Insight from those who’ve read the book.

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Kevin Greece

Member
Dec 22, 2014
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I finished “Revival” today and I enjoyed it, but I have some unanswered questions regarding it, if some of you could help me out. Thank you in advance!

  1. On page 266, it seems to me that Jacobs calls the “secret electricity” “potestas magnum universum," but later on in the book, on pages 362 and 368, the “secret electricity” is differentiated from the “potestas magnum universum.” What am I misunderstanding here?
  2. It seems to me that the electricity discovered by Scribonius is different from the “secret” electricity discovered by Prinn. On page 267, King puts Scribonius in the same camp as Prinn, as if both of them used the “secret electricity.” What am I missing here?
  3. I looked up information on De Vermis Mysteriis and Ludwig Prinn. Does anyone know how factual the information presented in “Revival” is regarding this book? I’m just curious.
 

mstay

Older than most, not as old as some.
Oct 13, 2007
6,022
5,554
Utah
Hi Kevin! Welcome to the SKMB.
I just finished Revival too but I don't have the answers for you. When I read Latin words like that in a book my eyes glaze over and I just assumed they were all the same. :blush:
As for your question about factual or not, I would assume not very factual. :umm:
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I finished “Revival” today and I enjoyed it, but I have some unanswered questions regarding it, if some of you could help me out. Thank you in advance!

  1. On page 266, it seems to me that Jacobs calls the “secret electricity” “potestas magnum universum," but later on in the book, on pages 362 and 368, the “secret electricity” is differentiated from the “potestas magnum universum.” What am I misunderstanding here?
  2. It seems to me that the electricity discovered by Scribonius is different from the “secret” electricity discovered by Prinn. On page 267, King puts Scribonius in the same camp as Prinn, as if both of them used the “secret electricity.” What am I missing here?
  3. I looked up information on De Vermis Mysteriis and Ludwig Prinn. Does anyone know how factual the information presented in “Revival” is regarding this book? I’m just curious.
1. Can you explain how “secret electricity” is differentiated from the “potestas magnum universum.”

2. Can you explain why it seems to you that the electricity discovered by Scribonius is different from the “secret” electricity discovered by Prinn?

3. The book De Vermis Mysteriis and its author are fictional. Which info in Revival about De Vermis Mysteriis and its author are you referring to?
 

Kevin Greece

Member
Dec 22, 2014
5
22
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1. Can you explain how “secret electricity” is differentiated from the “potestas magnum universum.”

2. Can you explain why it seems to you that the electricity discovered by Scribonius is different from the “secret” electricity discovered by Prinn?

3. The book De Vermis Mysteriis and its author are fictional. Which info in Revival about De Vermis Mysteriis and its author are you referring to?

Hi blunthead! Here are answers to your questions:

1. Jacobs wanted to "tap" into the potestas magnum universum. He couldn't revive Mary Fay with the "secret electricity" alone; it wasn't powerful enough to do the job, and it also couldn't cure at least 8 diseases. Jacobs needed to get access to a greater power, something powerful enough to resurrect. Using lightning as a starting point, the lightning "feeds" the "secret electricity" (which made Jamie the key to the door (Mary Fay)), and the "secret electricity" "feeds" the potestas magnum universum, "the force that powers the universe," in other words, what's "beyond the paper sky."

2. and 3. The fact that De Vermis Mysteriis is completely fictional answered these two questions.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Cambridge, Ohio
...Firstly...welcome...now to take a stab at your questions...
1. "secret electricity" is mentioned WITH the force that powers the universe at first and more or less in passing...it's later that Jacobs explains that the secret electricity is but a fraction of potestas magnum universum...
2. Prinn & Scribonius are both cut from the same bolt of cloth, and I think hairs are being split over the "difference"...they just arrived at similar conclusions by different paths...
3.The "Book of the Worm" is a work of fiction....and to learn more, you must go to it's creator H.P. Lovecraft...King was quite faithful to the tomes tone...
 

Kevin Greece

Member
Dec 22, 2014
5
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...Firstly...welcome...now to take a stab at your questions...
1. "secret electricity" is mentioned WITH the force that powers the universe at first and more or less in passing...it's later that Jacobs explains that the secret electricity is but a fraction of potestas magnum universum...
2. Prinn & Scribonius are both cut from the same bolt of cloth, and I think hairs are being split over the "difference"...they just arrived at similar conclusions by different paths...
3.The "Book of the Worm" is a work of fiction....and to learn more, you must go to it's creator H.P. Lovecraft...King was quite faithful to the tomes tone...

Okay. So perhaps the secret electricity is also called the potestas magnum universum, because as you said, it's but a fraction of it, but the "true" (as King says) potestas magnum universum is the force that powers the universe in its totality, which includes the secret electricity.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
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Cambridge, Ohio
An oopsie above: Lovecraft's friend Robert Bloch was the creator of De Vermiis Mysteris.
...Bloch came up with the concept yes, but Lovecraft is the one who "ran with it"...
The tome first appeared in Bloch's short story "The Shambler from the Stars" (1935), in which a character reads a passage from the book and accidentally summons an extradimensional horror.
Bloch, then a teenager, corresponded with Lovecraft about the story prior to its publication, in part to get permission to kill off a character based on the older writer. While giving his enthusiastic blessing, Lovecraft also suggested that the book featured in the story, named by Bloch as Mysteries of the Worm, be referred to instead by the Latin equivalent De Vermis Mysteriis.
Lovecraft also provided Bloch with a bit of Latin to use as an invocation from the book: "Tibi, magnum Innominandum, signa stellarum nigrarum et bufoniformis Sadoquae sigillum"--which can be translated as "To you, the great Not-to-Be-Named, signs of the black stars, and the seal of the toad-shaped
Tsathoggua".
 

Ravenky13

New Member
Jan 24, 2018
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De Vermis Mysteriis was written by the Belgian sorcerer Ludwig Prinn in 1542. It is a large book, with over 700 pages, and describes the author's travels and occult research. This includes years spent in Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East, and the book contains a lot of information on the Egyptian myths.

It was translated into English by Edward Kelly, the notorious associate of Dr. John Dee. This was published under the title ''Mysteries of the Worm'' in 1573. There are a handful of copies kept by Voelz Grant affiliated libraries, including one copy in English and one in Latin held by the Underground Conservation Laboratory at Zimmerman Library.

It is a REAL book..... just so y'all know...
 
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Spideyman

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Jul 10, 2006
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De Vermis Mysteriis was written by the Belgian sorcerer Ludwig Prinn in 1542. It is a large book, with over 700 pages, and describes the author's travels and occult research. This includes years spent in Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East, and the book contains a lot of information on the Egyptian myths.

It was translated into English by Edward Kelly, the notorious associate of Dr. John Dee. This was published under the title ''Mysteries of the Worm'' in 1573. There are a handful of copies kept by Voelz Grant affiliated libraries, including one copy in English and one in Latin held by the Underground Conservation Laboratory at Zimmerman Library.

It is a REAL book..... just so y'all know...
9202095e7df632f7b2f2677c620865ef--group-pictures-happy-faces.jpg
 
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Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
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De Vermis Mysteriis was written by the Belgian sorcerer Ludwig Prinn in 1542. It is a large book, with over 700 pages, and describes the author's travels and occult research. This includes years spent in Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East, and the book contains a lot of information on the Egyptian myths.

It was translated into English by Edward Kelly, the notorious associate of Dr. John Dee. This was published under the title ''Mysteries of the Worm'' in 1573. There are a handful of copies kept by Voelz Grant affiliated libraries, including one copy in English and one in Latin held by the Underground Conservation Laboratory at Zimmerman Library.

It is a REAL book..... just so y'all know...
revival.jpg


Welcome to SKMB Ravenky13
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
De Vermis Mysteriis was written by the Belgian sorcerer Ludwig Prinn in 1542. It is a large book, with over 700 pages, and describes the author's travels and occult research. This includes years spent in Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East, and the book contains a lot of information on the Egyptian myths.

It was translated into English by Edward Kelly, the notorious associate of Dr. John Dee. This was published under the title ''Mysteries of the Worm'' in 1573. There are a handful of copies kept by Voelz Grant affiliated libraries, including one copy in English and one in Latin held by the Underground Conservation Laboratory at Zimmerman Library.

It is a REAL book..... just so y'all know...
....Prinn is a fiction within a fiction......no such person, no such published book exists.....it is a purely made up volume that has been used so often in various novels and tales over the decades, that it has taken on a life of it's own.....just so you know......