The Goetia’s Pentagram of Solomon and Spirit-Warding

I was recently asked a question via email about the “Pentagram of Solomon” found in the Goetia, and how to properly use it. This is a Pentacle made in gold, with the Seal of the Spirit you are summoning inscribed on the opposite side, and worn around the neck of the exorcist as a lamen.

The person who contacted me said they were assured by “a well known magician” that the Pentagram is supposed to face outward, with the sigil of the Spirit laying against your chest. Now, if the “well-known magician” happens to be reading this, I apologize in advance, but this instruction is just plain wrong. 😦 (It’s also possible I have made this very mistake at some point in my own writings – especially back when I was still trying to figure out this whole goety thing. If so, what I’m saying now will supercede anything I said then!)

The Pentagram of Solomon is what is known as a “spirit-warding” symbol. That is, it is the kind of symbol you display in order to drive spirits away. (You might have seen similar symbols inscribed over Amish barns – and that’s a folk practice that goes all the way back to the time the grimoires were written, and beyond.) You can see another example of this in the grimoires in the 5th and 6th Books of Moses, with the “Helig” Pentagram.

You could hang a copy of such a Pentagram over your bed to drive away nightmares. Or over the bed of a woman in labor. Or in your kid’s room if they complain of ghosts in their closet or under their bed. Or wear one in general to protect you from curses or spirit-attachment. Essentially, look into the lore of spirit-warding and you’ll find a thousand-and-one uses for this kind of talisman!

Back in the Goetia, we are told how to make the Pentagram of Solomon, and that it should be worn around the neck – but nothing else is said. It is by understanding the lore of spirit-warding (something the author of the Goetia would have taken as granted) that we know how to use it properly. If we summon a spirit with the Pentagram facing outward, we run the risk of either offending or driving away said spirit. On the other hand, wearing the lamen with the spirit’s sigil facing outward will be accepted as a kind of respect shown to the entity.

One could also make the argument that the inward-facing Pentagram, laying against your chest, acts as a kind of “buffer” between the spirit and your heart-center; but I’m not convinced the author of the Goetia would have been thinking in this type of “energy-model” manner. What seems more likely is the Pentagram is simply supposed to remain hidden (on the back of the spirit’s own sigil) so as not to offend the summoned being, but can be quickly revealed if things suddenly go south during the ritual. With just one flick of the wrist, the exorcist can go from respectfully displaying the demon’s sigil on their chest, to now displaying a golden warding symbol while demands to either leave or behave are recited. (In the latter case, the lamen can be flipped back once more to display the spirit’s seal before continuing with the ritual.)

Before I sign off, I’d like to address one more point of confusion about the spirits’ seals in the Goetia. We are told to fashion the seals in the proper planetary metals of the spirits, but the only other mention of those seals in the grimoire is in relation to the Pentagram of Solomon, which is made in gold. This would provide little issue for Solar spirits, whose metal is gold. But what of the other six Planets and their metals?

Basically, the grimoire is talking about two different Talismans here. One, the Pentagram of Solomon, is to be fashioned from gold with the spirit’s sigil inscribed on the opposite side. I would assume the author intended the exorcist to make one of these for every spirit you wish to summon – which is another great indicator that we were never intended to summon all 72 of these beasties – as 72 individual gold lamens would become prohibitively expensive! However, a modern innovation would be to create a lamen that is gold on the Pentagram side – maybe using gold-leafing – with the other side allowing for different sigils to be drawn in or attached for each spirit.

Meanwhile, the talisman that is made from the spirit’s proper metal – without the Pentagram on the obverse – would be either placed upon the table of practice during the ritual, or (even better, in my opinion) place inside the Triangle of the Art. If you are using a brass vessel as well, I would place it inside that vessel, along with other objects and ingredients sacred to the spirit/planet as I have explained in Modern Grimoire Magick (http://jwmt.org/v1n10/modern.html).

I hope this short essay has been enlightening and helpful in your own Work!

Zorge,

Aaron