Thoughts About the Cult of Set-Typhon in Roman-Egypt

I recently wrote an article about how the early Egyptian Christians, Sethian Gnostics and the purported owner of the PGM (Greek Magical Papyri) collection of spells all lived in proximity to each other, and their book burying occurred all within a couple hundred years or less. What I was thinking was that maybe there was some kind of connection between the writers and owners of the books of the Nag Hammadi Library, the Bruce Codex and the PGM. I was intrigued by this connection, but further reflection (and the help of Jake Stratton-Kent who likes to throw cold water on my fervent ideas) has caused me to consider some other options. It is just that the religious world-view of the PGM is so different than the world-view of the early Christians and Sethians that they must be considered incompatible.

What throws my previous thoughts into question is that the role of Set-Typon in the PGM is so pronounced in the various spells which populate that work, so it would have been impossible for Christians or Sethians to even consider them as sources for their work. To them, Set-Typhon was the Devil, perhaps even more evil and diabolical than the supposed Archons who at least were lawful evil instead of turbulent and chaotic evil (like the evil of foreign conquerors). Also, there was no confusion between their Jewish patriarchal hero Seth and the Egyptian God Set despite what some earlier scholars of Gnosticism have claimed. (Jake also supplied me with this paper to read, and you can find it here.)

Set didn’t always have such a bad reputation in Egypt, and in fact he had cultic locations in Avaris and upper Egypt in the delta region (Ombos-Naqada, Kom Ombo, Oxyrhynchus, the Fayum, and particularly, Sepermeru). Set had the exclusive privilege of protecting Ra and his solar-boat entourage in the underworld by nightly killing the great serpent Apep who threatened the Sun-God in the seventh hour of the Am Duad. He was consistently honored as an important deity in the desert oases that bordered the great western desert, along with his wife, Nephthys. His son was supposedly Anubis, so there could have been a connection between Set, Anubis, and the funeral rites of embalming and entombing. Set is a dark and chthonic deity, but he was also the patron god of solders and the warrior pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

The Set animal, unlike the rest of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses who were represented by both animals and human qualities, is characterized by an unknown mythic creature. His elongated snout and long rectangular ears, thin forked tail and canine body might be considered the suggested representation of an aardvark, but other animals became associated with Set as well, such as the fennel fox, jackass, wild pig or the desert jackal. Set symbolizes the desert storms, such as the Khamsin, that plague both upper and lower Egypt during the spring, and as such, he represents the opposite of the regulatory power of Maat that was so important to Egyptian religious thinking. However, violence had its uses, and in the case of the underworld solar boat journey, Set’s violent nature was put to constructive use. He was therefore the deity most associated with warriors and warfare. However, he was also associated with jealousy, fratricide, deception, homosexuality and foreign invaders from the East. Set’s composite animal nature was supposedly explained by the fact that he was impatient to be born and so tore himself loose from his mother’s body, Nuit, while he was still not completely formed. To make up for this discrepancy, he used the parts of other animals to complete himself.

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As an aside, I have always wondered why the Egyptians would have represented their deities as a synthesis of human and animal. Not all deities were depicted as both human and animals (such as Amun), but many of them were. The Greek and the Romans found this peculiar mixing to be quite strange, and it became a hallmark of later Greco-Egyptian synchretism (such as Serapis, Aion, Abraxas, and other animal-human deities of late antiquity). However, very few modern Egyptologists have explained this phenomenon in a manner that made any sense. They seem to gloss over this peculiarity and not attempt to explain what was actually behind it. There just didn’t seem to be any answer that would account for this kind of perspective, particularly since modern western people have been so influenced by the Greeks and the Romans who saw the animal human deities of Egypt as archaic, barbarous and somehow quaint. The way to approach this question is to turn it around and ask how did the Egyptians perceive nature itself. Once the question is turned around then it is much easier to answer. I recently read the follow section in one of Jan Assmann’s books, “The Search for God in Ancient Egypt,” and I have decided to quote it here, since it more than adequately answers this question.    

“To the Egyptians, nature was curiously open in directions that set it apart from our concept, in the direction of culture – following from the principle of the ‘social interpretation’ of nature,” ... and in the direction of the supernatural. To them, nature was ‘supernatural’ in a way that fundamentally prevented the concept of nature. ... The Egyptians did not experience the divine in nature in explicable, exceptional cases like rainbows, earth quakes, solar and lunar eclipses and the like, but in the regularity of diurnal and annual cyclic processes. Nature was not something distinct from the gods, something that they created, over which they exerted influence, of which they had charge. Although statements to this effect abound, inextricably connected with them and sometimes in the very same text, we find the concept that deities were themselves these natural elements and phenomena. The Egyptians did not view their gods and goddesses as beyond nature, but rather in nature and thus as nature. The deities were ‘natural,’ – that is, cosmic – to the same extent that nature or the cosmos was divine.” (pages 63 - 64)

The use of animal human hybrids in the depiction of Egyptian deities was a way for the ancient Egyptians to show that nature functioned in the guise of deities, and that life itself was a common but supernatural condition. Greece and Rome sought to discover the “will of the gods” through the occurrence of remarkable or unusual natural phenomenon. Thus today, we are prone to look for examples of deity in nature by observing exceptional natural events instead of seeing the whole of the cyclic phenomenon of nature as emanations of deity within and a part of nature. This perspective espoused by the Egyptians was a product of early Bronze age paganism, but it managed to be conserved and even refined in Egypt over the many centuries while more modern perspectives (that we would recognize) emerged in the western and eastern Mediterranean, such as those of Persia, Greece, Rome, and even Judea. While the pagan perspectives of ancient Egypt were archaic by the standards of other nations, the ideas that they espoused are oddly more relevant today than they were in antiquity. However, I have digressed from the original point of my article.

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During the second intermediate period in Egypt, the Hyksos king Apophis established the deity Set as a monolatry probably because he resembled the favored Semitic storm deity Hadad, which would have been recognizable to the Shepherd Kings and their people who infiltrated and eventually conquered northern Egypt. When the Egyptians, under the Pharaoh Ahmose, pushed the Hyksos out of Egypt, the garrison at the old Hyksos capital, Avaris, continued to promote the cult of Set. Set was later incorporated as an important deity in the theology of the New Kingdom, particularly during the Rameside period, where he represented the military power of the Pharaoh and the Egyptian empire. The Pharaoh Seti used the name “Man of Set” to represent his throne name, and several other Pharaohs from that period also incorporated the deity name Set into their throne names.

However, the deity Set lost his place of honor when foreigners invaded and completely conquered Egypt, beginning with the Persians and then later with the Greeks and Romans. It would appear that Set became identified with foreigners and foreign rule. There was also always the wicked reputation that Set had in his role as the brother of Osiris and his murderer. The role of the evil adversary was amplified in later periods of foreign occupation. By the time Christianity became a powerful religious force in Egypt, Set had become associated with the Greek monster Typhon and was considered a deity of evil and destruction. It is likely that Set-Typon personified the invaders who robbed Egypt of its sovereignty, so to good, lawful and observant Christian Egyptians, he would have exemplified the Devil incarnate. It is for this reason that Christians would have continued to vilify Set-Typhon as the Devil, and any magical charms or spells that invoked his name would have been considered highly diabolic. Since Set-Typhon represented the foreign enemy of the local Egyptians, anyone who would have associated themselves with him, whether from the standpoint of religion or even magic, would have been perceived as pagan diabolists.

What that means is that the individuals who would have been using the spells as they were written in the PGM were very much vested in paganism, and in particular a magically diabolic form of paganism. This would be true despite the fact that author of these spells also shamelessly borrowed various incompatible religious forms in a very synchretistic manner from nearly every known religion. Was there a cult of Set still functioning in Egypt during the first three centuries of the common era? Little is known about what happened to the cultic centers that worshiped Set, but it seems obvious that they would have been severely diminished and then shut down some time after the period of Persian occupation. There appears to be some evidence that Set was still worshiped in western desert oases, but his other known shrines had shut down by then.

It would seem that those who still honored Set would have kept their worship secret and likely underground. Magical spells written by pagan sorcerers that required the acquisition of the harshest of magical powers or the ability to fight against foreign domination and persecution might have adopted Set as their patron deity, and even formed a kind of underground insurgency against a common foe. There does seem to be some minor evidence showing that the magical rites of the PGM in some cases duplicated magical practices found in the various cults of the Egyptian priesthood, as noted and reported by the Greek physician, Thessalos, when he visited Priests in Thebes in the 2nd century CE.

Ironically, while many individuals flocked to the new Christian churches and monasteries, others may have been more inclined to keep the worship of the old deities alive, particularly those, like Set, who afforded a certain currency against the oppressive regime. Those who wielded the magical spells as found in the PGM would have been outsiders and inimical to the interests of the nascent Christian church, and therefore would have been passionately condemned by them. The itinerant pagan sorcerer was not someone who would been a devotee to the newly arising creed, but he might have had no difficulty in appropriating various elements of that creed for his own magical purposes.

Even so, the early Christians in Egypt continued to work forms of magic, as the numerous ostracae would indicate, but that magic had changed so that it used Christian nomenclature even though some of the words of power were the same. There is a continuity between the kind of magic worked in the PGM and that employed by the later Christians, but Christian magic was scoured of all references to pagan deities. The owner of the PGM scroll might have lived in the same neighborhood as the Christians and Sethians, but the worlds they occupied were quite different and distinct. It is unlikely that much contact would have occurred between those who practiced pagan sorcery and those who were Christian or Sethian monks. When we include the myths of the chthonic Greek deity Typhon it becomes quite clear why there was such a distinction between pagan sorcerers and Christian groups.

Typhon was a great monster of epic proportions, a human body with a hundred dragon heads, as depicted in ancient Greek mythology. He was sent by Gaia to fight against Zeus and eventually lost that battle. He was imprisoned underneath Mount Aetna, but with his consort, Echidna, he sired several children, some of whom like Cerberus, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion, and other monsters were famous in their own right. Typhon was the son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus (Hell), so he was a deity of the earth and the underworld, somewhat like Set. The association of Set and Typhon would have certainly empowered Set from a Greek perspective, but made his chthonic qualities even more pronounced so that he would appear completely dark, foreboding and diabolical. As a monstrous power of the deadly underworld, Set-Typhon would have been a remarkable combination, and the hybrid deity would not be one that anyone would lightly summon or seek aid from. Those who made Set-Typhon the center of their religious and magical work would have been considered extreme diabolists, and would likely have had fearsome reputations in their community, that is, if anyone knew about them at all. I can imagine an underground cult of Set-Typhon whose adherents practiced fearsome magical rites and spells, but there is scant proof that such a community ever existed.

Jake is correct in stating that the PGM represents a world view outside and exclusive to that which would have been practiced by Egyptian Christians and even Sethians. They might have employed a vaguely similar form of magic, but it would have been incompatible with the spells of the PGM. Thus, the Headless One exorcism rite is likely unique to the PGM work (and other contemporaneous pagan inspired magic) and wouldn’t have been found amongst the rites and spells that the Sethians might have used. Although I still think that it’s possible that they did perform exorcisms on their initiates as part of the regimen of their work.

Christianity spread very quickly in Egypt during the first few centuries of the common era, and not long after the Theban sorcerer (who owned the PGM scroll) was buried in his tomb, the community religious culture in that locale might have already been changing. In less than a century, the PGM scroll and the magic that it represented would have been something of an anachronism. Pagan sorcerers at that time and in that locality likely went completely underground or maybe even slowly disappeared altogether. They were replaced first by adherents of the Coptic Christian church who practiced magic and later by adherents to Islam, who did the same. Sorcerers for hire have always had to change their methods (and the religions in which they operated) in order to stay employed and keep their customers satisfied. It is likely that such a change happened there just like it did in the rest of the world.

Frater Barrabbas

Book Review: Geosophia and Demonic Musings

Although I read the two volume book “Geosophia” written by Jake Stratton-Kent almost a year ago, I hadn't been able to fully resolve all my thoughts about the topic enough to warrant a proper book review. Recently, the last pieces of the puzzle have come into place, and my overall opinion of Goetic Magick has undergone an evolution over the last couple of years. When the book “True Grimoire” first came out, I held the opinion that one had to balance any kind of spiritual relationship with demons with that of the corresponding angel, and I felt that the True Grimoire had too great an emphasis on the demonic, with hardly any kind of corresponding work with angels. I saw this imbalance as a potential problem for anyone who would attempt to work with this grimoire, and even said that is was like giving a loaded gun to a child. Additionally, my biggest problem with the True Grimoire is that it stipulated that the goetic magician must make a kind of blood pact with the infernal ambassador Scirlin, and I considered this requirement as a barrier to ever working with such a grimoire. Still, things do have a way of changing and evolving if one is open minded and capable of growing.

The answer that I was seeking to unlock my own puzzle over the nature of good and evil was discovered in two parts, with the first being found in the book “Crossed Keys,” where it seemed that the results of the author’s ritual workings were highly influenced by his belief system, his intention and internalized values. What I realized (and actually already knew in a different manner) was that there couldn’t be a preconceived overall value system that would tie all magicians and their experiences about spirits into a unified and simplified spiritual classification. In order to truly understand and realize the nature of any given spirit, the magician must invoke that spirit and develop a relationship with it. I found that we couldn’t trust the written texts and lore of the old grimoires because we, as a culture and a people, had lost that kind of simple faith. For the post modern ritual magician, there is no generalized good and evil, since what is actually experienced is a combination of the magician’s present day beliefs, sentiments and intentions in regards to the magick that he or she performs. Where this becomes very complex and highly contextual is when spirits become the focus of a magician’s work.    

What I discovered essentially caused me to realize that the lore and descriptions about spirits, particularly demons, was based on a very antique and conservative Christian definition of the spiritual hierarchy. Since these sentiments are actually quite alien to my own spiritual beliefs, then I must be careful in accepting them, or in fact, I might consider rejecting them outright. What this does is put the entire spiritual value system that stipulates that angels are good and demons are evil as being both irrelevant and inconsistent with my own modern pagan based spiritual beliefs. Thus, the question of good and evil, in regards to morality and the supposed characteristics of spirits, becomes nothing more than a question of relativity. I think that I stated this concept quite well in my article posted nearly a year ago, entitled “Does Culture Influence Occultism and Spirituality?” (you can find that article here), and I believe that the answer to that question was a resounding affirmative. A quote from that article pretty much presents what I discovered at that time, and it allowed me to completely loosen the frame of reference that I had been using previously.

“The question of good and evil therefore becomes a relative question instead of one that is steeped in universal principles. In order to intelligibly speak about demons, devils and spirits of the dead, we need to first define our own spiritual foundation, and based on that alone, establish our judgements on the nature of these spirits, their use in magick, and their overall spiritual characteristics.”

This first answer allowed me to completely re-evaluate the antique lore about demons and approach them not as a class of evil and malignant spirits, but as one of individual and independent spirits, each with its own personality and characteristics. It makes such a document as the “Pseudomonarchia Daemonum” written by Johann Weyer (1563) and other analogous or associated documents seem to be completely irrelevant for the modern practitioner. The problem with this whole methodology is that to make generalizations about classes of spirits is likely to be more erroneous than useful, especially if that classification system is as old and antique as many of the grimoires that dealt specifically with demons.

As a technological culture we rely on classifications to describe and categorize all material objects and phenomena. Science has taught us to rely on these classifications, since we continue to find them relevant and useful for ordering the natural world. However, when it comes to spiritual entities, we can no longer hold to rigid classifications, since what we are dealing with is wholly subjective and determinant on the personal perspective of the magician performing the invocation or evocation. Spiritual classifications are not based on any kind of objective reality, so they must be more malleable and mutable than scientific classifications if they are deemed to be useful at all. Ultimately, it is up the practicing magician to build up a hierarchy based on his or her personal observations when invoking spirits. In other words, a magician must build up the listing of characteristics of the spirits in his or her spiritual hierarchy based mostly on observation and personal experience. While it is useful to place a grid of symbolic correspondences over such a list, the ultimate determinant of any specific spirit’s character must be based on summoning and establishing a relationship with that spirit.

Despite this realization, I still found approaching the True Grimoire nearly impossible because I resisted the idea that anyone should make a blood pact with an infernal spirit, ambassador or not. I also found the whole concept of an infernal hierarchy influenced far too much by the antique and conservative Christianity underlying the spiritual faith associated with the old grimoires. I just didn’t buy into the gothic perspective of either demonolatry or engaging with supposed malefic spirits, so I felt that I couldn’t approach the True Grimoire on its own terms. That was where I had left things over a year ago when I had completed reading Jake’s two volume set. I saw the continuity that Jake had intended to create from the two volumes of Geosophia to the final product of those considerations, which is the True Grimoire. I agreed with all of Jake’s premises established in that work, but I couldn’t get beyond that barrier and find any kind of use for the demon based magical system of the True Grimoire. I had reached a kind of logger-head and couldn’t make any further progress.

One thing that I have researched over the months is that the whole concept of demons representing hostile, lowly and evil spirits is based on a more recent definition of the word daemons, particularly, the influence and perspectives of medieval Christianity. If we go back to the writings of Iamblichus, we will find no mention of cacodaemons or evil spirits. According to the writings of Iamblichus, daimons functioned as an intermediary between humans and the Gods. As intermediaries, they didn’t have any independent volition, but acted as agents for the will of the Gods. In fact, if we examine the general hierarchy of spirits that Iamblichus espoused, we will see that daimons were not, in fact, either infernal or lower than mankind. Here is what that hierarchy looked like. (See the book “Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus” by Gregory Shaw - Penn State Press - 1995)

1. Gods

2. Archangels

3. Angels

4. Daimons

5. Heroes (Demi-gods)

6. Archons (sub lunary)

7. Archons (material)

8. Human Souls

(See Shaw, p. 79)

It would seem that the daimons are actually functioning as intermediaries, just below the angelic hierarchical level, but far above the level of human souls. According to Iamblichus, daimons and heroes served as media connecting the extremes of human souls and Gods. The daimons, according to Iamblichus were analogous to the laws of nature, since they were instrumental in binding human souls to their bodies. The role of the heroes was what Shaw called “epistrophe,” aiding human souls (when they were ready) to be released from the bondage to their bodies and ascend to the Gods.

Additionally, it would seem that Iamblichus’ teacher, Porphyry espoused a de-sacralized cosmos, where the daimons were inferior to human souls, due to the simple fact that he believed that human souls were not bound to the human body. It would seem that the concept of daimons representing a lower level than humans, or even an infernal level (in Hell) was proposed by Porphyry and later adopted by early Christian theologians. Perhaps an earlier perspective of this philosophical definition of daimons can be found in the writings of Xenocrates, who became the leader of the Athenian Academe after its founder, Plato, passed away. I have gone over the historical progression of how daimons became synonymous with evil spirits in my article “Whence Cometh the Demons,” which you can find here. I would like to add that the body of lore about demonic spirits was taken up by many different hands, but that the whole basis of this hierarchy and its importance has its source in Greek philosophy and various sects and systems of antique occultism. 

Despite all of these various revelations, my opinion about working with demons hadn’t really changed. I believed that only a balanced working that involved both angels and demons would actually produce the safest results within a magical practice. This kept me from really apprizing the True Grimoire and being able to determine its value, since I was unwilling to undergo the first step of establishing a blood pact with the infernal ambassador, Scirlin. 

All that changed recently when the second part of the answer I was seeking came to me in the guise of a series of conversations between myself and my old friend, Lugh. My friend Lugh is a practitioner of the ATR systems of magick, and he is initiated into a number of cults and organizations, most notably for this article, Palo Mayombe. It was he who gave me the final answer that I had been pondering and searching for all these months. That answer was that all spirits, according to Palo teachings, are to be approached independently and that a kind of treaty is sought and achieved with that spirit. It requires a dialog and the establishment of a relationship, which can’t be accomplished in a single evocation.

What the practitioner does is to summon a spirit and communicate with it. He will then, perhaps over a period of time, find out the nature of that spirit, what it can do (and can’t do), and then when all of this is known, he will tell the spirit what he wants, and then ask that spirit what it wants in return. One doesn’t have to assume that the spirit will want the operator’s blood or some kind of irrevokable bond, instead the spirit might ask for something simple, perhaps some food and drink, or even a mere token. Each spirit is approached in this manner regardless of its classification or associated mythic lore, and so a respectful relationship is established with a kind of quid pro quo exchange.

This is what the Palo adherents call a treaty - it is not considered a pact as much as it is a sign of an important spiritual relationship. I found this answer to be both simple, direct and without any kind of bias or prejudice. Such an approach requires the magician to be respectful and seek a relationship with that spirit. He doesn’t command, coerce or bind the spirit to his will, nor does he perceive the spirit to be inferior or implicitly hostile. Some spirits will be harsh and angry, some will be benevolent and others will be neutral; but in any case, each spirit is perceived as a unique individual with its own specific characteristics. The revelation of those spiritual characteristics are completely subjective and relative to the spiritual perspective of the magician.

Therefore, if I seek to engage with the spirits of the True Grimoire, then I will have to approach them as unique individuals despite how they might be defined in any renaissance Christian based document. While it is assumed that the infernal ambassador called Scirlin requires a blood pact in order to engage with the rest of the demonic spirits, that requirement could be tested by simply establishing a relationship with Scirlin and finding out what it would want in return for access to the spiritual powers of the True Grimoire.

Perhaps the most important rule operating in this kind of work is to never make any assumptions, and that the magician should be strong enough to deal with any kind of challenge, including invoking spirits that might otherwise be either harsh or even hostile. In other words, I should take the directions associated with any grimoire with a grain of salt, and that what is written is going to be subjected to my beliefs and spiritual alignment. So this is the answer that would allow me to progress in my dealings with the True Grimoire, or any other grimoire that I might be interested in incorporating. The key to this work is that the magician must first access, engage and then establish a relationship with the target spirit, and then over time, determine the basis of a treaty. In forming a treaty, the magician need not do anything that he or she would feel uncomfortable with or would find out-of-bounds. This is a negotiation, and like all negotiations, some things can be required, while other things are kept out-of-bounds by both parties.

Now that I have crossed this threshold that was holding me back, I can understand how to properly approach Goetic magick and demonic spirits. I can also more adequately judge Jake Stratton-Kent’s work, from Geosophia to the True Grimoire. With that in mind, let me now present my review of the work Geosophia.

Review of Geosophia - Volumes 1 and 2

The two volumes have to be taken as two parts of one complete work. To attempt to review just one volume independently would be absurd. I have often found that some reviewers will take a multi-volume work and attempt to review just one of the parts, and this will produce a review that is both incomplete and erroneous. For this reason, I will treat these two books as one work, since they are integral and contiguous.

Geosophia is modeled on the mythic adventure of Jason and the Argonauts, but in the very beginning, the author defines this mythic adventure in a very different manner. This adventure is actually a shamanic underworld journey, and the boat called the Argo is the medium of making the passage into the underworld. While the journey has an interesting geographic element, the actual destination of Colchis is really in the dark underworld domain of spirits. The quest is for the Golden Fleece, which in reality is the Shaman’s healing and empowering aegis. It would seem that Jake has brilliantly taken a popular Greek myth and brought into the context of an ancient system of spirit shamanism. Yet that shamanism has its roots not in Greek culture, but in the older and more archaic cultures to the east, Thrace and Phrygia, where a form of eastern Mediterranean shamanism, goetic magic and necromantic mystery cults have their source and origin. This is also the source of the teachings of Pythagorus and mysteries of Orpheus. In some ways, the journey of the Argonauts (called by Jake, the Argonautica) not only seeks to enter into the domain of spirits, but it also recapitulates the journey that these systems of magic made from East to West in reverse, as if to seek the source both within the underworld as well as in the unknown eastern lands of Thrace.

I found this whole concept to be novel, fascinating and quite believable. While the combined two volumes make for a rather long reading regimen, the contents of the two books more than make up for the sheer volume of information presented. Amidst all of the details of this work, I found nothing either boring, redundant or irrelevant. Everything in this work is there for a very strategic purpose, and there is no digression whatsoever.

Some of the information covered by these two volumes brings together a seemingly diverse amount of classical material, whose relationship to goetic magic is only now revealed to be compelling and instructive. Jake covers the full spectrum of those mysterious Sibyls, and even presents a practical method for invoking one of them. He covers the geography of Hades and how it represents an underworld model accessible to ancient and modern mankind, accessible through the shamanic trance. Other topics covered are the various mystery cults in antiquity of the Necromanteia (divination via the heroic dead), the critical importance of Dionysus and Orpheus, Media as the personification of the Great Mother, and the hierosgamos and deification of Jason and Medea, where Media functions as a kind of magician’s scarlet woman. The homeward journey of the Argonauts is analogous to the Goetic magician bringing the powers of the spirit world into the mundane world, thereby revivifying it. To put greater context to all of these suppositions, the Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (PGM) is examined and key elements of that book are shown to contain the hidden and obscured practices of the goetic arts in antiquity. The later Picatrix and Sabean planetary and astrological magic demonstrates a continuity of these practices from late antiquity to the middle ages.

Some of the points that Jake makes in his two volume book are quite compelling and integral to an understanding of the continuity and relevancy of ancient goetic magic and the practices performed today by various individuals and traditions. These points are:

• All Greek deities have a chthonic foundation and source-godhead attribute. It is as if to say that the Olympians all started out as underworld gods and only later assumed the status of heavenly deities.
• Source for the Greek Mysteries is likely came from Thrace and Phrygia, and in fact, much of the religious, spiritual and mystical found in Greek culture has its source in that geographic locality. It is likely here that the foundation for goetic magic has its source, as part of the archaic system of eastern Mediterranean shamanism
• Goetic magic later became a part of the practices of necromancy in ancient Greece, and spread from there to around the Mediterranean world. It would appear that there is a continuity in practices in regards to goetic magic, from the ancient world through the middle ages and on to the renaissance and to modern times.

So, it would seem that the premise presented by Jake Stratton-Kent, that Goetic magic is a Greek phenomenon with Thracian roots, is quite compelling. No one else that I am aware of has traced the history of this practice so accurately and pulled together so many fascinating elements into a seamless whole, as if they were once indeed part of a spiritual and magical tradition. I had written a criticism of this premise put forward by Jake in a previous article, and you can find it here. However, after reading over this two volume work, I would have to fully agree with this premise. While it might be true that Jewish occultists had their own perspective on demonic magick, and they may have contributed to some of the demonic names that are used today for these entities, the Jewish and Christian belief that human souls are superior to the infernal demons has done little to add to the practice of Goetic magick. In fact, one could say that it has unfortunately muddied the water considerably.

My only criticism of this two volume work is that there are no citations indicating the supporting premises that Jake has made throughout this work. I am fortunate because I have actually read most of the books that appear in the bibliography listed at the end of volume 2, so I have a pretty good idea as to the source material that would support these claims. I found myself nodding my head, saying to myself, that I had found this statement or that in some of the works that I have read in the past. However, this won’t help either the goetic practitioner or the erstwhile student who would like to delve deeper into the source material that Jake used to determine his thesis. 

Jake’s reason for omitting all of the citations is that it would interfere with the flow of his narrative, and perhaps he is correct in that judgement. Often scholarly works have so many footnotes, comments and citations that it does make the bottom of the page quite busy. It could be said that such books have so many citations that they could alone easily be made into an independent book. Still, it is my opinion that the lack of these citations unfortunately lessens the importance and value of this work. Perhaps a future edition might incorporate all of these missing citations, and that work would represent perhaps one of the greatest contributions to both scholarly research and the necessary lore for a comprehensive understanding of the history and evolution of Goetic Magick.

One of my earlier opinions, though, still stands, and that is I wish that the two volume Geosophia had been written and published before the True Grimoire. Looking at the True Grimoire in the context of Geosophia gives it greater value and continuity. That was something that Jake had promised, and he did indeed deliver. However, I would not have made such a fool of myself in my earlier comments about the True Grimoire had I been able to read Geosophia before I read the True Grimoire. It would seem that with my most recent revelations and having read the Geosophia, I will now have to re-read the True Grimoire, and perhaps I will discover a more practical and down to earth manner of harnessing its wisdom and power.

Finally, taking into account all of these considerations written above, I must declare that I recommend all three volumes of the Geosophia I & II, and the True Grimoire. All of these works are brilliantly written, researched and represent a possible new wave in the theory and practice of Goetic Magick. However, I would recommend starting with the Geosophia, and then when the contents of that monumental work are fully digested, to move on to reading the True Grimoire.

Frater Barrabbas

Ancient Greece - Sole Source of Goetic Magick?

I have recently read an article about a forthcoming book from Scarlet Imprint that touts the revelation of the source of Goetic magick as being a purely Greek phenomena. The book that is promoting this perspective is the much anticipated second installment of the Encyclopaedia Goetica, written by Jake Stratton-Kent, which has the title, “Geosophia: The Argo of Magic.” You can find the announcement of this new book here – I will certainly buy it, at least to thoroughly acquaint myself with Jake’s thesis.

While I must wait just like everyone else for this book to be printed and distributed, which will occur some time later this autumn, I can at least make a few comments about the reputed theme of this work. I will have to read it thoroughly before I can accurately gauge its usefulness and judge the plausibility of its principle theory. I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical about this claim. I feel this way because I have read the book “The True Grimoire,” and found within it some of Jake’s pronouncements about the historical authenticity of that grimoire compared to the Goetia of the Lemegeton. These comments seemed to be quite personally biased, and in my opinion, without much merit. I have found that what Jake has said contradicts what David Rankin and Stephen Skinner have proposed in their book “Goetia of Dr. Rudd.” Jake has some strong opinions about Goetic magick, its history and evolution from the early Renaissance to the 21st century. Jake seems to believe that the actual history of Goetic magick goes all the way back to the practice of necromancy in ancient Greece, and that the Goetic tradition, represented by some grimoires, has an unbroken lineage of practitioners.

While there is little doubt that there is a Greek source to the Goetic tradition, there are other cultural elements that were mixed in as well. I also don’t agree with any argument that proposes an unbroken lineage based on very sketchy circumstantial evidence. However, Jake is a brilliant writer and occultist, even if some of his arguments don’t seem to be very plausible to me. However, his opinions are often controversial but also compelling, so they are not easily dismissed or overturned. Instead, they offer quite a bit of material to ponder, analyze and compare against what others have said - practitioners and scholars.

The main theme of the book is quoted from the pre-sales text found on the publisher’s web page. I would like to discuss this theme and add some of my own questions and thoughts about it for my readers to ponder along with me.

“Geosophia is a very important text. Tracing the development of magic from the Greeks to the grimoires it lays bare the chthonic roots of ritual. By exposing the necromantic origins of much of modern magic we are able to reconnect with the source of our ritual tradition. There is a continuity of practice in the West which encompasses the pre-Olympian cults of Dionysus and Cybele, is found in the Greek Magical Papyri and Picatrix and flows into the grimoires.”

While I might be intrigued by the ideas promoted in this book’s advertisement, some of Jake’s opinions are both puzzling and appear to go against the grain of what academics have established as a basic understanding of the period of late antiquity, and the various occult ideas that were flourishing at that time. We should keep in mind that the time period and culture that we are talking about existed over a couple of thousand years ago. Existing source material is scarce, even for popular writings of such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle, or even the plays of Aristophanes, some of which are lost to time. Obscure grimoires and occult writings are nearly nonexistent. Modern occultists have had to reconstruct these ancient systems using very meager literary sources enlivened with a great deal of imagination. For instance, to this day, we still know very little about the mystery cults practiced in antiquity, and in most cases, not enough information exists to accurately replicate them.

Using single sources, such as the “Greek Magical Papyri” as representing the whole of the tradition of magick in late antiquity could also be a problem. Often, practical magick is a regional phenomenon, related to place and time. The bulk of the “Greek Magical Papyri” are a collection of Graeco Egyptian magick spells, whose place would be Hellenized Egypt, and whose time would be from the first two centuries before and after the common era. Location is an important consideration, since the original massive scroll that makes up this work was supposedly found in the tomb of a rich man who was buried in the Karnak area (Thebes). This should inform us that the collection of spells are particular to Egypt during and after the Ptolemaic period. While there are identifiable sources in that collection from Jewish, Greek and even Persian sources, it should be considered mostly an Egyptian collection, with a particularly Egyptian perspective on magick.

There are quite a large number of obvious spells and rites in the PGM that use Jewish formulations, in fact a number of sections of the papyri are devoted exclusively to these cultural artifacts. The editor of this scroll assembled a large number of the spells together from many sources, and seemed to be more driven by their reputed power than if they were Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew or even of Persian derivation. The mixture of cultures, god names, heros, and cultural sources represents a phenomenon that was characteristic of the times - cultures, languages, religious beliefs and superstitions were melted together to form a massive heterodoxy, much like gnosticism. The magickal language consisting of words of power also seem to meld various words from several languages together to form a strange polyglot, what scholars have called a verba ignota (unknown tongue). It’s interesting to note that the verba ignota was a feature of some Christian European grimoires, but not the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, or the Grimoirium Verum.

A further quote from another website that Jake has authored presents his opinions in a clearer manner. It’s taken from Hadean Press’s “Mark Ye Well the Dead Underworld of Hadean Press.”

“The Hellenic sources of the Picatrix are indicative of the real roots of the entire genre. The form and style of the grimoires were determined millennia in advance by magical texts in Greek. This far predated the influx of Christianised Kabbalah into Western magic in the late 15th century; erroneously credited with supplying the basis of Western occultism. ”

I would agree that the Picatrix, an Arabic grimoire from the 11th century (translated into Latin in the middle of the 13th century) drew its sources from earlier Greek manuscripts and practices. The original source of this grimoire, now lost, was very likely produced from the occult tradition that thrived through the various writings and teachings of Neoplatonism. How Neoplatonism found its way into Arabic culture of the early middle ages could be explained by the transition of Greek philosophy and the academy in Athens to Harran (529 CE), and the building of a university there by the Caliph, Umar II (717 CE). The Neoplatonists thrived in their new location and continued their work until the around the 11th century, and two centuries later, the Picatrix was translated in Spain.

During that time, Jews lived and congregated in the Persian and Parthian areas of influence, and later managed to continue to thrive within the newly established empire of Islam. Since Jews were expelled from Alexandria during the Christian era, it is possible that they sought refuge in various parts of the middle east where they had been living for centuries, including Mesopotamia, which would have also placed them in Harran at the same time as the Neoplatonic philosophers. It is possible, and even likely, that magickal and occult practices continued to blend together, with Judaism supplying a large share of the derived lore. The Qabbalah would have had its birth during this time (Sepher Yetzirah - 4th century CE), and the first example of a grimoire working with both angels and demons (Testament of Solomon). 

We can see the same kind of blending occurring in the earliest writings of the Qabbalah, where the obvious Neoplatonic concept of emanation became a critical part of that occult system. The Qabbalah as we know it today is a thorough mixture of Hebrew occultism, Neoplatonism and Christian theology. If one were to attempt to purge one or more of these strains from the Qabbalah, it would cease to be useful or perhaps, even recognizable. There were obviously a lot of ideas being passed back and forth between occult scholars over the past two millennia, and this exchange powerfully impacted the various practices of Qabbalah, alchemy, astrology and ceremonial magic. I believe that to attempt to extract and remove Christian and Hebrew influences from the various ceremonial magickal grimoires would be not only an impossible task, but one that would undoubtedly produce a whole new system of magick. It would be something contrived and derived, not representing the more original source, which is obviously lost to time.

Whatever was practiced in ancient Greece and called necromancy had already been contaminated by Pythagorean beliefs and practices at the beginning of the classical period. Pythagorean philosophy probably had eastern sources and influences, as the belief in the transmigration of souls appears to attest. Not much is known about Pythagorus or his philosophy, and what is known was probably written a couple of centuries after his death. However, Pythagorean philosophers were reputed to be able to see the ghosts of dead people, and were able to call them up and talk to them. This appeared to be a grafting of Pythagorean teachings with more primitive shamanic practices involving divination of the dead, or necromancy. Pythagoreans were often conflated with goetic magicians who specialized in necromancy.

How we get to the conjuration of demons from the summoning and incubation of the spirits of the dead is probably a bit of a logical over-reach. I have already written two articles that explore this idea from two different perspectives, but it would seem that the Greek concept of the invocation or summoning of daimons would be quite different than the ceremonial magician conjuring demons - they represent cultural perspectives separated by more than fifteen hundred years. There is also the consideration that Jewish and Christian religious influences have had a huge impact on this system of magick, making it nearly impossible to retrieve the earlier system intact.

Without an authentic source document written from that time period (predating Christian and Jewish influences), I believe that no one could reconstitute the ancient Greek system of Goetic magick. It’s also very likely that ancient Goetic magick was an oral tradition practiced by individuals who couldn’t read or write. However, this is all speculation, since records of what was actually practiced don’t really exist.

What we have are just intriguing fragments and literary constructs, possibly derived from a combination of realistic observation and fantasy. The fragments of actual magickal workings consists of curse tablets and various bits and pieces of parchment and papyri. The PGM is the only complete source scroll from that time, and relying too heavily on a single source is problematic. So the task of deriving a pure source of occult and magickal practices from antiquity to the compilation of the grimoires in the 16th century is likely a fool’s errand, since none of this would pass the inspection of historians, archaeologists and anthropologists. What we are dealing with here is an “As If” approach to reconstruction, where we use creativity and our imaginations to fill in the huge gaps in actual evidential knowledge.

Even an examination of the various names of the goetic demons reveals that there are Hebrew, Greek and Latin elements merged together. Some names are taken directly from Hebrew folk traditions, gathered together from many Semitic sources (Akkadian, Canaanite and Egyptian), and then there are the Greek and Latinized names whose source is completely unknown. Attempting to put together a list of demonic names reclaimed from ancient Greek sources would be nearly impossible, since some of the names are obviously of Semitic derivation. What we would have to do is to detach the list of goetic demons from the infernal princes and put them into a chthonic pagan context, a task that I have promoted in my previous articles about this subject. 

Perhaps a clue as to what Jake is proposing can be found in his article published in the anthology “Both Sides of Heaven.” In the article entitled “Grimoires for Pagans,” Jake lays the foundation for establishing a pagan chthonic perspective to goetic grimoires, such as the Grimoirium Verum. The principal infernal triumvirate that rules over the demonic hoards are Lucifer, Belzebuth and Astaroth, and to these demonic princes, Jake has attributed the Greek gods Hermes, Hades and Persephone.  One would also want to add Dionysus, Cybele, Circe, Orpheus, Isis and Osiris (from the mystery cult), and most importantly, Hecate, to the assembly of gods, goddesses and demigods as well.

To alter and exchange the demonic princes with these three Greek gods is a startlingly revelation, certainly one that could begin an entire process of reclamation. I have long sought to encourage this kind of complete rewriting of the goetic magickal tradition using a completely pagan perspective, since dealing with the infernal princes through their ambassador (Scirlin) assumes that one has bought into the whole Judeo-Christian theological premise of demons being evil fallen angels. Some proponents of goetic magick have maintained that only those who are piously associated with the “Abrahamic” traditions should have a right to work this magick. At least I can agree with this approach, since I am not a adherent to this tradition.

What all of this seems to mean is that Jake is in the process of creating a whole new tradition, starting at the top and working on down to the very foundation. When he is finished, in my opinion, he will have created a completely new and unique magickal perspective, not unlike others who espouse either a chthonic pagan perspective or outright demonalotry. Jake will then take the Grimoirium Verum out of it’s Christian environment, and put it into a newly derived context, one that will integrate old and new elements together. Thus, we can expect that the end result will be a whole new approach to goetic magick and very likely, a new set of grimoires to replace the ones that were first printed in the previous epoch. I very much look forward to that day, since that will certainly end the debate in various magickal circles between Neopagans and Christian occultists, both of whom claim the goetic tradition as their own.

So we can look forward to the publishing of Jake’s new book “Geosophia: The Argo of Magic,” regardless whether we agree with the whole of his premise, or not. 

Frater Barrabbas

Further Thoughts on Goetic Magick & St. Cyprian’s Grimoire

This article represents some further thoughts about goetic magick and Jake Stratton’s Book, “The True Grimoire.”  My original article can be found here.

Yesterday I got a mailer from Avalonia Books about a new grimoire that is now available to the general public, part of their “Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic” series of grimoires edited by Stephen Skinner and David Rankin. This book is entitled, “The Grimoire of St. Cyprian - Clavis Inferni.” I went to the website and looked over the advertisement for the grimoire and I have decided to pass on purchasing it at this time. This has nothing to do with the quality of the book, which is quite exquisite and exceptional, but more to do with the fact that I already have a large collection of grimoires, and this one would not add anything to that collection. My reason for collecting grimoires is their use to me as magickal resources and not as a collector of rare or obscure books.

According to the advertisement, this book has colorful illustrations, sigil characters and invocations of the four infernal kings of the underworld of Hell. It also has associated invocations of the four principal archangels (who are used to control the infernal kings), as well as an invocation of Metatron. It’s a rather short tome and this appears to be the extent of the content of this version of the grimoire. One could see it as a companion to the Grimoirum Verum, Grimoire of Pope Honorius or the Grand Grimoire. St. Cyprian was reputed to be a powerful magician before he converted to Christianity in late antiquity, but it’s obvious that his name is being lent to this work, much like Solomon’s name was lent to an entire tradition of magick.

However, the larger group of grimoires supposedly authored by St. Cyprian (and the most famous) were called “Libro de San Cipriano”, which had their origin in a part of Spain called Galicia, dating from around the late 18th century. These books were reputed to aid treasure finders, so in addition to invoking the demon kings to scare away the minor demons protecting treasures, there were techniques devised to divine their location and safely extract them. One group of grimoires used methodologies to find treasures that didn’t even involve using the demon kings, others incorporated materials from other French grimoires (like the Grand Grimoire). The Galician version of the grimoire was translated into Portugese, and both the Spanish and Portugese versions were widely disseminated in the Carribean and South America, where they found avid use amongst the adherents of Santeria and Macumba.

There were two known branches to the grimoires associated with the St. Cyprian, the Spanish being one branch, and there was a German or Scandinavian branch, called the Cyprianus or Black Book. The German or Scandinavian version had a large number of magical recipes and treasure hunting techniques, but ironically omitted the methods for evoking demons. More information on these grimoires can be found here.

The Clavis Inferni, written in Latin and cipher codes, doesn’t appear to be a direct variation of either above group of grimoires, even though it, too, is dated to the late 18th century. Perhaps it represents a unique branch unto itself. It also appears to be missing the typical treasure finding recipes of this series, although one would have to consult an actual copy of the book to be certain. Another possibility is that the treasure hunting techniques in the other two branches may have been derived from the Grand Grimoire.

One interesting point that the Clavis Inferi makes is that the erstwhile magician invokes the demon kings under the control and empowerment of the archangels, so as to maintain balance between angelic and infernal forces. This is a point that I have made in previous articles, although it’s doubtful that an archangel would effectively shield the magician who happened to invoke one of the demon kings, but that is the intent of the working. Since I am a pagan and a witch, the entire infernal hierarchy is not particularly relevant to me, but this work would be very useful to someone who was working with the Grimoirum Verum, perhaps providing the balance between angelic and demonic forces that seems to be missing in the “True Grimoire.” If one adds to the mix the unstated requirement of having obtained the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel (via the Book of Abramelin), then you might have a combined system that could be balanced and tenable. Although for obvious reasons, I would recommend using the Cherubim to shield the magician rather than archangels. Yet the Cherubim would force the magician to maintain a highly ethical use of demons and would not allow any direct contact with them. This would also be true of the Holy Guardian Angel, ruling out any kind of blood bond or pact with the infernal spirits, which appears to be the core of the Grimoirum Verum’s methodology.

Another point that I would like to make is regarding Jake Stratton-Kent’s opinion that a goetic magician could approach the use of demons similarly to that found in the Macumba, particularly the performance of Umbanda, which is the darker or punitive rites of that religion. Magical religions of the Caribbean and Brazil, which blend African and Christian practices as well as incorporating some European occultism, make a clear distinction between sanctioned and unsanctioned practices. To call upon the gods, saints and spirits of the ancestors, sacramental based spell craft (herbal remedies, use of fetishes, sacrifices), performed along with other Christian Catholic liturgy (offerings and votive prayers) represents sanctioned practices, performed by official priests and priestesses of the cult. These practices and their officiators are readily considered forces of good in their community and function as an adjunct to the traditional Catholic church and its local operation.

Unsanctioned practices would be to seek domination, retribution, vengeance, to cause sickness and death in targeted victims, to gain assistance from the unhallowed dead and their demi-god controllers or assistance from evil spirits. These unsanctioned practices would require the help of a specialist who would perform such rites in private. One could easily categorize the evocation of goetic demons in this class of unsanctioned practices, whether of Umbanda, Palo Mayombe or Voudoun Petro. Unsanctioned practices such as these are often tolerated due to the abject fear of such specialists or their occasional discrete use by clients. Despite the obvious associated cultural ambiguities, these practices would be considered evil and outlawed by the greater public. Some practitioners of these unsanctioned arts, whether real or imagined, have been persecuted and murdered by angry outraged members of their community. Like the folkloric theme of the classic witch known worldwide, such practitioners have always been considered outside the law and prime suspects when things in a community go awry. Is this a useful model for a modern goetic magician to follow? I greatly doubt it.

As I have pointed out in my previous article, in order to deal with the goetic demons as pagan deities, one would have to extract them completely from their place in the Christian spiritual hierarchy and build a new hierarchy based on the ancient Semitic pagan gods. This would include giving them offerings and devotions as part of a reconstitution of the old pagan religion that they once were a part, if that could even be accomplished. Jake Stratton-Kent’s book, “The True Grimoire” may make some interesting comparisons with Brazilian witchcraft and show (in a limited fashion) how some of the demon names may be distorted names of old pagan gods, yet it doesn’t give any indication that either Jake (or anyone else associated with him) is actually practicing a form of magick that would adhere to this complete redefinition. Nor does he appear to be an initiate of some Afro-Brazilian cult.

Instead, the reader is left with a kind of permission to use the newly reformed and edited version that Jake has provided as it currently exists, representing a kind of diabolic goetic magickal practice. Obviously, Jake is obscuring the fact that the infernal spirits would probably have been counter balanced by superior angelic agencies and the manifestation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The Clavis Inferi and the Goetia of Dr. Rudd would seem to indicate that this balancing was very likely part of what the magician did when resorting to the evocation and use of goetic demons. Therefore, Jake’s book and his apparent practice probably does more harm than good to the magician who is contemplating using this system. Therefore, in my opinion, the book “The True Grimoire”, despite being well written and brilliantly researched, is deeply flawed because of the misinformation that it has put into the hands of the public and the espoused tradition that it has spawned. Those who use this book as written will ultimately find themselves in great spiritual jeopardy or candidates for the local asylum.

Frater Barrabbas

Problems with Goetic Magick and the Black Grimoires

I am reading Jake Stratton-Kent’s book “True Grimoire”, which is an operant version of the Grimoirum Verum. I am also carefully looking over and reading Joseph Peterson’s book “Grimorium Verum” at the same time. My purpose in this dual read is to answer for myself a puzzling question as to why the Grimoirum Verum is such a hot topic for practicing ceremonial magicians these days. How do I know that it’s a hot topic? Just do a “google” of “goetic magic” or “Grimorium Verum” and you will find a plethora of web based comments, Yahoo groups and whole websites devoted to this topic.

I will fully review Jake’s book in due course, since I have a lot of other material to read at the same time. However, I skipped to the chapter in the book that discusses the nature of the spirits of the goetic tradition of magick.

Ostensibly, the Grimoirum Verum has a central task besides the creation of various “demonic” tools, the collection of other important regalia and the performance of the evocations. That task is the creation of the parchment (or lamb’s skin) talismanic device that has in its center the signature of the intermediary spirit Scirlin. Jake has compared this spirit to the Holy Guardian Angel of the Book of Abramelin,. He has written that the two grimoires are, therefore, closely related. This device is supposed to be drawn with one’s blood, as are the signatures of the other goetic spirits that one chooses to evoke. So one could consider this central magical device to be a kind of blood based bond between the spirit Scirlin, the operator and the other goetic spirits.

Signing something in blood is basically a kind of empowered agreement, also known as a pact, although in this case the agreement is more implicit than explicit. For instance, there aren’t any terms to the agreement other than one must go through Scirlin in order to contact the infernal hierarchy to obtain the powers and abilities of their servitors as well as command the various goetic demons. The infernal hierarchy is quite plainly spelled out in the grimoire and it pretty much matches a variation that we have written about previously.

Jake also seeks to redefine, and in a sense, reclaim the infernal hierarchy as celestial spirits and the corrupted names of pagan gods and goddesses. This revisionism isn’t new, since Poke Runion has taken this perspective as well and has used it to good effect in his Solomonic magical system. To compare Ashtoreth to Astarte and Beelzebub to Baal Zebul is all well and good, if you also treat them as pagan gods, giving them offerings and reverently serving them with orisons and oblations (as I have stated in the article on the Spirit Theory of Magic).

However, the grimoire plainly works through the Christian spiritual hierarchy and empowered authority of Adonai and Christos, so the attempt by Jake to “white wash” these demonic princes doesn’t really work. If they are pagan gods, then treat them as pagan gods, not as underlings to be commanded and coerced through the Christian hierarchy. So the attempt to redefine the various goetic spirits fails because one is still using the Judeo-Christian spiritual hierarchy, and in that hierarchy, the opinions of the theologians holds sway, not the musings of neoplatonists. If you were going to make use of the definition of demons (as the Greek “daimones”), then you would also need to discard the Christian spiritual hierarchy and replace it with one that is uniquely neoplatonic.

Jake, like many others, is advocating the use of the Grimoirum Verum in its reconstructed and restored version, but that version is still the late 17th century variation that has as its center piece a blood pact with a supposed infernal spirit named Scirlan. Basically, my problem with this reasoning is that you really can’t have it both ways - either use the redacted spiritual hierarchy of the neoplatonists and profoundly rewrite the grimoire or accept it as it is, but with the understanding that the infernal hierarchy of the Judeo-Christian belief system is in force. To attempt to work with both understandings at the same time is to engage in a kind of self-deception - it has to be all one or the other.

Jake also does a nice job examining many of the names of the infernal hierarchy, showing how they are actually quite benign or archaically pagan, but he fails to perform the same kind of analysis on the name of the intermediary whose name is Scirlin. To help make my point, I have decided to take a swag at finding a source for this name, even though it could be just a name or even an acronym. The first four letters are “Scir”, which is undoubtedly a Latin word, and in this case it would be from “scire”, which means “to know”. The last three letters are “lin”, also an identifiable word in Latin, which is “lino”and has the meaning “besmeared”, “covered up” or “befouled.”

So perhaps the combination of “scire” and “lino” could be defined as “the obscurer or befouler of knowledge.” This certainly sounds like the name of a demon, and further examination shows that the spirit “Scirlin” is actually a powerful emissary of Lucifer, considered an “emperor” to the great demon prince. Does this sound at all like an analogous spiritual aspect to one’s Holy Guardian Angel? Jake’s white-washing isn’t thorough enough to make that argument work. If perhaps he had completely changed the hierarchy and totally detached it from the Judeo-Christian system, treating the demon princes as pagan gods and goddess, then I might agree that his system has divorced itself from the aura of demonic magic. Only in that kind of reclamation could such a system be considered workable, positive and constructive. However, that is not the case, so the system of goetic magic found in the Grimoirum Verum is intrinsically demonic and potentially dangerous.

Other systems of magic approach the use of demons in a very cautious manner, attempting to balance the potentially destructive and disruptive nature of demons with the creative and harmonious powers of the angels. These systems emphasize the requirement that a magician who seeks to evoke demons must do so under the strictest controls, and only after a very long and arduous period of self purification, atonement and religious devotion. One could very readily practice a very powerful system of magic without ever having any recourse to the evocation of demons, and certainly their incorporation must be accomplished with the gravest sobriety and caution. To rule the chaotic, disruptive and destructive forces in the material and spiritual world, one needs to be well trained, highly experienced and powerfully in control of one’s self in order to work with these entities and not be damaged by them.

A useful analogy is the constructive use of high explosives. A person who uses them to help clear the earth for construction or the bringing down of derelict buildings requires a great deal of training, certification, extensive rules of operation and detailed planning. Not everyone can work with high explosives - and its safe usage has many rules and regulations. Failure to observe these rules will result in terrible misfortune. No less will the careless use of infernal forces in one’s magic cause disaster and personal destruction. Balance is important, but little balance seems to be found in the three days of purification required by the Grimoirum Verum. Also, the blood pact with an infernal intermediary is very troubling, since it will undoubtedly be a source of highly questionable information and instruction. It will also very likely begin the process of spiritual corruption and completely nullify the state produced by the period of purification and atonement as well.

So with these thoughts in mind, I feel that the current trend in performing goetic magic is very disturbing to me. This is because in my opinion the caution and controls, the need for years of experience and training are absent for those who seek to work with the Grimoirum Verum. While I will not judge either Jake or those who have found his book a great resource of magical knowledge and praxis, I will not seek to use this book nor will I emulate what others are doing. I suspect that Jake has a mechanism to maintain his spiritual balance, since I know someone who has personally met him and has said that he is a good and honorable person. However, there is much more to his magical practice than what he has informed the public through his book the “True Grimoire.” It is possible that without this knowledge of “how to balance these workings” that the unknowing operator will experience the full measure of the bitterness of spiritual corruption and ultimate self-destruction. Jake has earned a full measure of responsibility for his action of unleashing on the world a corrected and operant version of this black grimoire.

All I can say is “Caveat Emptor”, let the buyer beware that the Grimoirum Verum appears to be a diabolic system of magic that requires a “blood pact” with an infernal spirit. This is particularly correct if the operator is performing the magic in the grimoire as it is written, especially the corrected version published by Jake Stratton-Kent. I will continue to read over the two books and will keep an open mind, but so far I am quite skeptical that goetic magic is a legitimate magical system that can (and should) be practiced in isolation.

Frater Barrabbas