Part 1 – Spica and the Tree of Life: The Moon and Abdul Alhazred

In the writing of this upcoming book to be soon published by Revelore Press, Cosmic Influences on Crime and Creativity: New England, the Occult, and the Escapist Imagination, there is a message I had hoped readers would gain from it once it is published, but I realize now the challenge to deliver it in the manuscript. And so, I decided to write several articles here to reset the stage. Like the previous three articles (part 1, part 2, part 3) here on Graham Hancock’s website that attempt to define and describe this weird Spica pattern from the natal charts of individuals with occult backgrounds in crime and creativity, the upcoming book expands this research.

This journey began with the articles’ forays into the background of an influential 20^th Century American horror writer—H. P. Lovecraft—and methods he detested, like astrology and tarot, to use as dowsing rods to make qualitative “sense” of the occult and Lovecraft as an enigma. In this upcoming book, I recreate the assessments in the articles but use local New Hampshire true crime narratives as biographical comparisons to these astrological claims; I also briefly assess historical individuals that share natal fixed star Spica-planet conjunctions with the criminals from narratives; a PPT here summarizes the work:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1EmqFnXdPQ7ToicuJCP6CwtX6QgapI_MD/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=mspresentation.

By focusing heavily on criminals and comparing them to creatives in the book, I fear I may have given the reader the wrong impression of the nature of Spica and natal astrology with respect to individuals of both backgrounds. In this article and the ones to follow, my goal is to not only compel readers to gain interest in this upcoming book but to observe yet another weird pattern with natal astrology and Spica: the occult symbolism of infamous literature written by natives with Spica conjunct a natal planet is not lost on fans of the literature who are also themselves creative individuals, especially musicians of heavy metal.  Most also share Spica natal placements like the writers who inspired them.

These articles require the reader to listen to certain metal songs (and, if the literature has not been read, to read or listen to them), which should not be too painful if the reader is a fan of metal like this author.

We’ll begin with a writer with the Moon conjunct Spica in his birth chart: H. P. Lovecraft. The following song was inspired by Night Demon band members: song-writers Brent Woodward and Jarvis Leatherby, from Ventura, California. Woodward is no longer with Night Demon; however, both Woodward and original/current Night Demon vocalist, Leatherby, wrote the song “Ancient Evil” from their self-titled album “Night Demon”: https://youtu.be/D4MI4l4T0Ro?si=j5tkVcmNB1uve4Ec.

“Ancient Evil” describes the background of the literary character that H. P. Lovecraft crafted as the author of the grimoire of the dead, first encountered in Lovecraft’s “The Hound” (Night Demon Heavy Metal Podcast, Episode #55 “Ancient Evil”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-demon-heavy-metal-podcast/id152586213?i=1000531896647); Wikipedia’s own article is helpful for background on the Abdul Alhazred character and his Necronomicon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronomicon), as well as the story of “The Hound” (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound).

While birth data for Woodward is unavailable online, Jarvis Leatherby’s birth chart shows Pluto conjunct Spica. Like in my own birth chart, the ascendant degree (or rising-sign degree) was exactly 1 degree following H. P. Lovecraft’s own birth chart, I was also born 64 days after Leatherby; this was the era Pluto was conjunct Spica, which, as Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun, is indeed a unique occurrence. As Pluto is 8 degrees away from my ascendant, which applies a conjunction to it as it takes roughly four minutes for the Earth to rotate 1 degree in the tropical zodiac, the archetypal cosmology/symbolism of Pluto is strong in my own character. Pluto, as an archetype, signifies obsession and detective-style work, and when in conjunction with another planet or fixed star, the archetypes seem to become mixed or fused. That is, the archetype I tend to demonstrate in my own life, as shown in my birth chart, is of one with an intrinsic interest in Spica, which should by now be obvious.

Roman Pluto and the Greek-originating equivalent mythical character, Hades, can be assessed accurately in not only my birth chart but also in the example of the folk singer and creator of the musical production of the show “Hadestown,” Anaïs Mitchell (https://www.hadestown.com). Mitchell was born 21 days before me, and her rising sign is 6 degrees before mine.

So, it is clear that underworld themes via Pluto close to the natal ascendant AND in relation to Spica via Pluto’s conjunction to it deliver a very real effect in natives’ lives—in fact, my full-time job outside of writing is the coordination of military funeral honors for veterans, which I believe is somewhat concise an example. Perhaps this is why heavy metal was so prevalent and uplifted in the West in this era in 1981.

But what does this prove? That Lovecraft and Leatherby had a planet in between the Earth and far-distant Spica on the day they were born? So what?

My book navigates an understanding of Spica through biographical research as an “escapist” and “caught between worlds” influence, which is telling since Spica is, in fact, a binary star. Spica—the ear of wheat—is also the star in the left-hand of Constellational Virgo, and it seems that what Western esotericism defines as the “left-hand path” is an appropriate description of my book’s research. But is the left-hand path in reference to the corresponding right-brain hemisphere that operates the left hand in the human body the most accurate etymology of the term? There are still many questions among occultists about this, and no one seems to agree on anything but the adoption of certain conventions in ritual. Yet, there’s something else occurring here. Adopting an ideology based on occultists’ shared understanding is one way to wrap your head around this complex topic (exoteric). There is a different approach that benefits the researcher with a more subjective and meaningful understanding (esoteric).

I have a different opinion in reference to Spica in the left hand of the Virgin, but I’ll circle back to this later.

Through heavy metal music-inspired creativity, gleaned from occult-like literary works of Spica natives, applying the specific planetary archetype when conjunct Spica in an author’s own natal chart to its sephiroth in the Kabbalah Tree of Life—specifically using Aleister Crowley’s Thelema version and Thoth Tarot—one can see how oddly harmonic the subtle influence of Spica conjunctions become when compared to the natives’ biographical data. Then, the true definition of the Spica influence becomes apparent — that Spica tends to be an influence that requires suffering to exist and that Spica-influenced suffering is followed by cosmic vengeance, justice, and retribution. While this distinction is challenging to describe, the research speaks for itself. Let’s go back to Lovecraft’s “The Hound” and Leatherby’s “Ancient Evil” to describe it.

In the Tree of Life, the Moon is the 9^th sephiroth, Yesod. In Lovecraft’s birth chart, the Moon is conjunct Uranus and Spica. What this means is that there occurred a syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Uranus-Spica on Lovecraft’s birthday and time; that is, the planets lined up. Cosmic influences occur on Earth during these moments in odd, electromagnetic ways—a poignant example is RL Poole’s own books on Ed Leedskalnin’s date and time choice to construct the nearly impossible Coral Castle in a similar manner of the Egyptian pyramids with the aid of a homemade device to create an electromagnetic field: https://grahamhancock.com/poolerl1/.

If Spica is a subtle influence of suffering and retribution, and the Moon was conjunct it in Lovecraft’s birth chart roughly the same degree distance to his rising sign as my own natal Pluto was to my rising sign—both planets conjunct Spica—then there must be something similar occurring creatively in the mind of individuals with this influence. By adopting this hypothesis and applying the Moon’s archetype to this newer Spica designation—comparing Lovecraft’s literature to this archetype as seen by fans like Leatherby and me—it seems the true nature of Yesod is understood. We know the Moon’s archetype via astrologer and author Richard Tarnas:

Moon: the matrix of being, the psychosomatic foundation of the self, the womb and ground of life; the body and the soul, that which senses and intuits, the feeling nature; the impulse and capacity to gestate and bring forth, to receive and reflect, to relate and respond, to need and to care, to nurture and be nurtured, the condition of dependence and interdependence; the diffusely conscious and unconscious, the anima, the immanent, the centripetal, the home, the fertile source and ground; the cycle of manifestation, the waxing and waning, the eternal round; the ruler of the night sky, of the diffusely visible and the invisible, multiple sources of luminosity within the encompassing darkness, the polycentric; yin; the whole that contains the part in potentia; Luna and all lunar deities, the Great Mother Goddess, together with aspects of the Child (puella, puer), constituting the relational matrix of life.¹

This is a great description, but it is also heavy in interpretation. Authors Colin Wilson and Robert Graves have given great literary descriptions corresponding the right-hemisphere of the brain to the Moon in their works; academics also have much to say about this, like Julian Jaynes, Donald Hoffman, and Frank Heile, bridging science to this literary archetypal tradition. Neuroscientists like Iain McGilchrist reinforced even stronger connections in his The Master and His Emissary, if not directly showing that the Moon and right-brain are linked in the birth chart.

What does Tarnas’ description of the Moon’s archetype really mean for Yesod and individuals attempting to understand the Tree of Life? Well, that can only be answered by your own understanding of science and the occult, specifically hermeticism (i.e., “The Kybalion,” the subatomic state of nature, and the paths of the Tree of Life via the Thoth Tarot); I’m not going to delve into this type of exploration in the article. But what I do see in Lovecraft’s “The Hound” and Leatherby’s “Ancient Evil” is a reference to the Abdul Alhazred character:

• Alhazred wrote the Necronomicon.
• In “The Hound”—the first occurrence of the Necronomicon—the protagonists discover a jade amulet around the neck of a corpse. The amulet was mentioned in “…the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.”
• Jade is green like emerald, and it was Thoth, the author of the Emerald Tablet, who was known as the god of the Moon, sacred texts, magic, etc., in Ancient Egypt.
• Thoth was linked to Greek Hermes, who wrote the Hermetica.
• Alhazred is thus linked to Thoth and the Moon.

Let’s also consider the nature of green and the Emerald Tablet from Atu XXI or the path from Malkuth (10^th sephiroth) to Yesod, which is The Universe. The following verse is from Crowley’s The Book of Thoth in reference to the appearance of The Universe tarot card: “All these symbols swim and dance in a complex but continuous ambience of loops and whorls. The generous color [sic] of the traditional card is sub fusc [sic]; it represents the confusion and darkness of the material world. But the New Aeon has brough fullness of light; in the Minutum Mundum, Earth is no longer black, or of mixed colors [sic], but is pure bright green.”²

But what’s most important was Crowley’s description in the desert when he claimed he crossed the Abyss and saw a vision of the goddess of Atu XXI. Lon Milo DuQuette also provides this experience as the description of Atu XXI in his Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot.

She has very deep eye-lids, and long lashes. Her eyes are closed, or nearly closed. It is impossible to say anything about her. She is naked; her whole body is covered with fine gold hairs, that are the electric flames that are the spears of mighty and terrible Angles whose breast-plates are the scales of her skin. And the hair of her head, that flows down to her feet, is the very light of God himself. Of all the glories behold by the seer in the Aethyrs, there is not one which is worthy to be compared with her littlest finger-nail. For although he may not partake of the Aethyr, without the ceremonial preparations, even the beholding of this Aethyr from afar is like the partaking of all the former Aethyers. The Seer is lost in wonder, which is peace. And the ring of the horizon above her is a company of glorious Archangels with joined hands, that stand and sing: This is the daughter of BABALON the Beautiful, that she hath borne unto the Father of All. And unto all hath she borne her. This is the Daughter of the King. This is the Virgin of Eternity. This is she that the Holy One hath wrested from the Giant Time, and the prize of them that have overcome Space. This is she that is set upon the Throne of Understanding. Holy, Holy, Holy, is her name, not to be spoken among men. For Koré they have called her, and Malkah, and Betulah, and Persephone.

And the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets have spoken vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain dreams; but this is she, that immaculate, the name of whose name may not be spoken. Thought cannot pierce the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before her presence. Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of Magick are neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. Will bends like a reed in the tempests that sweep the borders of her kingdom, and imagination cannot figure so much as one petal of the lilies whereon she standeth in the lake of crystal, in the sea of glass. That is she that hath bedeked her hair with seven stars the seven breaths of God that move and thrill its excellence. And she hath tired her hair with seven combs, whereupon are written the seven secret names of God that are not known even of the Angels, or of the Archangels, or of the Leader of the armies of the Lord. Holy, Holy, Holy art thou, and blessed by Thy name for ever, unto whom the Aeons are but the pulsings of thy blood.³

Perhaps the Persephone-Spica essence—one that has suffered and enacted rightful vengeance—has more depth than previously realized. The correspondences of Alhazred and the Necronomicon also gain depth with the reference “…and in the most ancient books of Magick are neither worlds to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her.” In my opinion, this remark reinforces a nature most right-brained, meaning that, as Iain McGilchrist put it,

In terms of the metaphor of the Master and his emissary, the Master realizes the need for an emissary to do certain work on his behalf (which he, the Master, must not involve himself with) and report back to him. That is why he appoints the emissary in the first place. The emissary, however, knowing less than the Master, thinks he knows everything and considers himself the real Master, thus fair to carry out his duty to report back. The right hemisphere’s view is inclusive, ‘both/and’, synthetic, integrative; it realizes the need for both. The left hemisphere’s view is exclusive, ‘either/or’, analytic and fragmentary—but, crucially, unaware of what it is missing. It thinks it can go it alone.⁴

I only disagree with McGilchrist’s usage of “him” in reference to the Master. This link allows me to identify Yesod with Lovecraft’s Spica-Moon conjunction and specifically Alhazred. By listening to the lyrics in Night Demon’s “Ancient Evil,” these connections become apparent, as demonstrated by Leatherby:

VERSE 1

Long ago in a distant land

Lived a crazy mad arab man

Cross his path, it’s likely you’d be dead

He wrote a book bound in human flesh

Told the secrets of Sumerian death

Crimson desert is where he laid his head

PRE-CHORUS

Can you hear Cthulu’s call?

High priest to The Great Old Ones

Monsters of death one and all

Satan’s will shall be done

CHORUS

Ancient Evil

VERSE 2

No one knows of the madness inside

To find the answer you must truly die

Darkness lurks deep in the heart of man

The answer is in the Necronomicon

The grimoire promises a new dawn

Embrace its power if you can⁵

While Lovecraft not only had the Moon conjunct Spica—he also had Uranus conjunct Spica; I’ll delve into the Uranus archetype and the false Tree of Life sephiroth of Daäth in a later article. What’s also interesting is that Leatherby had the opposite aspect of Lovecraft: the Moon was opposed to Uranus rather than conjunct. As the paradox that is — opposites always attract in Hermeticism, Alhazred, as a muse-like character, is definitely a strongly influential character to both creative individuals. For anyone more interested in the Abdul Alhazred character, Halifax, Nova Scotia author Donald Tyson has written several novels creating new storylines for this literary tulpa.

To me, personally, “The Hound” was a meaningful story. I lived in the south part of Brooklyn, New York when I first read it; Lovecraft also lived in Brooklyn. He was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and decided to draft his own vision of it. He went to the Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1666 on Flatbush Avenue, broke off a tiny piece from the 17^th century headstone in the Church’s cemetery, and put the pebble under his pillow with the intent to dream about what ghoulish creature would come to reclaim what was rightfully his. After reading this story and background in 2010, I drove out to the Church at around 2AM. At the time I had a black cat that was experiencing some mental-health issues, so I had to take him with me on the drive; the cat ended up peeing all over the car, unfortunately. When I arrived at the Church, I was not able to explore the area because there were several NYPD cruisers parked at the curb with lightbars flashing. They had men handcuffed prone on the sidewalk. The area today is not the safest place in the city. I did not learn why the arrests occurred, but I was able to drive by the cruisers and Church to catch a glimpse of the Dutch headstones in the cemetery, gaining an initial understanding of why the setting interested the author so.

And Night Demon is my favorite band. I was able to see them perform in Boston in April. There was a technical snafu and “The Wizard” was a problem, but this band is incredible (Night Demon Heavy Metal Podcast, Episode #156: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-demon-heavy-metal-podcast/id1525862193?i=1000621862373). Here you have a “three-piece suit” that is immersed in archetypal narrative, whether creating concept albums about navigating dimensional gateways or actually discussing a plan during lunch in a diner about filming a music video based on an 80s horror movie and synchronistically stumbling on, meeting, and getting “a blessing” from the actual main character actor from that very film during that working lunch (Night Demon Heavy Metal Podcast, Episode #7: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-demon-heavy-metal-podcast/id1525862193?i=1000490980609). This band is what Wyld Stallions from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure should have been.

Lastly, I am blessed to have Revelore Press publish this book. This incredible imprint, published for the first time in the U.S. in 2021, selected translations of Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Buni’s infamous Arabic grimoire from the 13^th Century, the Shams al-Ma’arif (Sun of Knowledge). It is believed that this grimoire was the inspiration for Lovecraft’s Necronomicon; however, the English translations from Amina Inloes and illustrations from J. M. Hamade are not written on human flesh but printed in Olympia, Washington (ISBN 978-1-974544-35-2).

So, what does this all mean? Honestly, in an era where UFOs/UAPs are mainstream and prevalent to more occurrences of observations by many, and DMT studies are reporting on participants encountering the same non-human entities and experiences during trials, discovering patterns in hidden knowledge, subjectively, is more important than accepting and adopting objective occult beliefs or disregarding any such occurrences. Subtle connections observers can make when creative works inspire other creative works is an attempt to make a qualitative assessment of harmony. Alhazred, as a cruel, literary character, was torn apart in a public square by an invisible enemy—is this not a good example of an “influence that requires suffering to exist, and that Spica-influenced suffering is following by cosmic vengeance, justice, and retribution”?

In the next article, I will summarize similar findings for the remaining sephira of the Tree of Life.