Deities, Spirits & Entities
The Goetia
The Goetia is the first and most influential section of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a seventeenth-century grimoire listing seventy-two named demonic spirits along with their offices, seals, and methods of ritual evocation.
The Goetia (from the Greek goeteia, meaning sorcery or magic of the lower order) is the first book of the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, the Lesser Key of Solomon, a seventeenth-century grimoire that stands as one of the most influential magical texts of the Western tradition. It catalogues seventy-two spirits, each with a name, rank in a hierarchical structure of kings, dukes, princes, presidents, earls, and knights, along with a unique geometric seal, a physical description, and a specific set of offices or powers which the spirit can perform when properly called. The Goetia has been studied, practiced, debated, adapted, and argued over by occultists for more than three centuries, and it remains a living reference for practitioners of ceremonial magic today.
The text presents itself within a framework of Solomonic magic: the claim that King Solomon of Israel bound these seventy-two spirits in a brass vessel sealed with his ring, compelled them to reveal their powers, and left this knowledge for future practitioners. This is a literary and theological framing, not a historical fact, but the framing is intrinsic to the ritual system and cannot be cleanly separated from it without changing the nature of the working.
History and origins
The Goetia as a compiled text dates to the seventeenth century, with the earliest known manuscripts (the British Library’s Sloane MS 2731 and related documents) dating from approximately 1640-1680. However, its constituent elements are substantially older. The list of seventy-two demons shares significant overlap with earlier demonological lists including the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, appended to Johann Weyer’s De praestigiis daemonum (1563), which itself drew on earlier sources now lost.
The names and descriptions of many Goetic spirits appear to derive from older, pre-Christian sources. Bael or Ba’al is a Semitic deity of great antiquity. Ashtaroth is a form of Astarte or Ishtar, the ancient goddess of love and war. Amon recalls the Egyptian deity Amun. The process by which ancient deities of the Near East and Mediterranean world were reclassified as demonic spirits in Jewish and Christian demonology is well documented by religious historians, and the Goetia preserves many traces of these beings’ older identities in their described powers and attributes.
The most widely circulated modern edition is the 1904 publication edited by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, who added an essay on magical theory. This edition is influential but introduces modifications and errors compared to manuscript sources. Joseph H. Peterson’s 2001 scholarly edition, drawing on multiple earlier manuscripts, is the more textually reliable reference.
The seventy-two spirits
The Goetia lists its spirits in hierarchical order, beginning with the four demonic kings who rule the cardinal directions: Bael (east), Agares (alternatively east or south depending on the source), and others. Below the kings are ranked dukes, princes, presidents, earls, knights, and marquises, a structure that mirrors medieval European aristocratic hierarchy applied to the spirit world.
Each spirit is assigned a specific set of offices: things the spirit can do when correctly called. Bael, the first spirit, grants invisibility (in the metaphorical sense of being overlooked and unnoticed) and bestows wisdom. Amon, number seven, reveals past and future. Buer, number ten, teaches philosophy, medicine, and the virtues of herbs, and heals disease. Sitri, number twelve, enflames love and causes nudity (a traditional formula for removing pretense and reserve). Asmoday, number thirty-two, teaches mathematics, astronomy, and all the arts, makes men invisible, and reveals treasures.
The range of offices is wide: revelation of hidden things, teaching of arts and sciences, binding and loosing love, finding lost objects, causing success in business and legal matters, teaching languages, creating illusions. The practical orientation of this magic is clear; the Goetia was a working manual for people who wanted specific outcomes.
Ritual context
The classical Goetia working requires significant preparation. The operator prepares a magic circle with specific divine names inscribed in it, standing within the circle throughout the evocation for protection. Outside the circle is drawn a triangle within which the called spirit is expected to appear. The operator holds or wears the spirit’s seal, wears a ring engraved with Solomon’s seal, and carries a magical sword or wand.
The conjuration employs a series of divine names, both Hebrew and Greek, with the premise that these names compel the spirit’s appearance and cooperation. The spirit is commanded to appear in fair and comely human shape without terror or ugliness, to speak clearly, and to complete the requested work. After the working, the spirit is dismissed with a specific license to depart.
This is the classical system as written. Modern practitioners adapt it considerably. Some use only the seals and a simple invocation. Some work within evocation without physical materials. The Chaos Magick approach, popularized through Peter Carroll and the IOT, treats the spirits as portions of the practitioner’s own psyche or as independently existing intelligences according to whatever model is operationally useful. Pacting approaches (building long-term relationships with specific spirits rather than commanding them) are also widely practiced.
The spirits in contemporary practice
Contemporary practitioners who work with the Goetia tend to fall into several broad orientations. Some maintain a strictly traditional approach, following the manuscript protocols as closely as possible. Some work within a broadly ceremonial framework while adapting materials to available tools and spaces. Some approach the spirits as autonomous intelligences with whom relationship is possible rather than beings to be commanded.
Among practitioners who have published their working accounts, there is significant discussion of the spirits’ responses, their apparent personalities, and the accuracy of the Goetia’s descriptions of their offices. Frater Achad, Kenneth Grant, Jason Miller, Jake Stratton-Kent (whose Geosophia scholarship has significantly advanced understanding of the Goetia’s historical roots), and many contemporary practitioners have all contributed to the living literature of this tradition.
The name “Goetia” and its history
The term goeteia in ancient Greek referred specifically to lower or vulgar magic, often involving chanting or wailing (the root is related to a word for howling or keening). It was distinguished from theurgia, the higher magic of working with divine beings. The distinction was more evaluative than descriptive, reflecting Greek philosophical hierarchies about which kinds of magic were respectable. By the time the Lemegeton was compiled, “goetia” simply designated this particular class of spirit magic, without necessarily implying the same derogatory sense.
The split between goetia and theurgy has continued to organize discussions in ceremonial magic into the present. The Theurgia-Goetia, the second book of the Lemegeton, addresses spirits that fall into an intermediate category, and the tradition of distinguishing between working with higher divine beings and working with the earthly demonic spirits of the Goetia remains a live organizing principle in Western ceremonial magic.
People also ask
Questions
What is the Lesser Key of Solomon and how does the Goetia relate to it?
The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) is a seventeenth-century compilation of five grimoires. The Goetia is the first and most well-known of these sections, containing the lists of seventy-two spirits and their evocation protocols. The other four sections (Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria) deal with different categories of spirits and operations.
Are the seventy-two spirits of the Goetia demons?
The Goetia classifies them as demonic in a Christian theological framework, presenting them as fallen angels bound by Solomon. In earlier and alternative readings, scholars have noted that many may derive from pre-Christian deities and spirits of the ancient Near East who were recast as fallen beings by Jewish and Christian scribes. Modern practitioners vary widely in how they categorize these entities.
What is a spirit's seal in the Goetia?
Each of the seventy-two spirits is assigned a unique geometric seal, a sigil by which it is called and contained in the ritual system. These seals are engraved on the brass vessel, carved into the practitioner's magic ring, or placed in the triangle of evocation. The seal functions as a specific identifier and point of contact for the associated spirit.
Is Aleister Crowley's version of the Goetia reliable?
The 1904 publication by Crowley and Mathers is the edition most widely available to modern readers and has been enormously influential, but it introduced errors and modifications to earlier manuscript sources. Scholars and serious practitioners increasingly consult earlier manuscript versions and the scholarly edition by Joseph H. Peterson, whose digital archive at esotericarchives.com preserves multiple manuscript variants.
What is the ritual context for working with Goetic spirits?
The classical Goetia evocation system involves a magic circle for the operator's protection, a triangle outside the circle into which the spirit is called, the brass vessel bearing the spirit's seal, a specific form of conjuration using divine names, and a binding oath. Modern practitioners often adapt or significantly modify this framework, with some working without any protective barriers at all in what is called "pacting" rather than evocation.