Eligos
Eligos is the fifteenth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Duke, appearing according to the text in the form of a goodly knight carrying a lance, an ensign, and a serpent.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
The name Eligos also appears in some editions as Abigor, a variant used in related demonological catalogs that predate Mathers' translation. In Mathers' edition (1904), Eligos is described as appearing in the form of a goodly knight, carrying a lance, an ensign, and a serpent — an emblematic combination of martial and courtly imagery the text applies to few other entries in the catalog.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Eligos holds the fifteenth position in the catalog and is described as a Duke, commanding 60 legions of spirits according to the text. The source attributes to him the discovery of hidden things, knowledge of wars and how soldiers shall meet, foreknowledge of things to come, and the ability to find favor with lords and knights — a set of attributes the text frames around strategic and courtly knowledge.
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 — Eligos 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 Ars Goetia's 72 spirits not as external entities commanded by invoking a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal masks personifying the practitioner's own psychological currents, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Eligos's image as a knight bearing a lance, an ensign, and a serpent is read as the archetype of the sovereign warrior who advances under his own banner of will, the serpent symbolizing hidden wisdom awakened within, while his mastery of hidden things and foreknowledge of things to come are reframed as the intuition and self-knowledge the practitioner develops by integrating this archetype.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Eligos related to the figure known as Abigor?
- Abigor is a variant name for the same entry found in related demonological catalogs that predate Mathers' translation; sources treat it as an alternate spelling rather than a separate figure.
- Do Mathers' edition and Dr. Rudd's manuscript describe Eligos 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 Eligos 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).