Foras
Foras (also spelled Forras in some editions) is the thirty-first of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of President according to the text.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
The name appears spelled Foras in Mathers' edition (1904), but also as Forras in related sources — a common orthographic variation among the Lemegeton manuscripts. According to the text, Foras manifests in the form of a strong man, in human shape. He is described as able to teach the virtues of herbs and precious stones, as well as logic and ethics; the text also associates him with granting good understanding, restoring lost property, and revealing hidden treasures.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Foras holds the catalog's thirty-first position and is described as a Great President, commanding 29 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed among the spirits who teach practical knowledge — herbs, stones, and logic — rather than commanding geographic domains or vast armies, as is the case with the catalog's kings and dukes.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
The manuscript attributed to Thomas Rudd, predating Mathers' edition by roughly two and a half centuries, pairs each of the 72 spirits in the catalog — including Foras — with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), as a structural restraining/governing counterpart, an element absent from Mathers' edition. The consulted sources offer no reliable confirmation of which specific angel name Rudd assigned to Foras; the general pairing practice, however, is well documented in Joseph Peterson's research on the Rudd manuscripts.
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: rather than external spirits commanded by invoking a higher divine authority, the catalog's 72 names are interpreted as archetypes of latent faculties within the practitioner, to be recognized and integrated in service of self-deification. In this key, Foras' mastery of herbs, precious stones, logic, and ethics is read as the archetype of practical self-knowledge — wisdom born of observing nature and one's own reasoning — and his association with restoring lost property and revealing hidden treasures is reinterpreted as the process of recovering inner potentials and knowledge the practitioner had forgotten or repressed within themselves.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Foras and Forras the same spirit?
- Yes — Foras and Forras are variant spellings of the same name, found in different manuscripts and editions of the Lemegeton, with no change to the identity or attributes described for the spirit.
- What title is attributed to Foras in the Ars Goetia?
- He is described with the title of President, commanding 29 legions of spirits according to Mathers' edition (1904), associated with teaching herbs, precious stones, logic, and ethics.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Foras 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).