The dictionary of demons, p.15
The Dictionary of Demons, page 15
Azimel: One of several infernal dukes named in the court of the demon-king Maseriel. Azimel’s name and seal appear in the Ars Theurgia, where he is said to rule over thirty lesser spirits of his own. He is affiliated with the hours of the day and the southern point of the compass. See also ARS THEURGIA, MASERIEL.
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37. In many of the grimoires, the term exorcist is used interchangeably with summoner.
38. Adam McLean, A Treatise on Angel Magic, p. 51.
39. Conybeare, Testament of Solomon, p. 25.
40. Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Tyson edition, p. 533.
Baaba: A demon named in the Ars Theurgia. Baaba appears in the court of Barmiel, the first and chief spirit of the south under the emperor Caspiel. Baaba holds the rank of duke and he is said to serve his infernal lord during the hours of the night. Despite his rank, Baaba has no servants or lesser spirits under his command. See also ARS THEURGIA, BARMIEL, CASPIEL.
Baal: The Canaanite word for “god” or “lord.” When the Israelites entered Canaan, they encountered the cult of Baal. Baal-worship was widespread in this ancient land, and each place had its own particular Baal. The Baals were the male deities, while the female counterparts were the Ashtaroths or Astaroths. The religion of Baal was, for a time, a direct competitor with the religion of Yahweh, and this competition gave rise to the endless polemics raised by the Patriarchs against Baal throughout the Old Testament. The incident with the golden calf was likely the result of Baal worship, and in several places throughout the Old Testament, the children of Israel are directly forbidden from making sacrifices to “the Baals.” The ideological struggle presented in the Old Testament between the worship of Baal and the worship of Yahweh paved the way for Baal to become demonized in later Abrahamic culture. His title, “Prince Baal,” is mocked in 2 Kings 1:2, 3, and 16, where the name is rendered “Baal-zebub,” or “Lord of the Flies.” This name, as Beelzebub, eventually became equated with one of the major devils of Hell. Another Baal, “Baal-peor,” appears in Numbers 25:3 and Deuteronomy 4:3, eventually giving rise to the demon “Belphegor.” Baal and its plural form, “Baalim” can also be found echoed again and again in the infernal literature as one of the great demons of Hell. Bael, an alternate form of Baal, has even developed into a completely separate deity. In the Elizabethan Book of Oberon, his name is rendered Baall, and he is one of the twelve highest-ranking servitors of Oriens, king of the east. In this text, Baall can compel the love of either men or women. He also has the power to make people invisible. When he appears, he wears the form of a king and he speaks in a hoarse, raspy voice. See also ASTAROTH, BAEL, BALAAM, BEELZEBUB, BELPHEGOR, BOOK OF OBERON, ORIENS.
Beelzebub’s Many Brothers
Of the few demons given proper names in the Bible, Beelzebub is one of the most recognized. Over the years, he has come to be seen as one of the leading dignitaries of Hell. But before he was a demon, he was a god. The name Beelzebub is likely a form of Baal Hadad, a storm god who figures in the mythology of the ancient Canaanites and Syrians. Baal Hadad means “Lord of Thunder.” He also held the titles of “Cloud-Rider” and “Prince Baal.” His name is recorded in the works of the Ugaritic peoples, neighbors to the ancient Israelites. His cult symbol was the bull, a widespread symbol of strength and fertility in the ancient Middle East. Baal Hadad is remembered today as Beelzebub through a process of demonization: many of the demons named in the Old Testament were not demons at all, but were gods belonging to rival cultures. In order to dissuade the ancient Israelites from worshipping these foreign deities, the gods were depicted as evil and monstrous.
Baal Hadad was not the only Baal to be worshipped in the ancient world. In fact, the word Baal itself meant “lord” or “god” and could refer to any number of individual deities. There was Baal-Addir, god of the Phoenician town of Byblos, whose name meant “Mighty Baal” or “Mighty Lord.” Baal-Biq’h was the “Lord of the Plain” who loaned his name to the town of Baalbek (later known as Heliopolis). Baal made his way into ancient Egypt through the Hyksos, a Semitic people who invaded the Nile Delta around 1700 BCE. In Egypt, he became associated with the god Set.
Baal-Hammon appears in a Phoenician inscription found at the town of Zindsirli. The chief god of Carthage, his name may mean “Lord of the Censer Altars.” Identified with Chronos by the Greeks and Saturn by the Romans, Baal-Hammon was a fertility god with a dark side. Records indicate that the sacrifice of children was a part of his cult worship, a practice that certainly would have lent itself to demonizing this Phoenician deity. Baal Karmelos takes his name from Mount Karmel where he was thought to dwell. Venerated by the Roman Emperor Vespasian, Baal Karmelos was worshipped with burnt offerings and was sometimes sought for oracular purposes. Baal Marq’d had a shrine near modern-day Beirut and was called Balmarkos by the Greeks. His name means “Lord of the Dance” and he seems to have been associated with healing. Baal Qarnain, the “Lord of the Two Horns,” got his name from the twin mountain peaks near the Gulf of Tunis. Likely a local manifestation of Baal-Hammon, in later times he was called Saturnus Balcarnesis. And finally, one of the most widely worshipped Baals was Baal Šamem, sometimes rendered Baal Sammin. Known as “Lord of Heaven,” he was worshipped in ancient Syria, Cyprus, Carthage, and northern Mesopotamia. His likeness appears on Seleucid coins, where he bears a half-moon on his brow and carries a sun with seven rays in one hand. Among the Romans, he was known as Caelus, meaning simply “sky.”
Baalberith: A demon named as Hell’s Minister of Treaties in Berbiguier’s nineteenth-century work Les Farfadets. In addition to his appearance in Les Farfadets, Baalberith’s name also appears at the bottom of a document produced in the seventeenth-century trial of Urbain Grandier. The document, of dubious origin, is supposedly a pact signed by Grandier with Satan and a number of other high-profile devils in witness. Grandier was accused of witchcraft and diabolism in Loudun, France, and this little document was one of the things that sent him to the stake. Baalberith appears as “scriptor,” and as far as this document is concerned, he seems to function in the role of scribe or secretary for Satan’s pacts. Interestingly, Baalberith’s name may clearly define this particular job description. Baal meant “lord” in several ancient Semitic languages, and was typically used as a title of an order of Canaanite gods, all duly objected to by the monotheistic Israelites and generally decried as demons. Berith is Hebrew for “covenant.” It refers to the sacred covenants established between the Lord God and his chosen people, and it is used as one of the names of God. Here, perverted into the name of a demon, it seems to suggest that Baalberith is the “Lord of Covenants,” which, in demonic lingo, would make him the Lord of Pacts. Notably, Berith appears as a demon in the Goetia and elsewhere in the grimoiric literature. See also BERBIGUIER, BERITH.
Baasan: An infernal king who serves alongside Belial in the court of Paimon, ruler of the spirits of the west. He has the power to bestow invisibility. His name appears in the Elizabethan grimoire known as the Book of Oberon. See also BELIAL, BOOK OF OBERON.
Bachiel: A demon in the court of the south. According to the Ars Theurgia, Bachiel is a servant of the demon-king Maseriel. He holds the title of duke and has thirty lesser spirits at his command. He is a night-demon, serving his infernal master only during the hours of darkness. See also ARS THEURGIA, MASERIEL.
Baciar: A demon from the Ars Theurgia governed by Raysiel, the infernal king of the north. Baciar appears during the hours of the day, and it is during these hours that he serves his king Raysiel. He holds the rank of duke and has fifty lesser spirits beneath him. See also ARS THEURGIA, RAYSIEL.
Badad: According to Mathers, the name of this demon is from Hebrew, and it means “the Solitary One.” Badad serves in the hierarchy beneath Oriens, Paimon, Ariton, and Amaimon, the four demonic princes of the cardinal directions. He is summoned during one of the many days devoted to the Holy Guardian Angel rite, as outlined in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. See also AMAIMON, ARITON, MATHERS, ORIENS, PAIMON.
Badalam: A demon named in the Munich Handbook. He is called upon in a spell intended to bind and compel a woman to love someone. Badalam is described as an infernal lord, and he is presented as having the power to command a series of subordinate demons to harry and afflict the target. Satan is named as one of the demons connected to him, although strangely he is presented as being in a subordinate position to Badalam. See also MUNICH HANDBOOK, SATAN.
Bael: A variation on the spelling of the demon Baal, which has come to represent a demon in its own right. He is named as the very first demon in the Goetia. In the early-seventeenth-century work A Treatise on Angel Magic, scholar Thomas Rudd connects Bael with the power of the east. According to Wierus’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, Bael (spelled both Baell and Baëll in this work) is the first king of the power of the east. Baell is said to speak with a hoarse voice. When he manifests, he takes a form with three heads: the head of a man, a cat, and a toad. He has sixty-six legions of spirits under his command and he can be charged to make men invisible. In the Goetia of Dr. Rudd, Vehujah is the name of the angel said to have power over him. In the Welsh Book of Incantations, he is said to have diverse shapes, sometimes taking all of his forms at once. His seal is to be worn as a lamen on the breast of those daring enough to call upon him. See also BAAL, BOOK OF INCANTATIONS, GOETIA, RUDD, WIERUS.
The demon Bael, from the 1863 edition of Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal. From the archives of Dark Realms Magazine.
Bafamal: One of several demons named in the hierarchy of the infernal ruler Astaroth. Bafamal appears in Mathers’s edition of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. See also ASTAROTH, MATHERS.
Bahal: A demon said to serve his master Astaroth exclusively. Bahal appears in the Mathers translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage in connection with the Holy Guardian Angel working. See also ASTAROTH, MATHERS.
Bakaron: A demon named in connection with the Holy Guardian Angel working central to the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Bakaron is said to serve the infernal lord Asmodeus. In his 1898 translation of this material, occultist Mathers suggests that the name of this demon comes from a Hebrew term meaning “first born.” In his version, the name of this demon is spelled Bacaron. See also ASMODEUS, MATHERS.
Balaken: According to occultist S. L. Mathers, the name of this demon is connected to a word meaning “ravagers.” Balaken is a servitor of the infernal prince Oriens. Through Oriens, Balaken is associated with the east. Both Oriens and Balaken are named in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Variations of this demon’s name include Balachan and Balachem. See also MATHERS, ORIENS.
Balalos: A demon in service to Oriens, Paimon, Ariton, and Amaimon, the four infernal kings of the cardinal directions. Balalos appears in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In his 1898 translation of this work, occultist S. L. MacGregor Mathers suggests that the name of this demon may be derived from a Greek root meaning “to throw.” See also AMAIMON, ARITON, MATHERS, ORIENS, PAIMON.
Balam: A demon of the Order of Dominions, Balam is the fifty-first demon of the Goetia. Balam also appears in Wierus’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, where he is described as a great and terrible king. He has forty legions at his command and he has the power to make people invisible. When he manifests, he appears with three heads: that of a bull, a man, and a ram. He rides upon a bear and speaks with a hoarse voice. His eyes appear to burn like flames; instead of legs, he has the tail of a serpent. In the Welsh Book of Incantations, he governs thirty-six legions and can make anyone go invisible at will. He is reputed to answer truly to any questions put to him. According to Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, he carries a hawk upon his fist. In the Goetia of Dr. Rudd, he is said to be constrained by the angel Hahasiah. See also BOOK OF INCANTATIONS, GOETIA, RUDD, SCOT, WIERUS.
Balanchus: A demon who is summoned into one’s bedchamber so he may be questioned. His name appears in a sixteenth-century spell recorded in the Book of Oberon. In this spell, the demon is summoned with incense of aloeswood (also known as jinko or agar), together with a short incantation, but this can only be done on a Wednesday in the hour of Mercury. If successful, Balanchus will appear as a bearded man and answer whatever questions one asks. The spell appears in the final folio of the grimoire known as the Book of Oberon. Although Balanchus is called upon specifically while his summoner is in bed, there is no suggestion of a sexual element, so Balanchus is probably not an incubus. See also BOOK OF OBERON.
Balath: A demon of illness and disease, he strikes down the healthy and can steal a person’s wits. He also has powers of transportation, magickally carrying people from one place to another. He is cunning in the sciences and can earn fame and esteem for the one who conjures him. His name appears in the Book of Oberon, where he is listed among the twelve principal servitors of Paimon, king of the west. When summoned, Balath appears misshapen and speaks with a hoarse and rasping voice. See also BOOK OF OBERON, PAIMON.
Balfori: A servant of the arch-demon Beelzebub. Balfori appears in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In certain versions of this text, his name is spelled Baalsori. See also BEELZEBUB, MATHERS.
Balidcoh: A demon connected with the element of earth. He is described as both hard-working and patient with an even temper. He has an appearance that is both bright and beautiful, and he is one of the guardians of the treasures of the earth. He serves as a minister to the infernal king Albunalich, and he can give gifts of gold and precious stones to those who have gained his favor. For others, he guards these treasures jealously and will utterly frustrate their attempts to uncover the riches of the earth. According to Daniel Driscoll’s 1977 edition of the Sworn Book, he is also an oracular spirit, having the ability to reveal things from the future as well as the past. He can bring rain, and he can also incite rancor and violence between men. See also ALBUNALICH, SWORN BOOK.
Balidet: In Dr. Rudd’s early-seventeenth-century work A Treatise on Angel Magic, Balidet is described as a minister of king Maymon, one of the ruling spirits of the west. See also MAYMON, RUDD.
Balsur: A demon who commands an impressive total of three thousand eight hundred and eighty lesser spirits. Balsur holds the rank of duke, and according to the Ars Theurgia, he is one of several hundred dukes in service to the demon Amenadiel, infernal Emperor of the West. See also AMENADIEL, ARS THEURGIA.
Baoxes: A mighty duke in the hierarchy of the north who commands thousands of lesser spirits. Baoxes serves the demon-king Baruchas, at least according to the Ars Theurgia. Baoxes will only appear during hours and minutes that fall into the ninth portion of the day, assuming the day has been divided into fifteen equal portions. See also ARS THEURGIA, BARUCHAS.
Baphomet: A demon commonly depicted as a goat-headed being, often hermaphroditic, sometimes with wings. Baphomet made his (or her) entrance into the annals of demonology through transcripts of the trials of the Knights Templar. For a variety of reasons, most of them monetary, this knightly order came under suspicion in Europe, and the entire group was ultimately arrested and tried—with many of the knights being put to death. Among the charges brought against the Templars was the assertion that they had abandoned their Christian faith, instead worshipping a curious idol given the name Baphomet. Material that has survived from French troubadours active in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries suggests that the name Bafomet was originally a corruption of the name Muhammad which at the time was commonly rendered Mahomet. If this is true, then the figure of Baphomet may have come up in relation to the Templars as an implication that they had turned to the faith of their enemies, the Muslims. In the confessions extracted under torture from members of the Knights Templar, Baphomet is variously described as a figure with three heads, a cat, and a severed head. Because these descriptions were given under duress, there is no way to know whether or not Baphomet had any real connections with the activities and beliefs of the Knights Templar—although it should be noted that no reference to this being appears in either the Templar Rule or in any other documents related to the Templars. The mystery of the figure lived on, however, and Baphomet resurfaced in the nineteenth century as a demonic idol associated with the occult. In 1854, occultist Eliphas Lévi included an image of Baphomet in his book Rituals of High Magic, describing the demon as the “Sabbatic Goat.” The image used by Lévi strongly resembles depictions of the Devil that appear on early Tarot cards. It has become the de facto image associated with this being.
Baphomet, the Sabbatic Goat. From a pen drawing in the nineteenth-century French occult work La Magie Noire.
Baraquiel: A Watcher Angel named in the Book of Enoch. He is listed as one of the “chiefs of tens” and thus had command over a small troop of these fallen angels. When the Watchers left Heaven to come to earth, they allegedly brought with them forbidden secrets. Baraquiel is said to have taught the art of astrology to his human charges. Elsewhere in the text, his name is spelled Baraqel. See also WATCHER ANGELS.
Barbais: A spirit of the wilds who can teach the languages of birds and beasts. He also has the power to undo witchcraft. He manifests in the form of an archer from the wilds. (We might more readily describe him as a ranger.) He is one of twelve principal servitors of Oriens, king over the east. Not to be confused with Barbas, also of Oriens’s court. His name may be a variation on Barabares, also described in the Book of Oberon. See also BARBARES, BARBAS, BOOK OF OBERON, ORIENS.
Barbares: A demon named in the Book of Oberon who appears in two separate entries (fifty-one and fifty-three). In both he is associated with archers and beasts. In the first entry he is said to take the form of a woodsman or archer. In the second entry he also appears as an archer but is half-man and half-beast, like the traditional representation of the zodiac sign Sagittarius. He holds influence over many rulers and can reveal innumerable hidden treasures. In addition, he can confer the power to understand the speech of birds and beasts. He is said to be accompanied by four minstrels bearing four trumpets of gold, silver, ivory, and brass. The Book of Oberon, the Elizabethan grimoire in which he appears, identifies his rank as both lord and viscount. Depending on which entry you source, twenty-six or twenty-nine legions of lesser spirits serve under him. An alternate version of his name is given as Barbates. Compare this name and powers to the Goetic demon Barbatos, identified in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, and Mathers’s Lesser Key of Solomon. He also has much in common with the demon Barbais, also named in the Book of Oberon, and one may actually represent an alternate spelling of the other’s name. Note that barbaros is Greek, meaning “strange” or “foreign,” and gave rise to the word barbarian. See also BARBAIS, BARBATOS, BOOK OF OBERON.
