Goddess of the Black Fan

Scroll searched by Jackson Elias and recieved from Hong Kong university:

GODDESS OF THE BLACK FAN

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

More a concertina-like scroll than a book, the beginning and the end of this long stretch of paper are attached to two thin black-lacquered wooden panels using thread tied through a pair of holes in each block (4”×10 ½”). Unfurled, the paper runs to approximately 50 pages of text. Folded, accordion-like, it is held shut with a ribbon of coarse black material. Several Chinese characters have been inlaid on the opening wooden panel in gold leaf (“heishan shen nü” which literally reads as Black Fan Goddess in English). The contents are in Classical Chinese.

Chinese readers will note that the characters used for “Goddess” (shen nü) are also a euphemism for “prostitute,” giving the title a particularly curious dual-meaning for those unversed in its contents.

The binding method can be recognized as pleated-leaf binding (an Indian technique used for religious sutras, later adopted by the Chinese who call it Fan chia chuang), a fashion usually associated with Buddhist religious writings. This style was popular after the 1^st century AD, though it can determined with little effort that the work was produced sometime in the mid-16th century due to the materials used.

Considering the fact that it was written in the middle of the Ming dynasty, but used Classical text and Han-era binding techniques it can be seen as oddly an anachronistic, if not deliberately archaic method.

CONTENTS AFTER QUICK SKIMMING:

The book is a long poem dedicated to a being referred to as the “Goddess of the Black Fan,” and describes the author’s murderous devotion to her. Over the course of many gruesome and terrible verses the author tells how he engaged in acts of kidnapping, murder, cannibalism, and what can only be described as bestiality, if not something far worse, all in the name of devotion to this Goddess. The poetic styling marks the author as a person of good education and, if the subject matter was not abhorrent to the extreme, a reader might go so far as to call it beautiful. Even a fleeting skim gives rise to feelings of disgust and self-loathing that will leave the average reader feeling physically ill.

QUOTES:

She stands alone in her temple

Alone atop a bejeweled dais

Her beauty would blast the heavens

Her eyes are dark green pools

A silken tunic she wears

Yellow and black in color, like a wasp

And in her belt she has tucked her sting

Six sickles, sharp as a dragon‘s tooth

Her face she hides behind a fan

Black metal, as black as darkness

My lady, remove your fan

I would feast upon your beauty

The fan flutters but does not fall

She simpers behind the fan and says

“You would make such requests of Me?”

Her voice is like iron shredding velvet

––‹‡›––

Why should Hsien have children when I

have lost mine?

He has never been an honorable man

If there were justice, he would have lost his

children

But thanks to the Goddess, there can be justice

again

Hsien’s house was quiet, and even the servants

and dogs slept

None heard me enter, none heard me leave

A dozing child in my arms, a baby in my

sack

All glory and praise to the Goddess of the

Black Fan!

––‹‡›––

Her eyes remained the same, so green and

deep

So rich and lovely, still could they put me in

a trance

Her eyes remained the same, yet when the

black fan fell

Everything else about her changed

I have focused on her fan and her eyes, but

now I finally see her

Before my eyes, she expands, now a bloated

slug, immense and howling

Her sweet mouth sprouts into five fangfilled

maws

Her arms become venomous snakes, thirsty

for blood

The dragon-toothed feaster towering above

me, her own temple too small

Her mouths open and five voices giggle

girlishly, licking the air

“Tell your Goddess that you love her, Liu

Chan-fang” she taunts

I love her, I love her, I love her, I love her, I

love her

––‹‡›––

Thus have I taken the sickle of the Goddess

and opened my belly

My quill is dipped into my own reservoir

and my own red ink

As my heart has bled for the glory of my

Goddess

Now let my heart bleed to commemorate her

horrors

With these words, my poem is completed

With these words, I die

All praise and worship to my Goddess

My Goddess of the Black Fan

Gods of Reality

The diary of Robert Huston:

GODS OF REALITY

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

A thick (over six hundred pages) manuscript; it bears the title Gods of Reality on the first page. Dr. Robert Huston is named as the author. The bulk of the work is on standard-sized “letter paper” (8 ½” by 11”) of good quality, in a fluid, if compact, hand; the quality of the paper declines in the final third and appears to have come from several different sources, mostly Foolscap Folio and Large Post Quarto-sized (8 by 13” and 8 by 10” respectively), likely from Australia. The pages are individually numbered and some of the early portions of the book appear to be dated (starting in February of 1920), though this ceases after the first hundred pages. Sometimes small, frequently unexplained, diagrams of unusual looking devices have been drawn into the margins.

CONTENTS AFTER QUICK SKIMMING:

According to the cover, this book contains the philosophical wisdom of Dr. Robert Huston. He claims that he has achieved wisdom greater than has ever been possessed in the history of man through the aid of a mystical being he refers to as the “Universal (or sometimes ‘Cosmic’ or ‘Divine’) Syzygy”. Huston’s claims are hard to substantiate as the work is disorganized, convoluted, and cryptic.

This might be caused by the fact that, as Huston suggests, readers who have not transcended primitive modes of thought cannot begin to understand the truth he claims to reveal; it might also be due to the fact that the author is a raving, bombastic, megalomaniacal lunatic. In some of his digressions, Huston discusses something called “the Master Plan” and his activities in “the Great and Ancient City” towards those somewhat murky ends.

QUOTES:

Madness is the mark of gods, the response to the whisper of ancient secrets, and the unseen hand that turns the world in its disordered course. With it, I have peered beyond mere dream and pattern, beyond childhood impetuosity and adult grief, beyond the analysis of which other men are capable. Accepting madness, I accept the gods and rule well with their gifts thereby.

Human Perception, Dreams:

The repose of the masses shall soon be disturbed. Their dream-filled wakeful sleep will end. I shall open their eyes to the truth and the power and rule by my great wisdom. Their cave is dark and they see nothing. They believe themselves safe, hidden from the light of a new dawn. But the truth reaches them still. They bury themselves deeper and still the water seeps down to them, carrying whispers of truth.

In sleep the woman came to me speaking tongues I do not know. Yet I easily understood her as she led me deeper into dream. I crawled with her under a vast flat rock to escape the heat of the sun. There she opened a door emblazoned with gold-painted etchings and phosphorescent symbols in a myriad of colors. It was then that I knew her. As she opened the door any fear or trepidation vanished, for now I was to know the truth, for my Master wished it to be so. Peering beyond the door, my mind reeled as a bird through the sky. All the laws of physics had no use for me here. Direction was meaningless, as was form. And yet I descended to a series of platforms. Not because of any external force. No. It was because I willed it.

I awoke in a sweat with a servant standing over me. He held up a cloth damp with blood and it was then that I felt its warm wetness dripping from my ears.

It is by the sheer power of our collective consciousness that we form the world to our understanding. The men of science do not work to understand, they work to force their feeble will on the universe, to make it conform to their petty comprehension. How foolish they are! They do not see that the will of the Cosmic Syzygy is infinitely stronger and beyond His will there are Truths yet stronger, though I dare not yet speak of them.

~‡~

… and yet is it not the case that the dreamer who, in waking, fully believes the world to be ordered and structured, finds his conceptions of reality thrown into challenge? The sleeper, now faced with irrefutable proof that his notions of reality are flawed, lacking, fights and exerts himself until he sees that he can not win. It is then that he screams himself awake. This they call nightmare. This I call vision. This I call wisdom.

Gray Dragon Island & Mountain Of The Black Wind

Sweet bride Hypatia—our Master’s. Her honor is the highest—to birth the Child of God! On her throne at the Mountain of the Black Wind she wails in Truth’s Light. Her pain is the Child’s sustenance and surely he feeds well.

Three points in the Mark. The Great City, the Mountain, and the Island. All shall unite in singing His song at the appointed time. His music, performed in rituals of blood and flesh, will be a fanfare of enlightenment to herald in His reign, My dominion, and the End to all ignorance.

January 14^th, 1926:

The day of the eclipse shall arrive and together we bring out of Darkness a new Light. Penhew insists that we use chronometers to ensure proper timing, but we will know the time. His limitations mark his ignorance—he still insists on calling the fourteenth day of January, nineteen-hundred twenty-six. It is propitious though, this Gate formed in the month of Janus, God of Doorways… Only I see this connection, not that puffed-up lover of ancient stones, that drinker of the polluted Nile. Let him worry over his precious vessel. While the Wielders of the Club send the livestock screaming into madness, the Stone Gods shall release their energy to the Dome. The Gate will open. By MY will, Truth will be born!

Purple Temple, Statues

Long before we unearthed it I had visited the place in dreams and visions sent by The Cosmic One’s messengers. Now I have seen it and its power. I would be a fool to let such a power store go to waste. The statues will be as reservoirs; the dome is beyond mortal comprehension but I know it well.

Mind Device

It is so simple, a crown of copper webbing surrounding the crystal spheroid. Though energized by electricity it seems this is not the source of the machine’s greater power. Too perfect! Science defied by such a simple trick! I see the change behind their eyes when I awaken him. He bled from the ears. I stopped that with gauze but some defect of his brain soon killed him. There are others to test.

Lightning Gun

More force was needed, but he showed me the device and its function. None but I, prepared by the visions in my dreams, believed such a device could exist. I knew it to be a mighty weapon and I was right! The apparatus holds the most powerful force of nature. Thunder and lightning bow to my will and smite my opponents, like Zeus! I ventured to the great chamber to test its efficacy in dealing with humans. They roasted quickly, and with a minimum of struggle, just as I saw in my vision.

After some more work, the arrogant creature showed me the schematic and I shall build one myself. The design is complex, but this is no obstacle. The others have brought all the materials and I shall have the honor of assembling the device. Ha! Even the most “gifted” men of science could never imagine such a thing… glory! …to control such elemental forces!

He tells me the piping ones that he so fears flee from the device. I dispatched a party to seek one out and test it, teaching Sullivan how to draw them forth from the darkness. How they burn! The survivors report that multiple applications are needed but the devices are most efficacious. I examined the remains and knew that once armed and equipped my army will suffer no opposition. I will conquer all , even those feared by the City’s Builders. I must make further tests.

The Yithian

I have made the fourth sacrifice to The Timeless and Universal Syzygy and called upon him in his name of Nyarlathotep. Tonight my dreams shall be of the void and I will feel its pull again. In sleep I see them and reach for them, pulling them ever nearer. He has told me my success is near. I shall pluck one from the dark of past eons and bend it to my will. I shall conquer time just as I will hold dominion over space. The Builder shall return to its City as my slave.

Wondrous Intelligences

Tome found from Mortimer Wycroft, Cuncudgerie, Australia:

WONDROUS INTELLIGENCES

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

A battered octavo (5” x 7½”). This small book was originally bound in fine red leather but, presumably due to the poor conditions in which it has been kept, the color has faded leaving it a light brown. Only a hint of the ornate cover bearing a traditional diamond-shaped design along its side is still visible. The top of the still intact spine is flat, and bears the faded title of the book and its author, though both are faint and hard to read in poor light. The edges of the pages show signs of wear, while some newer damage to the exterior suggests more recent abuse. Multiple ink-stained finger prints and brown mud-like stains appear in the margins. The print is blocky and the numerous wood-cut illustrations are of a low quality. While no publication date is given, the book’s style suggests the late 17th century.

CONTENTS AFTER QUICK SKIMMING:

This book purports to be the testimony of one James Woodville, a Suffolk gentleman, collecting his dream visions and prophecies. The bulk of the work is focused on Woodville’s torture at the hands of peculiar conic demons. Shown almost as frequently are crude woodcuts depicting a bewildering array of sexual practices that the author prescribes as a divinely-inspired method of protecting oneself from demonic assault and restoring man to the sinless state before the Fall. Many of the images are pornographic by modern standards, even more so when the book was written. The text concludes with a lengthy prophecy outlining the divine destruction of the conic devils in the time before the creation of Man by shapeless (often invisible) and terrible angelic beings, as well as a future apocalypse, in which a sinful humanity is swept away. Woodville’s prose is frantic, obsessive, lewd, and clearly the product of a deranged mind.

QUOTES:

I didst see that ye One before me, Born of ye Pit of Flame, had ye Forme of a Grate Cone, as high as a horse head, at ye Utmost Part were four limbes like unto a snake. Two limbes had claws at their end, like a crabe whilst another had many trumpets, and ye final head had giant eyes, Red like blud and with many small fibres. I set out my Arm against ye Devil only then to learn that what I saw before me was but my Owne Reflection in a Vast Mirror, for you see reader, that as the Demon’s Spirit had taken my Forme and Countenance, I had been affix’d with his.

My devotion knew no limits and I gave myself fully to ye task of freeing my gift of Prophecy from ye Tomb within my Dreams. Taking much wine, I knew a ruddy Catalan girl in the French Manner – most satisfactorily – thence an Italian, likewise an older servant of my Hostess. I taught her Much to Warde her against ye Demonick Spirits, though I knew Not her Tongue, and she likewise shared Much Knowledge with me. As Lot’s seed was carried forth in a sullied vessel yet remained Clean, so may Man, by laying like Beasts, drive forth ye Demonic Inquisitors as Smoke drives off Bees.

Know you well that when ye Time of Judgment is at hand, and Lord God returns, there will be many Signs. Ye Moon will be as Blud and bear ye mark of red tongued Satan. The Beast will awaken in the West and his City shall rise up from ye waves. Reliah is the name of his Kingdom, and its coming will be on the lips of every man, be he heathen Musselman, Hindoo, or Pious Christian. When ye Beast strides forth from his City the Moon shall be torn asunder by the Whore of Babylon, Mother to Blasphemy and Corruption, and Angels will appear in many places, to carry forth ye Souls of the Righteous in silver chalices to ye Throne of Almighty God on high…

Black Rites of Luvev-Kerapht

Tome found from Janwillem Vanheuvelen:

BLACK RITES OF LUVEH-KERAPHT
OR NET-A NETIKHUT KEMUT

(DUTCH/ENGLISH TRANSLATION FROM HIEROGLYPHS)

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Ten papyrus scrolls, ragged along the edges and written in hieratic script. Almost every inch of each scroll is covered with tiny, crabbed Egyptian hieroglyphs. The hieratic script can be dated to the Thirteenth Dynasty, circa 1782–1700 B.C. Further study will suggest that the state of preservation is remarkable, perhaps even miraculous, considering the ravages typically inflicted upon such texts by both time and human abuse.

The typed copy is more mundane; just over two-hundred sheets of low quality typewriter paper, typed in Dutch and English on both sides, with frequent strike-outs and black ink corrections in a sloppy hand (also in Dutch) and hastily penciled numbering.

CONTENTS AFTER QUICK SKIMMING:

This is a set of rituals dedicated to the goddess Bast, including a complete selection of temple rituals and hymns lauding the goddess’ role as a champion of Ra. Other sections deal with the worship of other Egyptian gods, with emphasis placed on Isis, Sobek, and Set, as well as lesser known beings like the carrion-feasters of Anubis, the “Black Pharaoh,” and something called the Faceless Master of the Sands.

Readers of the Dutch translation will recognize an unfortunately large number of errors or contradictions in the translated text. Comparison to the original version confirms that there are pervasive translation errors throughout the Dutch text.

QUOTES:

Stop!
Do not move!
Do not move, O perilous
one!

Do not attack me, do not
devour my flesh!
May I have to tell your
name to the Raging One
who sent you: Devourer
is that name.

My countenance is toward
the East. The heavens
hold the sun, and your
mouth encloses the power
of magic. Your mouth is
filled with knives, your
scales are as stone.

O thou who would work
against this magic with
your mouth, do not stop it.

O crocodile, who
lives on the flesh of
the unrighteous.

Contents of the scrolls

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS:

Six Arabic (A) scrolls: A1—A fine linen scroll in Arabic, about five inches across, tied with a faded red silk ribbon. It can be dated to the 15th century, most likely originating in Egypt or possibly Tunis. The Arabic text is stylized and illuminated, and the scroll is in excellent condition. A2—A cracked, partially fire-damaged, piece of parchment, about 15 inches across, mounted on a wax tablet (a method used to preserve particularly fragile texts). The text is in a very shaky hand and can be dated to the 9th century, most likely from Moorish Andalusia. A3—A vellum scroll in Arabic, about 8 inches across, tied with a faded red silk ribbon. It can be dated to the early 12th century, almost certainly to Egypt. A4—A papyrus scroll in Arabic, about 8 inches across, untied. It dates from the 8th century, though the writing style is somewhat antique (stylistically similar to the style of the previous century), suggesting the possibility that the author or scribe was from a provincial region, probably in the Arabian Peninsula. A5—A vellum scroll in Arabic, about 8 inches across, tied with a faded red silk ribbon.* The script and material suggests the work is of Egyptian origin, probably mid 15th century. A6—A badly decayed papyrus scroll, probably from the middle of the early Fatimid Caliphate (10th century).

Four Latin (L) scrolls: L1—Fragments of a papyrus scroll, written in Latin, pressed between thin glass plates and mounted in a booklet. The language suggests it was written around the time of the early Roman Empire (30-40 A.D.). L2—A worn vellum scroll in Latin, about 12 inches across, tied with a linen cord. The script suggests it was written in the 12th century; a note at the beginning is in period ecclesiastical Latin while the bulk of the text is in late Imperial vernacular (probably 4th century). Fragments of a leaden seal bearing the image of a lion are preserved. L3—A parchment scrap with Latin writing, uneven but between 7 and 8 inches across though it tapers at one end due to tearing or breaking. The language and the script used suggest an early medieval author, possibly in the late 8th century, most likely from the Carolingian court. L4—Linen paper scroll in Latin, about 11 inches across, untied. The language is very late Medieval Latin, and is heavy with Italian vernacular. It probably comes from Northern Italy, possibly Milan, and dates to late 15th or early 16th century.

Two Egyptian Hieroclyphs (H) scrolls: H1—A papyrus scroll in Hieratic Egyptian, about 10 inches across, mounted on a wax board. It probably dates from the 19th Dynasty (about 1200 B.C.). H2—A papyrus scroll in Hieratic Egyptian,* about 10 inches across, tied with a faded red silk ribbon. It dates from the Tanite (21st) Dynasty (about 1000 B.C.).

Two Medieval French (F) scrolls: F1—A brittle vellum scroll in Langues d’Oïl (Old French), about 10 inches across, untied, dating to the later 11th century. F2—A fine parchment scroll in Middle French, about 15 inches across; illuminated, illustrated, and tied with a black silk ribbon laced with threads of silver. It dates to the mid 16th century, probably from the court of Francis I.

One Old English (E) scroll: E1—A brittle vellum scroll, about nine inches across, tied with a strip of hide. An expert could date the scroll to around 1050 AD, making it a remarkable and rare find.

A1 — This scroll consists of a series of prayers to a being called the Black Lion, described in the text as a towering sphinx-like monstrosity with the body of a titanic black lion and the head of a man, but with its face a void opening into the depths of space. The prayer enjoins the being to destroy unnamed invaders of the lands once held by the children of the Iteru (the Nile River).

A2 — On this scroll are a series of instructions for calling upon the power of Thoth, called here Izzu-Tahuti, by invoking his secret name. This invocation is said to diminish the power of enemies and spirits, but comes at a risk to the caster. The instructions are confusingly written and obscure.

A3 — The text of this scroll is a lengthy prayer to “The Black Pharaoh” (also called Nephren-Ka), “Master of All Egypt,” “Lord of the Shining Crystal,” and “Voice of Black Fire and Death.”

A4 — This scroll describes the ritual magic used to control or perhaps ward against a particular and strange djinn called the “Dweller in Strange Spaces” and “Spider of the Void,” which the magician may use to reach distant places and to destroy his enemies. Much of the text is devoted to the creation of a ritual knife of either iron or silver (or other pure metal), necessary for the ritual.

A5 — The contents of this scroll are a series of instructions to a pupil on the preparation and casting of a spell that allows the caster to influence the dreams of his subject. The spell requires a bowl made from “sky copper,” specific herbs, and blood from the caster and that the victim must be no more than perhaps two dozen miles distant. One strange reference mentions that the author enjoys tormenting his victims with visions of a demonic cat.

A6 — This scroll records a curse, calling upon the “Formless Howler of the Wastes” and “He Who is Lord Over all Beasts” to bring a pestilence down upon one Hijepha‘oto the Khem, apparently an Egyptian sorcerer of some might.

Four Latin scrolls:

L1 — These fragments contain a prayer to a figure described as “the Black Caesar,” described as the “Lord of All Lands” and “Servant of the Chaos before the Titans.”

L2 — This scroll contains two parts. The first is a short introduction discussing the origins of the longer passage; taken from the library of an unnamed Apulian monastery and copied for a potential heresy trial against the monastery’s Abbot as the original was too fragile. The main text is a prayer to Black Pharaoh similar in content to scroll L1, with a few lacuna.

L3 — On this scroll is a lengthy but incomplete prayer to a being described as the “Dark Master with Smoking Wings,” a monstrous bat-like being with a huge tripartite eye, said to dwell in “the Blackness Beyond Night.” The prayer is cut off during the description of a great gem, sacred to the being.

L4 — The content of this scroll is a series of prayers calling upon the might of “The Messenger of the Old Ones,” a cloud-like amorphous being and a harbinger of great destruction. The prayers call upon the being to lay waste to the armies of “the Bastard Charles and his wicked court.”

Two Egyptian Hieroglyphic scrolls:

H1 — This scroll relates a prayer to call upon “the Bird of Yellow Aztura,” a winged humanoid messenger. Much of the text discusses the astrological necessities of the rite mostly involving the star Aldebaran and the creation of a bone flute, said to attract the creature.

H2 — The text of this scroll is in two parts. The first is a prayer to the Black Pharaoh. The second is a plea to the same for his aid by sending an undescribed servant creature, alternately called the “Uraeus (or cobra) of Tahuti” or “the Death that Dwells by Night” including the offering of a living human sacrifice.

Two Medieval French scrolls:

F1 — The contents of this scroll were clearly written in haste as the handwriting is uneven and several passages were smeared by the author as he wrote. The text is a prayer to “The Black Demon,” alternately described as “Lord Blood Tusk” or “He who is feared in the valley of Minarthè,” offering up the supplicant’s body in sacrifice in exchange for the destruction of his foes.

F2 — This finely made scroll consists of a series of prayers to “L’Homme Nuit,” or “the Black Man,” and includes rites of ritual animal sacrifice, infant sacrifice, and cannibalistic orgies, best performed with the aid of “the Brothers of the Earth.” One passage describes the Black Man and calls him “He who wore the Serpent Crown and Howls as a Blackness Across the Land.”

One Old English scroll:

E1 — This scroll is a prayer to the “Horned One,” “Lord of All Beasts,” or “The Black Huntsman.”

Goddess of the Black Fan