The scribe who copied the Lemegeton in the late 1640s had a steady hand. His ink was lampblack and gum arabic. He drew the seal of Purson with care: a circle bisected by a cross, its arms ending in curves, a small dot at the center. The wrong line, he knew, could call something else entirely. That seal, reproduced across centuries, opens the way to a spirit who does not shout for attention.
Purson is a Great King of the Goetia, commanding twenty-two legions of spirits. He appears as a man with a lion’s head, riding a bear, carrying a viper in his hand. Before him go many trumpets. He knows all hidden things: past, present, and future. The name itself is obscure, likely a corruption of an older Philistine or Semitic word, possibly tied to the god Baal-Peor or the concept of “the opener.”
Where Does the Name “Purson” Come From?
The earliest surviving list of Goetic spirits appears in Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1583). Weyer, a Dutch physician and student of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, compiled the ranks of demons from earlier grimoires and personal correspondences. In his list, spirit number 49 is “Purson.” He gives it as a Great King, ruling twenty-two legions, with the same iconography that appears in later manuscripts. But Weyer does not explain the etymology. He did not have to: for a magician, the name is a handle, not a dictionary entry.
Occult scholars since have traced the name to a few plausible roots. The Hebrew pursa means “to break through” or “to rend apart.” The Philistine deity Baal-Peor (the Lord of the Opening) was worshiped on Mount Peor with rites that involved opening the earth or the mouth. Some point to the Latin portio (a portion or share) or the Greek pyr (fire), but these are speculative. The name may be a scribal garbling of a longer Semitic epithet that reached Europe through Byzantine or Arabic magic.
What matters is that the name appears consistently from Weyer onward. The 17th-century manuscripts of the Lemegeton (Sloane 3825, Harley 6483) keep “Purson” unchanged. When Samuel Liddell Mathers and Aleister Crowley published The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King in 1904, they retained the spelling. The name is not an invention. It is a working tool.
What Does Purson Look Like? The Iconography Explained
The description in the Goetia is terse: “a man with a lion’s face, carrying a viper in his hand, riding upon a bear, and before him go many trumpets.” Every element carries meaning.
The lion’s face is a sign of kingship and solar authority, but also of predatory intellect. In Goetic hierarchy, only kings among spirits have a direct link to the celestial throne. A lion-headed demon can see what ordinary spirits cannot. The bear, a creature of the north and of hibernation, symbolizes the knowledge buried in darkness: secrets, earth-treasures, the past. The viper in the hand is the power to cause or cure harm — the serpent as both poison and wisdom. The trumpets announce his arrival, but they also signal that he speaks with the voice of command. A magician who calls Purson should expect a heraldic entry.
In some later grimoires and illustrative traditions, Purson is shown with a crown or a globe, but the original text does not mention these. The seal is the safest reference.
The Secrets Purson Reveals
The Goetic text says Purson “knoweth all hidden things, and can discover treasures, and tell all things past, present, and to come.” This makes him a demon of divination and hidden knowledge. But the phrase “discover treasures” has been misread. Weyer and later writers sometimes treated it as literal: Purson points to chests of gold buried under cellar floors. In practice, the spirit’s domain is far wider. “Hidden things” includes lost documents, forgotten lineages, occult virtues of herbs and stones, and the intentions of enemies.
In a 17th-century magical manuscript now in the British Library (Sloane 3825), a marginal note advises the conjurer to ask Purson “the truth of any secret science” and “to teach the art of finding metals.” The spirit does not merely show where treasure is. He teaches the art itself.
This distinction matters. Purson is not a vending machine. He is a tutor. The Goetia warns that Great Kings do not always answer immediately. Rank commands respect. For a broader understanding of the Goetic hierarchy, see the demonology Goetia hub.
How to Call Purson (for Those Who Practice)
The standard Goetic procedure described in the Lemegeton requires a consecrated circle, a triangle of art, and the seal of the spirit on virgin parchment. The magician wears a clean robe, carries a holy name or talisman, and recites the conjuration. For Purson, the conjuration calls him “Purson, Great King of the East” — though Goetic kings are not bound to a fixed direction in all sources.
A practical note from the Crowley-Mathers edition: the conjurer should sound a trumpet or bell before the invocation. This mirrors the trumpets that precede Purson. The sound signals that the circle is prepared and that the spirit is expected to arrive in its proper form.
The seal of Purson must be drawn correctly. Nine lines radiate from a central dot, with two interlocking curves. Copies from different manuscripts vary slightly, but the essential geometry is a cross within a circle. The scribe who drew it in 1648 knew that the seal is not a decoration. It is a tether. A misdrawn seal does not banish the spirit; it invites the wrong one. For more on constructing these symbols, refer to the glossary entry on Goetic seals and their construction.
The Trumpets Before Him: Music and Hierarchy
Music in Goetic practice is rare. Only a few spirits are associated with trumpets or instruments. Purson is one. This has a practical implication: during evocation, a horn or brass instrument may be used to open the working. Mathers notes that “the trumpets are not for the spirit’s pleasure; they announce to the firmament that a king is summoned.” The sound is a declaration of intent.
This also separates Purson from quieter spirits like Vassago or Seere. He does not creep in. He arrives with noise. In group workings, a trumpet blast tells every participant that the circle is active. It is a safety measure and a sign of respect.
Misconceptions About Purson
Purson is not a demon of death. His lion face and viper sometimes lead people to associate him with destruction or plague. The viper is a tool, not a weapon. He does not kill. He teaches.
He is not the same as “Porson.” Some popular demon encyclopedias misprint the name as Porson or Purton. The original manuscripts use “Purson.” The difference matters for the seal and the conjuration.
He is not a lesser spirit. Twenty-two legions put him in the upper tier. Only Bael (sixty-six), Paimon (twenty-five), and a few others command more. Purson is a Great King. Treating him as a familiar or a house spirit will fail.
Not all hidden knowledge is about treasure. In modern practice, magicians call Purson to uncover the roots of a personal problem or to reveal the nature of an occult opponent. The treasure he shows can be psychological or spiritual.
FAQ
What is the rank of Purson in the Goetia?
Purson is a Great King, ruling twenty-two legions of spirits. He ranks among the higher-tier Goetic entities, just below Bael and Paimon in number of legions.
How many legions does Purson command?
Exactly twenty-two. This number is consistent across Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1583), the Lemegeton manuscripts, and the Mathers-Crowley edition of 1904.
Is Purson evil?
In the Goetic tradition, spirits are not inherently evil. They obey the conjurer when properly invoked. The Christian demonology that labels all spirits as devils is a later overlay. Practitioners see Purson as a being of knowledge, not of malice.
The seal of Purson was drawn with lampblack and gum arabic four centuries ago. That ink is dry, but the geometry still works. A practitioner does not need a medieval manuscript. The same king will answer the same circle — provided the trumpets sound and the viper in the hand is understood as a teacher’s rod.
For deeper study, see our guide to Goetic demonology, the glossary entry on Goetic seals and their construction, and the practical introduction to summoning spirits. Each expands on the territory that Purson himself reveals: the hidden structure of the art.