Jump to content

Valac

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the goetic demon. For the album by Erik Friedlander, see Volac: Book of Angels Volume 8.
Valak as depicted in the Dictionnaire Infernal

Valac is a demon described in the goetic grimoires The Lesser Key of Solomon (in some versions as Ualac or Valak[1] and in Thomas Rudd's variant as Valu),[2] Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (as Volac),[3] the Liber Officiorum Spirituum (as Coolor or Doolas),[4][5] and in the Munich Manual of Demonic Magic (as Volach)[6][7][8] as an angelically winged boy riding a two-headed dragon, attributed with the power of finding treasures.[6][1][4][5][3][9]

Variations

[edit]

The Lesser Key, the Munich Manual, Rudd, and Weyer further agree in ranking Valac as a president and attributing him with the power to locate, summon, and control Oten.[1][2][3] The Officium Spirituum similarly attributes Doolas with the power to give the summoner command of serpents as well as "household spirits," but it ranks Coolor and Doolas as princes instead of presidents.[4][5]

Valac is listed 62nd in the Lesser Key (even by Rudd) and the 50th by Weyer, with either version claiming he leads 30 legions of demons (though some manuscripts say 38).[1][2][3] The Munich Manual describes Volach as controlling 27 legions of spirits.[6][7][8] The Officium Spirituum (depending on the manuscript) ranks Coolor as either 22nd (with no note of how many spirits he commands)[10] or (in the copy found in the Folger Shakespeare Library) 22nd and commanding 13 legions of spirits.[5] All extant and complete versions of the Officium Spirituum list Doolas as 25th demon, commanding 20 legions of spirits.[11][5]

Rudd's version uniquely has Valac opposed by the Shemhamphorasch angel Iahhel.[12]

A manuscript titled Fasciculus Rerum Geomanticarum lists him as Volach.[13]

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Peterson 2001, p. 35.
  2. ^ a b c Rudd 2010, p. 164.
  3. ^ a b c d Weyer 1563, par. 50.
  4. ^ a b c Porter 2011, pp. 14–15.
  5. ^ a b c d e Porter 2015, p. 198.
  6. ^ a b c Kieckhefer 1997, pp. 166, 292.
  7. ^ a b Rudd 2010, p. 34.
  8. ^ a b Weyer 1563, Introduction by Peterson.
  9. ^ Rudd 2010.
  10. ^ Porter 2011, p. 14.
  11. ^ Porter 2011, p. 15.
  12. ^ Rudd 2010, pp. 376.
  13. ^ Boudet 2003, par. 25.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Boudet, Jean-Patrice (2003). "Les who's who démonologiques de la Renaissance et leurs ancêtres médiévaux". Médiévales. Langues, Textes, Histoire. Médiévales (in French) (44). Revues.org: 117–140. doi:10.4000/medievales.1019.
  • Kieckhefer, Richard (1998). Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press (published 1997). p. 161. ISBN 0-271-01750-3.
  • Peterson, Joseph H., ed. (May 2001). Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis: The Lesser Key of Solomon, Detailing the Ceremonial Art of Commanding Spirits Both Good and Evil;. Maine: Weiser Books (published 2001). ISBN 1-57863-220-X.
  • Porter, John (2011). Campbell, Colin D. (ed.). A Book of the Office of Spirits. Translated by Hockley, Frederick. Teitan Press. ISBN 978-0933429253.
  • Porter, John; Weston, John (2015). Harms, Daniel; Clark, James R.; Peterson, Joseph H. (eds.). The Book of Oberon: A Sourcebook for Elizabethan Magic (first ed.). Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0-7387-4334-9.
  • Rudd, Thomas (2010). Skinner, Stephen; Rankine, David (eds.). The Goetia of Dr Rudd. Golden Hoard Press (published 2007). ISBN 978-0738723556.
  • Weyer, Johann (1563). Peterson, Joseph H. (ed.). Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Liber officiorum spirituum). Twilit Grotto: Esoteric Archives (published 2000).
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valac&oldid=1251254232"