Lovecraft and the Occult

We’re back and we’re casting protective circles around our microphones, burning incense that smells like Cthulhu’s armpits and waggling our wands for all they’re worth. No matter how fevered our incantations, however, the songs always seem to break free. Some magic is too foul to be contained. Main Topic: Lovecraft and the Occult This is the first of a pair of episodes looking into the relationship between HP Lovecraft and the occult. The focus this time is on how much (or little) Lovecraft drew upon real occult beliefs and practices. In particular, we’ll focus on the Western occult tradition and its manifestations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Next time, we’ll explore how the relationship has been reciprocated. Things are going to get weird. Joining us in this exploration is Mike Mason. As well as being line editor for Call of Cthulhu, Mike has a keen interest in the occult and offers some personal insights. You don’t think that Call of Cthulhu has won all those ENnie awards without help from the unseen masters, do you? Links Things we mention in this episode include: * Rosicrucianism * John Dee * Enochian * Johannes Hartlieb * The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn * Theosophy * Helena Blavatsky * Occultism * Lovecraft’s letter to Clark Ashton Smith about the occult * Nicolas Flamel * The Witch-Cult in Western Europe * The Case of Charles Dexter Ward * The Goetia * Kabbalistic tree of life * Rudolf Steiner * Sufism * Whirling Dervishes * The Abramellin Operation News Necronomicon The Good Friends will be flying out to Providence for Necronomicon 2019 in just two short weeks. We hope to see many of you there. Please say hi if you spot us in the wild. Mike and a number of other folks from Chaosium will also be attending the convention, operating a stall overflowing with wonders. Scott on Fictoplasm