Focalor
Focalor is the forty-first of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Duke, associated in the text with dominion over the winds and the sea.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Focalor is described with the form of a man with griffin's wings. The manuscript attributes to him power over the winds and the seas, including the ability to drown men and to overturn or sink ships of war according to the text. The manuscript itself records, as a trait attributed to the spirit, that he does no harm to any man or thing unless so commanded by the operator — a documentary description in the primary source regarding the spirit's nature, not usage instruction. The text adds that Focalor expresses the hope of returning to the seventh throne after a period of 1,000 years.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Focalor holds the catalog's forty-first position and is described as a great and strong Duke, commanding a comparatively small number of legions of spirits — three, according to the text. He is listed with the attributes of power over winds and seas, including the ability to sink vessels.
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 Focalor, 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 Focalor 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), read the 72 spirits not as external powers subordinate to a celestial hierarchy but as archetypes of psychological forces latent within the practitioner. In this key, Focalor's dominion over stormy winds and seas is reinterpreted as the archetype of governing one's own turbulent emotions and impulses; the manuscript's clause that the spirit does no harm unless commanded is read, in this symbolic interpretation, as an assertion that it is the individual's own sovereign will — not an external authority — that determines how these inner forces are directed.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What appearance does the text attribute to Focalor?
- According to Mathers' edition, Focalor appears in the form of a man with griffin's wings.
- What does the manuscript record about Focalor's nature?
- The text attributes to him power over winds and seas, including the ability to sink ships of war, but also records that he does no harm unless commanded — a documentary characterization from the primary source regarding the spirit's nature.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Focalor 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).