r i t e o f t h e g h o u l s - - (c) 1994 Ryan Parker intended for informational purposes only HPL wrote of the necrophagic ghoul in Pickman's Model and Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. In Lovecraft's mythos the ghoul was a semi-human creature with a canine or monstrous facial appearance. The ghouls were said to feed on the human dead or even occasionally live humans. HPL claimed, in his stories, that it was possible a human to be transformed into a ghoul. The ghouls of HPL's stories are based on the ghouls or ghuls of Arab myth and magick. In Arab myth ghuls are again semi-human creatures with monstrous or animalistic faces. Like HPL's ghouls the Arab ghul lived in lonely and deserted places feeding on the dead. In Arab myth it is said the powerful magicians can transform into ghuls. The ghuls are associated with a homophagic diet (eating humans), necrophilia, and magickal transformation. The ghuls of Arab magick are reminiscent of many aspects of shamanism. In many cultures it is common for the shaman to transform into an animalistic or semihuman form. Ritual cannibalism was found in almost every culture at one time or another. Even today in cultures where ritual cannibalism is no longer physically enacted there still remains traces of symbolic cannibalism. Tibetan and Hindu sadhus often undergo rites involving a corpse, sometimes even with necrophilic elements. In HPL, Arab magick, and shamanism there are undercurrents of devouring, being devoured, and transformation into animalistic forms. The so called "grotesqueness and monstrosity of the liminal sacra (shamanic knowledge)" in shamanism are not darkness for its own sake. The "monstrous" elements in shamanism are intended to force the practitioner to face and integrate primal, animalistic aspects of her or his psychic make up. Such drives have been termed the "Shadow" by Jung Although our culture has labeled the these drives "evil" they are within us all. Shamanic practices help us to accept and integrate the Shadow. According to many researchers the dark and bizarre rituals in shamanism are designed to force the practitioner to confront cultural "taboos" and ego limits in order to free the shaman from these artificial confines. Thus the "monstrosities" of magick and shamanism are psychodynamic techniques aiming at liberation. They help us to confront and transcend our taboos and to integrate the Shadow or the "evil" and animalistic drives in our psychic make up. Sometimes, in shamanic initiation, the "monstrous" elements are combined with other tactics to eliminate false ego structures such as taunting or mockery. It should be noted that symbolic cannibalism, when it involves symbolically "eating" the shaman, is closely related to experiences that often occur spontaneously in an initiatory ordeal or crisis. Very often a shaman will undergo a prolonged psychophysical illness that ends in an initiatory experience. The initiatory experience often involves being torn to pieces or being devoured by demonic forms. This same archetypal process has been encountered more recently in psychological research using entheogens or dynamic breathing. This process is a type of ego death. It is the false limited idea of "self" that is dismembered and devoured. This initiatory process is often called the death/rebirth rite. The old limited notion of "self" dies and a new, broader, and less constrained "self" is reborn. The Tibetan Tchod rite is based on the exact same type of death/rebirth sequence (involving being devoured by demons.) However, the Tibetan version of this rite often also includes necrophilic undertones. According to Vilmos Dioszegi in Tracing Shamans in Siberia "possession" states in which the shaman is transformed into an animalistic or semihuman form encountered have an important value. "possession states in the countries in which they play an important part of religious rituals have an important distress-relieving, integrative, and adaptive function. As far as mental illness is concerned, they may be of prophylactic value. As we can see the animalistic possession and symbolic cannibalism involved in shamanic and magickal initiations are aimed at freeing the practitioner from cultural restrictions and artificial ego limits. They are powerful and liberating psychological techniques. About the same time I was considering how the above shamanic methods relate to the ghouls of HPL's mythos and Arab magick I happened upon Kenneth Grant's ideas on the "mortuary feast" of the Lamas of Leng, Andahada's "Feast of the Hive" and "Demon Feast" and Spare's "Feast of the Supersensualists". After reading Grant I read what materials were available to me on Spare. Both grant and Spare used themes of transformation into a semihuman form and symbolic homophagy (cannibalism) in an initiatory context. Grant and Spare also included sexual elements into their work. When taken as a whole this struck me as closely parallel to the Arab magickal traditions regarding Ghuls. Both involve transformation into monstrous forms devouring or being devoured, and sexual (necrophilic?) undertones. After reading Grant I began to toy with constructing a shamanic initiatory rite based on the Ghul legends of HPL and Arab magick. It included being devoured, transformation into an animal-like ghoul and necrophlic elements. "Pickman's Model" by HPL, and Grant's writings were big influences as was the Tibetan Buddhist Tchod rite. More recently Phil Hine's Pseudonomicon has influenced my understanding of the psychodynamics of this rite. Mr. Hine has significantly impacted this rite and my understanding of why it works. The actual nomenclature of this rite is derived from the infamous 18th century printing of "Cultes des Goules" used by Abbe' Boullan in his Lyons workings. This is the third version of this rite. The first was written in 1989 and contained only instructions with no commentary. The second was written in July 1994 after reading Hine's Pseudonomicon. It contained the rite as well as some commentary and several quote's from Mr. Hine that helped to explain the nature of this sort of Rite. The current version was written in October 1994 and contains somewhat longer commentary and but fewer quotations from Mr. Hine. This rite was designed to be used in a group setting. However, it can be modified to be used on the "astral", by a solo magician or partially on the "astral" by two celebrants. Also, this rite was written from my own Cthulhu mythos perspective and should be modified to fit into whatever myth system the magician uses. This rite (like all magick) should not be considered to be carved in stone. Otherwise it becomes just another dogma to transcend!! Location: Outdoors in a rural setting. There should be no evidence of the very existence of man at the ritual site except for those objects used for the rite itself. The site should reflect the meaning of "wild" in the word wilderness. Time: At night well after dark. Because of the rite's association with Nyarlathotep (Nyharluthotep) and therefore Azathoth (Asa-Thoth) the ultimate time to preform this rite is "when the Sun is in the Sign of the Ram, the Lion, or the Archer; the Moon decreasing and Mars and Saturn conjoin" Short of this any time that the celebrants feel that "the spheres do intersect and the influences flow from the Void". _1_ Materials: the Altar of the Old Ones, the Incense of Zkauba, animal offal (obtained from a butcher), theatrical make-up, animal and human skulls (replicas will do if they are realistic), A tape player and a recording of drumming at 3-7 cycles per second _2_, a charcoal burner,; optional are entheogens _3_. In this rite the imagined body as well as the ego-complex of the magician is devoured by the other celebrants (the ghouls). At this point the magician transforms into one of the ghouls her/himself. The rite is now at the climax and the Ghoul/magician joins the feast of offal and engages in ritual copulation with the "corpse" on the Altar of the Old Ones. Quoting Mr. Hine "Undercurrent of such a ritual is the idea of relinquishing control to others, and of facing one's own taboos and desires in a way that means that they cannot be dodged or evaded." Well no point in further meandering. Here it is. The Rite of the Ghouls Set the Altar of the Old Ones in a clearing of a dense woods. Above the altar place a large wooden "banner" to act as the "Center of Focus" in the opening. On this banner the Egyptian hieroglyphics for Asa-Thoth (Azathoth) and Yak-SutThoth (Yog-Sothoth) should be painted on the top. Below these but in larger Hieroglyphics the name Nyharluthotep (Nyarlathotep) should be painted in a bold style. At the South end (the head) of the Altar should be placed several animal skulls and at least one human skull (or a realistic replica). Below the Altar (below it's foot end ie north) about ten-twenty feet should be placed a large quantity of animal offal (from a butcher). A single small charcoal burner for the incense should be the only source of light. This burner should be placed between the altar and the "banner". Opening: This rite should not be preceded by any form of banishing. Nor should any use of a type of magick circle be used. The attitude of this rite must be one of total helplessness before the demonic forces that will devour the magician. For this reason the magician will be placed in the center of the other celebrants nude and without any weapons or other magickal objects. The other celebrants should also be nude (to increase the animalistic/taboo atmosphere) but should be wearing theatrical make-up in order to give their faces and bodies a monstrous/animal-like appearance. The acting priest of the Old Ones (one of the other celebrants not the magician) begins the rite thus: The priest starts the drumming tape and throws a large amount of the incense of Zka...
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