Glimpses of the Left..

other of that would enjoy an equally enormous
in the Western Europe since the 15th century onwards. In this article we
look into the this infamous magical and its 'nt'"n,.,."t",
in the modern world.
The Origin of the and Ancient View on
Demonology
The word Goetia derives from the Greek term which was the art of
calling-upon of evil demons and was related to ancient practice of,
necromancy. The etymology of Goeteia is also related to the roots
("sorcerer," goetes) and goos ("mourning song"), or goao
song of Goeteia might have received its name from the
of the dead which dwelled around the tombs, the gooi and thrmoL It was '
the art associated with the raising of the dead, a summoning of a dead ,
the invocation of their names, and it was believed that the name
from the lamentations of people around the grave. Hence its,
association with 1/ groaning, wailing" as it was by Aleister
Crowley when he his famous work, The Book the Goetia al l
Solomon the King in 1904, with a complete catalogue seventy-two demons J
of the Let us, however, return for a while to the ;
ancient associations with necromancy. In Greek literature we often !
encounter which account for the role of the goes, "the '
mourner" as person who the the either to
information from the deceased person or to lay the spirit in peace. These .
conjurations were by means of and lamentations. In
Aeschylus's Persians the ghost of Darius is summoned with high shrieks
and mourning lamentations. In the same fashion the ghost of Achilles is
evoked at his in Sophocles' Polyxena. Also Plato of a power
pu:,�:;:;t::u over the souls of other people. And such references
might be in many other sources too. There are that the
powers of the goes might have been even greater than resurrecting the dead
and with them. He was a shaman who made an ecstatic
the soul of a dead person to the underworld with
magical lamentations and performing also the role of the
psychopomp. 61
61 Daniel Ogden: Greek and Roman Necromancy
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