Historical Ritual Archive
The Power Being Addressed
Gaap is approached as Thirty-third spirit of the Ars Goetia, a Great President and Prince commanding sixty-six legions.
Gaap is commanding, intellectually broad and dangerously capable of altering relationship, perception and distance. He teaches philosophy, stirs love or hatred, reveals time and is said to transport people swiftly.
Daemonology profile: Read the complete Daemonology profile of Gaap
Why the Rite Exists
The rite creates a controlled threshold between ordinary life and the domain attributed to Gaap. Preparation separates the practitioner from ordinary noise. The sigil and name establish the centre. The petition directs the encounter. The offering defines exchange. Dismissal restores the chamber to ordinary time.
A rite without preparation is only demand. A rite without closure is pressure without a boundary.
Personality and Ritual Conduct
Gaap is commanding, intellectually broad and dangerously capable of altering relationship, perception and distance. He teaches philosophy, stirs love or hatred, reveals time and is said to transport people swiftly.
The practitioner should enter with one clear purpose and avoid contradictory requests. The entity's rank and temperament determine the tone. Respect does not mean submission, and command does not mean theatrical aggression.
The Atmosphere of Manifestation
The chamber may feel as though direction has collapsed. Bat-winged or princely imagery, sudden shifts in affection and the sensation of distant places moving near may arise.
Manifestation may begin before any full figure is seen. Sound, temperature, dream, bodily pressure, altered flame, animal imagery or a complete inner sentence may mark the transition from preparation into contact.
Historical Image and Ritual Figure
BLACK PLACEHOLDER — replace with a verified historical image, sigil manuscript or ritual object before publication.
Sigil of Gaap
Sigil of Gaap. Traditionally drawn on parchment and placed at the centre of the rite as the principal visual focus for the invocation.
The Rite: Full Ceremonial Sequence
The following material preserves the original SatanWorld article's ritual content without omitting its operative details.
Gaap (also known as Tap or Goap) is a demon described in medieval grimoires, particularly the Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis), compiled in the 17th century. He ranks as the President and Prince of Hell, commanding 66 legions of spirits. According to the text, Gaap specializes in:
Teaching philosophy and liberal sciences.
Inciting love or hatred between people.
Revealing past, present, and future events.
Transporting people instantly across great distances.
Making men insensible or ignorant.
Appearing as a guide to the four cardinal kings (Oriens, Paimon, Ariton, and Amaymon).
He is said to appear as a man with bat wings, riding a goathorse or airboat, sometimes accompanied by trumpets. Gaap is neutral in alignment but requires careful handling, as he can be deceptive.
Historical Method to Summon Gaap
The primary source is the Ars Goetia section of the Lesser Key of Solomon. The ritual follows a structured evocation process common to Solomonic magic, emphasizing preparation, protection, and command. Below is a summarized, step-by-step adaptation based on the original text (translations vary slightly across editions like those by S.L. MacGregor Mathers or Joseph Peterson). This is not a verbatim script but a faithful outline.
1. Preparation (Purification and Timing)
Timing: Perform on a Sunday or Wednesday during the hour of Mercury (planetary hour calculator needed; typically dawn or dusk). Avoid full moons or eclipses for stability.
Fasting and Abstinence: Fast for 9 days prior, abstaining from meat, sex, and worldly distractions. Bathe in holy water (saltwater or blessed herbs) daily.
Mental State: Meditate on Gaap's sigil (seal) to attune your intent. Focus on a clear, specific request (e.g., knowledge of philosophy, not vague wishes).
2. Tools and Circle Setup
Essential Items
A consecrated magic circle: Draw a 9-foot diameter circle with chalk or flour, inscribed with the names of God (e.g., Tetragrammaton, Adonai) and angelic seals from the grimoire.
Triangle of Art: Outside the circle, draw a triangle for the spirit to manifest, with Hebrew letters (e.g., Michael, Gabriel) at corners.
Incense: Frankincense and myrrh.
Robes: White linen robe; black cap or hood.
Weapons of Art: Sword or dagger (symbolic, for tracing pentagrams); wand of almond wood.
Gaap's Sigil: Engrave on virgin parchment or metal (a complex design resembling a crowned figure with wings—reference images from occult texts).
Location: Isolated room or outdoor space at night, free from interruptions. Face east.
3. The Ritual Invocation
Enter the Circle: Step in clockwise, invoking protective archangels (e.g., "Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, protect me from all harm").
Preliminary Conjuration: Light incense. Recite a general call to spirits, such as the "First Conjuration" from the Goetia:
"I do invocate and conjure thee, O Spirit [Gaap], and being with power armed from the Supreme Majesty, I do strongly command thee… by the most powerful princes, genii, Liachidæ, and ministers of the Tartarean Abode…"
(Full text available in public domain editions; adapt for brevity.)
Specific Call to Gaap: Hold his sigil aloft and chant his enn (a modern demonic chant, if using post-grimoire traditions): "Linan tasa Jedan tasa Gaap" (repeated 3–11 times).
Constraint if Needed: If he delays, use the "Curse of Chains" or second/third conjurations, threatening infernal punishments (e.g., "By the power of the Black Scorpion, I bind thee!").
Appearance: Expect visual/auditory phenomena (hallucinations in modern terms). Command him into the triangle: "Gaap, I command thee to appear visible and affable, without deformity or terror."
4. Communication and Binding
Questioning: Once manifest, state your request clearly. Use a scrying tool (black mirror or crystal) if needed for clearer vision.
License to Depart: After fulfillment, dismiss politely: "Gaap, I thank thee for thy service. Depart in peace to thy abodes, harming none." Burn his sigil to seal.
Banishing: Recite the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (from Golden Dawn traditions) to close.
5. Post-Ritual
Destroy tools if single-use. Journal experiences. Avoid alcohol or stimulants for 24 hours.
Signs of Success/Failure: Warmth, visions, or synchronicities indicate contact; unease or nothing suggests retry or error.
Variations and Modern Adaptations
Crowleyan Approach: Aleister Crowley in The Book of Thoth suggests psychological integration via tarot (e.g., invoking via the Devil card).
Chaos Magic: Treat as a thoughtform—visualize sigil during meditation, no circle needed.
Ritual Architecture
Separation
Bathing, silence, fasting, abstinence, darkness or isolation signal that ordinary time has been left behind. The preparation should be coherent rather than assembled from random gestures.
Construction of the Chamber
Candles, incense, circle, salt, water, metals, herbs, stones and offerings organize the room around the office of Gaap. Each item should perform one function.
Establishing Contact
The sigil, name, chant or enn becomes the visual and verbal axis of the operation. Repetition narrows attention until the chamber feels organized around one intelligence.
The Petition
The petition should contain one principal request, one boundary and one completion condition. Ambiguous wishes invite expansion.
Recognition of Presence
The central phase begins when the atmosphere changes in a sustained way. Pressure, heat, cold, altered flame, internal speech, animal forms or dreamlike imagery may mark the crossing.
Offering and Exchange
The offering represents reciprocity. It may carry the entity's color, office, appetite or symbolic domain. A promise should never be made casually.
Dismissal and Return
The operation ends only when Gaap is thanked or dismissed according to the preserved method. Candles are extinguished safely, the chamber aired where appropriate and the result written before sleep or distraction changes memory.
Instruments and Their Symbolism
The sigil acts as the visual body of the name. The candle establishes color, rank and duration. Incense gives density to the air. Salt or the circle defines limits. Water reflects and carries emotional force. Metal, stone, herb or coin embodies office.
More objects do not automatically create more power. A crowded altar can divide attention.
Timing and Correspondence
Where several systems appear, one coherent system should govern the operation.
Manifestation Signs
Signs associated with Gaap include:
- a sustained shift in the chamber's emotional pressure;
- dreams repeating the spirit's form or office;
- unusual candle movement without a matching draft;
- sounds, smells or bodily sensations consistent with the entity;
- a complete phrase arising inside thought;
- external events beginning to mirror the petition;
- fear, attraction or resistance intensifying at the moment of contact.
A repeated pattern across chamber, dream and aftermath carries greater weight than one isolated sign.
The Frightening Edge of the Rite
Gaap can remove the interval in which judgment normally forms. Love becomes compulsion, travel becomes disorientation and knowledge of time becomes obsession.
The deepest danger is transformation that feels useful. The practitioner may begin to imitate the spirit's temperament, organize life around the petition or interpret every event as part of the operation.
Failure Patterns
Failure appears when preparation is abandoned, the request changes repeatedly, symbols are mixed without purpose, panic replaces attention, impossible offerings are promised or the practitioner refuses to close because no dramatic apparition appeared.
Failure can also appear as excess success: the requested current enters ordinary life faster than expected.
Boundaries of the Petition
The petition should state what is requested, where the result may operate, what form the result may take and what event marks completion. Knowledge can destroy innocence. Protection can become isolation. Transformation can become instability. Treasure can become obsession.
The wording is therefore part of the danger.
Completion and Aftermath
The rite is complete when the petition has been spoken, the exchange acknowledged, the presence dismissed and the chamber returned to ordinary order.
Record the date, timing, preparation, tools, words, signs, dreams, first external movement, emotional changes and fulfillment of any promised offering.
The aftermath belongs to the rite. Results may arrive as opportunity, conflict, warning, sudden knowledge, disappearance of an obstacle or an intensification that reveals the true shape of the request.
The Inner Ordeal
The rite of Gaap is also an ordeal of resemblance. The chamber reveals where the spirit's office already exists inside the seeker's life.
The frightening moment is often recognition rather than apparition. The seeker discovers that the request has already shaped behavior before the first candle was lit.
The Return to Ordinary Life
After closure, eat, drink, wash, change clothing, step outside or speak with another person. These acts declare that ritual time has ended.
Do not repeat the operation immediately because silence feels uncomfortable.
Final Warning
Gaap can remove the interval in which judgment normally forms. Love becomes compulsion, travel becomes disorientation and knowledge of time becomes obsession.
Do not leave the altar active indefinitely. Do not continue chanting after dismissal. Do not add a second petition during closure.