These provide a good start at the classical background:
Restless Dead - Sarah Iles Johnston - University of California Press - 1999
Greek and Roman Necromancy - Daniel Ogden - Princeton University Press - 2001
Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts - Daniel Ogden - OUP
Magic in the Ancient Greek World - Derek Collins - Blackwell Publishing - 2008
The first of the Ogden titles also has the virtue of major quotations
from period sources on classical magic. As does:
Arcana Mundi - Georg Luck - John Hopkins University Press - (2nd Edition 2006)
In the Renaissance Period both Mirandola and Agrippa use the word
goetia to describe 'low' magic of the grimoire type, this
characterises a second phase but is close in meaning. The word
underwent devaluation early on, Burkert has an important untranslated
essay placing the 'goes' in the context of the so-called 'Greek
shamans debate' in academia (see Eliade, Dodds et al). A practitioners
appraisal of this deeper goetic background has yet to emerge, and is
necessary.
ALWays
Jake
On 18 June 2010 01:22, toyin adepoju <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks Jake,for this effort at clarification.Would you want to suggest any
> texts,both primary and secondary,that could give some insight into this
> classical tradition of the Goetia?
>
> It would be most helpful to me for my research.
>
> Thanks
> Toyin
>
> On 18 June 2010 00:25, Jake Stratton-Kent <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>>
>> The traditional understanding of goetia is unfortunately not that
>> which is generally understood, which is scarcely even early modern in
>> vintage.
>>
>> There are semantic and historical problems here, there is - of course
>> - a book called 'The Goetia of Solomon' (circa 1640). Its title has
>> been conflated with a much older word, 'goetia', an important term
>> with a definite history. It has strong associations with Platonic and
>> Orphic cosmologies, as well as the 'low Hermeticism' of the magical
>> papyri. While not a single unified doctrine this background possesses
>> the coherence of any well developed tradition, whether 'folk' or
>> 'literary'. This is part of the much neglected 'classical' background
>> of Western magic, a neglect that ironically was not characteristic of
>> the Christian Cabalists & Renaissance magicians. They are nevertheless
>> often cited in justification for modern reliance on 'generic qabalah'
>> as being 'traditional'.
>>
>> The spirits originally associated with goetic magic have definite
>> characteristics and hierarchical strata. Insofar as the grimoires are
>> a goetic genre, the 'Goetia of Solomon' has no particular claim on
>> such spirits either in their older or later guises. There is also,
>> incidentally, no such thing as 'goetic spirits'; the usage cannot be
>> called an evolution of language so much as a degradation of a
>> terminology both practitioners and academics need to understand
>> properly. Goetia refers to the type of magic performed by a 'goes',
>> for it obtains its name from the practitioner, the spirits involved
>> require different terms.
>>
>> Jake
>>
>> http://www.underworld-apothecary.com/
>>
>>
>>
>> On 17 June 2010 23:39, toyin adepoju <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >
>> > Along with the metaphysical interpretation and magical use of the
>> > concept of
>> > the Qlipoth,it might be relevant to explore the interpretation and use
>> > of
>> > other spiritual forms traditionally understood as demonic,such as the
>> > Goetic
>> > spirits from the book of Solomon the King as well as Lucifer,who,of
>> > course
>> > might be understood as the head of the section of the Tree represented
>> > by
>> > the Qlipoth.One needs to note though,that interpretations of the Qlipoth
>> > as
>> > part of a schematic cosmology are more precise than those of the Goetia
>> > which does not seem to have a detailed cosmology behind it.
>> >
>> > An innovative understanding of the Goetia, which needs to be
>> > complemented by
>> > its traditional understanding, is the work of Mark Dunn at
>> > www.goetia-girls.com.
>> >
>
>
--
Jake
http://www.underworld-apothecary.com/
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