She Walks in Shadows(12)

Woodcut features worm-like Idh-yaa; sylvan Lythalia; Vhuzompha covered in multiple sets of eyes, mouths, as well as male and female genitalia; horned goat goddess Shub-Niggurath suckling infant devil at breast; many-tentacled Yaghni; and beautiful dream-witch Yidhra.

Under woodcut, the following is handwritten: Ungerent hoc in meo sanguine. (Anoint this text in my blood.) Whenever I look at the book, the pages flicker and flash, like the popping lights of a camera. I do not remember falling asleep, but I must have passed out from the headache because the next thing I know, I was lifting my head from my desk and it was after midnight. I’m so close to being done analyzing this book, I’m just going to power through.





Portrait of Septimia Prinn: aristocratic woman with square neckline, intricate Elder Sign necklace, long sleeves with embroidered cuffs. In one hand, she holds a “winged eye” symbol; in the other, a human heart, with her eyes fixed upon it. Vines are coiling around the edges of her illustration as she sits at a writing desk cluttered with miniature cauldrons and apothecary bottles. Both woodcuts are extraordinary for their level of detail and uniqueness. These woodcuts are contrary to McKerrow’s supposition that Early Modern printers preferred woodcuts out of which they could “get their money’s worth” from repeated use.

These decorations are too specific to be commonly used in other printmaking projects.

Septimia Prinn’s eyes are no longer fixed upon the human heart but are staring straight ahead, engaging with the gaze of the reader. I specifically recorded that her eyes were fixed on the human heart in her hand and I have verified that there are no other reproductions of her portrait in this edition. Despite my headache, I maintain that her eyes have shifted position.



Must research Early Modern optical illusion printing techniques.





While there are no records of an Early Modern printer by the name of Elizabeth Breedlove, there are records of Septimia Prinn. Septimia Prinn was the alleged daughter of Ludwig Prinn, a notorious medieval sorcerer and “doctor” of nature, although he did not practice medicine in the traditional sense. He sought to apply his chemical skills to preparing concoctions in “the manner recommended by Paracelsus.” Ludwig Prinn is reported to have lived among the wizards and alchemists of England, Germany and Syria, studying everything from divination and rituals of necromancy to blood rites for “the worm that sought to devour the world.” He allegedly recorded this forbidden knowledge in a single blasphemous text, establishing his magico-mystical reputation with De Vermis Mysteriis (Mysteries of the Worm). There are rumors that Prinn was a shapeshifter, that Ludwig and Septimia are, in fact, the same person. It is postulated that, after De Vermis Mysteriis gained popularity, Ludwig’s life was endangered by rival cultist factions, so he shifted sexes and identities, and became Septimia, who claimed to be Ludwig’s daughter so she could continue to draw upon the influence her previous incarnation had acquired.



I feel like I’m being watched.





As Ludwig before her, Septimia Prinn is said to have lived for hundreds of years, moving around Europe, eventually emigrating to the New World, where she is reputed to have given birth to Abigail Prinn, later executed in Salem for witchcraft.

Septimia is responsible for hundreds of occult texts found in arcane libraries across the world, although scholars postulate that cultists assumed the name of Septimia Prinn as part of an initiation rite and published under her name; no such postulations are ascribed to Ludwig’s writings. Someone just whispered in my ear.



I have been silent for fifteen minutes, my hands off the keyboard, straining my ears to hear anything that could be construed as whispering, but there have been no more whispers.





Could E.B. (Elizabeth Breedlove) and Septimia Prinn be the same person? Who is H. Vondrak?





This text was an economic printing; using octavo format, only a few full pages of vellum are needed to produce a single copy. But the woodcuts would’ve been extravagantly priced for the period. This was printed during the English Civil War, during the trial and execution of Charles I and exile of Charles II. It stands to reason that it would have been sacrilegious to investigate occultism at this time. The small size of this book also indicates a secretive printing. Did Breedlove adopt the pseudonym of Septimia Prinn to absolve herself of responsibility should her press come under investigation for printing pagan texts? Further study into provenance necessary.





Conclusions Regarding De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris Theomagicae:



I had what I can only call a lucid dream of a tree woman caressing my hair with vines, while a quivering octopoid mass communicated with me by means I do not understand. We spoke, though neither of us used verbal language. I understood that I was being asked to give my consent — for what I do not rightly know. Having suffered from sleep paralysis in dreams past, I know I did not feel frozen, but rather, felt an active symbiosis of worship and supplication as I suckled at the teat of a goat mother and allowed a dream witch to kiss the essence of my soul out through my open lips. I understood I was being coronated and, in so doing, willfully shed my human skin. Underneath, I was a giant worm — although a worm is much too generous a phrase. A maggot is more appropriate, or perhaps a grub, although I was so much more majestic. I was craven with a hunger so sharp and bright that I knew if I were to devour the universe, not even then would I be sated. When I opened my eyes, my limbs felt foreign to me and echoes of chants in unknown languages reverberated in my brain.