Purson
Purson holds the 20th position in the catalog of the 72 spirits of the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of King according to the text.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Purson is described as appearing in the form of a man with a lion's face, riding upon a bear, and carrying a fierce viper in his hand. Before him, the text describes trumpets being sounded. He is attended by a great company of other spirits, described as appearing in the form of soldier-men sounding trumpets.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Purson is listed as a King, commanding a number of legions of spirits according to the text. He is described as knowing things past, present, and to come, as well as hidden treasures and where they lie. The tradition also attributes to him the ability to answer truly about earthly and secret things, and to give good familiars.
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 Purson 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, Purson's knowledge of hidden treasures and of things past, present, and to come is reinterpreted not as information obtained from an external source, but as a symbol of the search for self-knowledge — the "hidden treasure" representing deep, unexamined aspects of the individual's own consciousness, to be uncovered and integrated.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Purson's title in the Ars Goetia?
- Purson is listed with the title of King, the 20th spirit in the catalog of 72 in the Ars Goetia according to Mathers' edition.
- How is Purson described in Mathers' edition?
- He is described with a lion's face, riding a bear, carrying a viper, and attended by a company of spirits sounding trumpets, according to the 1904 text.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Purson 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).