Orias
Orias is the fifty-ninth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Marquis according to the text. In several editions and manuscripts his name also appears spelled Oriax.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Orias/Oriax is described with a notable hybrid appearance: a lion with a serpent's tail, holding a great hissing serpent in each hand, riding upon a horse. The manuscript attributes to him knowledge of the virtues of the stars and of the planetary mansions, as well as the ability to transform a person's appearance, according to the text.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Orias holds the catalog's fifty-ninth position and is described as a Marquis, commanding 30 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attributes of teaching the virtues of the stars, giving knowledge of the mansions of the planets, and granting dignities, prelacies, and the favor of friends and foes, as narrated in the manuscript.
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 Orias, 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 Orias 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), propose reading the catalog's 72 spirits not as external powers commanded by a higher divine authority but as archetypal forces within the practitioner's own psyche, to be recognized and integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Orias' hybrid form — a lion's body with a serpent's tail — is reinterpreted as the symbolic fusion of regal will and serpentine wisdom, a symbol central to Luciferian imagery associated with illumination and forbidden knowledge. The two hissing serpents held in his hands are read as conscious mastery over instinctual, chthonic impulses, while his knowledge of the virtues of the stars and the planetary mansions is reframed as a symbolic map of self-knowledge rather than a prediction of external fate. His manuscript-described ability to transform a person's appearance, meanwhile, is read as a metaphor for the fluidity of persona and the practitioner's self-transformation.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Orias and Oriax the same spirit?
- Yes. Orias and Oriax are variant spellings of the same name, found in different manuscripts and printed editions of the Ars Goetia — a spelling variation common to several of the catalog's 72 spirits.
- What appearance does the text attribute to Orias?
- According to Mathers' edition, Orias appears as a lion with a serpent's tail, holding a great hissing serpent in each hand, riding upon a horse.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Orias 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).