In the last post I gave general instructions on making planetary talismans. Here’s what making a specific talisman looks like. Please note that while you should feel free to adapt this methodology to suit your practice, you should operate within the Abrahamic paradigm for the duration of the construction. Swapping out Abrahamic godnames and symbols for pagan ones likely will cause malfunctioning (if it functions at all) as Abrahamic entities rarely play nice with entities from other paradigms. If you’d like to make a pagan or atheistic version, I recommend you design your pentacle from the ground up.
1. Pick a pentacle that matches your goal. My husband has been quite sick lately so for this post we will be making a healing talisman using the 2nd pentacle of Mars from the Greater Key of Solomon.
Figure 26. The Second Pentacle of Mars. – This Pentacle serveth with great
success against all kinds of diseases, if it be applied unto the afflicted part.
Editor’s Note.– The letter Hé, in the angles of the Hexagram. Within the same the
Names IHVH, IHShVH Yeheshuah (the mystic Hebrew Name for Joshua or Jesus,
formed of the ordinary IHVH with the letter Sh placed therein as emblematical of the
Spirit), and Elohim. Around it is the sentence, John i. 4:– “In Him was life, and the
life was the light of man.” This may be adduced as an argument of the greater antiquity
of the first few mystical verses of the Gospel of St. John.
Those of you familiar with planetary magick are probably scratching your head over using Mars for healing as it’s a pretty unusual choice. It threw me for a loop too until @kab-niel pointed out that the Mars talismans deal with protecting the magician from harm and illness can be viewed as a type of harm. Fair enough – still seems a bit weird to me but let’s roll with it.
2. Timing. I’m going to admit straight up I fudged this a bit. Ideally planetary talismans should be constructed on the day ruled by their planet (ie. Mars talismans should be made on Tuesdays) but since my husband was pretty sick, I opted to do it sooner rather than later. There is some lenience on the day but you should be sure to begin construction in the correct planetary hour. As you can see here, we are beginning in the hour of Mars:
3. Pentacle construction. This step is pretty easy but a bit tedious. Note that it can be difficult to find a clean, legible version of your pentacle so just do the best you can with what you can find. As should be obvious from my terrible Hebrew, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Be sure to use a fresh (”virgin”) sheet of paper and to give yourself some space away from the edges because we will be tearing them off.
4. Sigilize your desire. I went kind of a weird route with this one and you absolutely do not need to do the sigil step this way. A more standard version of this step would be sigilizing “[NAME] is healthy” but I wanted to start developing an idea I’ve had rolling around in my head.
My train of thought was that since Psalms have a long history of use in Abrahamic magick, using a healing psalm would make a nice addition to the talisman particularly because I plan on saving this one for general healing in the future. Since Psalms are something I use fairly often in magick, I want to start developing a Biblical alphabet of desire using common phrases that can be combined into unique phrases. Below is my first attempt. I tried to keep the symbols more representational than I typically would use in sigil magick (monad symbol for God, Ouranus for the magician etc) to assist in remembering the alphabet well enough to use it regularly.
5. Putting it together. Draw your sigils and any other symbols you’re using in a pleasing manner around your pentacle and ink everything in the color associated with your planet (in this case red for Mars). Here I’ve added the name EL SHADDAI (a name of God associated with nourishment and blessings) and the symbol of Mars. Tear (not cut) off the edges – only cut if the pentacle is being used against an enemy. I chose to tear it five times because five the number of Mars.
6. If you’re using powdered herbs, add them now. For this one I’m using ginger, tumeric, and St. John’s Wort as they’re all healing herbs and used to drive away “evil spirits”. My husband and I both crave curry when we’re sick and as a result I tend to associate curry spices with healing from illness so tumeric and ginger are kind of playing double duty here.
You may have correctly noted that St. John’s is a solar herb rather than a Martial one however Mars and the Sun play very nicely together, the Sun has some pleasant healing aspects, and St. John’s is good for minor joint pain which unfortunately my husband was experiencing. Use whatever makes sense to you and if you have to wander a bit outside your planet that’s fine as long as you avoid conflicts (don’t combine Jupiter and Saturn etc.)
Fold the paper around the herbs, folding towards you to draw, folding away to remove, and bind with an appropriately colored thread. I didn’t take a photo of this step but I bound it with five knots.
7. Activation. This generally involves launching your sigil, reading the Bible verse associated with the pentacle, and a consecration. If you have a process for consecrating tools, do it now but I recommend avoiding calling on deities other than the Abrahamic god. The one exception to this is using the Orphic hymns of the planets as rather than deities, the planets can be viewed as emanations from the Godhead. Traditions that have syncretized with Abrahamic religions obviously are the other big exception.
If you do not have a process, follow this procedure:
Place your talisman on your altar/working space, light a candle, incense, and pour a shot of whiskey.
Recite the following prayer or the Orphic Hymn to the planet being utilized:
O ADONAI most powerful, EL most strong, AGLA most holy, ON most righteous, the ALPHA and the OMEGA, the Beginning and the End; thou who hast established all things in thy Wisdom; thou who has chosen Abraham thy faithful servant, and hast promised that in his seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, which seed thou hast multiplied as the stars of Heaven; thou who hast appeared unto thy servant Moses in flame in the midst of the Burning Bush, and hast made him walk with dry feet through the Red Sea; thou who gavest the Law to him upon Mount Sinai; thou who hast granted unto Solomon thy Servant these pentacles by thy great Mercy, for the preservation of Soul and of Body; we most humbly implore and supplicate thy Holy Majesty, that these pentacles may be consecrated by thy power, and prepared in such manner that they may obtain virtue and strength against all spirits, through thee, O Most Holy ADONAI, whose Kingdom, Empire, and principality, remaineth and endureth without end.
Read the Bible verse associated with your pentacle over it. In this case we are using John 1:4:
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Feed your talisman a few drops of whiskey, then leave it on your altar until the candles burn out.
That’s about all there is to it. This one served it’s purpose in 48 hours so I am definitely keeping it around for future use. If your talisman is to be used repeatedly, periodic feeding is necessary in addition to reciting the pentacle’s verse
The Greater Key of Solomon contains numerous planetary pentacles for use in magickal operations. When properly constructed they are quite potent and require little additional input from the magician aside from periodic maintenance making them an excellent method of low energy spell casting. Rather than reproducing all of the pentacles here, please refer to this excerpt from the Greater Keybefore beginning.
Firstly, a word about what goetia is not. Many people with some acquaintance with occult literature will associate goetia with the first book of the Lemegeton, the so called Goetia of Solomon the King; which deservedly or not is nowadays perhaps the most famous of the grimoires. Indeed, in Crowley’s Book IV, all the references to goetia involve this grimoire and nothing else. However, this first book of the Lemegeton dates to the mid seventeenth century, whereas the term goetia is ancient Greek, so clearly there is some distance between the date of the grimoire and the origins of goetia.
This significant distance is often overlooked in popular usage, and even among many modern authors. It is not uncommon to hear such expressions as ‘goetic demons‘ or even ‘goetias‘ when referring to the spirits of this grimoire. This usage is inaccurate in several ways, one in particular is of interest here. In European languages the words magus or magician derive from magic, the person taking their name from their art. By contrast, the term goetia derives from a word indicating a person, a somewhat unique case of the art taking its name from the artist. This person was called a ‘goes’. In short, goetia is related first and foremost to the identity of the operator, and secondarily to the nature of their art.
The word ‘goes’ relates to terms describing the act of lamenting at funeral rites; the mournful howling considered as a magical voice. These magical tones can guide the deceased to the underworld, and also raise the dead. This is the root of the long connection of goetia with necromancy, which has come to be seen as ‘black magic’.
Authors from Cornelius Agrippa to Mathers and Waite use the term goetic of most of the grimoires, particularly the darker ones. It is only the relative fame of the Goetia of Solomon that has overshadowed the long association of the term with supposed ‘black magic’ generally.
From Agrippa the negative associations of the word goetia go back beyond the medieval period into classical antiquity. So it could be said that goetia is a very old word for black magic. But in Greek use magic was a term derived from a Persian root, whereas goetia was already present in the Greek language. In the history of Western Magic not only did goetia come first, but it possessed a character that distinguished it from many later forms. In its original form goetia did not involve the same worldview or assumptions as later magic. To be specific the differences concern the worldview of so called primitive religion, as opposed to the later more civilised forms.
Franz Cumont’s book on Chaldean Magic speaks of Persian magic entering Greek use around the time of the Persian Wars. He says that a Book of Ostanes ‘was the origin of the magic substituted from that time forth for the coarse and ancient rites of Goetia’. The rites of the Magi known to the Greeks seem in the main to have been pre-Zoroastrian, and no less ‘coarse and ancient’ than Greek goetia. The Book of Ostanes may then represent a partial transformation of goetia towards the form in which we now know it. In any case Goetia certainly did not die out with the advent and evolution of these ‘Magian’ rites, even though at that time much of the meaning and significance of the old Greek rituals had already been lost.
The goetic strand within western magic essentially represents survivals of more primal elements within host traditions of another character. Invariably such brief attempts as have been made to define goetia are from the viewpoint of such host traditions, or from viewpoints hostile to magic in general, rather than the viewpoint of goetia itself.
It is difficult to speak of goetia in its own terms when competing with the accumulated assumptions of so many intervening centuries. For the last two thousand years our civilisation has lived with the assumptions inherent in Revealed Religion. The civilisation of Classical Greece, and all other civilisations of the ancient world, were built on a tradition of thousands of years of what is known as Natural Religion. Whereas Revealed Religion is delivered from on high by a revelation represented by a Book – Natural Religion is built up from below, the result of observation of and interaction with the visible world, including perceived supernatural or numinous forces. At the heart of these two approaches to religion are two entirely different worlds.
These two worlds, the cores of two opposed worldviews, can usefully be defined as celestial and chthonic. These are not the limits of the worldviews concerned, but their centres. That is to say, while Revealed Religion has as its ‘base’ the Celestial or even Super-celestial realm, it does not exclude considerations of other regions, such as Earth, Hell and the physical universe in general. Similarly, while Natural Religion has the Earth and the Underworld at its heart, this does not prevent it dealing with gods of thunder or the Sun and Moon.
In the same way the source of the Revelation of Revealed Religion is Celestial, and this is the centre of its worldview. By contrast, the chthonic realm was considered the source of oracular power at all stages of Greek religion. In later magic the celestial or transcendental realms were all important, not least as the source of the magicians authority.
Previously the earth as source of life, and the underworld as the abode of the dead, were central to religion and magic. More to the point, much of the magic of later times, particularly that characterised as goetic, was an adaptation – one might even say a distortion – of the older type.
The chthonic connections of goetia are exemplified by the roots of the word itself. Whereas goetia is commonly translated ‘howling’, following the precedent of nineteenth century authorities which are too often unquestioned, a closer translation would be ‘wailing’ or ‘lamenting‘. There is a large group of related words in Greek, the majority of which refer specifically to ancient funeral rites. The tone of voice used in these rituals distinguished the practitioner of goetia, and the concern with the Underworld was equally explicit.
This earliest manifestation of goetia is principally concerned with the dead. At the same time it has no real connection with the aristocratic ‘Olympian’ religion of Homer, despite some parallels and later syncretism. Its primary role was benign in that it served a role in the community, that of ensuring the deceased received the proper rites to ensure they left the living alone. Alongside this were additional roles. These included laying ghosts, including those where proper burial had not been possible. Such ‘restless spirits’ were troublesome, even hostile and dangerous. Their existence was a major reason for the practice of funeral rites in the first place.
Another aspect of goetia’s involvement with the dead was necromancy. This, the art of divination by the dead, correlates naturally with the ability to guide the dead to the Underworld. Those who could guide souls to the Underworld could bring them back, at least temporarily. In its original religious context necromancy was not perceived as anti-social, and some major necromantic oracular centres existed throughout the Greek world.
The most sinister aspect of this involvement with the dead was the ability to summon such spirits for purposes other than divination. Like necromantic divination this is a natural consequence of the role of guide of souls. However it also relates very closely to the ability to deal with hostile ghosts of various kinds. The arts of exorcism and evocation are intimately related. It is from this aspect of its past that goetia is associated with demonic evocation. Distinctions between underworld demons and the angry dead have always been vague. Additionally, expertise in rites concerning the dead necessarily involves the gods and guardians of the Underworld. Consequently, in various guises, raising spirits has been associated with goetia for much of its history,
The impression caused by the confusion between the Goetia of Solomon and goetia itself is that goetia concerns evocation alone. There is a stereotyped image of the conjurer calling up spirits into a triangle from within a circle, and bidding them to perform this, that and the other thing. This seemingly reduces all goetic operations to the same format, which is not the case at all. Goetia involves methods of every variety. It is true that goetic magic involves the participation of spirits in virtually all its operations, but these operations are varied. The Grimorium Verum is clear that all operations are performed with the assistance of spirits, but its methods include what we would call spells, and also methods of divination. Most often in these operations the sigils of appropriate spirits are involved in the procedure. There is for instance a traditional method of causing harm to an enemy through their footprint. In its Verum form this involves tracing the sigils of spirits and stabbing a coffin nail into the print. Some of this methodology is reminiscent of modern applications of Austin Spare’s sigils, although rather more results oriented than the uses the artist himself employed.
In general Verum employs evocation for one main purpose, which is to form a pact with the spirit or spirits concerned, precisely so they will be willing to assist the magician in other types of operation. I say spirits in the plural for a reason. In contrast to the methodology of the Goetia of Solomon as popularly understood, Verum’s process envisages the possibility of summoning more than one spirit at a time for the purpose of forming pacts. While any evocatory process is demanding, in terms of time and effort expended, this multiple evocation process is considerably more economical, and far more productive. Modern understanding envisages the conjuring of a single spirit in order to achieve one specific result, and the spirit concerned may never be met with again. Verum on the other hand envisages calling upon one or more spirits in order to commence a working relationship, so that on future occasions the same spirits may assist the magician repeatedly. In these subsequent relations the full procedure of evocation is rarely necessary; and will usually only be employed to initiate relationships with additional spirits.
Such exhausting operations therefore are not the be all and end all of goetic sorcery. The magician and the spirits with whom they are involved will be active in a variety of other procedures. These will involve a range of different skills and activities, alongside a more minimalist conjuration.
So what have we learned from this survey? That the identity of the operator makes goetia what it is, not the nature of the spirits. That goetia concerns earth and the underworld, and involves no authority from the celestial regions, but the innate power of the magician. That it has its own worldview, and far from being a specialised sub-discipline, it is the primal origin of the entire Western Tradition of magic.
The tradition that perhaps codified the image of the magical circle in the Western magical stratum is the Solomonic tradition, and in its context the more obvious use for it is protection. The theology the tradition emerges from dictates a need for insulating ourselves from the evoked in the same stroke that it sets the terms for the adversarial format of the operations. While recent developments should by now have enriched our world view sufficiently to dispel the belief that this is strictly necessary, there are, as usual, valuable insights to be garnered in the study of traditional ritual mechanics.
From what the texts say regarding outcomes, we can extrapolate a proposition that spirit manifestations are consciously visible to the naked eye, and that they present a real and immediate danger to the operator. That peril can be reasonably attributed to various specific aspects of any given system, less often recognised among those is the case of early formulae whose goal was obtaining a number of unknown spirits to manifest, all of which with unpredictable agendas. Or quite simply that in compelling a certain class of hostile spirits to appear, care will indeed be required.
This element of compelling is commonly done away with in modern systems, and the consequently subtler outcomes led its proponents to put in ink a conclusion that the sole purpose of the circle is to situate the magician at the centre of the magical universe. While that’s most definitely not the whole truth if taking into account recognitions aplenty of it acting as a protective device, there’s corroboration of its making entailing elaborate considerations such as the names of lower hierarchy, correct timing and more, and therefore it playing a more than passive role in ritual.
Andrew D. Chumbley in his Opuscula Magica Vol. I excellently ascertains the origins of names given to sorcerers translating to “the encircling ones”, alluding to the binding nature of the practice, and in subsequent paragraphs cites the observance of the cycles of the Moon and seasons providing the motif for the recognition of the geometrical symbol as meaning universe. Although he speaks primarily from the point of view of a distinct tradition, this is worth considering seeing as we can find the symbolism taken to length in the influential Peter de Abano’s Heptameron as well as the table of practice in Francis Barrett’s The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals.
Circles in Solomonic systems
The essentials of the designs seen in various Key of Solomon manuscripts and its predecessors remain more or less the same, with variations mainly around the magical names used on the boundaries. A distinct detail of these is that unlike late Latin formulae, they frequently feature an entryway into the circle that is to be sealed off once all participants step in.
Their exact diameter is the topic of heated forum debates, likely because most expect to be able to conduct the ritual at home and laying a nine foot circle indoors can be difficult for urban dwellers. Heeding the wording in early instructions, they almost never fail to account for the presence of other participants needing to fit in the space, which is certainly a factor of that suggestion. Though rather than looking at the measure as having a numeric significance paramount for the success of the operation, considering it has been more often not specified, I submit that the more interesting factor is the metaphysical implications behind these operations being experienced in groups apparently as a matter of course. I would also caution against assuming them needing to be conducted indoors, as several of the instructions we will see further ahead plainly advise otherwise.
Designs found in three of the manuscripts of the Hygromanteia feature a double circle with magical names written inset. The previously mentioned entrance is laid southside and shows the black handled knife pointing outwards, indicating it’s to be used for closing it. The use of the black handled knife is of summary importance. The blade is consecrated to Mars and it’s by its virtues that spirits are kept at bay. This knowledge is missing from ignorant analysis deriding the idea as if what it proposes is that a mere figure on the ground should be capable of so.
The circle for one of the evocation approaches in MS Atheniensis 1265[1]:
The following, from a French Key of Solomon manuscript, MS Wellcome 4670[2]:
Instructions in Harleianus 5596, another manuscript of the Hygromanteia, direct the magician to first burn incense and only then trace the circle, showing the process to be a form of ritual in itself.
In Atheniensis 1265 we find the following directions for procuring a location of the ritual[3]:
Go find a proper place to trace a circle. Let the place be at the peak of a mountain, in the woods, on a plain, in a cave, near the sea, in a garden, at a place where somebody was killed in old times and where neither the crow, nor a rooster, nor the voices of men can be heard, at a pure and trackless place, near a river, or near a meeting of three roads. It has to be far from people, where nobody can hear or see, and where the human voice cannot be heard, in order not to be obstructed by anybody.
The text emphasised above, conspicuously omitted from the same sentence in the later Atheniensis 115, carries huge practical implications best addressed in detail on a separate occasion, so I will only briefly note here that I believe these necromantic overtones are no accident, and in this communion lies a key to the practice of ceremonial magic. The dead will witness the ritual and their help is a possibility if honours and relief are offered.
In the later Key of Solomon, the instructions principally emphasise the need for isolation[4]:
The places best fitted for exercising and accomplishing magical arts and operations are those which are concealed, removed, and separated from the habitations of men. Wherefore desolate and uninhabited regions are most appropriate, such as the borders of lakes, forests, dark and obscure places, old and deserted houses, whither rarely and scarce ever men do come, mountains, caves, caverns, grottos, gardens, orchards; but best of all are cross-roads, and where four roads meet, during the depth and silence of night
Though in the subsequent paragraph offers recognition of the previous point[5]:
These arts or operations should he carried out at the prescribed time, but if there be no time specially appointed it will be always better to perform them at night, which is the most fit and proper time for the operations of necromancy
As stated earlier, at times we see the use of names or sigils of spirits found in the lower hierarchy in a bid for representing their authority, for in turn compelling the evoked to manifest, but on the circle itself. In a manuscript omitted in Mathers’ version of the Key of Solomon, MS Aubrey 24, the names of four demon kings are seen written around the circle at their respective cardinal directions. This exact same idea is seen in late Latin manuscript of remark, MS Wellcome 2000. It shows on its frontispiece an ourobouros circle with sigils of its four cardinal kings displayed on the outside[6]:
Peter de Abano’s Heptameron offers extremely elaborate instructions for tracing the circle. I will quote it in full for an accurate impression[7]:
The form of Circles is not alwaies one and the same; but useth to be changed, according to the order of the Spirits that are to be called, their places, times, daies and hours. For in making a Circle, it ought to be considered in what time of the year, what day, and what hour, that you make the Circle; what Spirits you would call, to what Star and Region they do belong, and what functions they have. Therefore let there be made three Circles of the latitude of nine foot, and let them be distant one from another a hands breadth
and in the middle [i.e. inner] Circle, first, write the name of the hour wherein you do the work.
In the second place, Write the name of the Angel of the hour.
In the third place, The Sigil of the Angel of the hour.
Fourthly, The name of the Angel that ruleth that day wherein you do the work, and the names of his ministers.
In the fifth place, The name of the present time [i.e. season such as Spring].
Sixthly, The name of the Spirits ruling in that part of time, and their Presidents.
Seventhly, The name of the head of the Signe ruling in that part of time [season] wherein you work.
Eighthly, The name of the earth, according to that part of time [season] wherein you work.
Ninthly, and for the compleating of the middle Circle, Write the name of the Sun and of the Moon, according to the said rule of time [season]; for as the time is changed, so the names are to be altered.
And in the outermost Circle, let there be drawn in the four Angles, the names of the presidential Angels of the Air, that day wherein you would do this work; to wit, the name of the King and his three Ministers
(cont.)
Notable among these cares is the laying of names and sigils of horary angels, an appeal to horary hierarchy imprinted in the circle itself. The Heptameron circle is likely the better example of a talismanic representation of the universe being fundamental for getting the attention of the evoked.
The following is Heptameron circle for the first hour of Sunday in the Spring[8]:
Similar instances of the observance of timing (and its conjoined hierarchy) can be found in the Sworn Book of Honorius, where the circles vary extensively with the class of spirit being evoked[9]:
Another application of this concept is found in The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals, albeit much more simplified, where the pedestal holding the scrying lapidary stands on a circle, around which the names of the planets, their ruling angels, and the names of four cardinal kings are depicted. In addition, the formula features a second protective circle design for the magician to stand on with usual names of God written on[10]:
A rather simple operation from Bononiensis 3632 (Hygromanteia) also makes use of a table of evocation. Interestingly, the protective circle is traced on the table itself and the spirit bound with a thrust of the knife at the centre of it. It’s unclear, however, where exactly the manifestation is to take place. It goes as follows[11]:
Lay a new tablecloth on a new table, and place an empty bowl upon it, together with two lit candles on candlesticks, one at each side. At the other sides of the table place another earthen bowl, a censer with lit charcoals and incense, and various peeled fruits. Then, take a knife with a black handle with your right hand, trace the circle three times around the table, and each time recite the following conjuration.
“I conjure you, Mortze, or human ghost, or haunting of this place, come to me now that I invoked you at this table that I prepared for you. Eat and drink from the food I prepared for you”
And when you see that he ate, conjure him this way:
“I conjure you, Mortze, do not defecate, do not urinate, until you tell me the whole truth in whatever I will ask you.”
Do this three times with the knife, around the table. And when you finish the three circles, thrust the knife into the table and recite the following: I nail you here, Mortze, or haunting of this place.
Though this is phrased as if the binding is based on keeping the spirit constrained in bowel discomfort, the element of feeding spirits is common enough both in the genre to warrant suggesting there’s likely a system of evocation in this formula. An illustration of the table described above[12]:
In my own approach I utilise a design quite similar to the one in MS Wellcome 2000. The sigils of the four cardinal kings are traced and honoured with incense along with a conjuration recited, so to interest them in facilitating access to their deputies. Rituals take place at an isolated grove at night. A replica of it is kept in my home temple for the occasional rite undertaken indoors. The complete formula may be published sometime in the near future:
Alternative means of protection
In traditions in and out of the Western current, examples can be found of protection provided via implements such as lamens worn by the operator or allegiances formed with superior or intermediary spirits. While this is assessed by some as a head-on approach, technically, protection is not being foregone altogether, but simply obtained through a different avenue.
In one of the more complete evocation systems found in the Greek Magical Papyri, PGM IV 154-285, the operator is directed to wear a philactery inscribed with various magical names during the course of contacting the gods the operation aims to put the magician in contact with. This formula interestingly begins with an initiation ritual for obtaining an alliance with Helios (Sun), it then providing the power for conducting the ritual[13]:
In Quimbanda[14], the role of the Exú rei (king Exú) is to both protect the Quimbandeiro and mediate contact with “hotter” types of Exús. Through his agency the Quimbandeiro is equipped to act without the need for protective regalia when working directly with these spirits. Tempting as it is to draw a line between it and Scirlin from the Grimorium Verum, note that the Verum nevertheless advises the use of a circle and does not forego with the usual precautions. There seems to be less distance between it and the Paredros from the Greek Magical Papyri, or the spirit animal in some forms of shamanism, when looking strictly at roles fulfilled.
In certain lineages of European witchcraft, it’s the alliance obtained during initiation, or the “taking” of the witch by a spirit that provides both the power and safety for working other spirits reliably. This in turn can be understood as something similar to what is seen in Palo Mayombe, where the pact with the nganga is what ensures that the palero remains protected in the course of the work[15]. My personal approach relies on devotional work conducted with a charged statue of Lucifer, who commands the pantheon and is considered a gatekeeper to the mysteries kept by it. From this work an artefact is confectioned which carries his authority and imparts protection.
In conclusion, how necessary a circle is varies with relationships, alternative methods of protection, or the depth to which the procedure takes the matter of spirit manifestation to. It’s a lot less problematic not using it once certain pacts are in place, at which point it has presumably been employed a few times.
Credits
With gratitude to Tomas Beaujean for reviews and various helpful pointers.
Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 278. ↩
Stephen Skinner. Techniques of Solomonic Magic. (Golden Hoard, 2015). p. 161. ↩
Ioannis Marathakis. The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. (Golden Hoard, 2012). p. 277. ↩
Since the earliest texts of the Solomonic tradition, there has been little agreement on both the structure and participants of its hierarchies. Here perhaps is where an important distinction between religion and systems of magic is made obvious, with the latter being the result of individual experimentation and/or purely theoretical interpretations and transcriptions, and therefore less authoritative.
A common aspect in its recipes for spiritworking is the idea of spirits ruling a specific cardinal direction, be they angels and/or demons. The chain of custody of an operation is held by them and at times by other spirits ruling the day and hour in which it takes place. Though this model hasn’t remained a constant, it reemerges in spells even in volumes that don’t employ the formula directly for evocation.
Hierarchies provide the skeleton for all systems of the corpus, which makes understanding them the most crucial (and most difficult) part of the endeavour since everything else hangs off of how the spirits are organised and what their roles are. They explain, even if at times obscurely, the purpose behind much of the regalia that is to be found. Another excellent reason for modern practitioners to be acquainted with the topic is it’s essential for constructing informed variations, whenever necessary.
Kings, servants, and geography
Demonic cardinal rulerships are fundamental to nearly all Solomonic systems, and comprehending their role is essential both for grasping the world view the rituals are built upon and for adequately informing less dualistic practices, lest our heresies be misinformed.
The basic method which the cardinal kings are operated is by invoking them to compel subordinate spirits to obey. The schema dictates that a king in the East will be able to compel spirits originated from the same direction, and so on. Typically, in traditional texts an address to the kings is given in the name of either angels deemed capable of binding them, and/or names of God, so essentially a top to bottom ritual progression. Uses of hierarchy also manifest in the form of inscriptions on magical regalia, the instruments then imbued with the authority the names represent and thus rendered capable of controlling other inferior spirits in a specific way. Names of superior spirits inscribed around magical circles follow a similar principle in that the evoked cannot transgress their boundaries for the same reason.
This is likely to be old news, but demons were seen as beings capable of manifesting material changes, or enablers. What is less discussed is the extensive corroboration that can be found. One such instance is the mythical address of King Solomon to his son Rehoboam, as replicated in the Hygromanteia, made evident in the following:
The Sun rules on the first hour. Invoke its angels in order to subdue and submit the demons of this hour to you.
And soon after (emphasis mine):
When you want to do something that is related to the Sun, invoke the names of the angels, in order to subdue the aforementioned demons to you. Do the same for the rest of the planets; that is to say, name their angels and demons.
The phrasing in both instances imply that the agency of demons is a necessity for affecting change, their existence in the system then justified by the specific role they play, a product of the tradition’s cosmology and incidentally revealing of the contemporary naïveté that is dismissing their role on moralistic grounds. Regardless of later philosophic and religious developments, their role as begetter of changes, although not exclusive, is a constant. To put it another way: there has been ample opportunity for the genre to do away with demons entirely (as some systems do), and yet, I believe the simplest explanation for why that hasn’t happened is likely founded on this understanding rather than a heresy.
The list that follows is by no means, as the title implies, exhaustive. It aims instead to provide examples of influential works that address the points here made.
Hygromanteia
The Magical Treatise of Solomon, known as the Hygromanteia[1], outlines the need for invoking the ruling angels of the day so that these can constrain the corresponding demons. This is an interesting aspect that disappeared in subsequent manuscripts of the tradition, one that likely finds its roots in the Greek Magical Papyri in the form of ruling gods of the day, their custody deemed essential for the success of the operation.
There is not one but two methods outlined in the various manuscripts of the collection, and the magician is told to choose that which they prefer. The information we’re looking for is then scattered. What is seen in one form or another is an address to the kings of the four quarters, Loutzipher (Lucifer), Astaroth, Beelzeboul, and Asmedai, all compelled under various name of God, and in the second method the kings names are given along with a string of other names starting with the king of the respective direction, which in turn indicates that the complete rulership of a quarter was done by a collective rather than a single entity.
The operation succeeding, a regiment of demons presents itself to the magician, who is then to ask who their king is, and from here proceeds the formulae proper for obtaining love or riches, all consisting of conjurations to be recited at the spirits currently manifest outside the circle for the specific end.
In an example of regalia as a hierarchical imprint, the third and most potent conjuration in one of the treatise’s manuscripts (MS Harleianus 5596) directs the magician to touch a lamen inscribed with several holy names while pointing the finger at the locus where the spirits are to appear, as various magical names are recited.
Key of Solomon
It’s important to clarify that whenever referring to a Key of Solomon, that there isn’t a single canonical text recognised as such. The more popular synthesis-abridgement is the one done by S. L. Mathers, who despite breaking important ground, had an agenda that led him to omit certain texts and excerpts deemed by him to be black magic. For brevity, I’ll address his Key and mention other manuscripts that are relevant separately.
Similarly to its predecessor, the Hygromanteia, the KoS gives a list of horary rulerships by angels, but treats this a lot more simplistically, not connected to a need for binding horary demons. Another similarity is the idea that upon the call to the spirits being issued, the expectation is that several spirits are to appear. This is unlike the way this sort of operation is described in later texts where it’s usually aimed at a specific entity at a time.
For the operation of evocation, the KoS provides a prayer for the protection of the magician followed by a very simple conjuration consisting of bringing attention to the regalia (another example of what was mentioned earlier) inscribed with names of God. Conspicuously, this conjuration is to be recited once at each cardinal direction:
Behold the symbols and names of the creator, which give unto ye forever terror and fear. Obey then, by the virtue of these holy names, and by these Mysteries of Mysteries.
In the stronger and more potent conjuration, it is given as so:
Here be the symbols of secret things, the standards, the ensigns, and the banners, of God the conqueror; and the arms of the almighty One, to compel the aerial potencies. I command ye absolutely by their power and virtue that ye come near unto us, into our presence, from whatsoever part of the world ye may be in […]
A mention of four cardinal kings is made in an experiment of image making for obtaining love, which was omitted by Mathers in his translation but restored by Joseph Peterson[2]:
O Oriens, distinguished king who reigns and rules in the East, whose rule and kingdom had its beginning in the century, and will last until the end of the century.
O Paymon, mighty king who rules in the western part of the sky.
O Egym, strong king, whose kingdom and rule extends to the icy North.
O Amaymon, most noble king whose domain is in the South.
I powerfully invoke and arduously implore you, through him who spoke, and it was done, and who with a word alone created all […]
This particular conjuration is considered by Jake Stratton-Kent to be highly adaptable in his Testament of Cyprian the Mage Vol. 2, and is a crucial part of my own process.
Two manuscripts in Italian not taken into consideration by Mathers in his translation are Aubrey 24, and Sloane 1307. The former features the names of four demon kings in one its circles (in the outermost ring): Asmodel in the East, Amaymon in the South, Paymon in the West, and Aegym in the North, of which all except Asmodel (Asmodai) are consistent with many other volumes. The latter employs a conjuration addressed to these same four kings, though with slightly different spellings, in addition to a conjuration for preparing the magician for the operation.
The Sworn Book of Honorius (Liber Juratus Honorii)
Juratus stands as a complex religious work of magic split in four books, starting from the top of the hierarchy (God) and the angels closest to him, then planetary angels and demons, spirits of the air, and finally, spirits of the earth. The book is eminently Christian and the operations are intended to be performed by a priest, and therefore largely a work of angel magic. To be clear, in the case of Juratus at least, this doesn’t mean an exclusive predisposition of the entities to do good, and the description of the angels of Mars alludes to that fact[3]:
Others are of Mars and are these: Samuel, Satchel, Yturahihel, Amabiel and their nature is to provoke wars, murder, destruction, and mortality of people, and all earthly things[…]
Rather than offering a single system and a pantheon to be worked through it, it designates different operations in each of its treatises. The planetary angels are three to four for each planet, who in turn rule over a group of three to five demons, one king and the remaining ministers, servants to this king. The rulership over these same demons is also attributed to spirits of the four winds (cardinal directions), each direction having four or five spirits. These seem to be offered as alternatives to binding the angels directly.
Of the better known demon names, Bileth appears as a servant demon of the West, Maymon as a king of spirits of the air in the North. The last section describes the spirits of the earth as animalistic and evil, which fits with the many description of demons. Among the host the names of Mulcifer (noted by Peterson that in a separate manuscript the name is Lucifer) appears, as well as Asmodeus as an assistant of a prince.
The Book of Abramelin
The Abramelin is a peculiar text in that it eschews all the usual procedures favouring exclusively what is obtained through the Holy Guardian Angel. It’s rather fanatic in that the cautions it issues are related to the perils of damnation and deceit by demons, purportedly hidden in symbols and ritual procedures commonly found in other magical texts. To whoever this comes as a shock, I recommend a sobering read through[4].
Operationally, the book is of no use without first contact being attained, as the bringing forth of spirits is, per the book’s own words, to done through the agency of the HGA who will instruct the operator to call forth the superior spirits and offer their subordination (and by extent the service of their own subordinates). If nothing else, this should make one skeptic towards those making spurious claims of having successfully completed this operation, yet they either know nothing about the demonic kings and/or are strangely still pursuing other systems of magic for the purpose of evoking spirits of this same pantheon/group.
The hierarchy cites Lucifer, Leviathan, Satan, and Belial as sovereign rulers of Hell (its equivalent to the four kings), ruling over eight sub princes: Astaroth, Magoth, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Oriens, Paymon, Ariton, Amaymon. These names are all quite common and are seen in different roles in other grimoires, notably the last four ones which later occupy the role of kings, with Egyn replacing Ariton on occasion, in a number of them. Various other names are cited as being servient to the princes, though none of them is presented in the usual emphatic manner with offices and such, and by the system’s own logic could well have been omitted. This is qualified in the nineteenth chapter immediately after the names of the ruled spirits are given:
Infinite be the spirits which I could have here set down, but in order not to make any confusion, I have thought fit to put only those whom I have myself employed
Grimoire of Honorius
This late grimoire features conjurations to four kings: Magoa (East), Egym (South), Baymon (West), Amaymon (North), although the weekday demon experiments that follow it don’t address the kings as part of the rites, choosing instead names of God for compelling the spirits.
The address to the kings is the more open-ended part of the book, where each conjuration compels a king to send forth one of a choice of spirits or to appear themselves and perform any office whatsoever:
I conjure and invoke thee, 0 powerful King of the East Magoa, by my holy labour, by all the names of Divinity, by the name of the All-Powerful: I command thee to obey, and to come to me, or that failing, forthwith and immediately to send unto me Massayel, Ariel, Satiel, Arduel, Acorib, to respond concerning all that I would know and to fulfil all that I shall command
Grimorium Verum
The illustrious Verum is worth a mention for various reasons. It presents three ruling chiefs: Lucifer, Belzebuth and Astaroth. These in turn rule over two deputies each, who in turn rule over a larger group of dukes.
The approach is done through an intermediary spirit named Scirlin, thus after the initial preparations the operation proper begins with the tracing of his sigil and his invocation. It’s slightly ambiguous how exactly this spirit is said to manifest, as the wording is “This invocation causes the intermediary Scirlin to come”, which could mean anything from an appearance to a more subtle presence:
It is Scirlin who bringeth all the others to your conversation, for from this sigil depend all the others and it can constrain them to appear in spite of themselves as he has the power of the Emperor and is ready to serve him who giveth a sacrifice […]
Note then how, despite employing names of God in both regalia and conjurations, as is characteristic of the genre, the formula is centred around approaching the emperor (by proxy). This is one of the elements that give the Verum and other titles of the Bibliotèque Bleue[5] a dark reputation. In addition, the grimoire offers three more conjurations composed seemingly of strings of names, dedicated to each chief. After listing the conjurations, the instructions describe them as a form of compelling:
After having said seven times the conjuration addressed to superior spirits, you will see the spirit at once appear, to do whatever you desire. When you have seen the Spirit, being satisfied, you can dismiss him by saying this […]
Cardinal rulerships are completely absent from it. The engraving of sigils of specific demons in regalia is another notable feature, though not completely unseen as in some earlier works, strings of divine magical names feature names of demonic kings among the cited.
Other relevant works
The are several other texts of import which mention cardinal rulerships in passing, though they don’t directly employ the spirits’ names in conjuration, such as Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Francis Barrett’s Magus (derived from Agrippa), Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, and the Ars Goetia, to name a few. Agrippa’s description of the kings[6] is clear regarding their role as relevant:
[…] And every one of them rules over many legions; and after the same manner amongst evil spirits, there are four which as most potent Kings are set over the rest, according to the four parts of the world, whose names are these, viz. Urieus, King of the East; Amaymon, King of the South; Paymon, King of the West; Egin, King of the North, which the Hebrew Doctors perhaps call more rightly thus[7], Samuel, Azazel, Azael, Mahazuel, under whom many other rule as princes of legions, and rulers;
This quartet is the one seen more often, with few substitutions, and thus given more credit by a few contemporaries.
Barrett’s instructions for constructing the scrying table involve inscribing the kings’ names onto it, in what is likely another example of hierarchy being featured in regalia (there’d be no other reason for the names to be there). The Discoverie goes as far as mentioning appropriate times for binding its four kings, but the Ars Goetia, a descendant text, makes a more direct reference as to their role:
[…] are under the power of Amaymon, Corson, Ziminiar, & Goap [Gaap] which are kings ruling in ye 4 quarters East, West, North, & South, and are not to be called forth except it be upon great occasions but Invoked & commanded to send such & such spirit as are is under their rule and power, as is shewed in ye following Invocations, or [rather] conjurations &c.
Although a contemporary book of magic, we find in Paul Huson’s Mastering Witchcraft an interesting reference to the use of decans in evocation. The decans were originally a calendrical system and they are a common topic in the study of astrology. Descriptions for their visible appearances similar to what is found in the Western grimoires is given in the Picatrix. I have suggested elsewhere[8] that a restoration of the decans to their intended format is more appropriate than Huson’s reliance on Crowley’s Liber 777 for correspondences between them and the 72 spirits of the Ars Goetia.
The Black Dragon borrows heavily from the Grimoire of Honorius, and it offers no differences relevant to the topic here. I have thus left it out of the list and enumerated it here simply as another volume that works those kings in a similar manner.
Jake Stratton-Kent in his True Grimoire proposes a theoretical structure where the Verum’s Three Chiefs (Lucifer, Belzebuth, Astaroth) rule other four cardinal kings[9] (Oriens, Amaymon, Paymon, Ariton), the kings then as rulers of the catalogue found in Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (with amendments), the same seen later in Scot’s Discoverie and the Ars Goetia. What’s interesting about it is what this system makes possible. As proposed in his Goetic Liturgy, the ruling chiefs can be used as a supreme ruling trinity, and with this the idea of operating systems in magic is introduced in the volume and a few possibilities are opened.
Conclusions
While it’s tempting to rationalise away the need for any order, facing the differences, my thinking is we can either take the atavistic route of seeing earlier texts as more correct and everything that came after them as less so, or understand the notion as prescriptive, fitting the systems and interpretations they propose rather than failures in relation to an authoritative source whose existence cannot (so far, at least) be confirmed. Praxis, in my experience, tends to make the latter evident and this shouldn’t be seen as a hindrance.
What lends credence to this is every one of these instances in which the early structures weren’t strictly followed and yet they still refer to the same spirits. From technical point of view, what different/related models seem to propose is that insofar as compelling servants goes, alternative arrangements can be effective as long as they retain key elements and players. We’re thus looking at different dialects, all bearing the same essence, with some more effective than others at making certain statements.
Credits
Many thanks to Eric Purdue for assistance in matters of Agrippa, and Tomas Beaujean for making the excellent point that I shouldn’t leave out Liber Juratus, as well as other valuable feedback.
Both Skinner and Toriano place theoretical sources of the text to circa 6th century CE. ↩
Joseph Peterson. The Sworn Book of Honorius. (Ibis Press, 2016). p. 203. ↩
http://www.esotericarchives.com/abramelin/abramelin.htm. An example: “And you must not think that this can be done otherwise, as certain accursed persons write; that is to say, by means of seals, and conjurations, and superstitious figures, and pentacles, and other abominations, written by diabolical enchanters; for this would be the coin wherewith the hideous Satan would buy you for his slave”. ↩
See this excerpt from Owen Davies’ Grimoires: A History of Magic Books. ↩
Interesting that what it says here is that Hebrew names are alternatives, not additions, though the Scale of Four makes a slightly different implication than that. ↩
This ritual is in beta testing. Feedback on it’s efficacy is welcome and appreciated.
Taken in part from the 6th & 7th Books of Moses and Grimoire Verum
Clean, exorcise, and consecrate a weather-proof, durable object that can be placed or buried in your garden in the manner appropriate to your tradition. On the hour and day of Venus, inscribe the Fourth Table of the Spirits of Earth onto the object in green paint, doves blood ink, or any similarly Venusian ink.
Light a green or white candle and place it upon the Table of Earth, then light a Venusian incense and recite the following three times:
In this, by this, and with this, which I pour out before Thy face, O God, my God, who art blessed, Three and One, and in the most sublime exaltation, who sittest above the Cherubim and above the Seraphim, who wilt judge the world by fire. Hear Thou me!
Lift up your eyes to heaven and say:
O Lord Almighty, who dost cause all things to move according to Thy good pleasure! Hear Thou my prayer and may my desire be agreeable unto Thee! Lord, O Lord! If Thou wilt, condescend to look upon this [item] and bless it, that so Anael, one of Thy servants, may pause thereon with her companions to satisfy me, [name], Thy poor and humble servant, O God, blessed and exalted above all the heavenly spirits, who livest and reignest forever and ever! Amen.
O Eternal! O King Eternal! God Ineffable! Thou who hast created all things for love of me, and by a secret judgment for the health of Man do Thou deign to look upon me [name], Thy most unworthy servant, and upon my intention. Vouchsafe to send unto me Thy Angel Anael, even upon this [item], who doth order, command, and ordain her companions and Thy subjects, whom Thou hast made! O Thou Almighty Lord, who hast been, who art, and who shalt remain eternally, that in Thy Name may they judge and act justly, instructing me in all that I shall require of them.
Then, breathe upon the [item] and say:
Come, Anael! Come! And may it be thy good pleasure to be with me by thy will, in the name of + the Father most mighty + of the Son most wise + in the name of the Holy Spirit most living + Come, Anael, in the name of the terrible JEHOVAH! Come, Anael, by the virtue of the immortal ELOHIM! Come, Anael, by the right arm of the mighty METATRON! Do thou come unto me [name], and so command thy subjects that in love, joy, and peace they may manifest unto my eyes the bounty of the Lord’s harvest! So be it. Amen.
I [name] command you, Awijel, by Otheos as also by Elmez through Agios. I [name], a servant of God, conjure you, Ahenatos Elion, as also Adon was cited and called Zabaoth.
Read the following Bible verses over the [item]:
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. (Psalm 65:9)
And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail (Isaiah 58:11)
Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside the river, Like aloes planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the waters. (Numbers 24:6)
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)
Make the Sign of the Cross over yourself and the [item] and bury the [item] in your garden. Make the sign of the cross over yourself and the [item] every day for seven days or every Friday in hour of Venus for seven weeks (recommended).
Venusian workings on Fridays to procure the blessings of Anael are highly recommended. These can be as simple as lighting a candle and a brief prayer or as extensive as a full planetary or angelic evocation. As should be apparent from the verses chosen, water is a major issue in my area so feel free to adapt and modify the Bible verses to suit your particular situation.
Occult Aspects 