The focus of this book is Andromalius, the 72nd demon in the Goetia, and how he functions as a mirror of Lucifer himself. In the process of illustrating the Lucifer/Andromalius entanglement, Camelia Elias tells stories about how Andromalius fares when dispatched to perform over and above what the Goetia prescribes. Andromalius doesn’t merely deliver the mail, or ‘find treasures, catch thieves, and punish the wicked, ‘ but rather functions as a spy, orchestrates dreams, and divines for missing links. Elias also tells stories about how pacts are made and by whom, and what literature, poetry, and Zen have to say about demonic encounters.
These stories are not merely anchored in the set descriptions of how to conjure a demon and put him to work that we find in most grimoires. Rather, they are stories of collaboration that are entirely based on an assessment of skill in relation to style. This book discusses style in magic, and about how the magician, occultist, or fortuneteller as a stylist manipulates with the perception of the received images of spirit personalities in grimoires. What is the grammar of these images and how does it participate in creating a unique signature for the magician in his encounter with demons?
In practical magic that aims at evocation, invocation, and conjuration of spirits and demons, it’s one thing to go by the instruction book and match a demon’s office and function with what the scope of an operation is, and quite another to think about how authority is established in heaven and hell. Without being ceremonial about working with the grimoires, the author contributes original, scholarly, and penetrating ideas to the philosophy and practice of demonology.
Tabla de materias
A question of aptitude 11
The better story 14
Spirit personalities 20
Andromalius reveals himself 34
Dissolving magic 41
Magical literacy 47
What is the Devil to you? 54
The intentionality of magic 61
Evocation of Andromalius 69
Power within and without 75
The official dispatch 78
To visualize or not 93
Lucifer’s oracle 97
How will you come? 101
Beyond time at the crossroads 105
By wisdom’s grace 108
Conjuration as a dialogue 111
A pact, or three 116
The taste of blood 130
Andromalius under the radar 137
A dead serious occultist 144
Spitting, spying, and eating books 150
Remote viewing at a literary salon 158
‘Yes, but I prefer not to’ 167
Ceremonial magic and participation magic 172
Beyond the circle and the triangle 176
Andromalius goes to the fortuneteller 182
References 189
Acknowledgments 195
Permissions 196
About the author 197