Crocell
Crocell is the 49th of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Duke according to the text. In different manuscripts and editions his name also appears spelled Crocel or Procel.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Crocell is described as appearing in the form of an Angel, speaking something mystically of hidden things. The text attributes to him the teaching of the art of Geometry and the liberal sciences, along with the ability to produce, at the operator's request, great noises like the rushing of many waters even where none exist, to warm waters, and to discover baths. The manuscript also records that Crocell declared to Solomon that he had belonged, before his fall, to the angelic order of the Potestates.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Crocell holds the catalog's 49th position and is described as a Duke Great and Strong, commanding 48 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attributes of teaching Geometry and the liberal sciences, and of producing water-related phenomena — noises, warming, and the discovery of baths — as described in the manuscript.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
The manuscript attributed to Thomas Rudd, predating Mathers' edition by roughly two and a half centuries, documents a related but distinct version of the catalog — in it, each of the 72 spirits, including Crocell, is paired with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), a restraining/governing structural element absent from Mathers' edition. No reliable record of the specific angel name Rudd's manuscript assigns to Crocell was found among the sources consulted for this entry; the general pairing practice is documented by researchers such as Joseph Peterson.
Interpretation — Luciferian Tradition (modern interpretation)
Modern Luciferian authors, chiefly Michael W. Ford (in works such as The Luciferian Goetia), propose a reading distinct from the Solomonic model: the catalog's 72 spirits are read not as external powers subordinate to an angelic hierarchy but as symbolic layers of the practitioner's own psyche, to be recognized and integrated on the path to self-deification. In this key, Crocell's angelic form and his declared former membership in the order of the Potestates are reinterpreted as the archetype of an authority that abandons an externally imposed hierarchy to govern itself; his mastery of Geometry and the liberal sciences symbolizes the capacity to give conscious structure and shape to one's own experience, while the water-related phenomena he produces — noises, warming, the discovery of baths — are read as metaphors for emotional and unconscious currents brought to the surface by the initiate's will.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Crocell and Procel the same spirit?
- Yes. Crocel and Procel are variant spellings of the name Crocell, found in different manuscripts and printed editions of the Ars Goetia — a spelling variation common to several of the catalog's 72 spirits.
- What power does Mathers' edition attribute to Crocell?
- According to the text, Crocell teaches Geometry and the liberal sciences, produces noises like great waters, warms waters, and discovers baths, and is recorded as having declared he belonged, before his fall, to the order of the Potestates.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Crocell 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).