The Lesser Key of Solomon

Provides a clear and detailed account of the preparations and precautions necessary for the successful evocation of its 72 spirits, which are described in detail. Includes Crowley's "An Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic," his version of "The Bornless Ritual," Enochian translations of some of the Goetic invocations, an introduction, and notes. Illustrated. Smythesewn and printed on acidfree paper.EtymologyThis section is about the practice of conjuration. For the video game, see Goetia (video game).Goetia or Goëtia is a practice that includes the conjuration of demons. The Ancient Greek word γοητεία (goēteía) means "charm, jugglery, sorcery", from γόης (góēs) "sorcerer, wizard" (plural: γόητες góētes). The meaning of "sorcerer" is attested in a scholion, or commentary, referring to the Dactyli, a mythical race, stating that according to Pherecydes of Syros and Hellanicus of Lesbos, those to the left are goētes, while those to the right are deliverers from sorcery.[5][page needed] The word may be ultimately derived from the verb γοάω "groan, bewail" (goáō). Derivative terms are γοήτευμα "a charm" (goḗteuma, plural γοητεύματα goēteúmata) and γοητεύω "to bewitch, beguile" (goēteúō).Γοητεία was a term for the magic in the Greco-Roman world. Its Latinized form is goëtia; in the 16th century, English adopted it as goecie or goety (and the adjectival form goetic), via French goétie.[citation needed]During the Renaissance, goëtia was sometimes contrasted with magia, as "evil magic" vs. "good magic" or "natural magic",[6] or sometimes with theurgy. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, writes "Now the parts of ceremonial magic are goetia and theurgia. Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unawful charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws."