Furfur
Furfur is the thirty-fourth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Earl (Count) according to the text.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
According to Mathers' edition, Furfur manifests in the shape of a hart (deer) with a fiery tail. The text notes that, in this form, he does not speak the truth unless compelled into a triangle — a descriptive detail from the text about the behavior attributed to the spirit, not an instruction of procedure. He is described as able to raise lightning, thunder, winds, and storms, to give true answers on divine and secret matters, and to cause love between a man and a woman.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Furfur holds the catalog's thirty-fourth position and is described as a Great Earl, commanding 26 legions of spirits according to the text. He is one of the spirits associated with meteorological phenomena — storms, winds, and lightning — within the catalog's classification of powers.
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 Furfur — 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 Furfur; 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 that the Ars Goetia's 72 spirits be understood not as external entities commanded by a higher divine authority, but as psychological archetypes internal to the practitioner, to be integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, the hart's shape with a fiery tail attributed to Furfur and his dominion over lightning, thunder, and storms are reinterpreted as symbols of the emotional and passionate forces latent within the practitioner, while his power to stir up love between a man and a woman is read as the archetype of desire (eros) as a transformative force to be consciously directed rather than repressed.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What form does Furfur take according to the Ars Goetia?
- According to Mathers' edition, he manifests as a hart with a fiery tail, and may then take other forms as described in the text.
- What title and how many legions are attributed to Furfur?
- He is described as a Great Earl, commanding 26 legions of spirits according to Mathers' edition (1904).
- Is the Luciferian reading of Furfur 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).