THE EDITOR and the Publishers anticipate that there will be a demand at first for privileged views of the original NECRONOMICON, whether out of curiosity's sake, or by nervous experimenters who will be certain that we did not copy a sigil correctly, etc.
Let us hasten to state at this point that the original Ms. is neither the property of the Editor, nor the Publishers. We were given the right to translate and publish this work, with as much additional and explanatory material as needed, but not the right to hold the MS. up to public inspection. We regret that this is the case, but we also feel that it might be advisable, in reference to the dangerous character of the work involved. Perhaps one day a book will be written on the hazards of possessing such an original work in one's home or office, including the fearful hallucinations, physical incapacities, and emotional malaise that accompanied this work from the onset of the translation to the end of its final published form.

Therefore, as a matter of policy, we cannot honour any requests to see the NECRONOMICON in its original state.

Read this section carefully.

In the interim period between the translation and the publication of this work, the Editor, along with a circle of initiates in another discipline, undertook to experiment with the rituals and forces outlined in the NECRONOMICON. In using the material alone, or within a Western ceremonial structure (such as the Golden Dawn system) we came upon startling discoveries in both cases: there are no effective banishings for the forces invoked in the NECRONOMICON itself! The rituals, incantations, formulae of this Book are of ancient origin, comprising some of the oldest written magickal workings in Western occult history. the deities and demons identified within have probably not been effectively summoned in nearly six thousand years. Ordinary exorcisms and banishing formulae have thus far proved extremely inadequate: this, by experienced magicians. Hence, the following recommendations.

The religion of the ancient Sumerian peoples seems to have been lunar-oriented, a religion - or religion - magickal structure - of the night, of darkness in a sense. Invocations using solar formulae have proved thus far effective in successfully banishing NECRONOMICON demons and intelligences. For instance, the Kaddish prayer of the Jewish faith contains some solar elements that have proved resilient to inimical genii, and the vibration of the Lord's Prayer for Christians is also a workable method.

We suggest that individual operators utilise an equivalent solar (i.e., positive light) invocation from their own religion or the religion of their ancestors, should the no longer have a religion or should they have changed it in their lifetime.

For best practical purposes in the beginning - for those intent on actually using the rituals contained herein - it is advisable to take especial care in the construction of the magickal circle and of all magickal defences. A preliminary period of purification is well in order before attempting anything in this grimoire. Persons of unstable mental condition, or unstable emotional condition, should not be allowed, under any circumstances, to observe one of these rituals in progress. That would be criminal, and perhaps in suicidal. One of our colleagues was fearfully attacked by his dog directly following a fairly simple and uncomplicated formula from this book. This is definitely not a Gilbert chemistry set.

The method of the NECRONOMICON concerns deep, primeval forces that seem to pre-exist the normal archetypal images of the tarot trumps and the Golden Dawn telesmatic figures. These are forces that developed outside the Judeo-Christian mainstream, and were worshipped and summoned long before the creation of the Qabala as we know it today. Hence, the ineffectiveness of the Golden Dawn banishing procedures against them. They are not necessarily demonic or qliphotic in the sense that these terms are commonly understood in the West, they just simply represent power sources largely untapped and thus far ignored by twentieth-century, mainstream consciousness.

The results of any experimentation with this book, as well as practical suggestions concerning its rituals, are welcomed by the publishers.