The Book of Solomon

The Court of Seventy-Two

The Goetia describes seventy-two spirits through their names, ranks, offices, legions and changing appearances, then gathers them into the story of Solomon’s sealed vessel. [2]

Goetia · the numbered catalogue

The Court of Seventy-Two

Bael opens the numbered catalogue and Andromalius closes it. Its ranks include kings, dukes, princes, marquises, presidents, earls and one knight. Some spirits bear two titles: Botis is President and Earl, Ipos Earl and Prince, and Murmur Duke and Earl. These overlapping ranks belong to the individual notices. [2]

A separate classified list groups the spirits by title. It places Ipos among the princes and Murmur among the dukes, although their individual notices also call them earls. The plates provide eighty seal figures for the seventy-two spirits, including alternative forms for eight names. Spirit numbers and seal-figure numbers therefore follow different sequences.

[2][3]

The appearances include animals, human figures, angels, mounted soldiers, fire, a star and composite bodies. Several spirits change form. Vassago has no bodily description; Barbatos arrives with an entourage; Buer’s appearance refers to Sagittarius; Gusion is called a Xenopilus, an unexplained term in the notice. The accounts vary considerably in the detail they supply. [2]

Teaching, language, treasure, healing, travel, affection, conflict and the voices of nature recur among the offices. Some notices pair opposing actions: Marbas causes and cures disease, while Amon raises and settles disputes. Others distinguish similar pursuits: Raum takes treasure from royal houses, whereas Andromalius recovers stolen goods and exposes thieves. [2]

After the seventy-second notice, the text recounts Solomon’s imprisonment of the spirits and their legions in a vessel of brass. Belial, Bileth, Asmoday and Gaap are named as their chiefs. The following episode explains how the people of Babylon open the vessel and release the company described in the catalogue. [1]

Sources and editions

Goetia — binding and release of the seventy-two
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Paragraph immediately following entry 72; printed page 31, facsimile PDF page 28. Pride, four chiefs, Babylon, release and Belial’s image.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
Goetia — Shemhamphorash catalogue of seventy-two
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Numbered entries 1–72; facsimile PDF pages 10–28.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
Goetia — Classified List of the 72 Chief Spirits
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Classified list, facsimile PDF page 30. Compare with the ranks explicitly assigned in individual numbered entries.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10

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The Court of Seventy-Two

Sources and editions