Modern approaches to the Goetia compared

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

People who work with the Goetic spirits today do so in very different ways. This page sketches five: traditional Solomonic evocation, psychological readings, demonolatry and devotional approaches, chaos magic and the gentle approach I use with beginners. Everything here is modern practice, from the late nineteenth century onward. I describe these approaches; I do not rank them.

If you are struggling right now, call your local emergency number (112 in Europe, 911 in the US and Canada) or see Getting help.

Traditional Solomonic evocation

Modern Some practitioners try to follow the old manuals as closely as they can. They make the circle and triangle to the measurements given, prepare the hexagram, pentagram and ring, keep the times and Moon days and recite the conjurations, sometimes from the manuscripts. Many combine the Goetia with older Solomonic texts such as the Key of Solomon, or with the manuscripts associated with Dr. Thomas Rudd, which pair each spirit with a controlling angel.

In this approach, the spirits are real and potentially dangerous, and the magician’s safety depends on divine authority, purity and correct procedure. The goal is evocation to visible appearance, in the triangle or in a dark mirror or crystal set in it. Writers in this current, such as Stephen Skinner and David Rankine, stress the Christian and Kabbalistic theology of the originals and warn against treating the rites casually.

It has the merit of fidelity. It also has costs: it is demanding in time and materials, its theology of command and threat is foreign to many modern readers, and it was designed for a trained operator, often with assistants. It is not a beginner’s method.

Psychological readings

Modern In 1904 Aleister Crowley prefaced the Goetia with an essay, “The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic.” He argued that “the spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain,” and that the ritual works by stimulating particular brain regions through the senses: the robe, the incense, the circle, the words. On this view, calling a spirit who teaches languages awakens the part of you that learns languages. Crowley partly meant it and partly meant to tease skeptics; his later writing treats spirits in more complex ways.

Lon Milo DuQuette developed a practical psychological approach in Aleister Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia (1992, with Christopher S. Hyatt) and later books. He treats the spirits as aspects of one’s own psyche while keeping the full ritual structure, and sums up his view with a well-known paradox: it is all in your head, but your head is bigger than you think. Others draw on Carl Jung and read demons as shadow material, the rejected parts of the self.

This makes the Goetia approachable for readers who do not believe in literal demons. It has its own risks. Treating a spirit as “part of me” can make strong experiences feel more personal and more disturbing, and Jung himself warned that work with the unconscious can overwhelm. If you take this route, the safety guidance still applies.

Demonolatry and devotional approaches

Modern Some practitioners approach demons not to command them but to honor them. Demonolatry, a term used by several writers and groups from the late twentieth century, treats demons as divine or semi-divine beings worthy of respect and worship. S. Connolly’s books, beginning with The Complete Book of Demonolatry (2006), are among the best known. Practitioners build altars, give regular offerings, keep feast days and use a respectful tone.

Related devotional or relational approaches stress relationship rather than worship. A practitioner may “work with” a spirit over months or years, offering thanks, keeping a shrine and asking for help as a partner. Online, much contemporary Goetic practice is of this kind.

This reverses the old theology: the Goetia commands; devotion asks. Much of what devotional practitioners report about each spirit, such as preferences, personalities and favorite offerings, comes from their own unverified personal gnosis (UPG) and community lore. Some of it is shared by many people. None of it is in the seventeenth-century text, and good devotional writers say so.

Chaos magic and sigils

Modern Chaos magic began in England in the late 1970s with writers such as Peter J. Carroll and Ray Sherwin. It treats belief as a tool: you adopt a belief system for a purpose and drop it afterward. It draws heavily on the artist Austin Osman Spare (1886 to 1956), who made personal sigils by writing a desire, removing repeated letters and combining the rest into a design that is “charged” and then forgotten.

Chaos magicians sometimes work with Goetic spirits as one system among many, or design their own “servitors” instead. A Spare-style sigil and a Goetic seal are different things, though modern writing often confuses them. A Goetic seal is a fixed historical design for a named spirit. A Spare sigil is a personal design for a personal desire.

Comparing the approaches

None of these is the “true” Goetia. All are modern ways of using a seventeenth-century text.

The approach I take with beginners

Modern When I teach beginners, I use a modern, simplified, respectful approach. It is not a reconstruction of the historical ritual, and it does not pretend to be.

What it keeps from the Goetia:

• Preparation and cleanliness, which the old texts insist on.
• A protective circle, a clear boundary you stay inside.
• The seal, drawn by hand from the 1904 design, as a focus for attention.
• A clear structure of opening, purpose and closing, ending with a license to depart adapted from the 1904 text.
• A preference for teaching offices; see which spirits suit a beginner.

What it changes:

• No command, threat or curse. A respectful call in your own words replaces the conjurations, the constraint and the curses.
• No triangle of evocation and no goal of visible appearance. It is closer to quiet contemplation with a focus.
• A short time limit, 10 to 20 minutes.
• No pacts, no promises, no blood, no harm.
• Aftercare, which the old texts barely mention: grounding, food, journaling and attention to your mood over the next days.

Why? Because a beginner’s well-being comes first. The commanding style of the old Goetia asks for a confidence and a theology few beginners have, and its threats can feed fear. A purely devotional approach, on the other hand, can encourage intense attachment to a spirit before you know how the practice affects you. The middle path lets you engage carefully, notice what happens and decide later whether to go further, in any direction, or to stop. You are free to read it psychologically, devotionally or any other way.

Demonolatry is not Satanism

People often assume anyone who works with Goetic spirits is a Satanist. That is not accurate. The best-known Satanist organizations, the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966, and The Satanic Temple, founded in 2013, are atheistic or non-theistic. They use Satan as a symbol of rebellion and self-determination and do not worship demons as beings. Some theistic Satanists do venerate Satan as a being. Demonolatry, as its own writers describe it, is a polytheistic practice honoring many demons. Goetic practitioners include Christians, Jews, Pagans, Thelemites, atheists and people with no fixed belief.

Historical Labels matter because confusion fuels fear. During the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and early 1990s, unfounded rumors of organized Satanic ritual abuse spread through the United States and other countries. Investigations, including a 1992 report by the FBI agent Kenneth Lanning, found no evidence for the organized cults that had been claimed.

Red flags, whatever the approach

Every approach above has thoughtful practitioners. Each also attracts people who use fear or mystery to sell. Watch for these patterns:

• Dares and challenges. “Summon Paimon tonight” videos use fear for views. They are not instruction.
• Paid “activated” seals. A seal is a public-domain drawing from 1904. Anyone selling an “activated,” “blessed” or “bonded” seal for a high price is selling a story.
• Pay-to-summon services. Offers to summon a spirit for you, or bind a demon to a ring, make claims no one can check and can lead to escalating payments.
• Fear selling. Being told you are “under attack” or “cursed” and need a costly cleansing is a classic scam pattern.
• Spirit-written rules. Posts that say what a spirit “demands,” with threats of punishment, are one person’s UPG at best.
• Isolation, secrecy or sex. A teacher or group that tells you to cut off family, keep secrets from everyone or obey without question, or that ties advancement to sexual contact, is a danger.

If you are under 18, do not join any adult occult group, online or off, and do not hide what you read from a parent, guardian or another safe adult.

Choosing an approach for yourself

You do not have to choose at all. Many people read the Goetia purely as history, and that is a complete way to engage with it. If you are drawn to practice, start by asking what you actually believe about spirits today, not what you think you should believe. Then ask what kind of relationship feels honest to you, and what would keep you steady if a practice left you unsettled. The answers point toward one approach or a mix. Whatever you choose, keep sessions short, keep a journal and stop if fear or fascination starts to run your days.

The online tradition

A large share of modern Goetic lore now lives online, in forums, videos, social posts and paid courses. A claim made in one popular video, for example that a spirit “likes” a certain food, can spread to thousands of posts within months and look like old knowledge after a few years. Before you accept an online claim about a spirit, ask three questions:

1. Who first said it?
2. On what basis: the Goetia, a later book or personal experience?
3. Has anyone tested it?

Often “everyone knows” turns out to mean one person, a few years ago. Many communities do share careful research and support members kindly; look for those that label their claims and welcome questions. For more, see Goetia myths you will meet online.