Open a manuscript bound in worn leather, and the ink still holds its brown-black edge. The letters spell out the names of seventy-two spirits, each with a seal, each with a rank. But something is different here. Beside each demon’s name, in a column of its own, stand the names of angels. The Goetia of Dr. Thomas Rudd is not another copy of the standard Lemegeton. It is a deliberate reworking of the entire evocation system, one that binds every demon to a specific angelic counterpart drawn from the 72-fold name of God.
This version of the Goetia, compiled in the mid-17th century by the Welsh mathematician, astrologer, and occultist Thomas Rudd (c. 1583–1656), survives in a single manuscript in the British Library (Sloane MS 3825, though the attribution is debated). It reorders the traditional 72 demons of the Ars Goetia into a hierarchy governed by the 72 angels of the Shem HaMephorash, the “Explicit Name” of God derived from Exodus 14:19–21. For the practitioner, this changes everything: the spirits are not simply commanded but are approached through a fixed angelic chain, a system Rudd argued was both safer and more effective than the standard conjurations.
Who Was Thomas Rudd, and Why Did He Rewrite the Goetia?
Rudd was a figure of the English Renaissance occult revival, a contemporary of Robert Fludd and Elias Ashmole. He studied at Cambridge, practiced medicine, and wrote extensively on mathematics, astrology, and the Kabbalah. His manuscript works, collected after his death, show a systematic mind trying to reconcile Christian angelology with the grimoire tradition.
The conventional Lemegeton, as it circulated in the 17th century, treats the 72 demons as independent entities to be forced into obedience by the magician’s will and the names of God. Rudd found this approach incomplete. He believed that no demon could be evoked without first invoking the angel that governed it, because the angel was the demon’s “prince” or “overseer” in the divine order. His Goetia therefore pairs each of the 72 spirits with one of the 72 angels of the Shem HaMephorash, a list that originated in Kabbalistic texts such as the Sefer Raziel HaMalach and later Christian Kabbalist works like Kabbala Denudata.
The practical consequence is that the magician never addresses the demon directly. He first calls on the angel, then permits the angel to bring forth the subordinate spirit. The seals and conjurations in Rudd’s manuscript are rearranged to reflect this hierarchy. The angel’s name is written on the lamen, the circle, and the triangle. The demon’s seal is used only after the angel has appeared.
How the Shem HaMephorash Transforms the Evocation
The Shem HaMephorash is the 72-fold name of God, formed by permuting three verses of Exodus (14:19–21) into 72 names of three letters each. Each name corresponds to an angel, and each angel, in Rudd’s system, rules one of the 72 spirits of the Goetia. The order is not arbitrary: the angel’s name determines the days and hours when the spirit can be safely evoked.
| The 72 Angels (Shem HaMephorash) | Corresponding 72 Goetic Spirits |
|---|---|
| Vehuiah, Jeliel, Sitael, etc. | Bael, Agares, Vassago, etc. |
This pairing is the core of Rudd’s innovation. The standard Goetia lists the spirits by rank (king, duke, prince, etc.) and gives planetary hours. Rudd’s version replaces the planetary hours with a system based on the angel’s position in the Shem HaMephorash, which itself is tied to the lunar cycle and the 72 quinances of the zodiac. The magician must calculate the angel’s corresponding day and hour from the Sepher Yetzirah or from tables in Rudd’s own notes.
The angels themselves are not evocated. They are invoked, prayed to, and asked to send the demon. The demon remains inside the triangle, bound by the angel’s authority. The magician’s role is to mediate, not to command.
What the Manuscript Actually Contains
The surviving manuscript of Rudd’s Goetia is not a single text but a compilation. It includes:
- The full list of 72 spirits, each with its seal, rank, and powers.
- A parallel list of the 72 angels, with their names and seals.
- Instructions for constructing the circle, the triangle, and the lamen with both angelic and demonic names.
- The conjurations, which invoke the angel first, then command the spirit through the angel.
- A set of “preliminary prayers” that are not found in the standard Lemegeton, including a lengthy confession and a plea for divine protection.
The circles in Rudd’s manuscript are drawn with the angelic names around the outer ring and the demonic names inside the triangle. The triangle itself is placed outside the circle, as in the standard Goetia, but the magician stands within the circle and addresses the angel at the center of the triangle before the demon appears.
The manuscript also contains a “Treatise on the Use of the Holy Names” that explains the Kabbalistic theory behind the system. Rudd was clearly influenced by the works of Johannes Reuchlin (De Arte Cabalistica), and by the angelic magic of John Dee and Edward Kelley, though he never used the Enochian system.
How It Differs from the Standard Goetia
The most common version of the Goetia, as printed in the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (the 17th-century compilation of five books), does not include the angels of the Shem HaMephorash. The magician relies on the names of God from the Bible and the Book of the Dead (the Necronomicon is a later invention; the Goetia uses the “Names of God” from the Key of Solomon). The standard approach is blunt: the spirit is commanded by the authority of God, and the magician threatens to curse the spirit if it refuses.
Rudd found this method dangerous. He wrote that the spirits, being proud and deceitful, could twist the names of God and mislead the magician. By invoking the angel first, the magician places the interaction under the angel’s governance, reducing the risk of deception. The angel is “the face of God” that the demon cannot ignore.
This difference is not merely theoretical. The standard Goetia’s conjurations are full of threats and curses. Rudd’s conjurations are petitions. The magician asks the angel to send the spirit, and the spirit is bound to obey because the angel holds its seal. The demon’s seal is used only after the angel has appeared, and it is placed inside the triangle as a physical link.
Common Misconceptions About the Rudd Goetia
1. Rudd was a demonologist who summoned spirits for personal gain.
No. Rudd’s manuscript is overwhelmingly devotional. The preliminaries require the magician to be in a state of grace, to fast, and to have confessed. The goal is not to gain power but to understand the hierarchy of creation. Rudd was a Christian Kabbalist, not a sorcerer.
2. The Rudd Goetia is the same as the standard Goetia.
The structure is similar, but the angelic column changes everything. A practitioner who uses the standard conjurations on Rudd’s seals will get no results, because the spirits are linked to the angels, not to the magician’s will.
3. The 72 angels are the same as the 72 spirits, just in a different form.
No. The angels are separate beings. They are not the demons “purified.” They are the divine governors of the spirits, and the spirits are their subordinates. The relationship is hierarchical, not emanative.
4. The Rudd Goetia is a modern invention.
The manuscript is authentic 17th century. It was known to early occultists like Francis Barrett, who mentions Rudd in his The Magus (1801). The current interest in Rudd’s Goetia comes from modern publishers like Aleister Crowley (who did not use it) and later scholars.
FAQ
Why would a magician prefer Rudd’s Goetia over the standard version?
The angelic binding reduces the risk of deception and provides a built-in protective system. The magician never confronts the spirit without a higher authority present.
Is the Rudd Goetia compatible with the Enochian system?
No. Rudd’s system uses the Shem HaMephorash, which is a Kabbalistic construct, not the angelic language of Dee. The two systems are based on different cosmological principles.
Can I practice Rudd’s Goetia without knowing Kabbalah?
The system requires understanding the Shem HaMephorash, the days and hours of the angels, and the Hebrew names. Without that foundation, the conjurations are empty.
Where can I see the original manuscript?
The Sloane MS 3825 is held at the British Library and can be viewed on microfilm or through digital scans. Several modern editions reproduce the text with commentary.
The Rudd Goetia in Practice
Using Rudd’s system today requires more than a photocopy of the seals. The magician must calculate the correct angel for the day and hour, which changes weekly due to the lunar cycle. The angel’s name is spoken first, then the demon’s, and the seal is drawn in the correct order. The ritual must be performed in a consecrated space, and the magician must be alone.
We light a single candle in the center of the circle, not inside the triangle. The angel’s name is written on the candle with a consecrated needle. The demon’s seal is placed inside the triangle, drawn on virgin parchment. The conjuration is read from the manuscript, not from memory. The voice must be steady, the intent clear.
The angel appears first, as a light or a sound. The demon appears later, as a shape in the smoke. The magician asks the angel to give the demon permission to speak. The demon answers through the angel, and the conversation is mediated by the divine name.
This is not the Goetia of popular imagination. It is a slow, careful, exhausting process. Rudd’s manuscript warns that the magician must not rush, must not break the circle, must not speak to the demon directly. The angel is the only safe intermediary.
That history explains why the manuscript matters. What follows is what it means for the modern practitioner.
If you are working with the Goetia, the Rudd version offers a different path, one that is less confrontational but more demanding in its preparation. It is a system that requires literacy in both the grimoire tradition and the Kabbalah. For those who want to explore the hierarchy of spirits through the lens of the divine names, Rudd’s Goetia is the key.
For further reading, see our guide to the Goetia and demonology, the glossary entry on the Shem HaMephorash, and our detailed comparison of Rudd’s Goetia vs. the standard Lemegeton.