| Title: | Goetia |
| Original Title: | Goetie |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 7 (1757), p. 730 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Steve Harris [San Francisco State University] |
| Subject terms: |
Magic
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.733 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Goetia." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Steve Harris. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.733>. Trans. of "Goetie," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 7. Paris, 1757. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Goetia." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Steve Harris. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.733 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Goetie," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 7:730 (Paris, 1757). |
Goetia. An infamous type of magic which seeks to do evil, seduce people, excite unruly passions and stimulate crime. The philosophers Plato, Porphyry and Iamblichus defined goetia as the invocation of evil spirits which is sure to harm humans.
The practitioners of this harmful and ridiculous art also boasted of their ability to recall the souls of the dead from their somber realm. See the article Evocation des manes.
In all their ceremonies, they used every technique to increase the terror and fear of weak minds, such as dark nights, underground caverns, bones of the dead, black arts to sacrifice their victims, magical herbs, and wailing and groaning; the regular practice of their ceremonies called for slitting the throats of young children and divining the future from their entrails.
It is important to distinguish goetic magic or witchcraft from theurgic magic or making contact with the gods. In the latter, only beneficial gods are invoked, in order to improve the lives of men and bring them virtue. In other eras, theurgic magicians have suffered from being put in the same category as Goetics whom they regard with horror. See Théurgie.