The oil of Judah haNasi´and the necromancy of the Orient.
We firmly believe that nothing ends up in Dr Cagliostros cabinet of curiosites whithout a reason, so we decided to investigate the small bottle and its, as we were to find out, exciting yet ghastly history.
We soon discovered that the bottle is of Oriental origin. It had been carefully sealed with black wax and has a small scarab tied around the neck. The scarab is a common amulet in ancient Egypt and scarab amulets are often found in the wrappings of mummies, close to the heart. The scarab is thought to protect the body from being possessed by demons and evil spirits at the moment of resurrection.
The small note is written with now faded ink on papyrus and reads:
Trois flacons de l´huile de Judah haNasi. Le Caire 1818. A. C.
With the following reference written on the back:
Page 271
In Translation to English it reads: Three bottles of the oil of Judah haNasi. Cairo 1818. Page 271.
We trawled through hundreds of books in our research library and after several painstaking weeks we found, to our horror, on page 271 in the feared Necronomicon, a reference to Judah haNasi and his terrible oil:
“For countless days and nights I prayed the ancient prayers of Ostane and recited the forbidden words that can be learned in The Book of Enoch. I have drawn the desperate symbols and ciphers required and anointed the dried remains of Khaemwese´s twisted body with the oils of Judah haNasi. The merciless packs of ghouls are growing, but my circle holds.
Kher heb Khaemwese speaks, but I find the old priest´s words unfathomable. I struggle against him for hours, days, nights. He is well rested, having lay undisturbed for centuries and his exertion does not slacken. He curses me in ancient tongues, attempts to bite and claw at me. Rip my throat open.
At times he sits, mumbling verses I cannot hear, but as soon as I seek a moments respite, he assails me once more. I must be constantly vigilant against his sudden and increasingly enraged attacks. I attempt to recite my prayers and formulas but it is all in vain.
I wake. A long knife wound in my arm has given the priest what is missing in my rite. I spy him sitting and reading from the scrolls I uncovered in Iram and at al´Za´faran in Alexandria. Suddenly he speaks. Oh horror, he speaks!”
Abd-al-Hazred; The Necronomicon. Translation by John Dee, London 1661
The small bottle, that for so many years has been lying forgotten in our archives, contained the very same dreaded oil that was used by the mad Arab Abd-al-Hazred to force back one of his cursed masters from the cold darkness of death…
The formula of this oil is usually ascribed to the Jewish mystic Judha haNasi and while we could easily dedicate a whole series of articles to this feared necromancer himself, we prefer for our purposes here to focus on the mysterious oil.
Oriental magical oils of this kind are often mentioned in medieval Arabic texts and European alchemical formulas from the 15th and 16th centuries. These oils were used in the search for The White drops, The elixir of life, what the Arab mystics calls Exeer Al-?ayat.
During the 16th century , both our own Alessandro Cagliostro and the mysterious Count St. Germain claimed to have found the right formula for the elixir and thus the cure for death.
The final fate of the two remaining bottles that A.C purchased in Cairo in 1818 remains a mystery…
Soon we hope to present the bottle of Judha haNasis oil together with our copy of The Necronomicon as part of our permanent exhibition.