Goetia - Holy Order of the Golden Dawn Canada

It is perhaps appropriate to give notice of the system of Angelic Hierarchies alluded to in
various of the descriptions of the Spirits, since it is not mentioned in many of the modern works
of Qabalistic reference such as 777. It is due to a Platonizing Christian mystic and theologian
known as pseudo-Dionysus (ca. 5 th century C.E.; his system was largely plagiarised from the
Platonist Proclus) and postulates nine orders of celestial spirits, to wit: Seraphim, Kerubim,
Thrones; Dominations (or Dominions), Powers, Virtues; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.
Sometimes they are referred to the Sephiroth from Kether to Yesod in that order, with the
“Blessed Souls” in Malkuth to fill out the scheme.
3: VASSAGO does not appear in the Pseudomonarchia. Waite in Book of Black Magic and of
Pacts states that he is also invoked in ceremonial crystallomancy by self-styled practitioners of
“White Magic” but gives no specifics, although he does give a variant form of the seal said to be
used in “White Magic.”
9: PAIMON is evoked, along with BATHIN and a spirit called BARMA, in one of the procedures
interpolated into the 1665 edition of Scot’s Discoverie.
13: BELETH. The Pseudomonarchia mentions that Beleth, in common with many of the other
spirits, has hopes to return to the Seventh Throne, “quod minus credibile.”
26: BUNE. According to the version of the Goetia in Sloane 3825, which gives both forms of the
seal, it is rather the more complex form, given first, which is best.
32: ASMODAY. The sentence “When the Exorcist hath a mind to call him…” has been much
garbled, largely due to “T.R.’s” mistranslation from the Latin of the Pseudomonarchia,
compounded by misunderstanding of 16 th -century useage by later copyists. The Latin runs: Cum
hujus officia exercet exorcista, sit fortis, cautus & in pedibus stans: si vero coopertus fuerit, ut in
omnibus detegatur, efficiet: Quod si non fecerit exorcista, ab Amaymone in cunctis decipietur.
Approx: “When the exorcist employs his [Asmodai’s] offices, let him [the exorcist] be strong,
wary [lit. “warned”], standing on his feet, for should he be overwhelmed, he will be exposed in
everything: if the exorcist does not do this he will be deceived in everything by Amaymon.” In
the powers of Asmoday, “Invincible” is probably a copyist’s error for “Invisible” (Wier has
Hominem reddit invisibilem), Scot “invisible.”
33: GAÄP. The entry for Gaäp in the Pseudomonarchia has a long digression, outlining a legend
concerning how Cham (Ham) son of Noah was the first human after the Flood to invoke evil
spirits, and mentioning many forbidden things (nefaria) done by “exorcists”; also refusing to
disclose the means whereby Gaäp (or possibly Beleth, the Latin is ambiguous) may be
constrained by an Exorcist who cannot get him to appear or show himself, since that too is
nefandum.
35: MARCHOSIAS. According to the Pseudomonarchia, the form of Marchosias is lupæ ferocissimæ
cum alis gryphi, cauda serpentina, & ex ore nescio quid evomens… “of a ferocious shewolf
with the wings of a gryphon, a serpentine tail, and vomiting I don’t know what out of its
mouth.” Wier also remarks that he was deceived in his hope.
54: MURMUR. A manufacturer of “Heavy Metal” and “Goth” jewellry and accessories recently
added to their product line a pendant in the form of the seal of Murmur (it also bears the Masonic
square and compasses), with a grossly misleading description in their catalogue.
55: OROBAS. Lon Milo DuQuette, in an edition of the Goëtia co-edited by him with Christopher
S. Hyatt (Aleister Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia, Scottsdale, Arizona: New Falcon, 1992), gives an
account of an evocation of this spirit and suggests it was with its help that he became a Bishop
(and later an Archbishop) of E.G.C.
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