This thread discusses the Content article: A Meditation on the Simon Necronomicon

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It is from this point on that the Gate rituals become mere folly at best, a disastrous affair at worst,
especially if they are performed by one who has not mastered Form. In Ceremonial and/or Ritual
Magick, it is necessary to be highly familiar with the Form, i.e. the practices, symbols, and what we
would term “Do's and Don'ts” of ritual before one ever attempts even one's first ritual; students of
Ceremonial and/or Ritual Magick spend long periods of time learning Form before they dare attempt to
perform a Ritual. Simon, and the inner sanctum, were, in a sense, gambling on the idea that the so-called
'Simonomicon' rituals would be performed by those who knew not from Form. The current thought on
whether or not a practitioner of Ceremonial Magick can succeed without a knowledge of Form is such
that it is best to assume that one can indeed succeed, although one's results would most likely not be
anywhere near as accurate nor as potent as those of one who did know Form.”

I find it interesting how so many people have jumped on the bandwagon of attacking the Simon Necronomicon. This essay is completely erroneous as can easily be seen by some of the remarks in the above quote.. It mentions in the Simon Necronomicon’s Introductory notes under the subheading Mythos and Magick the following is stated:

“These were the sorcerer's handbooks, and generally not meant as textbooks or encyclopedias of ceremonial magick. In other words, the sorcerer or magician is supposed to be in possession of the requisite knowledge and training with which to carry out a complex magickal ritual, just as a cook is expected to be able to master the scrambling of eggs before he conjures an "eggs Benedict"; the grimoires, or Black Books, were simply variations on a theme, like cookbooks, different records of what previous magicians had done, the spirits they had contacted, and the successes they had. The magicians who now read these works are expected to be able to select the wheat from the chaff, in much the same fashion as an alchemist discerning the deliberate errors in a treatise on his subject.”

We can see that this “Meditation” is not to well thought out for it assumes to know the writer’s position and is in error in its assumption in knowing the intention of Simon Necronomicon.

On page three we find more errors in this so-called “Meditation.” Notice what is said on page three, where the author foolishly asserts the following:
“In order to perform the Ritual of Walking, one must purify oneself for a period of a Lunar Month,
going from the night before the New Moon to the night before the New Moon. One must abstain from
sex during that time but, in typical circumloqutious fashion, one can engage in pleasuring a woman
(which, in the 'Simonomicon', is called, cleverly enough, “worship[ping] at the Temple of ISHTAR” - a
veiled reference to the bringing about of orgasm via oral manipulations of the vagina), provided one does
not achieve orgasm oneself. It is worth noting that the 'Simonomicon' is sexist in that it assumes, rather
correctly given the demographic that would be buying the book but incorrectly given the demographic of
the New Age movement itself, that practitioners of its rituals and rites would be male. This is intentional
as it is trying to be in keeping with Crowley and older writers' treatises on the Magickal Arts. During this
Lunar Month of purification, one must forgo the consumption of meat for the final week, and of food
altogether for the final three days, with the exception of water. During this month of purification, the
practitioner is to pray to the God (probably Osiris, given that Simon et al. are using a Crowlean Form,
although it could be Enki or any other number of Gods given that the invocations span multiple disparate
pantheons) each dawn and to the Goddess (probably Isis, for the Crowlean reason, or Ishtar, given the use
of Enki, or any other Goddess one might think of, since the invocations for the Goddess also cross
disparate pantheons).”

We can see from the above quote numerous mistakes that occur once again by the author’s assumptions. Here we find the writer giving WRONG instructions concerning the “worship at the Temple of ISHTAR.” I often find it amazing how a person can trick themselves into believing that they are giving a good synopsis and never interview any practitioners of the Tome to get a full picture of what is occurring. That’s like writing a critical analysis of the Jewish Faith without interviewing Jewish Scholars. First the author makes a big error in assuming that refraining from orgasm equates to worship as ISHTAR”S Temple. Which has nothing to do with worshipping at ISHTAR”S Temple.
Secondly this unlettered author now tries to SAY THAT THE Simon Necronomicon is sexist, which is quite a shock. If anything he should note that all the rituals are following the house of ISHTAR, which is why a Copper Wand is used, and the Walking around the Gate is clockwise, representing the movement of Venus, as well as the Crown of Anu is in the color of Venus and can be made with its metal, which is clearly stated in the text. Once again an author who is not initiated into the occult thinks that they can evaluate an occult working amongst the ignorant and try to come off as being scholarly. Notice what his next mistake is:

“Once the night of the ritual is at hand, the practitioner is to summon the Watcher. This is a
common Ceremonial practice – Ceremonial Magick has its roots in Christian magical thought, dating as
far back as Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (a.k.a. Agrippa), and it was, and is, widely thought
in Ceremonial Magick that one can be attacked by a demonic entity during the course of a ritual. Thus,
one is all but required to summon a Watcher, a metaphysical being from an astral plane, to act as a
bodyguard throughout the ritual. This is the point where the trap begins. The 'Simonomicon'
“Conjuration of the Watcher” summons Enki, a trickster God (while it is true that Enki is the Sumerian
God of water and intellect, there are several legends in which he is a trickster along the same lines as the
Norse Loki, or the Greek Goddess of Chaos Eris (the Roman Discordia), though it should be stated that these are distinct characters, and have their own stories and personalities). It also calls upon “He of the
Name Unspeakable, the Number Unknowable.” This is a reference, thinly veiled, to the Hebrew God,
whose true name was lost with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem centuries ago, and whose true
name can only be recovered through the Qabbalistic manipulation of the Torah entire, to find the correct
hundreds-of-digits-long number which corresponds to said true name. One is advised, at this point, to
research the power of names, especially true ones. Especially on-point on this subject is Robert Graves,
specifically The White Goddess, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2001), pp. 45-48ff.
This trap requires some careful elucidation. Under the Torah's Ten Commandments, specifically
the Second Commandment, the Hebrew God commands, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (“alpa-
nai a-chei-rim e-lo-him yih-yeh-lek-ha lo”, in the transliterated Hebrew).” Thus, to invoke Enki and
the Hebrew God would be an offense to the Hebrew God of such a nature that, at the very least, the
person making said invocation would wind up having the entire invocation being for naught, thus leaving
him (gender assumed from Simon's text) without a Watcher; at worst, it would result in the wrath of the
Hebrew God. Either way, from this point in the ritual on, the practitioner is without the very
metaphysical being he needs to ensure his safety. This is by design.”

The above comment are completely disgusting to anyone who is an experienced occultist. He of the name unspeakable, the number unknowable is a reference to beings of the Underworld! Anybody who with some intelligence could figure this out because later on in the text the Watcher is described as the following:
“Wherefore it is wise to conjure It in the Names of the Three Great Watchers Who existed before the Confrontation from whose borne the Watcher and His Race ultimately derive, and those Three are ANU, ENLIL, and Master ENKI of the Magick Waters. And for this reason They are sometimes called the Three Watchers, MASS SSARATI and the Watcher MASS SSARATU, or KIA MASS SSARATU.
And the Watcher appears sometimes as a great and fierce Dog, who prowls about the Gate or the Circle, frightening away the idimmu who forever lurk about the barriers, waiting for sacrifice. And the Watcher aloft the Sword of Flames, and even the Elder Gods are awed thereby. And sometimes the Watcher appears as a Man in A long Robe, shaven, with eyes that never lose their stare. And the Lord of the Watchers dwells, it is said, among the Wastes of the IGIGI, and only Watches and never raises the Sword or fights the idimmi, save when the Covenant is invoked by none less than the Elder Gods in their Council, like unto the Seven Glorious APHKHALLU.
And sometimes the Watcher appears as the Enemy, ready to devour the Priest who has erred in the incantations, or omitted the sacrifice, or acted in defiance of the Covenant, for which acts the very Elder Gods cannot forbid that silent Race from exacting its toll. And it is said that some of that Race lie waiting for the Ancient Ones to once more rule the Cosmos, that they may be given the right hand of honour, and that such as these are lawless. This is what is said.”

The description given in the Simon Necronomicon clearly shows us that the Watcher has nothing to do with Jehovah. Once again we can see the author’s foolishness in trying to make a name for himself and his “New Age” antics, which are completely disgusting..

Here is another error that the author makes:

“It is at this point that the second trap is possible. One is then to loudly recite the Incantation of
the Walking, while walking Deosil around the depiction of the Gate that the practitioner has drawn on the
Earth. The trap here is that the second Gate's Incantation has an invocation to Azathoth. Thus, in order
to pass through the second Gate, one must not only twice invoke Enki, an infamous trickster God, but one
must also twice anger the Hebrew God, and one must also invoke Azathoth. The trap here should be
obvious to even the least educated layman. As a hint, remember the purpose, in Ceremonial Magick, of
establishing Watchtowers to create a ritual space apart from the mundane world.”

Here we go again in assuming that the Hebrew god is involved. I would think that the author would research well enough to realize that he has contradicted himself here because he mentioned that the Hebrew God is invoked in the Watcher ceremony then he speaks about him being invoked in the Gate Incantations…maybe if the author did more research they would see that actually Jah is derived from Sumerian sources not the other way around and that Enki and Azag-Thoth are actually correspondences to one and the same energy. I am still amazed at how ignorant this synopsis of the Simon Necronomicon is. One can easily find many article relating Enki to the Thoth of Egypt, but this author seems to let it all slip by him. The errors in this opinionated and highly ignorant report are so numerous that I will stop hear because it is so frustrating than challenging to list ALL the false assumptions that the author makes

Be Well