Element: Air
Zodiac: Virgo; Libra
Colors: Red, Pink, Grey
Fixed Behenian Star: Aldebaran
Sacred Numbers: 18, 12, 3, 85, 49, 52, 34
Qliphothic Attributions: Golachab (Secondary); Gamchicoth (Primary)
Compass: East (Secondary), Southeast (Tertiary), Northeast (Primary)
Planets: Mercury (Secondary); the Moon (Lesser); Saturn (Lesser); Black Moon (Primary)
Above: Channeled Sigil of Xastur
This article covers Xastur, one of the fiends from the Urilia text of the Necronomicon by Simon. In the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, Xastur was referred to as Hastur. My personal decision is to base my understanding and delineation of Xastur solely upon the Necronomicon and the personal gnosis of myself and trusted sorcerers rather than seeking information in fiction or “Lovecraftian magick.”
Let’s get the pronunciation right before we delve in: KHAWSTOOR. The x is pronounced like the German “ach” and the u is pronounced like the u’s in Zulu.
The Necronomicon describes Xastur as a “foul” and devouring she-fiend (she first appeared to me as male) who is venerated by the worshipers of Tiamat and beloved by the Ancient Ones. According to the text, Xastur devours men in their sleep. The grimoire purports that it is “unlawful” to speak further of Xastur, and even asks, “…who can know Xastur?”
As much as I respect the Necronomicon, I will trespass against its guidelines and instructions, as I think that I am meant to.
Xastur is a suitable guide for travels to chthonian afterlife planes and hidden chthonic realms. His guidance and auspices are of use in working with the dead and the Death Current, as he is an emissary of Imordicoth and Death Itself, and an ally of Shugara and Santa Muerte. Other alliances of his include the Goetic Metagod and Hecate.
Xastur is very much a sovereign of the element and elementals of air, as well as a reaping death god in his own right. Gilgamesh referred to him as “the Lord of the Stellar Gateways,” “the Gatekeeper Whose Transitions are Many and Few,” “the White Priest of the Black Plane,” and “the White-Robed Harbinger of Finality.”
Xastur is an apt guide for pyromancy, scrying, and the use of cards in divination (everything from a tarot deck to playing cards). Despite being a spirit of air, Xastur is a useful instructor for the use of fire in magick– he can show you how to open gateways with it.
To me, Xastur appeared as a floating, snow-white-fleshed spectre with black eyes and primarily yellow robes. His legs were entirely concealed by his hanging yellow robes, if he had legs at all.
Xastur’s female aspect appeared to me first as a ghoulish woman with near-white greyish skin, red eyes, blonde hair, and yellowish pelt garments (sexy barbarian get-up). Thereafter, the female aspect presented itself as a green-skinned, black-robed woman with wild red hair that floated and moved (in the vision wherein I perceived this aspect, Xastur was reaching forward with both hands, and her mouth gaped). My personal gnosis is that Xastur’s female aspect is both more wicked and possessed of a greater capacity for destruction and slaughter than Xastur’s male aspect.
By my count, the name Xastur has a value of 28 in English Gematria. Ergo, the name Xastur corresponds to Kundalini, Thoth, Nathafae (the Master of Eternal Pain), and Sthenno (one of the Three Gorgon Sisters). 28 is the number of letters in Genesis 1:1 as well as the number of letters in the Arabic alphabet. In short, these correpondences characterize the number 28 as representing higher mysticism, the ferocity of the darksome Numinous, and a point of origin (28 reduces to 1). Feel free to check my math; here is a link where you can find the cypher I’m using (just scroll down until you see a hand): https://grahamhancock.com/leedsm1/
The Testimony of Waylon
In order to impart the best information I can, I reached out to a man named Waylon. Waylon runs a Necronomicon-dedicated YouTube channel called The Black Tower. He used my incantations to summon Xastur and wound up encountering both Xastur’s female aspect and male aspect in what he described as a “very strengthening” experience. In his gnosis, Xastur’s male aspect is known as Xastur the Mighty, and Xastur’s female aspect is known as Xastur the Terrible.
Waylon started by vibrating and intoning my channeled chant to evoke Xastur eight times. Thereafter, he used my Latin chants to “bid them enter the gate from within [himself],” and proceeded to recite my channeled chant to invoke Xastur three times. I have never used both a channeled invocation chant and a channeled evocation chant to summon one entity in the same ritual, so I saw this as an innovative approach.
A black sphere with a “reddish-tinged triangle” inside manifested, and an eight-foot-tall being emerged from the triangle (namely, Xastur the Mighty). It wore hooded, draping yellow robes and had “humanish” hands. Its legs and feet were either serpents, tendrils, or both.
The being reached out to Waylon with its right hand, which hand felt like black, dried, and hardened leather when Waylon took it. The two passed through the triangle hand-in-hand and traveled to a large sea of sands with many pyramids, some standing in the sand, and some suspended in the dark sky.
Waylon writes, ‘And he pointed with his left hand towards a pyramid floating in the sky and the blackened sun eclipsing the edge of a particular pyramid. Hand-in-hand, we floated upward towards what he had pointed to. Somewhere between the shadow of the edge of the pyramid and the eclipsed sun, an oval-shaped gateway opened, and we entered it. At this point, he let go of my hand and glided effortlessly to a large, grey stone altar where laid a female who seemed to be in a dream state. Xastur the Mighty joined a second female entity, Xastur the Terrible, behind the altar and made a strange, guttural sound, inviting me to approach. Xastur the Terrible greeted me with a gesture towards the dreaming woman. Steam raised from the dreaming woman’s body as the two aspects of Xastur fed off of her, and I knew that I was to partake of her as well. I stepped forward and bowed slightly in a display of gratitude, thereupon feeding off of the same steam as Xastur, thereby becoming filled with great energy and power and suddenly becoming able to understand the language which Xastur spoke in. I conversed with Xastur’s two aspects, engaging in a verbal exchange beyond what human words could convey. Thereafter, I stepped back and used one of V.K. Jehannum’s magickal chants as a formal thank-you. I then received a wave of bliss from both aspects of Xastur.’
The above is not Waylon’s exact quote. I took the liberty of paraphrasing, grammatically correcting, etc. his testimony.
Waylon described Xastur’s female aspect, Xastur the Terrible, as wearing “deep, deep crimson robes almost black from blood.”
For more of Waylon, check out his work:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD2HOoTr6EoSJH1CJDFYO4Q
The Testimony of Saurious
My friend, who goes by Saurious777 on WordPress and Sauroc 777 on YouTube, originally described Xastur manifesting as what can best be described as a borderline amorphous mass of fog and tendrils. He would later pursue a deeper impression of Xastur (the Mighty) and send me the following via text:
“So a lot of the feeling that I get about Xastur in terms of appearance is like… spidery in a sense but not entirely. Like four legs, a lot of tendrils that could be vampiric but it’s more like those of Choronzon but very controlled. Like he keeps them in his space and only uses them when he wants to which is rarely ever. It reminds me a lot of the demon that the one boar god becomes in Princess Mononoke, except much less hungry. He likes/prefers ambient feeding. I feel like the best ways to connect with him and the other gods like him are by being outside. He wanted me to dedicate a cigarette to him. He told me to light a black candle and selected nag champa incense. The tarot card of the tower comes to mind; the classic rider Waite imagery, art and feeling to it as well. He says the Lenormand meaning is valid too. He tells me he wants more others to see him as a god the way he sees himself. Kinda cryptic but he wanted me to say it.
“Now I kinda see why he is so controlled. His vampiric tendency is very much a sharing experience like many I’ve dealt with but it is very blackened. I picture the last bit of warm soot at the end of a fire. He is very gentle with sharing his energy with me. A lot of the beings I’ve dealt with are harsh with it but he is subtle and flowy. In fact, his shape and method reminds me of malkunofat quite a bit.
For more of Saurious, check out his work:
https://saurious777.wordpress.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkLxnPm2i5VhcFuUXiszGfQ
Magickal Chants
Nananan + Azanana + Zalathal
Channeled Secret Names of Xastur
(Secret Names Are Only for Use in Magick and Worship)
Salve Azanana-Xastur
“Hail (Two Names of Xastur)!”
Omnituens Xastur-Zalathal, Laudamus
“Praise the All-Seeing (Two Names of Xastur)!”
Invoco Xastur Messorem
“I Call Xastur the Reaper!”
Xastur, Dominus Caeli, Vocavi Te
“Xastur, Lord of the Air, I Summon You!”
Zalon Nazaron Asanagon Anathal
Channeled Chant to Evoke Xastur
Molathon Anazaron Zadator Azoranon
Channeled Chant to Invoke Xastur
Bibliography
- Dreadwood, Somnus. Rites in the Thirteen Tongues. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.
- Smith, Mark Alan. Queen of Hell. Primal Craft Occult Publications, 2017.
- Simon. Necronomicon. Ibis Press, 2008.
Above: Channeled Sigil of Nabu
V.K. Jehannum 