Shub-Niggurath, the Mother of Matter

As previously mentioned Shub-Niggurath is frequently cited by HPL but was never directly
featured in his tales. Also, as shown below and described in the previous article, the union
between Yog-Sothoth and Sub-Niggurath may be one of the few examples of sexual
reproduction among the Old Ones.

As shown above and previously described, the sexual union between Yog-Sothoth and Shub-
Niggurath gave rise to Nug and Yeb. After this a series of subsequent asexual
fragmentations or budding occurred where Nug gave rise to Cthulhu and Yeb gave rise to
Tsathoggua. However, this article explores the relationships from Azathoth to Shub-
Niggurath and to a lesser extent Yog-Sothoth. Azathoth will be discussed in greater detail in
a future article but at this point it can just be stated that Azathoth is the beginning of
universe or reality. Azathoth gave “birth” to three entities or properties of matter –
Nyarlathotep, The Nameless Mist and Darkness.

We have discussed Nyarlathotep in some previous articles and will continue these
conversations later. Here we have Nyarlathotep not as the prophetic showman from
“Nyarlathotep,” or as the hooved Black Man of “The Dreams in the Witch-House” or as the
howling, mad, faceless god in “The Rats in the Walls.” Instead, here Nyarlathotep is a distant
ancestor of HPL himself! This may represent more of a cultural relationship or linkage as
opposed to one related on a genetic basis, similar to the way in which Nyarlathotep is
thought to have been a pharaoh of Egypt. If there is some type of direct genetic
relationship, how this comes into play relative to what we know about the creation of
eukaryotic life (animals, plants, fungi and protists) on Earth by the Elder Ones is not known
at this time. Thus, the leading hypothesis at this time is the connection between
Nyarlathotep and humanity is more cultural and not genetic.

Moving to the other two progeny of Azathoth, literally nothing is known about The
Nameless Mist or Darkness so the hypotheses suggested here are simply based on the
names of this entities or forces. If Azathoth can be equated to the birth of our universe /
reality (or in more distinct terms, possibly the Big Bang), The Nameless Mist and Darkness
must represent in some capacity matter and/or energy. The Nameless Mist may be a
manifestation of our space-time (3 spatial dimensions and one of time) as well as the other
seven dimensions that are necessary for String Theory to be verified. In turn, Yog-Sothoth is
described as being a congeries of iridescent spheres and “the key to the gate, whereby the
spheres meet.”

This description could mean that Yog-Sothoth is the structure of our universe and other
universes. Or that possibly Yog-Sothoth is the offspring of Azathoth that gave rise to the
“multiverse” and the associated dimensions. At this point, this is all supposition with no
testable hypotheses. However, as we use partial physics to delve deeper into the intra-
atomic nature of matter, string theory may provide some clues as to the true nature of
reality and the role of Yog-Sothoth.

Yog-Sothoth
While The Nameless Mist gave rise to Yog-Sothoth, Darkness gave rise to Shub-Niggurath.
Since Shub-Niggurath is thought of in more tangible, biological terms, in contrast to Yog-
Sothoth being thought of as a gate, Darkness may represent Dark Matter.
Various methods can be used to measure the amount of mass in a galaxy. However, when
such calculations are conducted it appears that up to 90% of the matter that should exist
(given the influence of gravity) is non-detectable.

This undetectable, missing mass is called “dark matter” (Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey
Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension by Michio Kaku, 1994). In
addition to being undetectable or represented on our own electromagnetic spectrum, dark
matter itself may actually exist in a parallel universe but still have the ability to influence our
universe through gravity. So even though we can’t detect it may still impact our reality!

Thus, Darkness may be a representation of matter and Shub-Niggurath may be a portion of

this matter that passed through Yog-Sothoth into our space-time. Shub-Niggurath may not
be the direct “mother” of live on Earth, but she may be the “mother” of matter in our
universe! Meanwhile dark matter exists in other parallel universes and impacts our reality,
possibly by gravitons passing through Yog-Sothoth. However, giving birth to matter in our
space-time does not mean Shub-Niggurath’s work is done.

It seems as if she is always attempting to generate more life or matter in the form of the
“thousand young.” Next time we will discuss the fecundity of Shub-Niggurath, her thousand
young and how this has had a direct impact on humanity and other species.

Shub-Niggurath