Sallos
Sallos holds the 19th 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 Duke, and in some editions of the text his name is spelled Saleos.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
This spirit's name is spelled Sallos in Mathers' edition (1904), but appears as Saleos in related manuscripts and editions — a common spelling variation among the Goetic catalogs, which circulated in manuscript copies for centuries before the printed compilation. The text describes him appearing in the form of a valiant soldier, riding a crocodile, wearing a ducal crown, and of a peaceable temperament.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Sallos is listed as a Duke, commanding a number of legions of spirits according to the text. He is described as gentle in disposition, and the tradition attributes to him dominion over the subject of love between men and women, being associated with the power to cause mutual affection between one sex and the other.
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, Sallos's dominion over love and mutual attraction between people is reinterpreted not as an effect produced on others, but as a symbol of inner magnetism and the individual's own capacity to awaken and integrate desire and erotic force as part of self-knowledge.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Sallos and Saleos the same spirit?
- Yes. Sallos, the form used in Mathers' edition, and Saleos are spelling variants of the same name found across different manuscripts and editions of the Goetic catalog.
- What does Mathers' edition attribute to Sallos?
- Mathers describes Sallos as a Duke of peaceable temperament, associated with the subject of love between men and women according to the text.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Sallos 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).