alien, eldritch, and unknowable…

by Darrick David Dishaw,
High Priest of the Cult of Cthulhu

This is a dark spiritual philosophy of lightless gulfs beyond space and time. From whence black magic will emanate, madness will spread, and alien wisdom will be granted. And many will dream of transformations into something inhuman.

The Cult of Cthulhu has been, is, and shall be established on April 30th 2005, May Eve... bringing organized devotees of the Cthulhu Mythos together, or at least creating an epicenter of Lovecraftian activity.

From the dawn of mankind there have been eldritch devil-forces! Lurking, ambitious, black vibrations which can never be known, never fathomed, never wholly understood. However, they can be glimpsed by the right kind of thinking. There are ideas common to both races, mankind and the Great Old Ones - The will to power, as Nietzsche dubbed it, stirs within a select few from both races. Especially since we are the same, only the Elder Ones are the servants of dark wisdom evolved through the passage of time and the struggle within oneself.

Individual sorcerers must reach for that power. I am not talking about ordinary run of the mill power, but the strength to face the indescribable and loosen the tongue of the unspeakable. Few black magicians throughout time have had enough courage.

Allow me to introduce myself. Cthulhu is the High Priest of the Great Old Ones, and I am the High Priest of the Cult of Cthulhu. A devious, otherworldly sect who worships the penultimate point of darkness, energy, force, vibrations, alienage, forbidden knowledge, and madness. However, our worship is a reflection of desire, lust, ambition, and reckless admiration. We feel very strongly for the things that most people fear.

The Ancient Ones are the great impenetrable unknown that is known, the unrealized finally realized. Does man know himself? Unfortunately not. Self observation followed by self change is the key to the doors of Godhood.

I know what some of you are thinking, the Cthulhu Mythos is fiction, it is not "real" because H. P. Lovecraft started it all in the early part of the 20th century. Sadly, everything around us is a lie, and we are prisoners. Illusion is everywhere, we don't know ourselves because we think we are whole, that we are a single 'I'. There are many I's within ourselves, one I wants eat chocolate cake and another I wants to work out instead. At every moment we are conflicted, but we call ourselves I as if we are whole. This causes us to identify with whatever subject we are dealing with at the time. We cease to exist, hypnotized like dozens of men in a prison. There is a chance, however, if some of the prisoners, some of the I's within us decide they want to change and develop, want to break out of prison. These I's within us can get to know each other and form a plan, a structure of how to escape from their prison. That is how the work begins.

Just as mythos cultists realize that humanity is doomed and the only hope is to become something other than human. Just like the looming, cosmic horror that we are trapped in an uncaring, hostile universe that finds of irrelevant and insignificant. This is also true, because mankind is asleep. Each individual is always in asleep, walking around unaware, unobservant of his current state and oblivious of what his life could be if he were to awaken. The first step to waking up is to remember oneself. Realize that you are asleep and that being asleep is a very bad position to be in. See yourself as if from outside, observe yourself, think to yourself 'I am here, now'. And for a moment you will be awake, then the moment is past and you fall right back asleep.

Benefits of Cthulhu Mythos Wizardry

First, there is the warping of "reality". As we know from the mythos stories, the Old Ones alter "reality" when they approach. Their alienage bends and then breaks the normal order. Calling upon Dread Cthulhu allows the sorcerer to warp "reality" as well. If the sorcerer Wills extreme change in the fabric of our universe, then the slimy, tentacled things in the dark are the perfect focus. The sorcerer must also employ 'gnosis' a revelation of truth. And there is no greater truth than consciousness which is impossible for man while he is asleep. When casting a spell and getting in touch with the slimy and infernal powers of change, self-remembering is the key. Awaken and try to stay awake for as long as you can. This takes a great deal of struggling and effort, but it is well-rewarded. Temporarily you are free, aware of yourself and the things around you. You have will for a moment and can take real action, rather than mindlessly reacting to stimulus around you.

Is "reality" malleable? Yes. Does it loose its fixed state when we stop believing its concreteness? Yes. Belief is what makes it "solid", the mind's influence on the universe is an important ingredient. And no one's mind is ever the same after being touched by the Elder Race… And by that I mean, someone of higher mind who has already escaped from prison. A conscious being who has evolved and wishes to share his knowledge and teach you to become conscious yourselves.

What is the definition of real? What do you want it to be? Heightened self-realization. In the real world a magician must see himself in a unique light. He must see himself as grandiose, capable of contacting and commanding the blasphemous Outer Gods of nihilism. The fantastic size and scope of the mythos allows the mage to overcome the gravity of the ordinary world. The cyclopean magnificence of Yog Sothoth, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Satanis, and Odhra-guoa raises one's worldview; making one capable of larger than life action.

Thirdly, nothing can stop the Great Old Ones. They are invulnerable, unopposed (effectively), and beyond even our comprehension. They don't have an anti-force, a nemesis, or a weakness. They are unrivaled and forever. Similarly, nothing can stop a man committed to the work, the path of watching, self-observation, mindfulness, awakening - call it what you will. It is all too easy to forget oneself and go along in life asleep. This organization will help followers of the Dark Way struggle to break out of the confining illusion and see truly.

Next, the mythos causes fear and insanity in others whilst making oneself immune to fear and insanity. Have you ever noticed that the cultists themselves never go mad while researching, performing, and manifesting their hideous ritual? However, those who would stop them often do! The more I speak about what is true, what is real the less people will believe. The idea of a person not having unity is ridiculous to many. These people believe they have will, that they can "do". They cannot "do", they can only be swayed by the wind of this false world.

The angles and lines of their universe are not like ours. To the average person, Cthulhu might seem senseless, but His plans are not for the common knowledge (or the common good). The Ancient Ones spread madness in their wake. They decay and degrade the mind because their universe's structure, it's sorcery-vibration, is of a higher order, and we are pulled unto it. The mage who has shared the dark dreams of the antediluvian Gods, has tasted that other universe. And its physical laws are outside human comprehension. The black magician and the student of the Dark Way are not out for the betterment of humanity. They are out for themselves. To evolve through their own effort through the help of those who have succeeded before them. Those magi who have altered outside reality, and those students that have developed internally and become awake.

Finally, a sorcerer of Cthulhu is beyond the understanding of earthly minds. The primitive thinking of the ordinary brain can only take one so far. Beyond, is 'the reason that has no reason'. This is exemplified by the ability for two or more contradictory states to exist together simultaneously. For instance, Cthulhu is both a fictional monster and at the same time a solid entity as "real" as you or I. Is this due to a multiplicity of dimensions, parallel universes, or deranged perception? Who can say? Many people run around inside each one of us, they are constantly talking, arguing, and ignoring each other. Most I's don't even know the other I's within us. We must confront our many selves. Observe them, watch them, find the ones that are interested in being conscious and give them authority. These few ideas that are interested in the Dark Way must meet and lead the others, like a cult. Then a man can stay focused and on the path to self-remembering.

Ritual Chamber Suggestions

Cthulhu desires green illumination, guttural utterances, sounds of dark droning or the crashing of waves upon a rocky shoreline. Any sigils used must contain some straight lines, sharp corners, severe angles - both obtuse and acute. For that is representative of how the wizard's mind must be. Wide open to the mythos, and narrow and closed to human failings. One has to be disciplined, unwavering, resolved. The black magician must be mightier than the natural order…

Consider this, the earth and the humans on it drift on a canoe traveling downstream. Everyone goes where "life takes them". The mage, however, paddles against the water's current in order to get to dry land and leave the canoe. Once he has escaped from the flow of accident , he walks in a straight line on dry land where he can pause and get his bearings. Then journey to a destination of his choosing.

The natural forces of earth are rounded; circular like life. The black magician desires to find a point and progress, move forward, evolve - not parade about in a cycle of up and down, back and forth. Shocks are needed to stay in one direction for very long. Progress towards a goal takes constant attention and awareness. Once enough Will is exerted at certain places and at certain times, it shall be as if one's psyche had stolen an amulet of green jade in the form of a winged hound from a Dutch tomb. The old view of "reality" must die for the new one to be born. The Old Ones are unpleasant to behold, yet will gladly share their secrets once the wizard is in tune with them. The uninitiated will only feel doom and oblivion!

To move from being a member of the Church of Satan to High Priest of the Cult of Cthulhu, from a student of the Fourth Way to a teacher of the Dark Way is strange to me like a new skin. However, I feel myself to be above and beyond the earthly demons and illusions that haunt this world. Sadly, many Satanists, just like everyone else, are looking away form the uncomfortable truths beneath the surface.

"…Cthulhu, whose impiety extends, let us repeat, infinitely beyond ordinary Satanism and popular tradition." And "Satan has not survived this fundamental mutation of the imagination brought about, even in the land of Puritanism, by the secularization of the conscience: He is as dead as God."
- Maurice Levy, translated by S. T. Joshi

Blasphemous as that once appeared to me, it seems fairly accurate. Many, including myself, anthropomorphize darkness, evil, the opposition, and the outsider as Satan. And a humanistic entity characterizing those attributes is very useful to recognize. I'm afraid that the Great Old Ones are superior when it comes to ineffable, sanity-destroying, abominable, unthinkable awfulness.

Perhaps Satan is the offspring of the Elder Things and humans; a hybrid creature that was born to show us the way? In any case, now is the time for the progenitors to be revealed.

Cosmic horror at last!

Ia Ia Cthulhu! Ia Ia Azathoth! Ia Ia Yog Sothoth! Ia Ia Nyarlathotep! Ia Ia, Shub Niggurath! Ia Ia Odhra-guoa! Ia Ia Tasthogguoa! Ia Ia Hastur! Ia Ia Zoth Omog! Ia Ia the thing that should not be! Ia Ia him who is not to be named! Ia Ia Satan! So it is done…

Darrick Dishaw, High Priest of the Cult of Cthulhu