THE SCARLET EDDA

Oath To The Nineteen Gods

(Or, A Lemurian Oath)
EDITED by ALLEN MACKEY

Note: "By the Nineteen Gods!" Make no mistake, despite the extreme
brevity of this sacred oath, great importance was attached to it. The
once-potent sentence was used by the people of Lemuria, regardless
of station or class or lineage, to call upon their gods. Lin Carter, who
owned two rare documents translated into English by Dr. Walter
Goodwin in the early 1920s, also made use of the same words on
multiple occasions in his early tales of Thongor of Lemuria. (Some
have claimed that Carter's Lemurian fiction was based more on
forgotten facts than fantasy). It seems that Carter was quite taken
with--and inspired by--a certain Lemurian collection, The Scarlet
Edda. Without revealing his exact sources, Carter profusely quoted
from Goodwin's editions of the ancient records many times in his
early fiction. [The second volume produced by Dr. Goodwin, The
Lemurian Chronicles, was also highly regarded by Carter for a time.]

Oath To The Nineteen Gods (or, A Lemurian Oath)

Back in those early days of the Earth, which dawned soon after the
Age of Reptiles, the laconic people of Lemuria greatly revered the
Nineteen Gods of Men. For years the most common exclamatory oath
was simply, "By the Nineteen Gods!" No other oath could so
effectively invoke the power and assistance of the Gods of Man, who
in those days were not aloof and unseen, but took active roles in the
nurturing and development of their mortal progeny. And the Gods
carefully watched over the Children of Men, and oftimes personally
responded to the sincere utterance of their entreaties and pleas, and
answered prayers. "By the Nineteen Gods!" Such was the way of the
Lemurians. *

Commentary: As stated within the text--the liturgical example above,

hailing from the far-distant past--mostly forgotten save for a few
remnants of knowledge which are available to scholars--was the most
common saying for generations of humans on Lemuria. Dr. Goodwin
translated the ancient Lemurian saying for the modern day (the pre-
dawn of the Age of Aquarius, circa early 20 th century Common Era),
merely by using a descriptive (yet generic) title, "A Lemurian Oath."
But to the unknown sage who had penned, in imperishable inks, his
(or her) secrets upon dozens of parchments made from unknown
saurian skins, the text was called "The Oath of The Nineteen Gods."
Evidently the change was rendered for the sake of simplicity. Now,
however, someone--such as myself--might be tempted to re-name the
text again, this time as "A Lemurian Oath To The Nineteen Gods."

* An annotation by Dr. Goodwin, immediately below the text, stated:

"The use of this oath in Lemurian culture was both for solemn
promises to their gods, and as an expletive; and doubtless in all areas
in between, similar to how we of the present use language to express
our emotions."