The Temple of Abzu
Deck
(The Temple of Abzu
Deck is © Thomas Dahlroth (aka Frater Kraken/Howler) 2008)
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The Temple of Abzu Deck is a deck of cards created for
people who want to work with Lovecraftian Occultism and related areas. Check it
out in the gallery.
The deck is based on a gematria system applyed upon
the works of Lovecraft and represents the values 1-99 in this system. Each card
combines art and two phrases that in some way stands for the value, but the deck
is constructed so that it leaves much interepretation to the 'user' of the cards
( sort in the spirit of the the Rorschach inkblot test ). Work with this deck
has shown that the cards is connected with certain astral experiences and
the cards might be used as gateways or links to this. The phrases in the cards
does not list any Yog-Sothothery/'Cthulhu Mythos' entities by names and neither
will you see places like 'Kadath' be mentioned in the phrases and the main
reason for this is that I believe it would lock the interpretation too much. I
think this has actually added to the strength of the deck, because the
astral links that is connected with this isn't easily defined by any sort of
bounderies. If you still want to check out what the value for an entity is thats
easy to do just by following the provided link on this page to the online
calculator. What you will notice if you decide to experiment with the
deck is how closely connected to the underlying forces of
Yog-Sothothery( or 'Cthulhu Mythos' as Derleth refered to it) it is.
Maybe the reason is the mapping against Lovecrafts work or maybe this is due to
some other strange force.
One might ask why calling the deck the Temple of Abzu Deck? Abzu
is an alternative old name for the Abyss. This might give some more
answers:
"According to ancient Mesopotamian belief, the Abzu (or engur)
was the vast freshwater ocean that lay beneath the earth (as opposed to the salt
sea, which was thought to surround the earth). The Abzu therefore served as the
source of all wells, springs, rivers, streams and lakes. The Abzu was the domain
of the god Enki/Ea, his consort Damgalnuna (Damkina) and his mother Nammu, as
well as being the home of a number of his peculiar creatures. (Enki was believed
to have ruled the Abzu prior to mankind's creation). The temple of Enki at Eridu
was known as E.ABZU, "the house, or temple, of the Abzu"." (quote from: AncientNearEast.Net )