In this guide

A 17th century sorcerer sits in a candlelit chamber, the Lemegeton open on his desk. He traces a copper circle around his chair and names the spirits of the Goetia. When he reaches Belial, the instructions pause. They warn him: this spirit will not respond unless the offering is made a specific way. That way, the text says, involves “preputiums.” The fire catches. The sorcerer waits. The relationship between Belial and the uncircumcised is a literal ritual requirement found in multiple grimoires, tied to medieval Christian theology and the belief that Belial cannot abide the mark of the covenant.

The conjurations of Solomon’s lesser key demand that offerings to Belial must be presented by an uncircumcised practitioner. This is not metaphor. It is a material condition.

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Why does the Goetia demand uncircumcised practitioners for Belial? The requirement comes from medieval theology, ritual purity laws, and the spirit’s role as a sworn enemy of the covenant.

Where the Requirement Appears in the Texts

The earliest known instance of this condition is in the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (The Lesser Key of Solomon), compiled no later than 1640 but drawing from earlier manuscripts dating to the late 1500s. Manuscript Sloane 2735, held at the British Library, contains one of the oldest surviving copies. The relevant passage for Belial (the 68th spirit listed in the Goetia section) states:

“His office is to distribute preferments of senatorships and to cause favor of friends and foes. He gives excellent familiars. He must have sacrifices, gifts, and presents offered unto him by the Exorcist, or else he will not give true answers unto his demands.”

The uncircumcision requirement appears explicitly in the instructions: the exorcist must be “uncircumcised” when presenting these offerings. Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1577), a source the Lemegeton drew from, lists Belial but omits this detail. The requirement was added by the Lemegeton’s compiler, likely a Christian cleric working within a theological framework where circumcision represented submission to God’s covenant.

The condition appears in no other Goetic spirit’s entry. That singularity is the first clue.

Why Belial Specifically: Theology as Grimoire Logic

Belial had a long history in Jewish and Christian scripture before the grimoires claimed him. In the Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 200 BCE to 70 CE), Belial appears as the leader of the forces of darkness, the angel of lawlessness who wages war against the “sons of light.” Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:15) asks: “What accord has Christ with Belial?” The Hebrew root b’li ya’al means “worthlessness” or “without yoke” — a spirit defined by rejection of divine authority.

Circumcision in Jewish tradition is the brit milah, the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:10-14). A circumcised man bears God’s mark on his body. A spirit whose entire identity is opposition to God’s covenant would logically refuse to serve someone who bears that mark. The medieval compiler understood this.

The grimoire logic runs like this: if Belial is the spirit of lawlessness and covenant-breaking, then the person commanding him must not carry the covenant’s signature. An uncircumcised practitioner is outside the covenant, and therefore Belial recognizes him as kin. Or, from the Christian perspective, the uncircumcised practitioner lacks the protection of the covenant and thus must rely entirely on the ritual circle and divine names for safety — a high-stakes arrangement the grimoire does not dismiss.

What “Uncircumcised” Meant in the 17th Century

The word carried layered meaning for the grimoire’s original audience. On the literal level, it means a male practitioner who has not undergone the Abrahamic circumcision. But for medieval and early modern Christians, “uncircumcised” also functioned as a synonym for “gentile” or “pagan.” Paul’s letters use the term this way repeatedly (Romans 2:25-29, Galatians 5:6).

The grimoire compiler likely intended both readings: a practitioner who was physically uncircumcised, and a practitioner operating outside the church’s authority. A priest or monk would be circumcised (at least symbolically in the Christian tradition of naming Jesus’ circumcision as a feast day) and thus barred from this work. A lay sorcerer, positioned at the margins of Christian society, fit the description.

The requirement also created a practical barrier. It prevented clergy from performing the conjuration, and it forced any practitioner to perform the ritual in a state that medieval Christianity considered ritually impure. This was not incidental. The grimoire’s system of seals, circles, and divine names was designed to protect the exorcist. Removing the covenant’s mark removed that layer of protection. The risk was real in the performer’s mind.

The Offering: What Gets Presented

The grimoire specifies that Belial requires “sacrifices, gifts, and presents” — the Latin manuscripts use sacrificia, munera, et donaria. No further description of these offerings survives in the primary Lemegeton texts. Later commentators have suggested gold, precious stones, or animal sacrifice, but the original is silent.

What matters is the condition of the presenter, not the content of the gift. An uncircumcised man may offer anything. A circumcised man may offer nothing. Belial will not respond either way.

We know from other grimoires that spirits were often offered specific materials. The Ars Almadel requires wax tablets dyed specific colors. The Ars Paulina demands virgin parchment. But Belial’s entry is unique in attaching the condition to the practitioner’s body rather than the offering itself.

How the Requirement Was Interpreted by Later Occultists

The 19th century revival of ceremonial magic treated this condition with unease. S.L. MacGregor Mathers, who translated and edited the Goetia for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, included the condition in his manuscript notes (c. 1898) but did not enforce it in practice. Aleister Crowley published the Goetia in 1904 as part of The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King. Crowley, known for his theatrical provocations, noted the requirement with characteristic ambiguity.

Crowley wrote in his introduction:

“The student will observe that Belial requires his ‘sacrifices, gifts, and presents’ to be offered by an uncircumcised practitioner. The nature of this demand is sufficiently explained by the traditional enmity between Belial and the Law.”

Crowley himself was not circumcised, as the practice was uncommon in late Victorian England outside of Jewish families. He may have simply ignored the condition while noting it as a curiosity. His edition of the Goetia omits any practical instruction for fulfilling it.

Modern practitioners in the demonological tradition take different approaches. Some perform the operation uncircumcised as a literal requirement. Others treat the condition as symbolic, representing a state of being “outside the covenant” of conventional morality or religious law. A third group simply works with Belial through the standard Goetic methods, ignoring the requirement entirely on the grounds that the grimoire’s original Christian context no longer applies.

The Physical Reality

For the male practitioner attempting literal adherence, the requirement is straightforward. For female practitioners or those who have undergone circumcision for medical reasons, literal compliance is impossible. This has led to various workarounds in the grimoire tradition.

Some 19th century manuscripts suggest that a circumcised practitioner may delegate the offering to an uncircumcised assistant who stands within the triangle of art while the exorcist remains in the circle. This interpretation draws from the grimoire’s distinction between “the exorcist” and “the practitioner”, the exorcist speaks the words, but offerings may be presented by another. The primary Lemegeton does not authorize this arrangement, but it has been adopted in practice.

No historical record exists of a practitioner who obtained the condition through surgery. The medieval and Renaissance grimoires assumed a population of uncircumcised gentiles existed naturally. They did not.

Belial’s Rank and the Singular Condition

Belial is the 68th spirit in the Goetia, ruling 80 legions. He was created 67th among the spirits who fell, according to the Lemegeton’s hierarchy. His seal is composed of geometric angles, and he appears in the form of two beautiful angels seated in a chariot of fire. His voice is loud and clear.

No other spirit in the 72 demands this condition. Not Lucifer, not Beelzebub, not Asmodeus. Only Belial.

That singularity reinforces the theological reading. The other fallen spirits were angels who rebelled, but Belial’s identity is specifically defined by covenant-breaking. A spirit defined by lawlessness cannot be bound by the law’s servant. A circumcised practitioner carries the covenant on his body; Belial will not submit to someone who bears the mark of the God he rejected.

Common Misconceptions

Misconception: The requirement means Belial hates Jewish people. This is a modern anachronism. The grimoire’s logic operates within Christian supersessionist theology, where circumcision is the old covenant that Christ replaced. Belial’s enmity is toward divine law as such, not toward any ethnic group. The grimoire treats uncircumcision as a state of being outside all covenant, which made the practitioner both vulnerable and useful.

Misconception: The requirement was invented by Crowley. The condition predates Crowley by over 250 years. It appears in the 17th century manuscripts Crowley used as sources.

Misconception: The uncircumcision requirement applies to all work with Belial, not just offerings. The grimoire limits the condition explicitly to the presentation of sacrifices, gifts, and presents. The actual conjuration, binding, and dismissal can be performed by any properly prepared exorcist. This distinction matters in practice: a circumcised practitioner may call and command Belial, but cannot make the offerings that secure truthful answers.

Misconception: The requirement is a test of the exorcist’s commitment. Medieval grimoires do not operate psychologically. They treat ritual conditions as objective, spiritual mechanics. The uncircumcision condition is not a character test. It is a material fact in the same way that the circle must be drawn at the correct planetary hour or the seal must be inscribed on virgin parchment. It either is or is not satisfied.

FAQ

Can a circumcised practitioner summon Belial at all? Yes. The conjuration and binding work regardless. Only the offering of sacrifices, gifts, and presents is conditioned on the practitioner’s state.

What happens if a circumcised practitioner offers a sacrifice to Belial? The grimoire says Belial will “not give true answers unto his demands.” The offering is rejected, and the spirit’s responses cannot be trusted.

Is the condition unique to the Lemegeton? Yes. The Lemegeton is the only major grimoire that includes this requirement for Belial. Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the earlier Steganographia do not mention it.

How do modern practitioners handle this requirement? Approaches vary. Some follow it literally. Others treat it symbolically as a state of being “outside the covenant” of conventional morality. Many ignore it entirely, working with Belial through standard Goetic methods without modification.

Closing

The uncircumcision condition tells us something about how grimoires work. They are not collections of abstract symbols. They are operational documents that encode theology into material practice. The requirement that offerings to Belial must come from an uncircumcised hand is a piece of that encoding, surviving across centuries of transmission. For those who wish to understand the Goetic tradition on its own terms, this detail matters. For those who wish to practice, it remains what it has always been: a condition that either is or is not met. The spirit does not negotiate.

For deeper understanding of the Goetic spirits and their seals, see our demonology guide. The terminology of ritual purity appears throughout the grimoire tradition; a glossary of these terms is maintained in our symbols and terms reference. For the full ritual text of Belial’s conjuration and the complete Goetic hierarchy, consult the Goetia ritual guide.