- What Are Andras and Andraste, and How Are They Defined?
- Where Do Andras and Andraste Come From? A History of Two Names
- Andras and Andraste: Symbolism of Ravens, Swords, and Sacred Blood
- How Are Andras and Andraste Invoked in Practice?
- Andras vs. Andraste: How Do Other War Figures Compare?
- Common Misconceptions About Andras and Andraste
The same hand that wrote Andraste’s name on a scrap of parchment also circled Andras in the Goetia’s margins. It was not a mistake. The two names share four letters, a martial domain, and a history of being invoked for victory in battle. Andras is a demon marquis of the Ars Goetia. Andraste is a British goddess of war recorded in Roman histories. But where Andras commands destruction, Andraste presides over tribal victory. The difference is not minor. It tells us exactly how the same raw power gets divided between demon and deity depending on who names it and why.
What Are Andras and Andraste, and How Are They Defined?
Andras appears in the Ars Goetia (the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon, compiled in the 17th century but drawing from earlier grimoires). He is the thirtieth spirit listed, a marquis who appears as an angel with a raven’s head, riding a wolf and carrying a naked sword. His office is to sow discord, kill enemies, and serve as a messenger. Andraste (also spelled Andrasta, Andate, or Adrastia) is a British goddess known only from the Roman historian Cassius Dio, who wrote in the early 3rd century CE that the Iceni queen Boudica invoked her before the revolt against Rome in 60–61 CE. Dio describes Andraste as a goddess of victory, in whose sacred grove the Britons sacrificed captives.
The two figures never meet in any text. But they occupy the same conceptual space: war, blood, and the cry of ravens.
Where Do Andras and Andraste Come From? A History of Two Names
Andraste’s first and only detailed description comes from Dio’s Roman History (Book 62). He writes that Boudica released a hare from the folds of her dress as an omen, then called upon Andraste by name, asking for victory over the Romans. The hare, sacred to the goddess, ran in a direction the Britons took as favorable. Dio also reports that the Britons sacrificed Roman prisoners in Andraste’s groves, hanging their entrails from trees. This is all we have. No British inscription bearing Andraste’s name survives. No statue or temple has been identified. Scholars debate whether Andraste was a local goddess of the Iceni, a title of a broader war deity, or even a Roman misunderstanding of a native word. The name itself is uncertain: some derive it from the Common Brittonic Andero- (meaning “great strength”), others connect it to the Greek aner (man) or a lost Celtic root meaning “invincible.”
Andras enters the record much later, in the pseudepigraphal Johannes Trithemius manuscripts and then into the Lemegeton family of texts (circa 1640–1660). The earliest known copy, Harley MS 6483 (British Library), lists Andras as a demon who “teaches how to kill enemies.” The source is a mix of earlier demonologies: Wierus’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1583) includes a spirit called Andras, but in a shorter list. The name almost certainly does not come from Andraste. It may derive from the Greek andros (man) or Andraias (a mythical king), but there is no direct line. The similarity is coincidental, but occultists in the 19th and 20th centuries began to conflate them.
That history explains why the two are now compared. What follows is what they actually stand for.
Andras and Andraste: Symbolism of Ravens, Swords, and Sacred Blood
Both figures are linked to ravens. Andras appears with a raven’s head. Andraste’s association with ravens comes from the hare omen and the grove sacrifices, but later writers (especially in modern Druidry) have conflated her with the Morrigan, the Irish goddess of war who also appears as a raven. The raven is a carrion bird that profits from battle. Its presence signals death and victory, often at the same moment.
Andras carries a naked sword. Andraste’s groves were filled with the weapons of fallen Romans. The sword is not decorative. It is the tool of division: a demon that kills, a goddess that delivers victory through killing. In both cases, blood is the medium. Andras’s offerings in Goetic evocation typically involve blood (animal or symbolically represented). Andraste’s historical cult clearly involved human sacrifice. Modern practitioners who work with either figure must reckon with that fact. The power is not sanitized.
But there is one key symbolic difference. Andras is a solitary spirit who serves the magician for a specific destructive purpose. Andraste is a tribal goddess who protects a people. The demon serves an individual. The goddess serves a collective. This distinction shapes how each is invoked.
How Are Andras and Andraste Invoked in Practice?
Because Andras is a Goetic spirit, his evocation follows the standard Solomonic method. The magician draws a circle, a triangle, and uses sigils, prayers, and a consecrated wand. Andras’s seal appears in the Goetia (the edition by S.L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, 1904, reprinted the traditional seals). The operator must be cautious: many grimoires warn that Andras is dangerous and may kill the magician if not controlled. Practitioners today often evoke him only for problems of extreme conflict or for psychic protection from violent enemies. We light a black candle in a fireproof bowl. We use his seal drawn on parchment with a needle. We do not call him lightly.
Andraste has no medieval grimoire tradition. Her revival comes from modern pagan and reconstructionist paths, particularly those focused on Celtic Britain. There is no surviving prayer or ritual formula from Boudica’s time. What exists is reconstructed: offerings of mead or ale poured onto the earth in a grove or forest, the burning of a hare’s image (never a real animal), and petitions for victory in legal battles or personal conflicts. Some groups hold a ritual on the anniversary of Boudica’s revolt (circa the full moon in early autumn). Others simply light a torch and speak her name. Andraste does not need a triangle of art. She needs a place where the ground remembers the Iceni.
That practical difference mirrors the symbolic one. Andras is controlled, confined, and released. Andraste is approached, honored, and requested.
Andras vs. Andraste: How Do Other War Figures Compare?
The closest parallel to Andras in the Goetia is Aamon, a prince who also teaches the art of killing, or Balam, who makes the magician invisible. But none of them wears a raven’s head. In the broader demonic hierarchy, Andras is unusual for his animal head. The Morrigan is the most frequent counterpart to Andraste, especially in Irish sources such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (8th–9th century), where she appears as a raven and a washerwoman at the ford. The Romans equated Andraste with Victoria or Bellona, but that equation is thin, based on Dio’s interpretation.
We should mention the name controversy directly. Some modern occult sources claim Andras is a corruption of Andraste, or that they are the same entity seen through different lenses. There is no textual evidence for this. Andras appears only in the Goetic lineage, which draws from Jewish, Christian, and Arabic demonology, not from British paganism. The name resemblance is real. The etymology is separate. We treat them as distinct until proven otherwise, but we acknowledge the conflation has practical consequences: some modern evokers deliberately mix the two, claiming that calling Andraste by Andras’s seal will work because “all names are masks.” That is a matter of personal belief, not documentable history.
Common Misconceptions About Andras and Andraste
They are the same entity. As argued, no historical link exists. The Goetia was compiled by Christian occultists who had no access to Roman-era British goddess lore (the key text, Dio Cassius, was not widely available in translation until the 16th century, and even then it was not used by demonologists).
Andraste is a demon too. Classical pagans did not divide spirits into good and evil as later Christianity did. Andraste was a deity, not a demon. Modern neopagans treat her as divine.
Both require blood sacrifice in modern practice. Andras evocation rarely demands literal blood; symbolic offerings (red wine, chili, a drop from a pinprick) are standard. Andraste’s revivalist rituals usually avoid animal sacrifice, focusing instead on symbolic offerings like dark beer or a hare-shaped cake.
Andras is only evil. The Goetia’s moral framework is dualistic, but practitioners often work with “evil” spirits for protective or necessary purposes. Andras is not malevolent by nature; he is a force of directed destruction, which has its place.
FAQ
Is Andras the male version of Andraste?
No. There is no gendered pairing. Andras is a demon from a completely different tradition, and Andraste’s gender (feminine) is clear from Dio’s text, but they are not complementary opposites.
Can I call on Andraste for protection against a bully?
Yes. Andraste is traditionally invoked for victory in battle, which includes personal conflicts. A simple offering of mead poured on soil with a spoken request is a common method.
Why does Andras have a raven’s head?
Ravens are scavengers that appear after battle. In demonic iconography, the raven also symbolizes cunning, death, and prophecy. Andras’s head signals his domain: the aftermath of violence.
Is Andraste the same as the Morrigan?
They share roles, but they are different figures from different Celtic cultures (British vs. Irish). Some modern syncretists equate them, but ancient Britons did not worship the Morrigan.
Andras and Andraste occupy opposite sides of a mirror. One commands from the circle, the other receives in the grove. But the blood, the raven, and the sword belong to both. To understand one is to sharpen your view of the other.
For deeper study, see our guide to Goetic demons and their seals, the glossary entry for Andraste, and the article on Boudica’s rebellion in occult history.