Book 6 is in the editing process and should be done next week.
To make things clear, even though I bill the book as based on real life magical practices, it is still first and foremost a story. So I do gloss over the preparation and banishing that goes on before and after most people perform goetic rituals. Also, I wanted to portray the main character, Mike/Legio, as reckless and arrogant.
How do I feel about goetic entities in my own practice? For a long form answer, check out “Demons” on the Scroll of Thoth webstite.
Short form, yes, they are parasitic and dangerous, but they are also necessary and can be a well-spring of power and inspiration. How can you say you’ve experienced life if you’ve never gone off the rails? For me, they are entities that must be constantly watched and kept in check, but should still be treated with respect and not dismissed as something totally “evil”. In the words of Carl Jung:
Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
I do personally make sure to perform lots of banishing when approaching demons in a goetic way. Note the specification there.
Now, as far as keeping them in check with archangels and Jehovah, well I’ve have my differences with the Host. Something I should probably get over, but for now, I won’t be calling on them for aid.
I do use entities from the goetia as my guardians. I think they work fine in that respect, and I believe how you use them makes a big difference in how they behave. This may seem counter-intuitive, but if you want to use goetic entities as guardians and in other work besides goetia, pick ones you’re not intimately familiar with. Let them be simply representations of power, and not creatures born or fed from you.
Thanks for the questions and thank you for reading.