The left-hand path is a modern esoteric category used for religious and magical currents that emphasize themes such as individual self-direction, antinomianism, self-deification, initiatory transformation, or deliberate engagement with symbols rejected by dominant religious culture. It overlaps with some forms of Satanism, Luciferianism, Setianism, and modern occultism, but the terms are not synonymous.
Sigils are graphic signs used in particular magical systems. Historical spirit seals, ceremonial figures, and modern personal signs should be distinguished.
Invocation and evocation are terms used for related but differently framed religious or magical actions. Their definitions vary between authors and practice systems.
A late nineteenth-century British initiatory order that shaped modern ceremonial magic, Tarot, and Hermetic Qabalah.
A grimoire built around religious preparation, the guardian angel, and subsequent work with spirits and magical squares.
The medieval Liber Juratus, a work of sacred magic concerned with divine vision, angels, and ritual authority.
An English scholar whose records of spirit conversations became a major source for later angelic magic.
Buer is a spirit associated in magical catalogues with learning and healing. The well-known radial illustration belongs to later printed demonology.
The Key of Solomon is a transmitted family of magical texts concerning preparation, ritual, and ceremonial instruments. It should be distinguished from the five-part Lesser Key of Solomon.
Witch trials produced records of accusations about harmful magic and the Devil. Those records require attention to how testimony was obtained and to the purposes of judges and writers.
An initiatory order whose Draconian system brings together Qliphoth, Goetic magic, alchemy, and other esoteric traditions.
A grimoire of angelic conjuration organized around the seven days of the week.
A Greek goddess with broad early powers and later associations with crossroads, spirits, and magic.
Objects prepared or used for a particular effect through inscriptions, images, materials, and ritual meaning.
Asmodeus appears in the narrative of Tobit and in later magical and demonological literature. His different roles reflect the purposes of those texts.
Modern theistic Satanism refers to contemporary religious currents in which Satan is understood as an independently real deity, spirit, intelligence, or metaphysical presence and is approached through devotion, ritual, prayer, magic, contemplation, or other religious practices. It is part of the wider field of modern Satanism but differs from explicitly non-theistic movements that use Satan primarily as…
Bael is a ranked spirit in early modern magical catalogues. The Goetic figure should be distinguished from the wider use of the ancient title Baal.
An occult diary records religious or magical work as it occurs. Separating observations from interpretations makes reflection and comparison more reliable.
The author and religious figure associated with Thelema, The Book of the Law, and a large body of magical instruction.
Ritual is patterned action given special religious, symbolic, social, or transformative significance. Ritual can mark time, establish sacred space, communicate with a deity, express commitment, create community, memorialize the dead, enact a transition, or focus attention on a chosen purpose. In theistic Satanism, ritual commonly includes devotional action directed toward Satan or other spirits…