Beleth
Beleth is the thirteenth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of King, said to belong to the Order of Powers, and to ride a pale horse preceded by trumpets and other musical instruments according to the text.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
The name Beleth also appears in the primary sources as Bileth or Bilet, a variance typical of manuscript transmission across centuries of copying. In Mathers' edition (1904), Beleth is described as a mighty and terrible King who rides a pale horse with trumpets and other kinds of musical instruments sounding before him, and the text notes that he is very furious at his first appearance, requiring the exorcist to hold firm until he yields obedience. The text further states that, because he is described as a Great King, he is to be received courteously — a protocol the sources apply to several of the catalog's king-ranked entries.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Beleth holds the thirteenth position in the catalog and is described as a King belonging to the Order of Powers, commanding 85 legions of spirits according to the text. The source attributes to his office the granting of love between men and women, listing this alongside his royal rank and martial retinue of musicians as his documented characteristics.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
Thomas Rudd's manuscript, predating Mathers' 1904 edition by roughly two and a half centuries, documents a related but distinct version of the catalog in which each of the 72 spirits — Beleth included — is paired with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), functioning as a structural restraining counterpart absent from Mathers' edition. The specific angelic correspondence assigned to each entry in Rudd's tradition has been documented through the research of scholars such as Joseph Peterson, whose editions catalog the Rudd manuscripts' pairings in detail.
Interpretation — Luciferian Tradition (modern interpretation)
Modern Luciferian authors, chiefly Michael W. Ford (in works such as The Luciferian Goetia), reinterpret the 72 spirits not as external entities to be commanded by invoking a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal masks or psychological currents representing aspects of the practitioner's own consciousness, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Beleth's regal fury and the ritual requirement that the exorcist hold firm until he yields are reframed as the inner discipline needed to master one's own will and command respect from within, while his office of granting love between men and women is read as the archetype's rulership over the practitioner's own capacity for desire and attraction.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Beleth's name spelled differently across manuscript sources?
- Yes. The primary sources also render the name as Bileth or Bilet, a common feature of grimoire manuscripts copied and re-copied across centuries, when spelling was not standardized.
- Do Mathers' edition and Dr. Rudd's manuscript describe Beleth the same way?
- In a related but not identical way. Rudd's manuscript, predating Mathers' edition, adds a corresponding angel to each spirit — a layer of Kabbalistic correspondence absent from the better-known Mathers/Crowley version.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Beleth as old as the Mathers and Rudd traditions?
- No. It's a modern interpretation, developed mainly from the 2000s onward by Luciferian authors such as Michael W. Ford, who reframe the Ars Goetia's spirits as psychological archetypes for self-development — a contemporary symbolic reading, not a historical manuscript like Mathers' or Rudd's.
Sources
- S. L. MacGregor Mathers (trans.), Aleister Crowley (ed.). The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (1904).
- Joseph H. Peterson (ed.). The Lesser Key of Solomon (2001).
- Thomas Rudd (manuscript), ed. Adam McLean. Dr. Rudd's Treatise on Angel Magic (c. 1650 (2007 ed.)).
- Michael W. Ford. The Luciferian Goetia (2007).