Solomon confines the seventy-two spirits and their legions in a vessel of brass. In Babylon, treasure-seekers break it open and release its inhabitants. [1]
Goetia · the paragraph after entry 72 and the vessel diagrams
Artistic interpretation The Sealed Vessel and Babylon · Goetia · the paragraph after entry 72 and the vessel diagrams.
The Sealed Vessel and Babylon
After Andromalius’s entry, the Goetia identifies the seventy-two as the mighty kings and princes Solomon commanded into a vessel of brass, together with their legions. Belial, Bileth, Asmoday and Gaap are named as chiefs. The account gives pride as the reason for their imprisonment. [1]
Solomon seals the company inside the vessel. The narrative includes the spirits’ legions in the confinement, extending the binding beyond the seventy-two named rulers. The apparatus later depicts the vessel and associates its cover with the Secret Seal of Solomon, giving a graphic form to the object described here.
Once the vessel is bound and sealed, Solomon sends it by divine power into a deep lake or hole in Babylon. The English text uses both terms for the place of concealment. There the people of Babylon encounter the vessel and decide to recover it. [1]
The Babylonians descend into the lake and break the vessel open, expecting a great store of treasure. Their search for wealth undoes the confinement: instead of finding the treasure they imagined, they release the chief spirits and the legions held beneath the seal. [1]
The spirits fly out immediately and return to their former places. Belial is the exception. He enters an image and answers those who offer sacrifices to it and worship it as a god. His continued presence in the image forms the closing episode of the vessel narrative. [1]
Bileth is the spelling used here for the spirit called Beleth in the numbered catalogue. Asmoday, Gaap and Belial also have individual notices. The concluding episode calls these four chiefs, while their profiles give the separate ranks, appearances and offices associated with each name. [1]
The apparatus illustrates two vessel forms as figures 158 and 159. Its caption specifies bronze, black lettering and a red band, and connects the cover with Solomon’s secret seal. Figure 160 gives the principal Secret Seal; figure 161 supplies an alternative. These are distinct from the individual spirit seals elsewhere in the plates. [4][3]
Crowley’s editorial discussion compares the vessel with the fisherman and jinni story and names Sakhr or Sacar. His comparison concerns another confined spirit released by a discoverer. In the Goetia’s own narrative, the people of Babylon collectively open the vessel, and Belial remains behind in an image. [4][1]
The Greater Key also tells of Babylonian discoverers, but they recover a book from an ivory casket while repairing Solomon’s tomb. Their difficulty is understanding its contents; an angel supplies the interpretation. The Goetia’s discoverers seek treasure and free spirits. The casket is closed again around the recovered Key, while the vessel’s inhabitants disperse. [2][1]
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.
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed pages 2–4; facsimile PDF pages 9–11. Revelation, address to Roboam, burial and rediscovery of the ivory casket.
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Secret Seal section, printed page 37, facsimile PDF page 34; first-edition plate 3, principal figure 160 and neighbouring alternative 161.
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Vessel section, printed pages 36–37, facsimile PDF pages 33–34; first-edition plate 3, figures 158 and 159. Crowley’s editorial comparison with the fisherman and jinni story is distinct.
