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According
to the lore many of the beings of the pantheon can only be contacted
when the stars are aligned correctly, a phenomenon explained variously
in terms of both occult astrology and interstellar psychic travel. Lovecraft
also claimed Cthulhu, imprisoned on Earth, would rise when 'the stars
were right', indicating the former of these explanations was still prior.
So what is Lovecraftian starlore?
The
primary star systems mentioned in the literature are the Hyades, the
head or left eye of Taurus the Bull, along with other sevenfold constellations.
This association dates back to Chalmer's 'The King in Yellow', where
the Hyades are the gateway to the King's domains, the 'Mysteries of
the Hyades'. Domains also said to include worlds associated with the
nearby stars Alderbaran and 'Hastur'. Hastur is a fictional star name,
though if it is a companion of the Aldebaran (the right eye of Taurus)
and the Hyades, and as bright as these, it is most likely another name
for the Pleiades, the shoulder of Taurus, the only stars that fit the
description (see above picture). The King in Yellow is generally regarded
to be an 'avatar' of the Not-to-Be-Named-One (though is also often wrongly
identified with the 'Great Old One' called Hastur) and so he too is
associated with these stars.
However as Hastur later also appears as a mythic figure in the literature,
and is 'Lord of the Interstellar Spaces', and apparently a hybrid between
an Other God and an Elder God, we must assume the place name and the
deity name are related, and that Hastur is thus associated with the
Pleiades. Interestingly while the Pleiades are usually associated with
Seven Nymphs, or a Sky Goddess, in India they are linked with fire god
Agni and especially Skanda, the wild son of Shiva (the very principle
of paradox).
According
to one story, on the fourth planet of the star Celaeno, the Lost Pleiad,
contains the Great Library of Celaeno, which houses stone tablets containing
secrets stolen from the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods. The story describes
how a Professor Laban Shrewsbury spent some time here, transcribing
the library's knowledge in his notebook—a manuscript that would
later be known as the Celaeno Fragments.
Lovecraft himself says that Nyarlathotep originally dwelt on a world
orbiting one of the 'Seven Suns'. Which could be a reference to either
the Hyades, the Pleiades or the Ursa Major, all of which have seven
stars and esoteric associations (though only the last two have biblical
references, which was often a factor for the atheist HPL). In Enochian
tradition the 'Seven Stars' are a prison housing some of the 'Fallen
Angels', and this may have been an inspiration here. Ursa Major was
associated with Set by the Egyptians and was regarded as the 'thigh
of a bull' chained to the Pole Star. If the chain was broken the world
would be destroyed. The Enochian Seven Stars and home of Nyarlathotep
are thus probably Ursa Major. The Pole Star itself would thus be associated
with Elder Ones
"And there I beheld seven stars, like great blazing mountains,
and
like spirits entreating me. Then the angel said, This place, until
the consummation of heaven and earth, will be the prison of the
stars, and the host of heaven. The stars which roll over fire are
those which transgressed the commandment of God before their time
arrived; for they came not in their proper season. Therefore was He
offended with them, and bound them, until the period of the
consummation of their crimes in the secret year." (1 Enoch 18:14-16)
This constellation, or rather its four primary stars Dubhe (the 'black
bear' or 'bear's heart'), Phad ('the thigh' or 'phallus'), Merak (the
'belly') and Megrez (the 'tails root'), were also associated with the
Four Sons of Horus, the elements and the axial points of the four directions
(see the Watcher Stars also). When seen as forming a funereal wagon
these were driven by Alioth (the 'tail' or Al Hawar, the 'white
of the eye" or the 'white poplar tree'), and his two horses or
fellow mourners, who seeks vengence on the murderous Pole Star. Of these
only Alioth is mentioned in the literature, by Ashton-Smith as being
a home of aquatic monsters and so might be considered the primary home
of Nyarlathotep.
Nodens the Hunter is normally associated with Orion, and in particular
its star Betelgeuse, a constellation that 'hunts' Taurus (and so the
Not-to-Be-Named-One
and Hastur). According to some Glyu-Uho (or Glyu-Vho or K'Lu-Vho) is
the name for Betelgeuse in Naacal (the 'language of Mu'), and is the
star where the Elder Gods came from to battle the Great Old Ones. Though
others regard it as the place where a Gate leads to Elysia, the dimension
where the Elder Gods are thought to live.
However the picture is deepened by the fact that formerly Taurus and
Perseus were one constellation called Mithras (the Persian deity who
bridges opposites) with the Pleiades, or 'Hastur', the central point
of this constellation. In later times part of the Mithras constellation
came to be seen as Perseus / Mithras who slays the bull Taurus its other
part. Thus the constellation of Perseus can also be seen as associated
with Nodens (in conflict with the Not-to-Be-Named-One) with the Pleiades
/ 'Hastur' in between the two (precisely where it should be as intermediator).
Perseus (Nodens) also holds in his hand the Gorgon's Head or the star
Algol. Which in 'Beyond the Walls of Sleep' Lovecraft refers to as the
Demon-Star and the home of a Great Old One, who is pursued by a 'Brother
of Light' from the Dreamlands, himself associated with a new star in Perseus.
This Brother wings its way across Orion and Arcturus much like Nodens,
with whom he is probably associated. Arcturus in contrast is sometimes
said to be the star near which Cthulhu fathered his sons. Given the
tentacular serpentine image of the Gorgons, Algol may be a star of Shub
Niggurath, or one of her offspring. And again the Pleiades / 'Hastur'
thus completes an interesting triangle with Nodens (Perseus) and Shub
Niggurath (Algol) in this scheme.
Shub
Niggurath is also associated with the Hydra constellation (astrologically
associated with growth, ascent
and kundalini), and according to some stories with Haddath a fiery planet
possibly found near the 'eye of the Hydra', which is believed to be
also inhabited by mysterious squid-like Chthonian worms. In the 'Dreams
of the Witch House' the protagonist is drawn to a point in the sky between
the constellations of Argo and Hydra, where Nyarlathotep is holding
an otherworldly sabbat. A point not only near the Hydra's 'eye', but
also in the centre of the part of the sky that the Greeks called the
'Ocean', due to the many 'aquatic' constellations in it, another crucial
area (1). It is in particular very close to the
section of the Hydra known as the Scylla, the Kraken like 'sea monster'
which attacks Jason's ship, the Argo.
Another
important star is Sirius, the Hidden Sun, known to the Egyptians as
Sothis, and in Lovecraft as Xoth. Sothis itself is believed in occult
lore to be a portal to realms outside of Time and Space, as is the Pole
Star in Kabbalistic tradition (the latter a shifting star, formerly
alpha Draconis in the Egyptian Old Kingdom; Kochab, between 2000 BC
and 1000 BC; currently Polaris, exact at 2100 AD; and in around 10,000
years Vega). All of these stars thus associated with Yog Sothoth, sometimes
also being refered to as his 'eyes', and therefore explaining the awe
HPL associates with them. But the axial Pole Star is more associated
with order, and so the Elder Gods, while Xoth/Sothis is the 'star of
chaos' and the 'herald of the deluge' to the Egyptians. In the literature
the Xothians live on several worlds around the star Xoth and are notorious
disciples of the Great Old Ones. The most infamous Xothians are the
Star Spawn of Cthulhu, aliens who invoked their 'supernatural' patron
in their own form (according to some their leaders being possessed by
it). Cthulhu was originally born on Vhoorl, a world in the 23rd Nebula
(via Cxaxukluth, an alien name for Shub Niggurath, or Nugg, most likely),
and eventually brought to Earth by the Spawn. Less well known are their
relatives the Xothian Children of Tsathoggua, beings of 'elephantine
size' with several tentacles, six legs, a face full of awful-looking
eyes, a gaping mouth full of teeth dripping slime, and huge bat-like
wings! These beings created the Cult of Tsathoggua and brought this
Xothic Great Old One (and Cthulhu kin) to Yuggoth (Pluto) and Saturn
in our solar system. Renegade Mi-Go adopted the cult and allegedly brought
Tsathoggua through hyperspace to N'Kai on Earth, with a few elite Children
of Tsathoggua who served him as temple guardians (only a handful of
whom now survive). Other Xothians are believed to worship Hastur, who
as the 'Lord of Shepherds' is also associated with the 'taming' of Sirius
in classical mythology.
The
Four Watchers of the Heavens, the Royal Stars of Persia, Aldebaran in
the West, Antares in the East, Regulus in the South and Formalhaut in
the North, are also sometimes regarded as homes of Outer Gods in Lovecraftian
lore, but the details are not clear. No doubt the most important of
the Outer Ones given the significance of the stars concerned. Aldebaran
is linked to the King in Yellow, as we have seen, so must be associated
with the Not-to-Be-Named-One (of whom he is widely regarded an avatar).
Though he is also now said to be chained, in his 'tentacular dinosaur'
form, in a crypt at the bottom of Lake Hali, on a world in the Hyades,
'just round the corner'. Astrologically Antares (the ruling star of
the serpentine Scorpio constellation which both opposes Taurus but slays
its enemy Orion) should be the first home of Shub Niggurath and Yig,
and so also possibly the home star of Serpent People, directly opposite
their antithetical partner the Not-to-Be-Named-One (the former's simulataneous
presence in Algol, near Aldebaran, perhaps reflecting a somewhat Tao-like
principle). While Regulus (the 'heart of the lion') would be the natural
home of Ulthar the Cat Goddess, her antithesis logically dwelling in
Formalhaut. Interestingly Formalhaut is associated with Ahriman in Persian
lore, and is also a home of Nyarlathotep, according to some later stories,
presumably the first world he settled on his jouney from his gate star
Alioth, and Dubhe, his first home in Ursa Major (the other linked Ursan
stars would be respectively Megrez, Phad and Merak that Nyarlathotep
oversaw in Ursa Major). It is thought by some that Nyarlahotep was also
responsible for dislodging the planet of the Old One Cthuga from Fomalhaut
and sending it crashing into the primeval Earth. Astronomers were surprised
when the Hubble telescope picture of Fomalhaut revealed something similar
to the 'Eye of Sauron' being portrayed on film posters at the time.
These four Watcher stars are often used in the corner invocations.
Finally
apart from the stars almost all the planets of our Solar System are
inhabited according to Lovecraft and quite a few moons too. This is
obviously fantastical and so probably refers to the Dreamlands of those
planets. Though it is also implied that this sometimes refers to the
far distant past and the far distant future. The Serpent People are
often linked to a colony in the 'Jungles of Venus' for instance. But
the only inhabited planet 'today' is said to be Yuggoth, or Pluto, inhabited
by the Mi-Go. However as the Mi-Go utilise the 'great portal' at the
edge of our solar system, which connects to regions beyond Time and
Space (via the agency of Yog Sothoth) they are also partial time travellers
and so 'today' may be slightly misleading! Symbolically the natures
of these planets is much the same as in astrology.
All of these astronomical 'facts' and 'metaphors' are of great use to
the arcane magician, with precise stellar risings, zeniths and conjuctions
linked to certain rituals and gates for various Outer Gods. Details
of which can of course not be given here. Constellations may also be
used in the same way the signs of the zodiac are used.(2)
Notes
1. The 'Ocean' (much of which arched over the mythical site of R'lyeh)
was greatly awed by astrological astronomers, for not only was it named
after the many aquatic constellations there, but many of these were
monsterous. The area was centred on Cetus, the Whale, formerly known
as Balaena, the Greek version of the Leviathan, who Perseus rescued
Andromeda from, but was later simply called the 'Sea Monster'. For the
later Greeks however it came to be associated with the Titan Goddess,
Ceto, 'Queen of the Terrors of the Deep', sometimes also seen as a kind
of Hecate of the ocean, who is sometimes exchanged with her in the retelling
of some of her myths. It was also said to be the Gate of Hell. Cetus
was much later associated by Madame Blavatsky with the Phoenician sea
deity Ketu, said to be another name for Dagon (with Lu curiously meaning
'a man' or 'sentient being' in Sumerian). In the heart of Cetus lies
the star Stella Mira, an eclipsing binary, at the southern pole of our
Galaxy, subject to exteme irregularities (with a cycle of 330 to 333
days, give or take 30 days or so). Also irregular is its cyclic appearance,
on average invisible for 5 months it appears for 6 months growing brighter
till it peaks for two weeks then rapidly dissappears. This varies however,
its brightest being the 6 November, 1779, while at other times it has
been undetected for several years at a time. The ancients associated
this chaotic cycle with the beating of Cetus' heart. It was also the
water spout of the whale. Other stars in Cetus are quaintly named 'the
snout', 'the lepered hand' and the 'lesser frog'. A faint nebulous object
in Cetus is the spiral galaxy M77 (the 23rd Nebula of Cthulhu!?). To
the east of Cetus is Eridanus, the River of Hades; north of it is Pisces,
the Fishes; west of it are Aquarius, the Water Carrier, and Capricornus,
the devilish Seagoat; and to the south lies Piscis Austrinus, the Southern
Fish. Near the Fish are grouped Argo, the Ship; and Hydra, the Sea Serpent,
known as the 'Source of the Fountains of the Great Deep' in Mesopotamia
and associated with Tiamat.
Even more significantly, in Greek Myth Cetus / Ceto, is also the consort
of the most ancient of all the Sea Titans, 'the Old Man of the Sea'
(also translatable as the 'Old One of the Sea') in his stormy or awesome
aspect. Who alone was sometimes associated with Oceanus, the lord of
the primal ocean, and father of the feared 'hundred handed ones', gigantic
sea lords with 'fifty heads', the 'first born of Gaia', opposed by Chronos
at birth and imprisoned in Tartarus (only to be released as allies by
the Olympians in times of crisis). Later named as Gygos (the 'many limbed
one'), Cottos (the 'furious one') and Briareus-Aegaeon (the 'vigourous
goat'). Ceto and the Old One together not only give birth to the Gorgons,
Harpies, Sirens and Graeae (dark aspects of the Fates called the 'Grey
Old Ones') but also great Echidna, the Sea Viper, a Lamia called the
'Mother of All Monsters'. Echidna in turn mates with Typhon, the multi
headed, tentacular serpent bearing lord of volcanos, from Tarturus,
to produce the monsterous dogs Cerberus and Orthrus; the Nemean Lion;
the Sphinx; Ethon, the giant ravenous eagle; the hybrid Chimera; Ladon,
the hundred headed dragon at the 'end of the world'; Hydra, the seven
headed serpent of sea and swamp; and Scylla, the giant squid-like Lamia
with six tentacular serpents for arms.
2.
It is even possible to hypothesise a Lovecraftian Zodiac by relating
these relevant constellations in HPL's writings back to the ecliptic
and producing a cycle of 13 unequal constellations that rise with the
Sun at different times of the year. One workable version of which is:
Cetus (Cthulhu) roughly parallel to Sidereal Pisces and half
of Aries, Perseus (Nodens) roughly the rest of Aries and a little
Taurus, The Pleiades (Hastur), Hyades / Alderbaran (King
in Yellow), Orion (Nodens) roughly parallel with bulls horns
and part of Gemini, Sothis / Great Dog (Yog Sothoth as
the Gate?), The Hydra's Head (Shub Niggurath) roughly Cancer
and the head of Leo, Coma Berenices and/or Regulus (Cat Goddess
of Ulthar?), the main part of Leo and part of Virgo, The Hydra's
Tail (Mother Hydra?) parallel with the rest of Virgo, Serpent's
Head / Draco (Yig) parallel to Libra and Scorpio/Antares, Serpent's
Tail (Tsathoggua?) roughly most of Saggitarius, The Vultures
(the Wind Walker?), Capricornus / Sea Goat (Dagon), Southern
Fish / Fomalheit (Nyarlathotep) roughly Aquarius.
Important Note : All Zodiac signs mentioned are Sidereal and NOT
Tropical 'Birth Signs', to convert from the later to the former subtract
23 degrees /days from Birth Sign. Most of these match HPL's, or later
writer's, correspondences, others with question mark are educated guesses,
and like some other material on this site open to modification with
experience. Certainty is never achievable but data such as Cthulhu Rising
on April 2nd, in the Call of Cthulhu story, corresponding to the Helical
Rising of Alpha Ceti close that date provides strong correlation.
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