Halphas
Halphas is the thirty-eighth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Earl, and his name is also spelled Malthus in some editions of the catalog.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Halphas is described as appearing in the form of a stock-dove and speaking with a hoarse voice. The text attributes to him the office of building towers, furnishing them with ammunition and weapons, and sending men of war to appointed places — a description in the manuscript of the office attributed to the spirit, without any indication of invocation procedure.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Halphas holds the catalog's thirty-eighth position and is described as a great Earl, commanding 26 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attribute of building towers and furnishing them with weapons, as well as sending fighters to appointed places.
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 Halphas, 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 Halphas 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 catalog's 72 spirits not as external powers commanded by a higher divine authority but as psychological archetypes internal to the practitioner. In this reading, Halphas' office of raising towers and furnishing them with weapons is reinterpreted as the archetype of building inner psychological defenses — internal structures of strength and resilience the initiate erects to safeguard their own process of self-development — while the sending of warriors to appointed places symbolizes the deliberate mobilization of will against internal obstacles.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Halphas and Malthus the same spirit?
- Yes. Halphas and Malthus are variant spellings of the same name, found in different editions of the Ars Goetia catalog.
- What office does the text attribute to Halphas?
- According to Mathers' edition, Halphas builds towers, furnishes them with ammunition and weapons, and sends men of war to appointed places.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Halphas 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).