Modern approaches and a year of study

In this lesson: Solomonic, psychological, devotional and chaos approaches to the Goetia today, and a calm twelve-month study plan.

People who work with the Goetia today do so in very different ways: some follow the old manuals to the letter, some treat the spirits as parts of the mind, some honor them devotionally and some use them as tools in chaos magic. Many simply study. This lesson describes the main modern approaches without ranking them, explains why study alone is a complete way to know the Goetia and helps you plan a calm year of reading, one step a month.

Five modern approaches

Modern Everything in this section is modern practice, from the late nineteenth century on. Traditional Solomonic practitioners follow the old manuals closely, with circle, triangle, times and conjurations, and treat the spirits as real and potentially dangerous; writers such as Stephen Skinner and David Rankine stress the Christian theology of the originals.

It is demanding and not a beginner’s method. The psychological approach goes back to 1904, when Crowley argued that “the spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain”, and Lon Milo DuQuette developed it in Aleister Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia (1992, with Christopher S. Hyatt). It makes the subject approachable, but strong experiences can feel more personal and more disturbing.

Demonolatry and devotional approaches honor demons rather than command them; S. Connolly’s The Complete Book of Demonolatry (2006) is an early example. Demonolatry is not Satanism, and its practitioners say so. Chaos magic, from the late 1970s, treated belief as a tool, as in Peter J. Carroll’s Liber Null, and drew on Austin Osman Spare’s sigils. Finally, the gentle beginner’s approach I describe on this site keeps preparation, a protective circle and a clear opening and closing, and removes command, threats, pacts and blood.

Crowley’s psychological reading

Historical In his essay at the front of the 1904 edition, “The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic”, Crowley wrote that the spirits of the Goetia are “portions of the human brain”. He suggested that the ritual works by stimulating parts of the mind, through incense, sound and concentration. Whether or not he fully believed this, it opened the door to the psychological approaches that many modern readers prefer. Later writers such as Lon Milo DuQuette, in Aleister Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia (1992), developed the idea further, playfully but seriously.

The scholarly approach

Modern There is also a purely academic approach, and it is fully compatible with this course. Historians such as Owen Davies, Richard Kieckhefer, Claire Fanger and Frank Klaassen study magic books as historical documents: who copied them, why, and how they changed. Joseph H. Peterson edits the texts carefully from manuscripts. This approach asks no belief at all, and it may be the richest way into the subject.

Study is complete in itself

You never have to practice. Reading the Goetia as history, literature or a window on early modern fears is a full and worthwhile way to know it. If you decide on any practice later, be 18 or over, sober and rested, and read the safety guide first.

A year of study

A calm plan takes one step a month. In the first five months, read the history pages in order: the history of the Goetia, King Solomon and the ring, Weyer and Scot (and look up Scot’s Book 15 in a library or digital edition), the Lemegeton and Mathers and Crowley, 1904.

In months six and seven, study ranks and offices and seals, circle and triangle. From month eight to month eleven, read six spirits a month in the spirit directory with your three colored pencils. In month twelve, review modern approaches and the myths, and write down what you now think.

A year of study, month by month

If you want structure, here is one possible plan for twelve months of reading. In months one and two, reread this course and read Owen Davies’s Grimoires. In month three, read the 1904 Goetia introduction and the first ten spirit entries. In month four, read Weyer’s or Scot’s list for the same spirits and compare. In month five, read about Mesopotamian and Jewish demonology from a museum or scholarly source.

In month six, read Josephus and the Testament of Solomon. In months seven and eight, read Richard Kieckhefer’s Forbidden Rites or Magic in the Middle Ages. In month nine, read about the witch trials, for example Brian Levack’s The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. In months ten and eleven, choose one modern approach to read about with a critical eye. In month twelve, reread your journal from lesson 1 and write what has changed.

Crowley’s words, read closely

Historical It is worth reading Crowley’s short argument in his own words, because it is so often summarized loosely. In the 1904 essay he asks whether any of the effects in the book can be explained rationally, answers “I can, and will”, and continues: “The spirits of the Goetia are portions of the human brain. Their seals therefore represent (Mr. Spencer’s projected cube) methods of stimulating or regulating those particular spots (through the eye).” He then explains the names of God as “vibrations” meant to control the brain, and adds that “the perfumes aid this through smell.”

Read as a historian, the passage tells you a lot about 1904. Crowley borrows the language of the new brain science of his day and applies it to a seventeenth-century book. You do not need to agree with him to see what he was doing: making an old Christian manual sound modern and scientific. Many later psychological approaches start from this one page.

How to read a modern book critically

Most modern books on demons mix history, practice and personal experience. A few calm questions help you sort them, and they work for any book on the subject.

Does it give sources? A good book names its manuscripts, editions and scholars, so you can check them. Vague phrases such as “ancient tradition holds” with no source are a warning sign.

Does it separate layers? The best authors say clearly when they move from the 1904 text to Golden Dawn correspondences or to their own experience. You can use the same three colored pencils you used in lesson 5.

What does it promise? Be wary of books that promise money, love or power, or that warn of terrible punishment for small mistakes. Both kinds of promise keep readers anxious and buying.

Who is it for? Some books are written for experienced practitioners and assume things this course does not teach. Reading them as documents of modern religion is fine, as long as you remember that you are studying, not following instructions.

Variations on the year plan

The twelve-month plan is only one shape. If a year feels too long, try a three-month version: one month of history pages, one month of six spirit entries read with colored pencils and one month for a single scholarly book. If you prefer libraries to screens, choose the plan around what your local library can lend or order, and ask a librarian about interlibrary loans for older editions.

If you study with a friend, read the same entry separately, then compare notes over coffee. Two readers notice different things, and explaining a difference aloud is one of the best ways to understand it. Whichever shape you choose, the habit matters more than the speed.

One more question beginners ask: “What if my interest fades after a few months?” That is fine. A shorter period of careful reading still leaves you with real knowledge and a notebook you can return to.

Questions beginners ask

Do I need to choose an approach? No. Many people stay with study and never practice, and that is a complete path.

How do I judge a modern book? Check whether it gives sources, separates history from personal experience and avoids promises of power or wealth.

Is it safe to join an online group? Be careful. Look for groups that respect boundaries, do not pressure members and do not glorify harm. Leave any group that makes you afraid.

Myths to drop: There is no one “correct” modern approach. Study is not a lesser path than practice. And a long reading list is not a test; read at your own pace.

A worked example

Imagine someone who finished this course in January. She writes twelve lines in her notebook, one per month, and keeps them short: “February: history page, slowly.” By June she has read the five history pages and has a timeline taped inside her notebook cover. In the autumn, reading six spirits a month, she notices that the gentle offices, teaching herbs, languages and astronomy, outnumber the frightening ones more than she expected.

In December she reopens the page from lesson 1, where she had written “films, fear”. Next to it she adds: “Now: a long human story about fear, learning and authority.” She never practiced anything, and she knows the Goetia better than most people who own a copy.

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

Try this

Write a twelve-line plan, one line per month, for your own year of study. Then look at the page you wrote in lesson 1. What has changed?

Recap

Modern approaches to the Goetia include traditional Solomonic work, Crowley’s and DuQuette’s psychological reading, demonolatry, which is not Satanism, chaos magic and the gentle beginner’s approach on this site. None is required: study alone is a complete way to know the Goetia. A year of study, one step a month, moves from history to ranks and seals, then to the spirits themselves, and ends with your own reflection.

What next

Press “Mark as done” and continue with One spirit, three sources: a comparison practice. Then read modern approaches and which spirits suit a beginner. For the wider story of ceremonial magic, from the Hermetica to the Golden Dawn, take Occult History for Beginners.

Further reading: Owen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (2009). Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Sources

• S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (Boleskine, 1904).
• Lon Milo DuQuette and Christopher S. Hyatt, Aleister Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia (Tempe: New Falcon, 1992).
• S. Connolly, The Complete Book of Demonolatry (DB Publishing, 2006).
• Peter J. Carroll, Liber Null (1978).

Go deeper: the Goetia pages on this site

Mark as done