Precis: Codex Althaeban Malik otherwise known as The Book of Aberrations is an intermediary volume between Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Book of the Black Dragon. The premise for this intermediary volume entails orientating the sorcerer to the Proklosis Ring, this being the horizon of the Black Dragon. Extrapolating aspects mentioned in Volume 1, Codex Althaeban Malik uncovers the philosophy informing the overall ‘work’ as it has so far been presented. Addressing the positing of the sorcerer in relation to the Black Dragon, the Codex explores the idea of designators, signifiers and the signified, and explains that when these are understood conduits open which connect the contemporary practitioner to the first sorcerer of the Ophidian current Azi-Dahaka. It does not end there though, because as the author explains, it is not only Azi-Dahaka which is acknowledged as having a vital role in developing telluric sorcery, but his shadow: the Tenebrae Walker Althaeban Malik, who having been engulfed by distortions emanates qualities that emulate the negativity of the Black Dragon.

Galvanising form from negative existence allows the Codex to analyse and describe how the Proklosis Ring is to be used as an orientating device, even while the ritual precinct remains exposed. Accompanying this philosophical exposition of the Black Dragon, the Codex addresses, in some depth, a ritual procedure which involves the inscribing of each letter of  I-Azi-Dahaka upon the earthen floor. The purpose of this rite is to draw in the extent of the Proklosis Ring without needing to contain. Each letter operates as a portal, together they portend the awakening of the sorcerous self. Additional layers of meaning are consequently added, thus exposing metaphysical associations to non-being that have up until now been hidden by the mantle of Otherness. Incorporating emanations from the Black Dragon, including the daemon emissaries and djinn from Volume 1, along with a retinue of familiar spirits not previously mentioned are thereby conveyed for the strict purpose of provisioning the sorcerer with a corpus of referential allegiances.

The Codex has accordingly been designed to provide a complimentary meta-narrative to the first volume of Book of the Black Dragon. Expounding further possibilities and deviations for those who walk the dirt track road, the Codex Althaeban Malik brings cognition to the fore, along with a phenomenological appetite for understanding what lies between words and places. In the light of this approach Althaeban Malik and the Black Dragon prepares the practitioner for what is yet to come from out of the telluric domain.

Note:

It is probably worth mentioning that the rhythm of the Black Dragon series is to be defined by two types of book. As many of you will already know there will be Volume 1,2 and 3 of Book of the Black Dragon. Between these volumes there will be intermediary volumes entitled Codex Althaeban Malik 1, 2 and 3. These intermediary volumes present in greater depth much of the theoretical thinking informing the 3 primary volumes. A further distinction to be made is that these intermediary volumes can be read without necessarily having read Volume 1,2 and 3 of Book of the Black Dragon. The reason for why this is the case comes down to the Codex volumes being widely applicable, beyond the scope of the primary volumes.