Disappointing

It's not actually written by Crowley and is not at all what I expected. It has some pictures of demons and angels and a few short invocations, but not much substance.

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Nothing wrong with this book.

In response to a previous review in 2004, I'd like to make the following comments. I can appreciate the Reviewer's concerns, but the following observations may help clear these up.

Lon's account of his evocation of Orobas in this book, as he states in his My Life with the Spirits, is a les detailed version. The only apparent anomaly is that in My Life with the Spirits, he states that Mad Bob had already been in Guatemala, whereas in this earlier book he refers to Mad Bob's return to Guatemala as "off to begin his Guatemala adventure". But in effect he would be beginning the next part of his overall Guatemala adventure.

Next, as to the sigils being different from those in the Mathers/Crowley edition of the Goetia, the authors of this book took these sigils from an original source manuscript, as stated in the book. Thus they are more accurate. Although widely used, the Mathers/Crowley sigils were redrawn, and neatened up for publication. Mitch Henson did a similar tidy up job on all of the sigils in the first four books of the Lemegeton of his edition, as he states therein. Another source for authentic sigils, including those for the other books of the Lemegeton is Joseph Peterson's The Lesser Key of Solomon.

And lastly, the similar appearance of many of the Spirits in the Goetia, may be due to their place and time of origin, which culture and lands they originated in. Many are derived gods from Deities from ancient cultures, and the farther back you go either in time or state of civilization, the less human or humanoid supernatural entities become.

Lastly, an additional observation. In the second edition of this book, which has a black cover, there appears as a frontispiece, a drawing of Lucifuge Rofocale. This was absent from the first edition which had a blue cover. For some reason, this drawing of the Prime Minister of Hell was added, which originally appeared in Christopher Hyatt and S. Json Black's Pacts with the Devil. Lucifuge Rofocale has nothing to do with the Goetia or any of the Books of the Lemegeton. But rather appears as the central character in the Grimoire of Pope Honorius, a version of which appears in the previously mentioned Pacts with the Devil, which I can thoroughly recommend, as did another reviewer.

Hope all this helps.


Rating:


The best companion book to date

This book makes a wonderful companion to the Henson/Wellman edition of the Lemegeton.

DuQuette does a great job up front explaining the symbolism of the various "props" of the Goetia and their proper use. The front matter also contains a rather detailed, if short, crash course in Western Magick. While useful, I wonder how advised it would be for this to be the first practial work of a neophyte.

The illustrations are by an actuall occultist, and while they are rudimentory line drawings, they are helpful in getting in the right pace with the vibration of the spirit before you summon them. I have to say where I agree with what is drawn here, it is the exception and not the rule. My experience with these beings seems to be more Jungian than what David Wilson, the illustrator experienced. Still very useful stuff. I only wish that the internal art had been as well done as the cover.

DuQuette cuts through the clutter of the original Goetia, and replaces the endless curses and conjurations with a single oration written by Crowley, in both English and Enochian. Keep in mind, the flip side of that is, there is material missing here, so you would also want to get a copy of the Goetia, or better still the Lemegeton.

Note that they are using the Arthur Edward Waite sigils rather than the seals found in Crowley's Goetia. I thought that was odd, considering how much time DuQuette spends in most of his books sacrificing kisses on the alter of "The Beast"

Still, my gripes are small, and only dock a single star from this work.

With the Lemegeton and this book, anyone would be able to work with the forces of Solomon's djinn.

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