I remember a thread that Darkmage wrote in a while ago in this forum, about rewards/offerings for Goetic spirits.

The thing that I'm a little unsure about though is, the entries for some of the spirits say that if you reward them, they will lie to you (or possibly think they can walk all over you) as a result. The single main reason why I'm asking this, is because of what an ass I was to Paimon, when I evoked him.

My real question is, how nice can you be to Goetic spirits, before it crosses the line into demonolatry? Darkmage has basically said, it seems, that a combination of assertion and courtesy is the best way to go; however, Darkmage hasn't mentioned having any truly difficult or intimidating experiences, either. Some of the accounts Imperial Arts gives are downright scary; a few of the spirits there really don't want to play ball with him at all, and threaten to kill him, etc.

I don't want to cross the line into demonolatry, but if I do decide to work with them again, I basically want to learn what specific things I can possibly refrain from doing that will antagonise them, in order to gain the highest likelihood of a positive outcome. Darkmage mentioned making seals out of modelling clay, and that could be a good option for me, but I think if I ever evoke Kings in particular I'm going to use metals for those, in order to be really safe.

Darkmage, I know you've also said that you aren't quite as pedantic with the procedure as say Imperial; can I assume, however, that you use the sign of Solomon, as well as the seal of the spirits? That was the main thing that protected me with Paimon, as I remember, in terms of what I was using; I had a visual of a large version of that being in front of me, and basically acting like a barrier with him trying to hammer through it and get at me, and being unable to. The reason why I'm asking about that, is because one of the main things I've seen demonolators try and claim, is that the Solomonic iconography and setup is extremely antagonistic to the spirits, or can be. This is making me wonder whether, in the case of some of the unco-operative spirits in Imperial's accounts, if maybe something could have been done a little differently, in order to make them more inclined to play nice. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)