The Magical circle used in Goëtic Theurgy Goëtic Theurgy refers to a system of magic involving the summoning of spirits, specifically those found in the Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon., according to the Lesser Key of Solomon the King A famous 17th-century grimoire or book of magic spells., showing the position of the operator, the divine names and symbols to be inscribed within and around the double circle, and the placement of the candles original: "lights".

The illustration and location of the triangle into which the spirit is commanded to appear will be found, along with a description, in the text on pages 220-223. The Divine Names differ in some of the manuscripts.

PLATE IX

The Goëtic Circle of Black Evocations The act of calling forth spirits or demons. and Pacts, according to Éliphas Lévi.

The circle is formed from the skin of a sacrificial animal original: "victim", fastened to the ground by four nails taken from the coffin of an executed criminal. The skull is that of a parricide Someone who has murdered their parent or a close relative.; the horns are those of a goat; the male bat opposite the skull must have been drowned in blood; and the black cat, whose head forms the fourth object on the circumference of the circle, must have been fed on human flesh. The author notes that Lévi—a 19th-century occultist—likely invented these macabre details himself. There is no historical authority for any of these requirements original: "stipulations". The small circles within the triangle show the place where the operator and his assistants stand.

PREFACE

The art known as "Goëtic"—being the art of incantation, sorcery, enchantment original: "fascination", and the illusions and deceptions connected with them—has come, somewhat randomly, to represent the final result in devil-worship original: "diabolism" of the more universal original: "catholic" and general art termed "Practical Magic." This latter name implies that there is also a theoretical side to Magic, or perhaps a philosophy of the subject. This theory is itself divided into two kinds: in modern times, it has involved various attempts to provide an explanation or a working hypothesis for the alleged supernatural phenomena of the past; in ancient times, it presented itself with an air of authority, backed by the credentials of a specialized and secret knowledge. It sought to teach rather than to explain.

Behind this, based on a specific assumption, stood the source of such authority: the school or schools that issued the "titles of expertise" which the records of the teaching master are supposed to show that he possessed. Within this tradition resided what was presumably "Higher Magic," which justified the original meaning of the word "Magic." This was the science of wisdom—a wisdom that resulted from the experience and knowledge unique to sacred sanctuaries during the era of the Magi Ancient Persian priests and astronomers from whom the word "magic" is derived..

In this way, a distant and abstract grandeur has been assigned to these practical magical works. However, between the reality of these practices as we know them and the "dream" of magic as it has been exaggerated in writing, there is the same relationship that exists between a great reputation and the failure to live up to it. If "Magic," in its proper and original meaning, is a synonym for wisdom; and if that wisdom—by virtue of the assumption I mentioned—were something unimaginably great, then it is certain that it had no causal connection to...