THE AEON OF CTHULHU RISING
By Tenebrous

"Nor is it to be thought ... that man is either the oldest
or the last of earth's masters, or than the common bulk of
life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old
Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we
know, but between them, they walk serene and primal,
undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate.
Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and
guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in
Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of
old, and when they shall break through again..."
H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror
(as from the 'Necronomicon')


The century in which we live has witnessed the dawning of a New Aeon; or rather, the return of energies and entities, across vast gulfs of time and space, from primal eras which antedate by millenia the appearance of humankind upon the Earth. In his pivotal Mythos tale, The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft has adumbrated the first portents of this return, the outer edges of whose pericosis with our own continuum is detected by the incredibly subtle and sensitive 'antennae' of poets, writers and artists - more especially those already aligned to the concept of 'outsideness' through their own explorations of alien, exotic, bizarre and outre subject matter. And indeed, it is through the work of such artists in actuality that the first hints and descriptions of these forces and entities find expression.

This 'new Aeon' is currently known under a variety of names by differing cults: the astrological 'Age of Aquarius'; the Thelemic 'Aeon of Horus', inaugurated by the avatar Aiwaz, in 1904 e.v.; Frater Achad's 'Aeon of Maat', the Era of Truth and Justice; and so on. To that particular body of magicians, artists, writers, and other visionaries of the Cthulhu Mythos which constitutes The Esoteric Order of Dagon, the emerging era is recognised as the Aeon of Cthulhu Rising, with reference to the prophetic fictional work of H.P. Lovecraft, as outlined above. As his description of the initial wave of Aeonic energy (which has such drastic effect on the dreams of 'sensitive' individuals around the world) coincides with the rising of the island of R'lyeh on 28 February 1925 e.v., the E.O.D numerate this event this event as Year One, A.C.

However, before the complete influx of these elder forces into our present space-time continuum can be facillated, the secret and primal gateways must be located, and opened, to allow access from 'outside the circles of time.' This gateway has been glyphed by Lovecraft as one of the Great Old Ones themselves - "the noxious Yog-Sothoth who froths as primal slime in nuclear chaos beyond the nethermost outpost of space and time." As Guardian of the Gate, he is synonymous with Choronzon. The "nethermost outpost", itself an opening or window to the dimensionality of the Great Old Ones (Universe B), is the star Sothis, or Sirius.

In turn, the gateway of the New Aeonic forces (Yog_Sothoth) is identified with the 'non-Sephiroth', Daath, on the qabalistic Tree of Life. As Kenneth Grant explains:

"It is now possible to see the continous flow and evolution of Aeons occuring simultaenously and passing over into the world of anti-matter. The Yog (or Yug .. an aeon or age ..) of Sothoth is the counterpoint - as the Aeon of Set-Thoth, or Daath - of its Twin, the Yug-Hoor, or Aeon of Horus. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate through the aeons to the Star-Source beyond Yuggoth, the Yug or Aeon of Goth."
Outside the Circles of Time, p. 214

The knowledge and formula by which this gateway can be reopened can therefore be only apprehended through the negative vortex of Daath. In the case of Lovecraft himself, who in waking life vehemently denied the verdical nature of the material with which he was dealing, the process of appropriation was almost completely subconscious, occuring through the medium of dream- experiences. As would be expected, the visitation of such unhuman and ultracosmic revelations took the form of the most hideous nightmares.

By the same token, those initiates of the E.O.D. who are working towards the Opening of the Gate of Yog-Sothoth must be prepared to undertake this most dangerous descent into the Abyss of Daath (the so-called 'false knowledge') in order to activate these formulae effectively. This process involves the projection of a part of themselves into those spaces 'between', to which Lovecraft makes repeated reference, and which constitute the existentiality of the Old Ones themselves. Is is here that this 'false knowlege' (glyphed as Lovecraft as the grimoire, Necronomicon) can be found and retrieved, brought back through the vortex of Daath, and finally given actual, concrete manifestation in the Outer.