History of the Hanochem
The Second Brood
By 100 C.E., the magical traditions of a multitude of nations began to
mesh together into a common magical milieu. Babylonian, Greek, Egyptian,
Christian, Hebrew, and Persian holism began to hatch a new kind of catch
all mysticism. A broad based and well known corpus of charms and texts
developed, and became more codified with the passing of each decade.
By 400 A.D., the roots of western occultism had formed. It is common to
see amulets of this period that say things like: "Text: favor charm; a
charm to dissolve a spell; an amulet and a victory charm: "aa emptkom
basum, protect me."
Charm of Hekate-Ereschigal Against Fear Of Punishment:
If she comes forth, let her say: "I am Ereschigal," holding her thumbs,
and not even one evil can befall her. But if she comes close to you, hold
your right heel and say: "Ereschigal, virgin, dog, serpent, wreath, key,
herald's wand, golden is the sandal of the Lady of Tartaros," and you will
prevail upon her.
"Askei kataski ern oren ir mega semnur bau," three times: "Phobantia,
remember, I have been initiated, and I went down into the chamber of the
Dactyls, and I saw the other things down below, virgin, dog," etc. Say it
at the crossroads, and turn around and flee; because it is at those places
that she appears. Say it late at night, about what you wish, and it will
reveal it in your sleep. And if you are led away to death, say these
things while scattering seeds of sesame--and it will save you.
"Phorba phorba breim azziebua." Take bran of first quality, sandalwood,
and vinegar of the sharpest sort, and from them mold cakes. And write his
name upon them, and so hide them, saying into the light the name of
Hekate, and "Take away his sleep from so-and-so," and he will be sleepless
and worried.
It can be seen that at various points the author speaks as though anyone
accessing this spell would know the formula of Hecate:
"Phobantia, remember, I have been initiated, and I went down into the
chamber of the Dactyls, and I saw the other things down below, virgin,
dog, serpent, wreath, key, herald's wand, golden is the sandal of the Lady
of Tartaros, I have looked upon thy face and seen the fates and heard
their voices. I am not for you, virgin, dog, serpent, wreath, key,
herald's wand, golden is the sandal of the Lady of Tartaros".
Magic was a common study, and in some places the ancient ones were still
worshiped. In Harran and Edessa, the two final strongholds of the ancient
gods, the Datu had taken up residence. They practiced their rites and
followed their paths. Training stayed mostly within families and among
close friends.
Human nature is a volatile thing; and it came to pass, that an apprentice
of the Datu, named "Hamin", had ills with his Girra (master). The fellow
left the Datu and and began to study under another magician of the current
magical traditions. Hamin took his incomplete training and filled in the
gaps with pieces of the then current magical milieu--like the one
demonstrated above.
Hamin studied under this unnamed master till he far surpassed him in his
skill, knowledge and power. He is said to have located the old man's cache
of treasure and writings, and to have then killed the old mage by foul
means.
Hamin set himself up in style and began to recruit followers from the
cities upper class and rich merchants. He trained them in the new
tradition that he had created, and the results were "The Hanochem" While
the Datu were true Hanochem (Initiates), Hamin Bastardized the word
Hanochem (hanoch= secrets / em=the nominitive case thus initiates) and
styled it to mean "Eaters of Sin" (a play on the word Anachem "the defiled
ones")
By 363 A.D., the Hanochem had grown to substantial numbers. They had
threaded into the upper-crust of Edessa, and possessed an abiding hatred
for the Datu.
I will not detail the evils that the Hanochem perpetrated against the
citizens of Edessa and beyond. Suffice to say, "they were not very nice
people."
Their worship hinged on all the Katu (negative) elements of magic, from
both the common traditions of society and of the Datu's tablet of fate. As
such they venerated the ancient demons of Mesopotamian mythos:
1. Azag (moth)
2. Ereshkigal
3. Katuallu (lamashtu)
4. Nergal
5. Kur
6. Tiamat
7. Lillith
8. Ngingazhida
9. Chemosh (NOTE: That there are two different Chemoshs in the system)
10. Other spirits of the first brood. (see creation myth)
11. And several other underword deities and powers of Hebrew origin as
well.
The part of all this that is of note to us, is the story of a young man
called Hirim. Hirim was the only living relative of one of the last
members of the Hanochem sect. Hirim received a written work that had been
sent to him by his uncle. In the manuscript, it tells of how his uncle had
been inducted into the Hanochem at a young age and had started to study.
He had been an exceptional student and quickly progressed.
The uncle (whose name is never mentioned) was made an assistant in the
library of the Hanochem. There is a brass vessel, locked beneath a lead
sealed lid, he found the writings that pertained to the Datu. Between this
and a number of other incidents that culminated in the death of his
fiance, Hirim's uncle turned on the Hanochem and stole the manuscripts. He
went into hiding, drafted the writings to his nephew and went in search of
the Datu. Hirim fled with what we now call the "Red Book" and eventually
joined both his uncle and the Datu. The Datu came against the Hanochem of
Edessa with magick, fire and sword. Most were killed, but seven escaped
and went underground.
The Hanochem were not heard from again for over a hundred years.
In 520 A.D., they surfaced again. By this time they had taken the fighting
techniques of the Datu and had developed them into a system called 'Red
Fist", in direct contrast to the Datu's "White Palm". It was again in the
city of Edessa that the conflict took place. The details are poorly
recorded and all that comes down to us is this:
"That in 520 A.D., a group of sixteen Datu ambushed and defeated the last
21 Hanochem during their autumnal equinox rite; and that one of the
Hanochem had defected to the Datu before this happened. The identity of
this betrayer was set aside, so that neither he nor his students would
ever suffer from it. He was given leave to maintain a body of Hanochem, so
that in this way any existing Hanochem would come forward and be brought
to light."
In this way, the precept of the Hanochem were added to the Datu path:
1) The Red Fist was integrated with White Fist.
2) The teachings of the Red Cup were integrated with the teachings of the
White Cup.
3) Their meanings for the divinatory figures were added to the Datu
meanings.
4) The Hanochem version of the creation myth was retained intact (It does
not appear on the site.)
In this way the Datu Ways were balanced and centered as a teaching, and
have evolved along the lines of "a neutral approach to the arts of
magick."
It was common up to my teacher's-teacher's time, for there to always be
both a body of Hanochem as well as a body of Datu. The Temple does not
teach the Hanochem Path, because these teachings have a high potential for
abuse.
The motivations of the original Hanochem were not correct; but many of the
techniques that developed out of their tradition are highly effective and
should never be lost. If taught without the intentions of 'evil' they can
bring the student vast growth.