Why Lucifer is not in the Goetia

The short answer

The Goetia does not include Lucifer because it copied its list from someone who did not include him. The 72 spirits come, almost all of them, from the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum that Johann Weyer published in 1577. Weyer was recording a tradition of demon catalogues in which each spirit is a noble with a rank, legions and functions. Lucifer, the fallen angel from the very top, simply did not belong in that kind of list.

How the Goetia organises hell

The Goetia has no emperor. It has a nobility: kings, dukes, princes, marquises, presidents, earls and knights. Among the 72 there are nine kings, such as Bael, first on the list, Paimon, Beleth, Asmodeus and Belial. The text also mentions four kings of the cardinal points, Amaymon in the east, Corson in the south, Ziminiar in the north and Gaap in the west, whom the magician can call on to force the other spirits to appear.

This feudal court design is typical of Renaissance demonology and has no need of an absolute monarch. The ultimate authority in the ritual is God: it is in his name that the magician commands.

The mention under Belial

Lucifer appears only in passing. In the description of Belial, spirit 68, the text says he was created right after Lucifer and is among the first who fell. The phrase comes from Weyer, who reports that Belial was created after Lucifer and that some consider him Lucifer's father. It shows that the authors knew of Lucifer and placed him on a higher level, outside the catalogue.

Where Lucifer rules

Other grimoires make different choices. In the 18th-century Grimorium Verum, Lucifer is the first of the three great chiefs, alongside Beelzebub and Astaroth. In the 19th-century Grand Grimoire, he is the emperor, and the magician deals with his prime minister, Lucifuge Rofocale. These books have a different structure and a different origin. The full picture is in Lucifer in the grimoires.

Satan is not there either

For the same reason, the Goetia does not include Satan or Beelzebub among the spirits on its list. The "big" names of biblical demonology sit above or outside the catalogue. Asmodeus, who comes from the Book of Tobit, and Belial, from the biblical texts and Qumran, are exceptions: they came in as kings.

And in modern practice?

Many contemporary practitioners work with Lucifer alongside the spirits of the Goetia, using the seal derived from the Grimorium Verum. It is a modern combination, legitimate as practice, but it is not in the text. Knowing what comes from where helps you avoid attributing to the Goetia what it does not say.

• The list of 72 comes from Weyer, who does not include Lucifer.
• The Goetia is a court of nobles, with no emperor.
• Lucifer appears only in the description of Belial.
• He is chief in other grimoires: the Verum and the Grand Grimoire.

See the 72 in the Goetia catalogue and the origin of the book in the history of the Goetia.