11
The I[[ustrated Goetia
DuQuette • Hyatt • WiCson
lower desires to control others and improve his own personal life. And in fact this potential loss of control, this danger, the desire for self improvement and great power is exactly what attracts many people to Goetia while horrifying and repelling others. Many label Goetia as simply evil. Finding evil is a easy job. Just look at your friend, wife, husband, mother, father or for that matter the "guy" next door. The practice of Goetia is that other guy, something dark, mysterious and powerful, something which tells the world that you are interested in yourself, interested in mastery as well as surrender (see Chapter Two in Sex Magick, Tantra and Tarot: The Way Of The Secret Lover, New Falcon Publications, 1996 for an explanation of surrender and mastery). Those who have disowned themselves and fear themselves often consider Goetic practices to be evil of the worst kind. Goetia is often thought of as an invitation to madness, the releasing of devouring and frightful forces. What Goetia is-is the releasing of yourself from your own fears and illusions by direct confrontation. Goetic evocation is an invitation to flirt with the ambiguous relationship of "mind" and "matter." Remember, no one knows the true nature or actions of either and thus all arguments as to the "reality" of Goetic spirits are speculative and open to revision. The question remains: What is evil? Some experts believe it is the intentional doing of harm without redemption. While this definition might provide these experts with a sense of comfort it provides me with little. It is too easy to play with words and ideas. For example according to this definition, Hitler might not be considered evil since some people believe that without his persecution of the Jews, Israel would not have been founded in the late forties. There is always some "good" which our "cause" and "order" crazed mind can find to rationalize or justify a horrible or unfortunate event. Evil is an "externalization" and "objectification" of something fearful, horrifying, or .different. Evil can be a label for something as simple as a person or an object that frustrates us. Evil is pain. Evil is the enemy. Evil is the Gods of other men. Evil is the night
terrors. Evil is the overwhelming feeling of falling apart. Yet all these images are non-sense. Evil like other ideas exists because we as humans exist. Nature knows not Evil, neither Good, nor for that matter Law. These are creations of the human mind, "explanations" which help us quiet the "terrors of the night." The human mind requires the belief in "its" idea of "order" for the sale purposes of the human mind. Thus the nature of evil is the human mind. Each of us are full of doubts, frustrations, fears and anxieties. These demons of the soul are the hidden parts of our self. They are the disowned self, much like Goetia is the often disowned part of Magick. We normally don't present our dark side to others. Rarely, will anyone tell you their weak points let alone their deepest concerns. It is much easier and frequently less painful to find darkness outside of oneself. What I present to the world, or for that matter what anyone presents, is at best a well-crafted ideal image, something desired, hoped for, something my brain and culture have helped create. OUf mask is an illusion, a piece of the truth, a necessary one, but none the less only a piece of the truth.
10
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND GOETIA EVOCATION
Psychology, particularly therapeutic psychology, deals with people's fears and doubts. Psychologists label many of these fears as pathology. Psychologists have carefully followed in the footsteps of the Priest, who in his non-scientific but simple way labelled these things as evil or demonic possession. The average clinical psychologist is no more scientific than the priest. In the depths of the psychotherapeutic cave, the therapist assists the patient in evoking the rejected and hidden parts of his psyche. The greatest danger for the therapist, and for the patient, is the therapist's counter-transference. When this counter-transference remains unconscious or gets "out of control," therapy becomes dangerous and ineffective. The complexes (demons) of both the therapist and the patient are mixing in an archaic cauldron. All sorts of dangers are thought to be lurking. Sex becomes a strong