The Goetia (Lemegeton) is the most famous grimoire after the Key of Solomon. This volume contains a transcription of a hitherto unpublished manuscript of the Lemegeton which includes four whole grimoires:

This was owned by Dr Thomas Rudd, a practicing scholar-magician of the early seventeenth century. There are many editions of the Goetia, of which the most definitive is that of Joseph Peterson, but here we are interested in how the Goetia was actually used by practising magicians in the 16th and 17th century, before the knowledge of practical magic faded into obscurity.

To evoke the 72 demons listed here without the ability to bind them would be foolhardy indeed. It was well known in times past that invocatio and ligatio, or binding, was a key part of evocation, but in the modern editions of the Goetia this key technique is expressed in just one word ‘Shemhamphorash’, and its use is not explained.

This volume explains how the 72 angels of the Shemhamphorash are used to bind the spirits, and the correct procedure for safely invoking them using dual seals incorporating the necessary controlling angel, whose name is also engraved on the breastplate and Brass Vessel.


Publisher's Notes:

This volume is a transcription of Harley MS 6483, the Lemegeton. Unlike other copies of the Lemegeton, Rudd included the use of the 72 angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash as controlling spirits for the demons of the Goetia, transforming the practice of Goetic magic. He also included far more of the material from Peter de Abano's Heptameron, the source of much of the grimoire tradition. Material from Rudd's other major work, Harley MS 6482, is also included to set the context of the work with the Shem ha-Mephorash angels.

Although much work has been done on the Lemegeton, Skinner and Rankine trace component parts of the grimoire back further than has previously been done, and include other relevant manuscript material not previously available. This includes proto-Goetic material from Sloane MS 3824, such as a Spirit Contract, invocations of the Wandering Princes and Ruling Demons. The Goetia of Ebenezer Sibley, found in Wellcome MS 3203 is also included to show a later derivative version and complete the range of available Lemegeton material in the public forum.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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