Ipos
Ipos holds the 22nd position in the catalog of the 72 spirits of the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the dual title of Prince and Earl according to the text.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Ipos is described with a composite appearance uncommon among the catalog's spirits: the form of an angel with a lion's head, while also having the tail of a serpent and the feet of a goose. Ipos is notable for carrying the dual title of Prince and Earl, an uncommon rank combination among the 72 listed spirits.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Ipos is listed with the dual title of Prince and Earl, commanding a number of legions of spirits according to the text. He is described as knowing things past and to come, and the tradition attributes to him the ability to make men witty and bold, giving them ingenuity and courage.
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 distinct structural practice: each of the 72 spirits in the catalog is paired with a corresponding angel from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), functioning as a restraining/governing counterpart. Where the exact identity of the angel paired with a particular spirit is not firmly established in the available sources, it is more accurate to describe this pairing practice in general terms than to attribute a specific angelic name without documentary basis — a caution reinforced by 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), reinterpret the Ars Goetia's 72 spirits not as external entities summoned through the authority of a higher divine power — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal masks representing currents of the practitioner's own psyche, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Ipos's attributed ability to make men witty and bold is reinterpreted not as a gift bestowed from outside, but as a symbol of courage and cunning already latent within the individual — his composite form, joining a lion's head, a serpent's tail, and a goose's feet, representing the integration of diverse psychic impulses (strength, instinct, adaptability) under the practitioner's conscious will.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Ipos hold two titles, Prince and Earl?
- Mathers' text attributes to Ipos the dual rank of Prince and Earl, an uncommon combination among the 72 listed spirits, each of whom typically carries a single hierarchical title.
- How is Ipos described in Mathers' edition?
- He is described with a lion's head in the manner of an angel, a serpent's tail, and goose's feet — an uncommon composite form among the catalog's spirits, according to the 1904 text.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Ipos 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).