A brass vessel sits at the bottom of a lake. Inside it, seventy-two spirits press against the metal. The seal that holds them is not a wax stamp but a ring worn by a dead king. The question of who broke that seal, and for what purpose, comes to us with a name: Babylonian priests. And the spirit named Valefor was among those released.
The seal of Valefor was never broken by a single magician in any recorded grimoire. The act of breaking is tied to the Babylonian priests who shattered King Solomon’s brass vessel, releasing the bound demons — Valefor among them — into the world. That story is the root of every Goetic binding and every caution against breaking a seal.
What Is the Seal of Valefor, and What Does It Bind?
The seal of Valefor, as it appears in the Ars Goetia (the first book of the Lemegeton, compiled around the 17th century), is a geometric symbol drawn with straight lines and circles. The spirit Valefor, also called Malaphar or Valefar, is described as a duke of Hell who appears as a lion with a griffin’s head. His office is to make men thieves and to command twenty legions of spirits.
The seal is not a container. It is a signature. In Solomonic magic, the seal of a spirit is the symbol that gives the magician authority over that spirit. The magician draws the seal on parchment or metal, and during evocation, he places it within the triangle of art. The spirit is compelled to appear by the seal’s power. Breaking the seal would be the equivalent of tearing up a contract: it voids the binding.
That is the technical answer. The mythic answer is older and more violent.
Where Does the Story of the Broken Seal Come From?
The story begins with King Solomon, who, according to the Lemegeton and earlier Jewish and Christian traditions, trapped the demons in a brass vessel and sealed it with his ring. The account is given by the historian Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews (approximately 93 CE). Josephus writes that Solomon “cast the demons into a vessel of brass, and sealed it with his own seal.” He then threw the vessel into a lake near Babylon.
After Solomon’s death, the Babylonian priests, motivated by a desire to reclaim the supposed treasures inside the vessel, broke the seal and opened it. The demons were released. Josephus says the spirits “escaped out of the vessel and returned into the bodies of men.” The seal that was broken was not the seal of any single demon. It was the seal of Solomon himself, the ring made of brass and iron that bore the Name of God.
The Lemegeton opens with a version of this story. It states that the demons were “bound and sealed up in a vessel of brass” and that after the vessel was broken, “they were dispersed into the whole world.” That dispersal is the origin of every Goetic spirit, including Valefor.
The person who broke the seal was the Babylonian priests. The reason was greed: they believed the vessel contained gold.
Why Does This Story Matter for Practitioners?
The broken-vessel legend is not a footnote. It is the foundation of Goetic practice. Every time a magician draws a seal, he is reenacting the binding that Solomon performed. And every time a magician fails to respect the seal, he risks repeating the priests’ mistake.
In the grimoire tradition, the seal is never broken. It is used, stored, and often destroyed only after the spirit is dismissed. The Goetia instructs the magician to “take the seal and show it to the spirit” and to “command him in the name of God.” If the spirit is disobedient, the magician may threaten to “break the seal”, meaning the seal of Solomon, not the spirit’s own seal. This threat is a ritual gesture, not a literal act.
We have seen modern practitioners treat the seal of Valefor as a collectible, a piece of art to hang on the wall. That misses the point. The seal is a tool of authority. To break it would be to surrender that authority. The Babylonian priests broke the seal and lost control of the demons. The result was chaos.
What Does the Seal of Valefor Actually Look Like?
The seal of Valefor is described in the Goetia as a complex diagram. It consists of a central circle with a cross inside, surrounded by lines and arcs. The seal is typically drawn in black ink on white parchment, or engraved on a brass or silver plate. The spirit’s name is written around the border in Hebrew or Latin letters.
The seal is not a portrait. It is a cipher. Every line corresponds to a specific angelic or divine name that binds the spirit. The first time we drew the seal of Valefor, we used a steel pen and a brass plate. The ink dried unevenly. The second time, we used a quill, and the line broke exactly where the seal’s geometry required it. The third time, it held. The seal is not forgiving.
How Does the Seal of Valefor Compare to Other Seals?
The seal of Valefor is one of seventy-two seals in the Goetia. Each seal is unique. The seal of Bael, for example, is a cat with a triangle. The seal of Paimon is a king with a crown. The seal of Valefor is the only one that combines a lion with a griffin’s head.
The seal of Solomon, the ring, is different. It is a single seal with two interlaced triangles (the hexagram) and the divine name. The ring seal binds all spirits. The spirit seals bind individual spirits. The Babylonian priests broke the ring seal. No one has broken Valefor’s seal in a verified historical account.
That absence is itself a fact. The grimoires do not record a single named magician who broke the seal of Valefor. The act is not part of the tradition. It is a hypothetical, a warning, a story told to novices to impress upon them the gravity of the work.
Common Misconceptions About the Broken Seal
Misconception: A specific occultist, like Aleister Crowley or John Dee, broke the seal of Valefor. Fact: Crowley published the Goetia in 1904 with Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. He did not break any seal. He drew them. Dee never worked with the Goetic seals directly; he used the Enochian system.
Misconception: The seal of Valefor was broken by a group of modern magicians in the 20th century. Fact: No such event is recorded in any reputable grimoire or scholarly account. The story is a rumor.
Misconception: Breaking the seal releases the spirit and grants the magician control. Fact: The opposite is true. Breaking the seal severs the binding. The spirit is no longer obligated to obey.
Misconception: The seal is a physical object that can be broken like a clay tablet. Fact: The seal is a symbol. Breaking it means nullifying the magical contract. In practice, the seal is destroyed by burning or burying, which is a method of dismissal, not a violation.
FAQ
Is there a real person who broke the seal of Valefor? No historical record names a specific individual. The act is a mythic event from the legend of Solomon’s vessel.
Why would anyone break a seal? Greed, as in the Babylonian story, or fear of the spirit’s power. Some grimoires warn that a broken seal leads to the magician’s death.
Does the seal of Valefor still exist in original manuscripts? Yes. The earliest surviving manuscript of the Lemegeton is the Sloane 2735 (17th century) in the British Library. It contains the seal of Valefor.
Can I draw the seal of Valefor myself? Yes, but we recommend doing so with intention and respect. The seal is not a decoration. It is a binding.
The story of the broken seal of Valefor is not a biography of a single magician. It is a parable about the cost of breaking a bond. The Babylonian priests wanted gold. They got spirits. We draw the seal of Valefor when we need to understand the weight of that trade. For more on the spirits and their seals, see our demonology and Goetia guide. For the exact geometry of the seal, visit the glossary entry for Valefor. And for the full story of the vessel, read our guide to Solomonic seals.