OURANIAN BARBARIC FAQ version 2.12 24AUG97 Written and maintained by Fenwick Rysen. If you have any questions not answered in the FAQ, ideas for expansion, or corrections to be made, please conact him at fenwick@sonic.net This FAQ or its latest release is available on the web at: http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/tongues.html Special Thanks are due to those who have helped me learn Ouranian Barbaric and answer my multitude of questions, and to those who helped contribute to the FAQ. They are, in no particular order, Fireclown, Joseph Maxx.555, Hine Nui Te Po, Tzimon Yliaster, and others who remain more anonymous. This wouldn't have been possible without their help. This document Copywronged (x) 1997 by Fenwick Rysen Feel free to copy, hack, splice, mangle, mutilate, spindle, twist, tear, or re-post, print up however many damn copies of it that you want, and give them to whoever the hell you want to, as long as this copywrong notice remains intact. The answers to the questions in this FAQ are non-authoritative, and individuals are encouraged, as with everything, to take what they will and discard the rest. =========================================================================== I ORIGINS === ======= 1.1 What is Ouranian Barbaric? 1.2 What does the word "Ouranian" mean? 1.3 Why is it called Ouranian "Barbaric"? 1.4 Where did Ouranian Barbaric come from? 1.5 What is the source of the Ouranian Barbaric Dictionaries on the net? II GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX === ================== 2.1 Does Ouranian Barbaric have a standard syntax? 2.2 Why is the word for "I" and "We" the same? 2.3 Why are all verbs in the form "do (verb)" 2.4 How do I turn Ouranian nouns into verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and vice versa? 2.5 What do the "T+" and "T-" with some of the words mean? 2.6 Why are Ouranian words always capitalized? 2.7 How do you pronounce some of these words? III MISCELLANIA === =========== 3.1 How does one create more Ouranian words? 3.2 Where can I get a Ouranian Barbaric Dictionary? 3.3 What should I do with new Ouranian words that I create? 3.4 What does it mean to use Ouranian like "The Alphabet of Desire"? 3.5 Are the words in Peter Carroll's "Masses of Chaos" Ouranian? 3.6 Are there other barbarous languages out there? 3.7 What Ouranian resources are there on the net? 3.8 Is there a gematria for Ouranian Barbaric? IV UPDATE HISTORY === ============== 4.1 Dictionary Updates 4.2 Changes to the FAQ =========================================================================== SECTION I: ORIGINS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 What is Ouranian Barbaric? Ouranian Barbaric is the proprietary language of chaos magick. That is, it is a language, more technically a jargon, that is used exclusively by the chaos magickal community for use in their workings. It is not spoken as a real language, but instead is used in place of the magician's natural language in order to distract the conscious mind and bypass the psychic censor. It has been said that Ouranian Barbaric developed out of a need to express more modern concepts that were absent in other magickal languages like Enochian (from the sixteenth century) and relevant to Chaos Magick. Things like "Planck's Constant" and "Heisenberg Uncertianty Principle" are obviously absent from Enochian, which also ommitted some very useful concepts such as the planets. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 What does the word "Ouranian" mean? The word "Ouranian" is the adjectivized form of "Ouranos". Ouranos is an old form of the word Uranus, and was probably chosen to avoid the "Your Anus" stigmatism associated with the modern spelling. Symbolically, Ouranos is the same as Uranus. It is harder to describe its symbology better than in a planetary working called The Ouranos Rite, which describes it thusly: "It is the eighth body, outside of the sphere of classical planets and the god forms or thought form attributed to them. Thus it forms an ideal symbol for that which encompasses all the gods within its orbit: the magical personality. It represents not the power of the magic itself, which is attributed to Pluto; but rather the desire to be a magician, and the personality required to live as one. Astronomically, this equates with the curious orbit of Ouranos which, with its polar axis tilted at an eccentric angle, almost on the plane of the ecliptic, symblolizes the antinomian character of the magician, ever delving into that which is weird, occult, and perverse, to unlock its secrets. Ouranos can also be thought of as the dark side of the Sun. Whereas the classical bodies orbit the sun, the bright center of human personality; Ouranos represents something dark, and perhaps devious, creeping round in the darkness outside of the normal." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Why is it called Ouranian "Barbaric"? As in barbarous words, a term used by Crowley and others. It is one of the fundamental concepts of evocatory magick and is an incredibly complicated subject. Any language that you don't understand with full consciousness and that can be chanted in a manner that distracts the conscious mind is considered to be "barbarous". In the terms of Chaos Magick, chanting in a language not understood by the conscious mind (such as Ouranian Barbaric) lets the ideas (memes) represented by the words bypass the Psychic Censor and penetrate the subconscious mind of the magician. Barbarous words can also serve as foci free of conscious meaning, exalting the mind during ritual chant. Crowley says in Chapter IX of "Magick in Theory and Practice": "It may be conceded in any case that the long strings of formidable words which roar and moan through so many conjurations have a real effect in exalting the consciousness of the magician to the proper pitch --- that they should do so is no more extraoridinary than music of any kind should do so." Anyone further interested in Barbaric Languages are here referred to Chapter IX of Aleister Crowley's "Magick in Theory and Practice", and to Kenneth Grant's "The Magickal Revival." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 Where did Ouranian Barbaric come from? It was created by Peter Carroll and possibly some others around 1989-90. It was leaked out of the IOT Pact onto the World Wide Web by a disgruntled former member of the UK Section. It is not supposed to be in the public domain, and the IOT has chosen to remain closed-mouthed about it, even though other chaotes have made extensive use of it and continue to add to it (see section 3.1) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5 What is the source of the Ouranian Barbaric Dictionaries on the net? It was leaked onto the World Wide Web by a disgruntled member of the UK Section of the Illuminates of Thanateros. This dictionary now exists in two forms that contain words that have been added since then. The first form of the dictionary is in HTML, with both English to Ouranian and Ouranian to English sections, which can be found at Tzimon Yliaster's website, Tools of CHAOS. The second version is a more compact ascii version by Fenwick Rysen, available on his website, with English to Ouranian as well as Ouranian to English. The sources of the words in both of these versions are the original words created by Peter Carroll with others appended to the list throughout time by other chaos magicians who created new words to fill any needs that were not already filled by currently existing words. Both dictionaries continue to grow as that language evolves. =========================================================================== SECTION II: GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 Does Ouranian Barbaric have a standard syntax? Properly speaking, Ouranian Barbaric is not a language, but a jargon with no rules of syntax, sentence structure, or tenses, plurals, or possessives. It is often said that Ouranian should be written and spoken in V-Prime. In his book _Liber Kaos_ Peter Carroll says: "It is worth noting here that chaos-magical languages are usually now written in V-Prime before transliteration into magical barbaric form. V-Prime or Vernacular Prime is one's native tongue in which all use of all tenses of the verb "to be" is ommitted in accordance with quantum metaphysics. All the nonsense of transcendentalism disappears quite naturally once this tactic is adopted. There is no being, all is doing." What this means is that you have no forms of the verb "to be" anywhere in your sentences in Ouranian Barbaric. Instead, you "do" things. It is not "I will die" but instead "I do death". "There is no being, all is doing." Other simple rules are that definites articles ("the", "a", etc.) can be implied such as in Latin, and that when possible things should be in the present, active tenses. Should any problems be encountered, one is reminded that what few rules do exist are not hard and fast. Feel free to break them, make your own, or do as spontanaeity urges. Make the language your own. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Why is the word for "I" and "We" the same? Tzimon Yliaster says it best: "The reason that "I" and "we" are the same word is derived directly from the idea of the "multiple nature of the self". In other words, every individual is a collection of personas -- a colonial being, if you will. Furthermore, any collective of personas can also be seen as a single individual (also with many personas). Thus, the words I and we are conceptually equivelant in Ouranian Barbaric." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Why are all verbs in the form "do (verb)"? This has to do with the syntax of Ouranian (see sectin 2.1, above). This has to do with the fact that Ouranian has no verb "to be" and that "there is no being, all is doing." There is a subtle change in consciousness that occurs with this that any magician is advised to pay attention to. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 How do I turn Ouranian nouns into verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and vice versa? Short Answer: However the hell you want to. Long Answer: There are no rules. Make the language yours. Use the same word, invent your own prefixes or suffixes, create completely new words, surrender to spontanaeity, or do whatever else you can think of that feels right to you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 What do the "T+" and "T-" with some of the words mean? T+ or T- is an indication of whether a word is used in the positive or in the negative. Thus when we get the Ouranian word for "Almost Certianly" we have "UTHEDUS (T+)" and "THOFAD (T-)". UTHEDUS means "Almost Certianly" while THOFAD means "Almost Certainly Not." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.6 Why are Ouranian words always capitalized? There is no reason. This is just the standard convention. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.7 How do you pronounce some of these words? There is no set way to pronounce Ouranian Barbaric words. It becomes personal preference, and no two chaotes sound exactly the same when saying the same words. Just try your best to sound those stranger ones out, and go with that. =========================================================================== SECTION III: MISCELLANIA --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 How does one create more Ouranian words? By creativity. The general idea is to channel them somehow. A basic rite for channeling Ouranian words via glossolalia is available on the web at http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/chaos/gloss.html It basically goes as follows: Decide what word you want to add to the Ouranian language. Take a bag of scrabble tiles, draw between four and ten, and use these as a seed word. Invoke glossolalia, and let the seed word change and evolve until you arrive at what feels like the proper word. The original method is through an invocation of Ouranos-Baphomet and then using a created board to divine the letters of a word. This ritual is available at http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/chaos/barbget.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 Where can I get a Ouranian Barbaric Dictionary? There are two different dictionaries on the net. The original dictionary is from Tzimon Yliaster's website. It is an HTML version available at: http://www.crl.com/~tzimon/Workings/ouranian.html The second dictionary is the same dictionary, in a more compact ascii format. It can be found at: http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/chaos/obdict2.html All of the above files, their descriptions, and other related Ouranian Barbaric files, pages, and resources can be found indexed together at: http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/tongues.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 What should I do with new Ouranian words that I create? Write them down. As you create more words, you should add them to your own personal dictionary. Many people feel their words are personal, and choose to keep them to themselves, oftentimes demanding something of great value before they will divulge them. However, some other people feel that their words should be shared with others. To this end, many people post their words along with their method of creation to usenet newsgroups such as alt.magick.chaos and to chaos magick e-lists, from where they spread to other sources. If you are interested in having any words you create added to the Ouranian Barbaric Dictionaries on the net, you are invited to contact Fenwick Rysen (fenwick@sonic.net), Tzimon Yliaster (tzimon@crl.com), or Joseph Max.555 (maxx@slip.net) with your words, their method of creation, and any other information you feel is relevant. From there they will be disseminated and incorporated into all current copies of the dictionary. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 What does it mean to use Ouranian like "The Alphabet of Desire"? The Alphabet of Desire was a concept created by Austin Osman Spare that basically says to create a symbol set for your own personal use in magick. It's creation, use, and application are incredibly personal, and oftentimes hard to explain to others should such a task even be desirable. Many people use Ouranian the same way, creating their own words, coming up with their own rules for usage, and using it for their own specific tasks. Those interested in Spare's Alphabet of Desire and basic philosophy should read Spare's works, including "The Book of Pleasure" and "The Focus of Life". These can be found online (http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/spare.html) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.5 Are the words in Peter Carroll's "Masses of Chaos" Ouranian? No, these words are Enochian. For those new to either language, one would be well advised to maintain a dictionary of both languages, and be careful not to mistake one for the other. Or, in the true vein of the chaos magickal tradition, you could purposely interchange them and see what you get. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.6 Are there other barbarous languages out there? Enochian is another barbarous language, as well as an alphabet, used in the magickal community, typically among ceremonial mages but oftentimes among others. Enochian is an "Angelic Language" that was channeled by Edward Kelley and written down by John Dee during the Elizabethan era. Enochian is much more syntactically and grammatically complicated than Ouranian, an each letter in an Enochian word represents a whole body of forces by itself. If barbarous languages are your thing, you'll LOVE Enochian. Enochian is perhaps the most popular magickal barbarous language. Those interested in Enochian can find an incredible amount about it written on the internet, and are also referred to "The Enochian Dictionary" by Laycock (published by Samuel Weiser) and to "The Enochian Magick of Dr. John Dee" by Geoffrey James (published by Llewellyn.) A good beginning point on the internet is at http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/enochian.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.7 What Ouranian resources are there on the net? This is a list of known resources on Ouranian Barbaric or related files. If you know of any more, please contact fenwick@sonic.net for addition to the next release of this FAQ. Currently, there are very few collections of Ouranian Barbaric files known: http://www.sonic.net/fenwick/tongues.html http://www.sfo.com/~max/Corpus/Tongues/toc.html http://www.crl.com/~tzimon/Workings/ouranian.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.8 Is there a gematria for Ouranian Barbaric? Not yet. Inidviduals are encouraged to create their own method for personal use if it so suits them. There are a few systems in the works that will be released in the future; it is not known when they will be completed or released. Watch this spot of the FAQ for future updates. =========================================================================== SECTION 4: UPDATE HISTORY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 Dictionary Updates This section contains any new words that have been added to the Ouranian Barbaric dictionaries for the last year. These should be added to any older dictionaries on the net to keep all of them up to date. If you have words to add, see section 3.3 above. New OB Word English Translation Date added ----------------- ------------------- --------------- SIFAM Transform 07 January 1997 AMYGDALA The place in which fear is understood 19 January 1997 THAMBUHOL Beef 14 March 1997 EKOHCITRA Oak 26 May 1997 AHIGLEMWIB White 26 May 1997 GEIZ Ocean 26 May 1997 EJATHUNG Leviathan 26 May 1997 SONPEBREI Sea 26 May 1997 Z'HU Word 26 May 1997 JU Language 26 May 1997 SOHAL Perfect Disorder 26 May 1997 MORSHAK To Do Renewal 26 May 1997 TIRAJ To Do Discipline Upon One's Breathing (Prana-yoga) 26 May 1997 MAGOOL Action 27 May 1997 DESTHODH Attempt 27 May 1997 IT Benefit 27 May 1997 NAY Cleanse 27 May 1997 N'GACSHORLEAMOONY Empty 27 May 1997 BOA Fail (do failure) 27 May 1997 EANUR Husk 27 May 1997 JHECHLAGHAD Inertia 27 May 1997 DHRAH Juice 27 May 1997 HIQADNAMB'SHEKH Lust 27 May 1997 MAMY Parasite 27 May 1997 RADNAGHTOY Pierce 27 May 1997 HROYHIGHLOYNEH Scorpion 27 may 1997 ISH Shadow, Ghost, Spectre 27 May 1997 MO Stagnate, Stagnation 27 May 1997 BHEDHEN Sting 27 May 1997 QGHIBACSHQINTOOD Success (do success) 27 May 1997 ENOOCSHAJAMNY Suck 27 May 1997 EQALEAYBEA Technique 27 May 1997 EAHGH Vital 27 May 1997 Z'KENG Potential 24 August 1997 YZOTH Ring 24 August 1997 YEKIA Field 24 August 1997 TAEBIDU Grant 24 August 1997 UWAMING Cry (shout) 24 August 1997 PUMHEQWA Angel 24 August 1997 AHEGNOX Balance 24 August 1997 ORITHIKYA Conflict 24 August 1997 THOFP Dimension 24 August 1997 GREZEPGUN Energy 24 August 1997 OEIZADQAR Nature 24 August 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 Changes to the FAQ Version: 2.12 Previous Release: 2.11 Release Date: 24Aug97 Changes: Added 11 new words to section 4.1 (Dictionary Updates) Version: 2.11 Previous Release: 2.1 Release Date: 27May97 Changes: Added 21 new words to section 4.1 (Dictionary Updates) Version: 2.1 Previous Release: 2.01 Release Date: 26May97 Changes: Added ten new words to section 4.1 (Dictionary Updates) Added section 2.7 (Pronunciation Guide) Minor revisions in URLs and dictionary information to sections 1.5, 3.2, 3.5, and 3.7 Version: 2.01 Previous Release: 2.0 Release Date: 14Mar97 Changes: Added new word to section 4.1 Version: 2.0 Previous Release: 1.1 Release Date: 19Jan97 Changes: Complete rewrite of section 1.4 Updated info in section 1.5 in light of section 1.4 rewrite Complete rewrite of section 2.2 Added original method information to section 3.1 Contact methods updated in section 3.3 References for Alphabet of Desire information added to section 3.4 Added Tools of CHAOS to section 3.7 Added section 3.8 Added section 4.1 Added section 4.2 Version: 1.1 Previous Release: 1.0 Changes: Updated all URLs in FAQ Minor corrections throughout Version: 1.0 Previous Release: 0.1b Changes: None. Released to general public. Version: 0.1b Previous Version: None Changes: Initial FAQ, subject to volatile changes, never released to public. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [EOF]