Silcharde, Beast Master of Ceremonies

Understanding the identities of the spirits of the grimoire tradition requires a thorough study of a multiplicity of works. There is still no single all encompassing tome that offers a concise catalog of the spirits in their entirety. In this continued examination of the spirits found in the Grimorium Verum I will be turning to many of its predecessors, including the Grimoire of Pope Honorius in its various printed forms and as compiled in the Complete Grimoire of Pope Honorius by David Rankine. Alongside this I will apeal to the latest English translation of Weyer's Pseuodemonarchia, and Joseph Peterson's edition of the Grimorium Verum, along with the work of Jake Stratton-Kent in his True Grimoire and its accompanying volumes of the Encyclopedia Goetica. In addition I will draw from sources such as Al Biruni's Elements of Astrology, the Picatrix and other astrological texts when it fits in the analysis of a given spirit. It is evident from the earliest works of Solomonic magic that it was at some point much more dependent on astrology than it is at present. The use of the planetary days and hours, and the phases of the moon, which comprise the simplest form of electional astrology have remained, while the more complex election of works such as the Picatrix or De Imaginibus have faded. However given the elaboriate tables of planetary hours given in the Hygromanteia, and the planetary associations of the winds and directions given in the Sworn Book of Honorius of Thebes it should be very obvious that an understanding of the basics of astrology, namely understand the virtues and natures of the planets, is imortant to understanding the identities of the aerial spirits.

Now in the traditional world view, as presented by Agrippa in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy and other authors, Mankind lives in the natural world. The natural world is the world of the elements, whose order is here given in order from densest to least dense. Mankind lives upon the earth, which is surrounded by water, above these two is air, and finally the fiery firmament. This natural world is also called by some the sublunary, as it includes all things beneath the sphere of the moon. In the chaldaean order of the planets, which is the scheme many will be familiar with thanks to the popularity of Hermetic kabalah, goes from slowest to fastest: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and finally the speediest, the moon. The moon is important in both Solomonic and astrological magic because of her role as the gate keeper of all other planetary energies and influences, which she mitigates onto the sublunary world of man and spirits. It is important to understand the general flow and hierarchy of the traditional world view in regard to goetia and other forms of traditional magic as this explains much of what it not written. It comprises what was assumed one practicing this art would know. This is why it is important that a practitoner of goetia steeps themselves in the culture, as best as they can, which birthed this art. I mean here, goetia, as in the synthesis of spirit conjuring magics that occured from the Hellenistic era through the early moderne era, which provided us with the most familiar grimoires we currently have. I say this simply to clarify that I am not here dicussing Jake's theories on the more primeval form of goetia that was practiced in ancient Greece, which is more akin to necromancy.

Anyways, last week we discussed a bit about the surperficial identities of the Verum spirits which appear upon the supposed pact of Urban Grandier. One of these interested me more than the others, and this is the presence of Silcharde upon the very head of the pact itself. Silcharde appears in the Grimorium Verum, as well as some copies of the Grimoire of Pope Honorius. In Honorius we find him as the demon conjured on Thursday. Between his entries in the Verum and Honorius we know he grants the knowledge and vision of diverse creatures, nautral and supernatural; as well as the more typical power to grant treasures. The Verum's entry on him is more detailed than that in Honorius, where he is also called Acham. It is interesting that this spirit would appear before any others, including the superiors (Lucifer, Belzebut and Astaroth, or some variation thereof). However given his unique power in regards to creatures of all kinds, his role as intermediary could possibly have been missed by others.

But what else do we know about him from the texts? Honorius says he is to be conjured on Thursday:

"This operation is done at night from 3 o'clock until 4 o'clock, during which you conjure him and he will appear in the form of a King. You should give him a piece of bread in order for him to speak. This is in order to make him happy and it is also for treasures."

He is a nocturnal spirit, given the time of his conjuring, and royal, given his image. Now in the Verum itself, Thursday is the elected day of one of the most important tools, the knife for making the circle, the primary defense of the magician against an aggressive or dangerous spirit. There are some who have objected to this knife's attrivubtion to the day of Jupiter, in favor of it being made on the day of Saturn or Mars. However, given that the sacrificial blade is to be made in the day and hour of Mars, I am given to trust this knife's relation to Jupiter, as it establishes the bounds of the magician's domains (the circle), and it thus wards against the chthonic and sometimes chthonic natures of these spirits. In astrology the Fortunes, Jupiter and Venus fix that which is hurt by the Malefics, Saturn and Mars. Jupiter's Greek equivalent, Zeus, also has some earlier chthonic forms in some places, where his worship overcame earlier cults who worshipped chthonic serpents. Either way, the shared day of importance between the spirit Silcharde or Acham, and the knife for creating the circle is not to be missed, especially when considering the possible role of intermediary for this spirit, in which case they allow for the protection of the magician by safely bringing other spirits into contact with them. I will return the Jovial powers in another post as we're about to shift focus a bit.

I'm not actually convinced of the Jovial nature of Silcharde. I believe him to be solar in nature, and here's why:

The astrologer Al Biruni records both a day AND a night of the week ruled by each of the planets in his Book of the Instruction of the Elements of the Art of Astrology. For the sun he assigns, Sunday of course, but also Thursday night. Now this solar attribution to the night on which you are to conjure a spirit which would appear as a king makes a lot of sense. It also furthers the argument of the import of this overlooked spirit. This secret solar virtue, only discovered after combining multiple resources is most auspicious especially considering the admonishment in the first book of the Grimorium Verum that:

"And if you wish more, you draw the character on an emerald or ruby, for they have greater sympathy with the spirits, especially those of the Sun, who are the wisest, and are friendlier and are better than the others."

The fact that solar spirits are mentioned as being friendlier, wiser and better than the other spirits certainly bodes well for an intermediary spirit to be solar in nature. And indeed there is much mystery over the intermediary of the Verum system who is variously called Aabidandes or Rabinadas, as well as Scirlin, but also referenced as the "the Spirit of the East" in this grimoire. In the Sworn Book of Honorius we find the East associated with the spirits and daemons of the Sun tying together both the intermediary Scirlin, the wise and friendly Solar spirits and indeed our overlooked friend Silcharde, who is to be conjured on the night associated with the Sun. While print editions of the Verum can only be traced as far back as the early 19th century, it is certain, based upon the transmission of sigils, spirit names and spells, that its sources, both French and Italian are far older. Peterson argues for a Clavicula variant and Honorius hybrid that lead to the Alibeck edition of 1817 and those following it. However the oldest grimoire manuscript bearing any resemblance to the Verum it would seem, is a Polish manuscript from the 17th century-ish (the date is uncertain), which can be found on Joseph Peterson's website, Esoteric Archives. This manuscript whose title is the Clavicula Salomonis de secretis is still untranslated from the latin, but Peterson has mentioned as translation in the works, which I'm sure will prove very valuable to all those who study and practice this field of magic. It's age, which possibly was contemporaneous with the trial of Urban Grandier.

In the beginning of this manuscript we find a list of spirits that would be familiar, although with some varied spellings and different sigils. Amongst these we find one named Sirchael, who also deals with showing any animals the magician wishes. The name and power seems similar enough to Silcharde, although their sigils differ. The sigil from atop Grandier's pact and that of Silcharde in the Alibeck and other editions bear much more of a resemblance to one another, where as that which is found in the Clavicula Salomonis de secretis is quite different.

From  the Clavicula Salomonis de secretis

From the Kent redaction of the Verum

From the pact of Grandier

Of Sirchael we read:

"Of course, any species of animals you propose in whatever action you please, whether dancing, or walking, or raging their natural weapons."

 It would seem to imply a power similar to Silcharde in the Verum, dealing with animals and says nothing more. I think there may be a possibility that perhaps either the sigil of Silcharde in the Verum was taken from the pact of Urban Grandier himself by the Alibeck edition's author, or it could be that this is the signature of a very real and powerful spirit, and that perhaps overtime they was conflated with Sirchael/Silcharde/Acham.

Now as I have been writing so far, it may appear to some that I am arguing that perhaps the pact is in fact a legitimate one, however I wish to clarify for the sake of posterity that I believe there are about three distinct possibilities that either: a) yes the pact was forged by Grandier's enemies, crafting an all too perfect facsimile using sigils garnered from various books of magic that could have been available to the agents of the church; or, b) they made it up and the sigils found on this pact were later adapted by the authors of the Verum, the case of Grandier being notorious, and infamous, in France especially, and thus of cultural significance enough to be pilfered for sigils for a particularly demonic printing; or, c) the pact is indeed real, and the similarity between these signatures is not due to human copying but to the very beings they are said to belong to, but in the transmission from an older manuscript the sigils for the intermediary and Silcharde became confused or intermixed, especially given omission of Scirlin's sign in the Alibeck and other editions of the Verum itself. Ultimately we will probably never know whether this pact is real or fake, as I have already said. It is the equivalent of Schroedinger's cat: the cat is alive and dead simultaneously. This is Schroedinger's pact: it is simultaneously real and fake. It's not either, or that makes or break this, it is the thinking we can get done between the lines that matters. We are coming to better understand these spirits and their identities by examining the media in which they were cataloged and the culture by which they are transmitted and preserved. All three possible truths, yield fascinating results to consider, and I would personally think it best not to attach oneself too much to one single outcome

I would like to thank Eric Purdue for his rough translation of the description of Sirchael from the Clavicula Salomonis de secretis I used in this post. And thanks to Al Cummins for bringing the transcript of the Clavicula Salomonis de secretis to my attention!