Editing Shub-Niggurath (section)

==The Black Goat==
Although Shub-Niggurath is often associated with the epithet "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young", it is possible that this Black [[Goat]] is a separate entity. Rodolfo Ferraresi, in his essay "The Question of Shub-Niggurath", says that Lovecraft himself separated the two in his writings, such as in "Out of the Aeons" ([[1935 in literature|1935]]) in which a distinction is made between Shub-Niggurath and the Black Goat—the goat is the figurehead through which Shub-Niggurath is worshipped. In apparent contrast to Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat is sometimes depicted as a male, most notably in the rite performed in ''[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]'' (1931) in which the Black Goat is called the "Lord of the Woods".  However, Lovecraft clearly associates Shub-Niggurath with The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young in two of his stories—"The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Thing on the Doorstep".

It is possible that The Black Goat is actually Ny-Rakath, Shub-Niggurath's brother. The Black Goat may also be the personification of [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]], since Lovecraft was influenced by [[Arthur Machen]]'s ''[[The Great God Pan]]'' ([[1890 in literature|1890]]), a story that inspired Lovecraft's "[[The Dunwich Horror]]" ([[1929 in literature|1929]]). In this incarnation, the Black Goat may represent [[Satan]] in the form of the [[satyr]], a half-man, half-goat. In folklore, the satyr symbolized a man with excessive sexual appetites. The Black Goat may otherwise be a male, earthly form of Shub-Niggurath—an incarnation she assumes to copulate with her worshipers.<ref>Ferraresi, "The Question of Shub-Niggurath", ''Crypt of Cthulhu #35'', pp. 17&ndash;8, 22.</ref><!--NOTE: FOOTNOTE COVERS ENTIRE SECTION-->