(a version of the brazen vessel of Solomon)
This version of the Goetia is based on the edition of 1904 compiled by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, and edited by Aleister Crowley. Most of the credit for the text, illustrations and notes should go to Mathers. Crowley added a scattering of notes, a brief preface, an essay on ceremonial magic, and Enochian versions of the evocations that appear in the work. The latter is the most important aspect of Crowley's contribution. He used the spoken style of Enochian current in the Golden Dawn, and probably based his Enochian text on the Enochian notebook of Allan Bennett.
Although the title page of the book claims that it is drawn from "Numerous Manuscripts in Hebrew, Latin, French and English," Mathers' text closely follows the English version of the Goetia contained in a work that appears in the British Library manuscript Sloane 2731 under the comprehensive title, the Lemegeton. It is in five parts. The Goetia constitutes the first, and the other four are titled The Thurgia Goetia, The Pauline Art, The Almadel of Solomon, and The Artem Novem. The final part is incomplete.
In order to make the material easier to view on-line, I have divided it into twelve sections. This was necessary to reduce page load times due to the large number of graphics in the Mathers' edition.
The lettered notes are my own. The numbered notes are those that occur in the first edition. It is not always clear whether these were written by Crowley or Mathers, so to make this distinction explicit I have identified the notes by the names of their authors. The numbering of the notes in this electronic version of the work does not always correspond with the numbering of the notes in the original text.
-- Donald Tyson --
Prefatory Note by Aleister Crowley
Preliminary Invocation by Aleister Crowley
The Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magic by Aleister Crowley
Preliminary Definition of Magic, and the Brief Introductory Description
The Enochian Conjurations by Aleister Crowley