S. Connolly’s Daemonolatry Goetia

Over the last couple of days, I have been asking some of my friends for recommendations on works by S. Connolly. The one book that comes up repeatedly is her Daemonolatry Goetia. Goetia sounded foreign to me so I did what I usually do when presented with the unknown: I researched it. Mind you, all of this is new to me, as I never paid close attention to Demonolatry. You may be reading this and thinking “duh, Ley, this is basic.” To me, this is interesting and mind-expanding. I enjoy learning new things, even if they’re things I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to learn.

What interests me about the Goetia is how prevalent the characteristics of the Goetic Spirits are in modern times. While I recognized a lot of the names from movies, I also remembered seeing varying forms of their names in video games and comic books. It brought about a level of appreciation in how writers and illustrators take the time to research something to make a character or theme true to its origins.

Rather than jump straight to S. Connolly’s Goetia, I went down to a metaphysical shop close to where I live and picked up the Lesser Key of Solomon just to flip through it. Getting a quick glance at one of the original texts in daemonic summoning made me realize that S. Connolly’s style of direct instruction and clear explanations make her standout in Daemonolatry. After looking over the Lesser Key of Solomon, I took all of my friends’ advice and checked out the Daemonolatry Goetia.

I’ll say right away that I didn’t use it for any summoning. I had enough of a run-in as mentioned in my last update. I did, however, read it as a study guide. Compared to the Lesser Key of Solomon, the Daemonolatry Goetia breaks down all of the complex texts and makes the rituals clear and concise. S. Connolly does an amazing job at parsing down the instructions so that beginning daemonolators may make contact with any of the 72 spirits. She provides the best ways of summoning them along with the purpose of doing so.

S. Connolly writes in such a down-to-earth manner that it takes away any fear a person might have when reading this book. She presents her Goetia as way to communicate and live with these ancient spirits. She even refers to them as her teachers. The Daemonolotry Goetia aids any daemonolator with practical advice and helpful guidelines for every ritual.

If I had more interest in Dark Arts and communicating with these spirits or any like them, I would be a huge fan of S. Connolly’s pioneer work. Even without that curiosity, I enjoyed learning more about the subject through her books. I feel that now, I can truly appreciate the friends I have who follow this path in their life and what it all entails. Every book that I’ve read from S. Connolly mentions that the practice is not easy, nor is it always safe. Those who take that risk do it for their progress as a magician. That alone is an admirable goal.

If S. Connolly’s work interests the way it did for me, you can pick up Daemonolatry Goetia off Amazon. Be sure to follow her on daemonolatry.org and check out her personal website at sjreisner.com.