renamed Alhazred, he escapes the desert and embarks on a quest to restore his body and reunite with his true love. Traveling across the ancient world and fantastic realms, he is hounded by foes and tormented by the demands of his dark lord.

Thirteen points of entry. Locked gateways to magical realms of immense power—and danger, for the uninitiated. Within these pages are thirteen keys. Enter the Necronomicon and be forever changed. In this authentic sourcebook for magicians, occult scholar Donald Tyson uses H.P. Lovecraft's story elements and characters—alien races, ancient sorceries, the Dreamlands, deities, witches, and ghouls—as the foundation for a workable and coherent system of modern ritual magic based on the thirteen true zodical constellations. This authoritative guide presents the essential elements of the Necronomicon mythos for use in esoteric practices such as dream scrying, astral projection, magical rites, and invocations.

The Necronomicon Cycle holds that religious ideology must be based on psychic projections sent forward from The Great Old Ones. This is stated in The Necronomicon and held as sacred by The Cult of R'Lyeh on Earth. It is on this basis that the HP Lovecraft Tarot, a classic work of underground religious literature and art with sample cards being used in illustrating The Necronomicon Cycle, shows itself as one of the most important documents published to represent The Necronomicon and as a document that can be seen to represent the theoretical basis of truth. This encyclopedic Work discusses the whole of the Lovecraftian system and allows the reader to interpret major decks of the occult and the standard, common pack of playing cards within a Lovecraftian context. For example, Yog-Sothoth. stands as the The High Priestess of occult decks and Cultes Des Gouls as the Eight of Wands of standard playing card decks.The Necronomicon Cycle establishes a fresh perspective of religion, specifically in terms of being a newly established occult temple of belief. The Cult of R'Lyeh on Earth believe that we here establish a new principle in the theory of the occult. Tim Thompson, the author, joined the Oxfordshire Branch of The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn at the age of twelve. He has completed studying Theology and Religious Studies at Undergraduate Level at Roehampton University, London, for which he was awarded an academic reward and an Honour.

Today a new trend is clearly discernable, that of ‘hyper-real religions’. These are innovative religions and spiritualities that mix elements of religious traditions with popular culture. If we imagine a spectrum of intensity of the merging of popular culture with religion, we might find, at one end, groups practicing Jediism appropriated from the Star Wars movies, Matrixism from the Matrix trilogy, and neo-pagan rites based on stories from The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. At the other end of the spectrum, members of mainstream religions, such as Christianity can be influenced or inspired by, for example, The Da Vinci Code. Through various case studies, this book studies the on- and off-line religious/spiritual consumption of these narratives through a social scientific approach.