Dr. Frank's What's-it

So, maybe Charles is overthinking this?

I think it's more like, there was a revival of interest in Lovecraft, and in Crowley, in the late 70s and early 80s, of which the Simon Necronomicon, along with the role-playing game Call of Chthulu, were an early reflection, followed by comics, books, metal bands, etc. People who grew up during that time (me, you, Julian Assange's programmer, Dan Brown, boingboing.net) imbibed this cultural current with varying degrees of awareness and intensity, but for those of us connected to the subcultures that most closely embraced it, finding references to it in the general culture could be a source of illogical, inordinate delight. (This situation continues, for some of us, sad lot that we no doubt are.)

So the impulse to plant your own such references was irresistible; so the Frodo Lives t-shirt of the 60s/70s gave way to sysops at university departments giving servers names like Yuggoth and Azototh, and myriad blog posts cryptically titled "Ia! Ia! The Goat with a Thousand Young!"

I'm sure that's what's going on with that epigraph.

Now, the question of why there should have been such a revival in the first place is another question entirely, and those with a mystical or conspiracist turn of mind (genuine, feigned, or can't-tell-the-difference-anymore) have quite a lot to work with there. The stuff about the Hermetic background to the origins of modern cryptography is, of course, fascinating, and quite difficult to get your head around, like a lot of the Hermetic stuff.

I've recently learned quite a bit about the (real) influence of the theosophical society. Though, the relationship between the theosophists and Lovecraft is not as direct as a conspiracy theorist could hope.

Josh, that's only the case if you come at it from the rationalist side -- Kenneth Grant connects it all quite directly, provided you are prepared to entertain the notion that Lovecraft's dreams reflect genuine, unwitting contact with trans-dimensional entities.

I thought this comment from an NYT piece titled "Inside the Black Budget" deserved a place here:

QUOTE:

Skulls. Black cats. A naked woman riding a killer whale. Grim reapers. Snakes. Swords. Occult symbols. A wizard with a staff that shoots lightning bolts. Moons. Stars. A dragon holding the Earth in its claws.

No, this is not the fantasy world of a 12-year-old boy.

It is, according to a new book, part of the hidden reality behind the Pentagon’s classified, or “black,” budget that delivers billions of dollars to stealthy armies of high-tech warriors. The book offers a glimpse of this dark world through a revealing lens — patches — the kind worn on military uniforms.

“It’s a fresh approach to secret government,” Steven Aftergood, a security expert at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said in an interview. “It shows that these secret programs have their own culture, vocabulary and even sense of humor.”

:UNQUOTE

My point in all of this is simply that it's good to know the "cultures" of groups you're studying -- to know, for instance, that some jihadist forum members like to depict themselves as Nazguls -- or Rohirrim, it doesn't seem to matter to them which side they're on -- in the films of Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_

Sources:

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/01patc.html
LOTR: http://occident.blogspot.com/2009/12/cyber-jihadis-lord-of-rings-obsession.html

Wow, that LotR link is really something. Shocked and stunned.

I can't follow the NYT link. But, I will note that modern post-colonial Islam has about as much connection to the Islamic Empire as Wicca does to the ancient Druids. It's a 20th century post-Christian forgery.