Nocturnicon: Calling Dark Forces and Powers

This book is not here to coddle you. There are no herbal concoctions or goddess chants. In many ways, this book is meant to scare you. And I don't mean the author is trying to be spooky like a ghost story. No, the intent of many of these techniques is to alter your mind through fear and adrenaline. If your not scared you're not doing it right. Not to mention you'll be working with dark, Lovecraftian creatures on the astral plane and these entities are primal. While some have scoffed at this boom as a soft, introductory course, I maintain that this is not a beginners book. However, if you want to fully embrace chaotic dark entities then perhaps this should be considered a starting point to see if you really want to get into this kind if magick. If it's too heavy, take a step back into Nocturnal Magick.

Once again, Konstantinos has created a book on Goth culture that has little, if anything, to do with traditional occult themes. Readers expecting to find detailed, practical rituals will be sorely disappointed: instead of providing such information, Konstantinos fills this book with musings drawn from his obsessive interest in the Necronomicon and his reprobate New York City lifestyle. Furthermore, I doubt that many readers will have the time or resources available to attempt many of these stunts: rituals frequently call for the use of alcohol, drugs, Gothic sex partners, long, dark hallways, deserted beaches, basements to simulate a descent into Hades, etc. How Konstantinos' target audience of teenage/adolescent Goths are supposed to obtain such things is beyond me.It is standard fare for a book on the occult to begin with circle casting techniques and basic methods of raising energy. Oddly, Konstantinos has discarded the techniques outlined in his previous books and devised weird new rituals to replace them. These involve lying down in the black of night, imagining a swirling mist of specters surrounding you, whispering at you, inhaling the vapors of said "whisperers," and trying to self-induce terror at the thought of suffocating on this mist. The circle casting that follows is then composed of little more than "pushing out" against the "whisperers" in the shadows. Interestingly, at each of the respective quarters Konstantinos has his readers alternately breathe against the outer edge of the circle, warm their hands and press, lick their fingertips and press, and fall upon their knees, but nowhere in the text does he explain the obvious elemental association of these acts as invoking (or attempting to invoke) air, fire, water and earth. The lack of such basic explanation puzzles me: Konstantinos surely must realize that his failure to explain the symbolism of the ritual to his readers will make the motions ineffective.Now to the heart of the material: The first chapter of this book contains standard-issue, largely plagiarized material from Austin Osman Spare on sigil magick (to his credit Konstantinos makes a rare acknowledgement of the derivative nature of this section). Nothing new here, and this section seems strangely out of place for the rest of the book. Readers will be thankful, however, for its inclusion, because it is one of the few rituals that most anyone can perform successfully. The next chapter describes a standard-issue method of sex magick (repeating a commanding phrase to oneself at the height of orgasm). Nothing particularly new here, except that Konstantinos insists (contrary to his earlier Gothic Grimoire work) that one should perform this sort of work with a partner (which seems like a strange thing to concentrate on in the midst of shared passion, but therein lies the mind of Konstantinos).Then the book goes straight downhill: Konstantinos advocates the use of alcohol, absinthe (illegal in the U.S.), and psychodelic drugs (illegal in the U.S. and most everywhere else) to aid in the performance of rituals. He follows this up with "Hadetic" magick, which is a fancy name for Greek psychodrama about a vision quest to Hades that seems lifted from Bulfinch's Mythology. Divination material is copied from his other texts (themselves copied from Cunningham's materials) on different forms of scrying, except Konstantinos also recommends use of blood in the scrying dish. Yuck. Then the most disturbing part of the book: a dance with a Gothic partner who pretends to be a corpse (which Konstantinos calls his "Dance of the Dead"). I kid you not! He even strongly suggests that sex should follow the Dance... very disturbing. Then he discusses random conversations he had with Lucifer while he was suffering from a BRAIN INJURY (I highly suspect that explains a lot of this book). Oh yeah, Lucifer is a great and brilliant guy, by the way, although the author will not share with the poor reader, Lucifer's brilliance (apparently the wisdom is just too personal, and potentially marketable for another title).To wrap it all up, Konstantinos spends fully the last half of the book pontificating on the glories of the Necronomicon, and how it's been so wildly successful (the version he referenced was published in the 1970s) that it's created the very entities that Lovecraft invented out of his sick imagination seventy years ago. Oh, and this includes a Call to Cthulu ritual, the alien god creature bent on destroying the earth. Anyhow, I suppose this section is harmless enough, since everyone knows Lovecraft spun these monsters out of whole cloth. It's mainly filler material, and mainly demonstrates how nostalgic for his 1970s sci-fi youth Konstantinos was feeling when he wrote this part. All in all, I think this book is mostly devoid of new thoughts about the occult, generally reflects a disturbed worldview and mindset, and becomes vividly uninteresting in the last half. But on the bright side, it is an interesting psychological portrait of Konstantinos. Not worth the price of admission, but since it's the only thing to admire about the book, puts it slightly above the one star minimum.

<3 this book! It describes in basic terms how 2 pull off sum practical Magick Spells & Workings. It describes The Darkness & Night in ways that i had already been xperiencing. Sum of the stuf would b costly but all real spellbooks or Grimoires r that way! This is a good Necronomicon primer 4 actual Magick Practice. The next ones 2 use after this gets yr foot in the Door; would b NECRONOMICON GNOSIS & then VOLUBIS EX CHAOSIUM. However a real Warlock doesnt get their Ways from books. They use the Books as Power-Objects increasing their Mana & 2 hav sum reading material that they can relate 2 & helps confirm that what they've been thinking & feeling might b tru, since other ppl r having the same visions as u!

Konstantinos's "Nocturnicon" is an awesome book if your into the mysteries of the night. Don't let the name fool you, it's NOT another cheap knock-off of the Necronomicon, simply a book created about the forces & power's of the great Night of Time! If you are a creature of the dark ether, (as Konstantinos, calls it!) then this will make you shiver with the ultimate book for night kind. the bible of the realm of night!! Worth it!!!Sincerely,Phil MetroMoonsadden

I don't feel this book is about being afraid of the dark, exploring the dark, or really has much at all to do with the DARK. The Dark being the energies of night that K is so in love with, this energy uncorrupted by the psychic rush of the waking hours.That being said, the Dark is the environment for the magick and the energy, the substance of creation. We agree on that. WE agree that you can use thoughtforms for your bidding, and as batteries for pulling more energy. Got it...What I think K TOTALLY MISSES the point on is that this energy, the Dark or whatever we call it, can be pulled from anywhere. While it may be "cool" or fall under "exploring the dark" to some to explore illegal substances, group sex, and rituals that most people couldn't find the places or people to actually perform, the real truth is that all of this is just for people who want to be all goth and cool like K, and is NOT necessary for results or any magick.I feel like he is just using "exploring the dark" to go where his Christian upbringing would never have allowed. I feel like this book is more backlash than occult wisdom. Excuse me for saying, but I really felt like I was reading an Ann Rice novel!

Love this book, just what I wanted

Konstantinos writes in a very down-to-earth style and his insights and honest make him very likeable & easy to relate to. This and his other volumes, are geared more toward the experienced occultist/Pagan/Wiccan.

Fantastic. Beautiful as described. No issues. Great seller.

A good mix of high and low magic. If you're into chaos magick and looking for a new paradigm, this is a good system to start with

A dark book I found put together with little respect for what you can try, probably a dangerous book to someone easily influenced, don't understand his reasons for publishing this, rather foolish and risky

Konstantinos is a fantastic author and writes from a very unique angle not found in other authors of the same type, recommend to anyone

Good book

Exactly what I wanted, accurate description and quick delivery. The book is in a good state. Overall I am satisfied with this buy.