The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) · 116 of 175 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Page 61 (part 1)
Click to view THE SEAL OF VAPULA LX.
VAPULA, a strong duke, comes in the form of a lion with griffin's wings.
He gives skill not only in manual professions but also in philosophy and the sciences contained in books--I suppose, as distinguished from the secret sciences.
Click to view THE SEAL OF ZAGAN LXI.
ZAGAN, a great king and president, appears at first in the form of a bull, with the wings of a griffin, but after in human shape.
He makes men witty, turns water into wine, blood into oil and oil into water; he can change any metal into coin of the realm and can make fools wise.
Click to view THE SEAL OF VALAC LXII.
VALAC, a great president, comes as a little boy with the wings of an angel and riding on a two-headed dragon.
He gives true answers concerning hidden treasures, tells where serpents may be seen and will deliver them helpless to the exorcist.
Click to view THE SEAL OF ANDRAS Click to view THE SEAL OF FLAUROS LXIII.
ANDRAS, a great marquis, comes in the form of an angel, with the head of a black night-raven, riding upon a strong black wolf and having a sharp bright sword gleaming in his hands.
He sows discord and will kill the unwary.
LXIV.
FLAUROS, a great duke, appears at first like a terrible leopard, but at the command of the exorcist he puts on the shape of a man, with fiery eyes and terrible countenance.
He gives true answers of things past, present and future, but unless commanded into the triangle he will deceive the exorcist.
He converses gladly of divinity and the creation of the world, as also of the fall of spirits, his own included.
If desired, he will destroy and burn the enemies of the operator, nor will he suffer him to be tempted, by spirits or otherwise.
LXV.
ANDREALPHUS, a mighty marquis, appears at first in the form of a peacock, with a great noise, but after puts on human shape.
He teaches geometry perfectly and all that belongs to measurements, astronomy included.
He can transform men into the likeness of a bird.
Click to view THE SEAL OF ANDREALPHUS Click to view THE SEAL OF CIMERIES LXVI.
CIMERIES, a powerful marquis, appears like a valiant soldier on a black horse.
He rules the spirits in the parts of Africa; he teaches grammar, logic and rhetoric, discovers buried treasures and things lost and hidden; he can make a man appear like a soldier of his own kind.
Click to view THE SEAL OF AMDUSCIAS LXVII.
AMDUSCIAS, a great duke, comes first like an unicorn, but will stand up at request in human shape, causing all manner of musical instruments to be heard but not seen.
He makes trees fall at the will of the operator and gives excellent familiars.
LXVIII.
BELIAL, a mighty king, created next after Lucifer, appears in the form of a beautiful angel, seated in a chariot of fire and speaking with a pleasant voice.
He fell first amongst the superior angels who went before Michael and other heavenly angels.
He distributes preferences for senatorships, Click to view THE SEAL OF BELIAL causes favours of friends and foes and gives excellent familiars.
He must have offerings and sacrifices made to him.
Click to view THE SEAL OF DECARABIA LXIX.
DECARABIA, a marquis, comes in the form of a star in a pentacle, but puts on the image of man at command.
He discovers the virtues of herbs and precious stones, makes birds seem to fly before the exorcist and remain with him as familiars, singing and eating like other birds.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The text describes a cosmos populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents (spirits) with specific domains and forms.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
Spirits frequently appear in human shape (Zagan, Flauros, Andrealphus, Cimeries, Amduscias, Decarabia) or with human-like attributes (Belial speaking with a pleasant voice).
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The operator commands spirits into triangles and demands specific actions (e.g., 'at the command of the exorcist'), demonstrating the doctrine of human volition over spiritual entities.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The text relies on the invocation of specific names (Vapula, Zagan, Valac, etc.) to summon and command these entities, implying ontological power in the names.
Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.
Multiple spirits are explicitly described as changing forms (e.g., Zagan from bull to human, Flauros from leopard to man, Andrealphus from peacock to human).
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The text details the summoning and commanding of spirits using seals, triangles, and specific commands to compel their appearance and obedience.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The text implies the power of command ('at the command of the exorcist') and mentions spirits conversing of divinity, suggesting verbal interaction alters reality.