Great Invocations!

While I was away on holiday in New Zealand recently, my boss bought a punter’s entire collection of esoteric and occult reading material and, now that I’m back, we’re well into our practised routine of cleaning, cataloguing and posting details online. Many of the books are Theosophical in nature – a nice break from the usual run of Crowley snake oil which we normally have to contend with – and while examining a book by Leadbeater I found a bookmark with the Theosophical “Great Invocation” printed on it. I read it through and some quiet bells started ringing in the back of my mind. If you’ve never encountered it before, here it is in full:

“From the point of Light within the Mind of God

Let light stream forth into the minds of men.

Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God

Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.

May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known

Let purpose guide the little wills of men –

The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men

Let the Plan of Love and Light work out.

And may it seal the door where evil dwells

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.”

The first thing I realised (and you might have as well) is that these words were used by Sinead O’Connor in a song on the B-side of her single “(You Made Me) The Thief of Your Heart” used in the 1993 movie “In the Name of the Father”, a song which I witnessed as possibly the weirdest bridal waltz ever, beating out even Olivia Newton-John’s “I Honestly Love You” for inappropriateness (really people – listen to all of the words!). Now Sinead – bless her – is fond of taking other people’s positive-assertion mantras and using them in her work, but Theosophical doctrine seems kooky even for her. However, the bells kept ringing.

What the Great Invocation put me in mind of was the call-and-response recording which Wilmarth listens to in “The Whisperer in Darkness”. It goes – paraphrased - like this:

“...so from the wells of night to the gulfs of space, and from the gulfs of space to the wells of night, ever the praises of Great Cthulhu, of Tsathoggua, and of Him Who is not to be Named. Ever Their praises, and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods...”

“...(tri)butes to Him  in the Gulf, Azathoth, He of Whom Thou hast taught us marv(els)...on the wings of night out beyond space, out beyond th...to That whereof Yuggoth is the youngest child, rolling alone in black aether at the rim...”

“...go out among men and find the ways thereof, that He in the Gulf may know. To Nyarlathotep, Mighty Messenger, must all things be told.”

It’s not very similar on the face of it, but there are some echoes of convergence in the two pieces. The Theosophical piece is more rhythmical and poetically metered, while HPL’s bit is fractured and purposefully incomplete, but there is a certain similarity in content. The repeated ‘from-to’ construction is similar – “from the wells of night to the gulfs of space”, “From the point of Light within the Mind of God/Let light stream forth into the minds of men” – and the notion of an information exchange between humanity and higher/other/stranger entities is a feature also. There is, as well, a shared notion of intercessory beings – Nyarlathotep in one and “the Masters” in the other.

It’s only a slight resemblance, I know, but I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Lovecraft did it deliberately. It’s known that he knew about Theosophy, since he included references to Blavatsky’s Book of Dzyan in his collected mentions of ‘black books’, and Theosophy was a huge cultural phenomenon at the time in which HPL was writing, especially on America’s east coast. Is this another cheeky sideswipe at Helena Petrovna’s particular brand of hooey?

Regardless of whether it is or not, I can’t help thinking that the ‘Invocation is a handy piece of ‘magickal talking’ which Keepers could give to their players in order to cast spells. That bit about sealing doors against evil would make it a useful chant when casting an Elder Sign, for example.

After all, if Ichabod Crane can use the Alhazred couplet (“That is not dead which can eternal lie...”) to animate the dead in “Sleepy Hollow”, surely the “Great Invocation” could do similar double duty as a mystical warding? Best make sure that none of your players are Theosophically inclined before you trot it out though!