Friday, May 13, 2011

Conjure with the Goetia



Working with the spirits Goetia is one of those topics that gets a great deal of lip service in magical circles. Most discussions of Goetia tend to revolve around rites of evocation – ritually summoning up a spirit for the purposes of gaining information, or making some kind of arrangement for the spirit to work on behalf of the magician. Often these rites of evocation come from ceremonial sources, and the rituals involve all kinds of formal circles, with ancient languages and Names, fancy tools and lamens – and a heaping helping of trepidation. Because after all, the Goets are…wait for it…daemons!

Since many magical practitioners a great deal more practically experienced and academically learned than I have already written volumes on the various pros and cons of working with Goetic spirits, and whether one should assume a commanding and demanding demeanor with them or go with something more firm but amiable when making work arrangements, etc - I won’t presume to beat a dead horse or try to re-invent the wheel. You can learn many fantastic things by reading the writings of Frater RO who had some fantastically good and fantastically bad results in his long-time relationship with the Goetic Bune, Jason Miller who gives a nice abbreviated evocation of Bune in his book Sorceror’s Secrets, Aaron Leicht who writes some really fascinating stuff on the development of the conjurations of these spirits, Brother Moloch who has a list entirely devoted to evocation of all kinds and using all sorts of traditional and unorthodox methods, and others; and I encourage you to do so as it is quite edifying. I’ve even dipped my toes in the water by writing a fairly well-received (at least in terms of the blogosphere community of practitioners) article outlining the skills that I feel a practitioner should be competent at before trying full-on evocational magics. So there’s no need to go over the same material again.

However, despite the debates, there are still many people out there who wish to try their hand at gaining the aid of Goetic spirits for their various conjure needs. Many of those people have no training in ceremonial practices, and have no desire to gain such in order to enlist the help of the Goets. Are they just shit out of luck? No! There are certainly straight-forward methods of working with this class of spirits that will feel very natural to any rootworker or folk magic practitioner that will draw the influence of a Goet to your case. I came across one such method in my travels around the world wide internets, and it’s worked extremely well for me. Many people have asked that I share it, and so I am doing so today.

I will be quite clear that I am NOT the originator of this method. I learned it from a post to Brother Moloch’s EvocationalMagics yahoogroup by a skilled practitioner of the name Aghor Pir. He took a technique that he first heard from a long ago list member by the screen name “Thief”, and added a few elements from his own sphere of knowledge and a piece of tech from Brother Moloch to make it more reliable and increase the overall effectiveness. So, as with many pieces of occult lore, it was a process that evolved over time. I’ve since been told that the resulting operation bears striking resemblances to some Arabian magical methods of spirit work. Good tech will out, to completely bastardize a phrase. Aghor Pir has been kind enough to allow me to share this info with you all through my blog.

The process as outlined by Aghor Pir was given in the context of a sex-drawing rite that he performed with the aid of the Goetic spirit Sitri on behalf of a friend of his. As such, his instructions were explicit to that spirit and that particular petition, but it’s easy enough to extrapolate the basic process and use it with whichever Goet suits your task. I’ve used it with several Goetia spirits, including Sitri, Buer, and Bune with very positive results. In the outline below I’ve bolded the basic instructions as given by Aghor Pir, and added my own commentary in regular font.

Firstly: Prepare
Do your homework – choose which spirit suits your task by doing a bit of research, and have their seal nearby as a reference. Also look up that spirit’s Enn, which is a phrase of invocation that attracts their attention used by the Demonolatry traditions. You can find a list of them, including pronunciation at this link:
http://magikana.blogspot.com/2008/09/demonic-enns-pronunciation.html
Enns are very similar in intent and effect as Eastern mantras in producing a specific magical effect &/or of drawing a particular spirit to you.

• Prepare Part 2: Gather your supplies
Choose which condition oil and incense will fit your purpose, and have appropriate colored 4” or votive candles (or just white tealights if you’re feeling minimalist, lazy, or poor – I’ve worked with specifically colored candles, and tealights both with positive results).

Also have a white tealight available, with some spearmint essential oil, or Power oil. (Using spearmint EO as a payment for spirits is a piece of tech originated by Brother Moloch. Power oil can be substituted if you have no spearmint EO.)

You will also need a magnet – preferably flat. I also use some magnetic sand.

A picture of your target, or a direct personal concern, is also required.

I also like to incorporate a small amount of appropriate herbs that have been finely chopped or ground with suitable prayers and attention.

You may also wish to have a string of prayer beads to keep track of the number of repetitions of the enn during the ritual.

• Draw a triangle onto a sheet of paper, and on the outer side of each side of the triangle, write your petition.
I personally like to cut out a triangle from parchment paper to use for this purpose, and write the petition in an appropriately colored ink. But that’s just me being fancy. Your mileage may vary.

• Prepare the spirit’s seal. If you have some artistic ability, you may wish to draw it yourself in an appropriate colored ink, while chanting the enn. If you have no such ability, then print out the seal. When I print out a seal, I like to trace over the design with some Dragon’s Blood oil/ink, or a similar substance, while praying or in this context while chanting the enn.

• Dress your three colored candles with your condition oil as you normally would, and place one on each corner of the triangle. Anoint your white tealight with the spearmint oil and set it to the side – you will be placing it in the center of the triangle in a little while.

• Put the picture of your target, or who or whatever you wish to be affected by the spirit, in the center of the triangle. I like to put a sprinkle of the prepared herbs, or you could use condition powder, on top of the picture.

• Place the magnet on top of the picture. I usually dress the magnet with a dab of condition oil.

• Put the spirit’s seal on top of the magnet. I like to then sprinkle a bit of magnetic sand on top of the seal, as the iron fillings pull the seal down onto the magnet and target’s picture.

• The white tealight dressed with spearmint EO then goes on top of the spirit seal.

• Light the colored candles on the triangle points in a clockwise pattern.

• Chant the spirit’s enn 108 times to attract its attentions. Feel free to increase the number of chants, or otherwise tweak the number to suit your needs. I also like to ring a bell while I chant, as I’ve found this really ups the ante of getting spirit-attention, and of allowing magical intention to cross into the subtle planes.

• Light the white offeratory tealight candle, and repeat your petition making sure to personalize it by using the full name of your target. Repeat the petition 3 times.

• Then send the spirit out to do the work in a statement of release. For example, “Go Thou great spirit _________, and help ________ fulfill their desire for _________. Quickly! Quickly! Quickly! And without causing harm or suffering to anyone!” Obviously, if your petition is to cause some harm, or otherwise don’t really care how the job gets done, than you would tweak this statement to suit your situation and proclivities.

• Allow the candles to burn out.

And that’s it! Pretty straight-forward and simple. Your work may end up looking a little something like this:


This was a lust-inducing working that I did with Sitri. Sitri’s deputy with whom I made the arrangements gave me a 3 week timeline, and recommended thrice weekly repetition of the act on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The result was achieved in 2 weeks time. Sitri and crew hit hard and fast, despite some pretty complicated circumstances.



Now, in this technique, the white tealight dressed with spearmint oil is the payment for the service rendered by the spirit. So, for those who may not be adept at communicating with spirits, and therefore less able to negotiate an arrangement with a Goetic being, this method takes the guesswork out of things to a large degree. You’re not likely to end up with a ticked off daemon who feels they’ve been taken advantage of.

Still, there are some things that I do when I use this technique to help further ensure my chances of success. They are not obligatory with this method – hence why this one is so simple and easy. But I like to cover all my bases if I’m able. Especially if the job is likely to take longer to get done, or may be of a more ongoing nature. I like to try and negotiate with the spirit through divination prior to enacting this ritual to find out what approximate timeline I’m looking at for the desired results, how often the ritual may need to be repeated, and most importantly if the spirit is even willing/able to do the job I need done! And if I feel it is appropriate, I will also offer additional payment once the goal has been successfully achieved – flowers and a dressed vigil candle, and sometimes a small amount of liquor are common for me.

So before sitting down to do the ritual, I will usually craft the seal and chant the enn until I feel the spirit’s presence. I will ask the presence to identify itself to confirm that this is the spirit that I called. Sometimes the spirit will send its deputies in its stead. In that case I confirm that they are entitled to make arrangements for work and speak on behalf of the spirit summoned. Then I will explain my petition and ask if they are able to achieve the ends I desire in the way that I desire (BE SPECIFIC!!!), and in what time frame (if there is a concrete deadline – STATE IT!!!), etc. Additional payment, if appropriate, would also be discussed at this point.

Armed with all that info, I then proceed to perform the ritual.

But as stated, this particular method does not require that such tet-a-tet negotiations take place. It already has all the necessary elements for working with a Goetic spirit built in. Which makes it a really neat way to experiment with using the Goetia in your conjure work!

I still will always recommend erring on the side of caution, and avoid working with Goetic daemons that are known for being particularly “hot” or otherwise difficult when you are first starting out. That goes for any class of spirit, not just the Goets. Baby steps, people!

If you do give this a try, please feel free to share your results. I see no reason why this technique would be limited to working with the Goetic spirits, either. I would love to hear how things worked out for you, or what little tweaks you found made a difference for you.