In my experience the seals are a symbolic language that certain spirits understand or at least recognize. They can be useful for some basic form of communication. I have also found that tarot cards can be used in the same way. I believe that many spirits have difficulty communicating with us and many magical systems–Enochian, goetia, etc.–are tools to break the language barrier.
The thing to be mindful of when using the Solomonic techniques is that those who created it tended to have an adversarial perspective on the spirits. This is not always a bad thing, as there are many spirits who don’t really give a fuck about us and would be happy to use us for their own devices. My philosophy is that I don’t even want to deal with a spirit like that, but it’s impossible to really know until you make contact with them.
So I’m not saying all of the spirits in Solomonic goetia are like that. And some respond well to more diplomatic methods. They are in general, however, more alien than many other spirits magi deal with, and thus their motivations and methods are more difficult to figure out.
In general, I follow the Teddy’s Big Stick Philosophy (
“speak softly, and carry a big stick”) when dealing with any spirits. I approach with respect and kindness, but I can whip out a stick if I need to. The Solomonic tools are that stick.
This is a wand I created for goetic evocation. It’s based loosely on instructions given in multiple grimoires. Notice the pointy end? That’s for demon stabbing.
