Dantalion
Dantalion is the 71st 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.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Dantalion is described with an appearance unique in the catalog: the form of a man with many countenances — the text describes as many faces as the sum of all human faces, both male and female — holding a book in his right hand. The manuscript attributes to him the teaching of all arts and sciences, knowledge of the thoughts of all men and women, and the ability to reveal the likeness of any person, anywhere in the world, through a vision, per the text's description.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Dantalion holds the catalog's 71st position and is described as a Duke, great and powerful, commanding 36 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attribute of teaching all arts and sciences, declaring the secret counsel of any person, and knowing — and, per the text, being able to change — the thoughts of all men and women.
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 Dantalion, 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 Dantalion 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), reframe the Ars Goetia's 72 spirits as archetypal masks of the practitioner's own consciousness rather than external entities commanded under a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model. Dantalion's form lends itself particularly directly to this reading: his countenance, composed of the sum of all human faces, both male and female, is interpreted as the archetype of total self-knowledge — the capacity to recognize, within oneself, every possible human perspective and disposition. His command over others' thoughts and his faculty for revealing any person's secret counsel are read, in this frame, not as intrusion into external minds but as a symbol of radical empathy turned inward: the initiate's capacity to comprehend within themselves every impulse, virtue, and shadow the human mind can hold, with the book he carries standing for the accumulation of that gnosis.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What appearance does the Ars Goetia attribute to Dantalion?
- According to Mathers' edition, Dantalion appears with many countenances — as many as the sum of all human faces, both male and female — holding a book in his right hand.
- What knowledge does the text attribute to Dantalion?
- According to the manuscript, Dantalion teaches all arts and sciences, declares the secret counsel of any person, and knows the thoughts of all men and women.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Dantalion 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).