Post #1156493

2025-07-24 02:50 UTC

My stance on the current trend of using The Lesser Key of Solomon at work and in one&#39;s personal life: 1. There&#39;s no evidence these evil spirits really are the 72 princes mentioned in The Lesser Key (and their innumerable minions). They only started telling us their &quot;names&quot; after someone incorporated the text of Ars Goetia in a (poorly-worded) binding ritual. 2. There&#39;s also no evidence that anyone&#39;s binding rituals actually work. It&#39;s always the same thing: Belial is asked to clean someone&#39;s house but burns it down instead and then everyone blames the binding ritual, summoning circle, wand, chalice, etc. 3. While most wizards report that making dark pacts with imps improves their spell-casting ability there are plenty of other familiars that are safer and more trustworthy. 4. There&#39;s a trend of reassuring people about this by asking spirits like Asmodeus the Prince of Lies if they are being truthful. This feels naive at best and actively malicious at worst. 5. It&#39;s not clear to me that risking your immortal soul to make your boss a bit richer is a good idea, to say nothing of risking your immortal soul to do a better job keeping up with email. 6. Just because everyone else has already torn innumerable holes in reality and brought forth legions of demons into our universe does not change my own feelings about it, though it certainly motivates a heightened level of interest in exorcisms and abjuration magic.

Replies (14)

@neauoire@merveilles.town 2025-07-24 02:53

@d6 STOLAS WOULD NOT STAND FOR THIS

Open ##1729494
@AVincentInSpace@furry.engineer 2025-07-24 03:30

@d6 *reads the first point* huh? what's this about *reads the second point* oh, some sorta "posts from another dimension" thing? *reads "While most wizards report that making dark pacts with imps improves their spellcasting ability"* ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Open ##1729495
@AVincentInSpace@furry.engineer 2025-07-24 03:41

@d6 It truly saddens me how many wizards nowadays have simply accepted needing to perform a ritualistic sacrifice _every_ lunar cycle just to keep their imp happy and there to help them work on spells. Nearly any common woodland creature can be trained to become a Lesser Spellcasting Partner (LSP) that will serve as a wizard's faithful companion, that not only won't demand any sacrifices beyond needing to be fed and cared for the same as any other familiar, but is also _far_ more thorough than any demonic imp when it comes to helping to write and proofread newly designed spells. Plus they do so much more quickly! But they don't do nearly as much of the work _for_ you so Imps Are The Future!

Open ##1729496
@thegarbagebird@theblower.au 2025-07-24 04:39

@d6 tagging @pilcrow, relevant to their interests

Open ##1729498
@tomstafford@mastodon.online 2025-07-24 10:43

@d6 "Just because everyone else has already torn innumerable holes in reality and brought forth legions of demons into our universe does not change my own feelings about it, though it certainly motivates a heightened level of interest in exorcisms and abjuration magic." 🔥

Open ##1729499
@helveticablanc@merveilles.town 2025-07-24 14:12

@d6 For real tho, I always recommend against theurgy! It's only gonna end badly!

Open ##1729506
@phil@wears.tigerpajamas.com 2025-07-24 14:14

@d6 lol i have been thinking about AI as Goetia for a while now, thank you for this

Open ##1729507
@deathmtn@metalhead.club 2025-07-24 14:24

@d6 And this trend where so much gp is being poured into giving imps the ability to Gate in more imps? smh Not to mention the material component cost of one entire lake per month. Sure, these wizard-funding potentates say they're "offsetting" this to shut up the angry peasants, but there's just no way a handful of priests casting Create Water can keep up with this.

Open ##1729508
@deathmtn@metalhead.club 2025-07-24 14:25

@d6 [This post was the best commentary I've read on this all year, BTW.]

Open ##1729509
@SkyLuke@mastodon.social 2025-07-24 14:37

@d6 holy shit, this was about AI all along!

Open ##1729510
@mousey@mastodon.seattlematrix.org 2025-07-24 18:52

@d6 200,000 years from now, when Kangaroos have evolved into the next sentience on this planet, their archeologists will dig up *this* toot, to contextualize how the Great Ape civilization burned itself down.

Open ##1729512
@evrowe@hachyderm.io 2025-07-24 19:41

@spaceninja this is PRECISELY the kind of content I would expect you to share and it does not disappoint at all

Open ##1729513
@orrery@weirder.earth 2025-07-24 20:14

@d6 This isn't actually about the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, is it.

Open ##1729514
@soaproot@sfba.social 2025-07-25 00:42

@d6 This does seem like a dire situation we have found ourselves in. I fear that only the power of @SonOfManagement would be able to save us at this point.

Open ##1729515