Stellas Daemonum: The Orders of the Daemons

«The syncretism between these two inseparable arts evolved in the practices of the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chaldeans, and Greeks between the third and first millennia BCE, with each culture attributing stellar and planetary influences to its own gods and daemons, whose powers could be drawn upon when their respective celestial correspondences were in accord with the earthly elements they formed sympathies with.» — el sincretismo que data entre el tercer y el primer milenio a. e. c. en Egipto, Mesopotamia, Caldea y Grecia, con cada cultura adscribiendo influencias estelares a sus propios dioses y daimones.

«In antiquity, such ideas were incorporated into Gnostic and Neoplatonist philosophies to varying extents before reaching their apex in the works of the Sabians and Arabs.» — y el arco que traza: gnosticismo y neoplatonismo primero, y el punto más alto en los sabeos y los árabes.

«It is from a mixture of the above cultural influences, alongside Judeo-Christian texts such as the Testament of Solomon, that Byzantine works such as the Heptameron and Hygromanteia took shape.» — la genealogía que propone para el Heptameron y la Hygromanteia, con el Testamento de Salomón entre los textos judeocristianos de la mezcla.

«These went on to shape Western European grimoires such as the Sworn Book of Honorius and the Livre des Esperitz and these, in turn, influenced the creation of the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, the Book of the Offices of Spirits, and other works derived from them such as the Lesser Key of Solomon and the Grand Grimoire.» — y la cadena que sigue de ahí: Sworn Book of Honorius y Livre des Esperitz, y de esos la Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, el Book of the Offices of Spirits, la Lesser Key of Solomon y el Grand Grimoire.

«After reaching another point of exaltation in the works of Paracelsus, Trithemius, Agrippa, and John Dee in the Renaissance, the advent of the» — el segundo punto de exaltación, que sitúa en Paracelso, Trithemius, Agrippa y John Dee; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue con la Ilustración.

«Enlightenment and the apparent desacralization of the world that came with it led to a cultural decline in both magic and astrology that partially came from the understanding that the physical universe did not follow the rules it had been believed to since the time of Ptolemy.» — y el declive que le atribuye: la desacralización ilustrada, más el hallazgo de que el universo físico no seguía las reglas ptolemaicas.

«In the modern era, however, with humanity’s quest for spiritual meaning floundering following the material advances brought with the Industrial Revolution, interest in astrology and magic began to resurface at the margins of Western society in the works of groups such as the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, the Theosophical Society, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.» — el resurgimiento que sitúa en los márgenes: Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, Sociedad Teosófica y Golden Dawn.

«In the works of the last, great efforts were made to unify all of the magical arts, including astrology, with the planetary and allegedly angelic magic of John Dee— which it renamed Enochian Magic—and the Hermetic Qabalah.» — lo que reconoce a la Golden Dawn: el intento de unificar las artes mágicas con la magia planetaria y angélica de Dee, que rebautizó Enochian Magic, y la cábala hermética.

«While the efforts of the Golden Dawn were formidable, the secondary position astrology took to the Qabalah in its system has led to it being perceived as more of an appendage to divinatory arts such as Tarot and geomancy than as the true celestial origin of magic.» — y su objeción, dicha con el reconocimiento delante: al quedar la astrología por debajo de la cábala, se la percibe como apéndice del tarot y la geomancia y no como origen celeste de la magia.

«Compounded with the exoteric and psychological emphases that came with the renewed popularity of astrology in the twentieth century, the ancient view that astrology lay at the very heart of magic has until fairly recently seemed almost forgotten.» — el segundo factor que suma: los énfasis exotéricos y psicológicos de la astrología del siglo XX.

«When it is considered that the core experience of the magician in Hermetic systems of initiatory magic is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel—a term with its roots in the Greek perception of the daemon as the genius or celestial emissary between gods and men—it seems insufficient that so many other aspects of celestial magic are often overlooked.» — el argumento por el que llama insuficiente ese olvido: el núcleo de la magia iniciática hermética es el Conocimiento y Conversación del Santo Ángel Guardián, término que hace derivar del daimon griego como genio o emisario celeste.

«While it is true that some modern systems of magic place great emphasis on the lunar phases and the stations of the sun, such factors generally amount to a small glimpse of the possibilities that broader celestial correlations can provide.» — con su límite: las fases lunares y las estaciones del Sol son solo un atisbo de las correlaciones celestes disponibles.

«The conceptual understanding of the word Augoeides derives from interpretations that Neoplatonists such as Galen and Porphyry ascribed to Plato’s Phaedo, in which the Pneuma, or “vehicle of the soul,” was described as the product of “the element of the stars”1 and as a luminous body of subtle, physical substance.» — la genealogía que da del Augoeides: Galeno y Porfirio sobre el *Fedón*, con el Pneuma como vehículo del alma hecho del elemento de las estrellas.

«Its more precise, literal meaning comes from a combination of the Greek words αυγό (augo), “egg,” or αυγή (auge), “dawn,” combined with the term είδηση (eidese), meaning “word,” “message,” or “intelligence.”» — y la etimología que propone, con el griego en alfabeto original dentro del verbatim.

«The crux of such work is therefore the development of an understanding of how the fragmented emanations of this primordial spiritual light are expressed through their manifestation in the four elements and their sympathies with the celestial daemons of the Lunar Mansions, the Zodiacal signs and their decans, and the fixed stars.» — el nudo del libro: cómo las emanaciones fragmentadas de esa luz se expresan en los cuatro elementos y en las simpatías con los daimones de las mansiones lunares, los signos, sus decanos y las estrellas fijas.

«While many of the intelligences encountered herein appear to be of a malefic nature, the purpose of this exploration primarily lies in the connection of such entities, whether they be infernal, terrestrial, or otherwise, with their celestial origins.» — y el propósito con que dice tratar a inteligencias de apariencia maléfica: conectarlas con su origen celeste, sean infernales o terrestres.

«Criticism of, and frustration with, the source texts in which these daemonic entities are described is not unwarranted.» — le concede la razón a la crítica de las fuentes antes de defenderlas.

«They were, after all, bowdlerized to an unknown but significant extent, as can be seen from Johannes Weyer’s note to the reader in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum in which he admits that he had deliberately omitted passages to render the whole of the work unusable.» — lo que atribuye a la nota al lector de la Pseudomonarchia Daemonum: Weyer admite haber omitido pasajes para dejar la obra inservible.

«With one of his stated source texts, Empto. Salomanis by the elusive magician “T. R.,”2 being untraceable, and with the Goetia section of the Lesser Key of Solomon displaying a number of unexplained alterations to an apparently common source, the chances of each individual text carrying enough information to fully unlock workable systems of magic is doubtful.» — los dos obstáculos que suma: la fuente de Weyer *Empto. Salomanis* del mago *T. R.* resulta ilocalizable, y la Goetia de la Lesser Key trae alteraciones inexplicadas de un original aparentemente común.

«Confounding this further is the instruction in the Lemegeton that in order to work with any of the spirits contained within its pages, it is first necessary to call upon their King, the precise details of which, with a few notable exceptions, are not provided.» — y el tercero, que es de método: el Lemegeton manda llamar primero al rey del espíritu y casi nunca dice cómo.

«With the introductory list of this text having the name of the Cardinal King Amaymon missing and the subsequent list having the name of the Cardinal King Equi (Egin) missing, we can assume that by combining the two lists together, a larger, more holistic grimoire of fifty-four names can be produced.» — su reconstrucción por combinación de las dos listas, apoyada en que a cada una le falta un rey cardinal distinto.

«Examining this text alongside another parallel document, the Officium de spiritibus found in the Folger Manuscript v.b.265 provides a means to elaborate on the spirit names of the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and Lemegeton synoptically.» — y el segundo documento que coteja: el *Officium de spiritibus* del manuscrito Folger v.b.26.

«The means of understanding which of the Cardinal Kings rule the spirits found in the Livre des Esperitz, Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, and Lemegeton is rooted in the formula of the second of the two spirit lists in the aforementioned Officium de spiritibus (herein cited as the Book of Offices), which provides four lists of twelve major spirits under the power of Oriens, Amaymon, Paymon, and Egin.» — la clave que declara para adjudicar reyes cardinales: la segunda lista del Book of Offices, con cuatro series de doce espíritus mayores.

«By analyzing the forty-eight spirits that come under these kings, many of the identities of the spirits featured in texts such as the Lemegeton are corroborated into those of the Book of Offices, which in turn provides many of the Lemegeton spirits with the names of the Elemental Kings they are ruled by.» — y lo que dice obtener de esos cuarenta y ocho espíritus: corroborar identidades del Lemegeton y darles el nombre del rey elemental que las rige.

«For the spirits that still fall outside of this list,7 efforts have been made to identify which spirits they share essential characteristics with and, where possible, use these sympathies to unravel more complete clues to their identities and their correct rulers.» — el procedimiento declarado para los que quedan fuera de esa lista: identificar simpatías con espíritus de características esenciales compartidas.

«As discussed above, the spirits featured in this work, whether fair or foul by nature, are postulated to be divine messengers of the same class of beings that Plato referred to as daimones, which he classified as being “gods,” “the children of the gods,”10 or “messengers from the gods,”11 which all provide a degree of concordance» — su postulado de fondo: los espíritus del libro, benignos o malignos, son mensajeros divinos de la clase que Platón llamó *daimones*, dioses, hijos de los dioses o mensajeros de los dioses.

«In celestial terms, the spirits examined resonate with all seven of the classical planets, though particular emphases appear to be placed on Saturn, Sol, Luna, and Mercury. Of the various types of powers they display across the entirety of their celestial influences, the most voluminous are those which relate to giving truthful answers of any questions asked in order to obtain knowledge of the events of the past, present, and future, the liberal sciences, philosophy, the mechanical arts, hidden secrets, the locations of treasures, the origins of the world, divinity and spirits, magic, the virtues of herbs, stones, trees, and animals, and knowledge of the stars and planets.» — el resultado que declara del cotejo: los espíritus resuenan con los siete planetas clásicos, con énfasis en Saturno, Sol, Luna y Mercurio, y su facultad más voluminosa es dar respuestas verdaderas.

«Detailed examinations of the names of the spirits have been used to determine the fundamental spiritual, symbolic, and mythological expressions that are being expressed through the names attributed to them. This method most often applies the use of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages— or the combination of any of these together—in what are herein labeled as polylinguistic conjunctions.» — su segundo método, el de los nombres: conjunciones polilingüísticas de hebreo, griego y latín.

«The precedents for such conjunctions are accounted for in the introduction to Book IV of the Book of Abramelin,13 in the Ars Notoria, and in John of Morigny’s remedial account of the Notary Art in Liber Visionum.» — y los precedentes que alega para ese método: el libro IV del Abramelin, la Ars Notoria y el *Liber Visionum* de Juan de Morigny.

«In the Abramelin, it is stated that “in a simple word you can speak three languages,” which an analysis of the names in the magic squares provided in the various versions of that text confirms as being predominantly comprised of words of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew origin.» — lo que cita del Abramelin —que en una palabra simple se pueden hablar tres lenguas— y lo que dice hallar corroborado al analizar los cuadrados mágicos.

«The connotation of the egg in this context is that of the Orphic egg girt with a serpent that hatched the primordial deity Phanes,» — el huevo órfico ceñido por la serpiente del que sale Phanes; la frase sigue en la plana siguiente.

«the hermaphroditic “manifestor” or “revealer” of light. The “word” or “message” that this messenger brings is equitable with spiritual enlightenment or the apprehension of the divine logos.» — y su lectura del nombre: Phanes como manifestador o revelador hermafrodita de la luz, y el mensaje como iluminación espiritual o aprehensión del logos divino.

«One candidate for the identity of this text, the Livre des Esperitz,3 is a whole and unadulterated manuscript4 compiled in France in the fifteenth or sixteenth cent» — el candidato que propone para el *Liber Officiorum Spirituum*: el Livre des Esperitz, manuscrito entero y sin adulterar compilado en Francia en el siglo XV o XVI; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.

«ductory sequence of forty-four spirits followed by another list of forty-six mostly overlapping entities.» — y su contenido, ya en la plana siguiente: cuarenta y cuatro espíritus seguidos de otros cuarenta y seis que en buena parte se solapan.

«magical practices are ancient, the relationship between them has drifted into a precarious position in recent times. Modern astrology often appears to have become segregated from its magical past, while many modes of modern magic neglect the practical application of sophisticated astrological principles. The syncretism» — así abre la introducción: los precedentes son antiguos, la relación llegó a posición precaria, y el diagnóstico tiene dos mitades —la astrología moderna separada de su pasado mágico y la magia moderna sin aplicación práctica de principios astrológicos elaborados.

«guages used to four, while in Liber Visionum, Arabic is also added to take that total to five.» — el cómputo de lenguas de las conjunciones polilingüísticas: cuatro con la Ars Notoria y cinco con el árabe del *Liber Visionum*; la frase viene partida desde la plana anterior.

«While it essentially remains a separate system of magic altogether, the names of the servitors found listed in the Abramelin reveal a few concurrences with the names of the spirits found in the Solomonic grimoires. This is also the case with the Abramelin’s word squares, which are primarily constructed by the combination of a word that symbolizes the magical effect of the square with names of the servitors of the square’s rulers, but also contain the appearance of spirit names found in grimoires such as the Lemegeton.» — lo que dice del Abramelin: sistema aparte, pero con nombres de servidores concurrentes con los de los grimorios salomónicos y con nombres del Lemegeton dentro de sus cuadrados de palabras.

«As these connections are considered to be truly relevant only when their powers also bear clear correspondences to those of the square in question, this is not something that has been applied haphazardly, so only a small number of examples of these correspondences are included in this work.» — el criterio restrictivo que se impone para esas concurrencias: solo cuando los poderes se corresponden también.

«Of the examples found, the strongest two are those relating to the spirits Barbais and Andromalius, whose names can be found in squares relating to the abilities to prevent magic from working and recovering any item of stolen property.» — los dos casos que da por más fuertes: Barbais y Andromalius, en cuadrados de impedir la magia y de recobrar lo robado.

«Because of the strength of some of these concordances,14 it can be postulated that there is a common but as yet unidentified link between the Abramelin Squares and the other Goetic grimoires of the period.» — y lo que postula a partir de ellos: un vínculo común todavía no identificado entre los cuadrados del Abramelin y los grimorios goéticos de la época.

«The Orders of the Daemons STELLAS DAEMONUM DAV I D C ROW H U R S T with forewords by Lon Milo DuQuette and Stephen Skinner» — [portada] lo que imprime la portadilla, con el nombre del autor espaciado por el OCR (*DAV I D C ROW H U R S T*), y los dos prologuistas anunciados desde la cubierta.

«Foreword by Lon Milo DuQuette, author of Enochian Vision Magick Foreword by Stephen Skinner weiser books» — [portada] la portada interior, que acredita a DuQuette como autor de *Enochian Vision Magick* y da el sello, Weiser Books.

«S tellas Daemonum offers an in-depth analysis of the spirits that appear in several late medieval and early modern grimoires.» — [solapa] la solapa editorial anuncia el objeto del volumen: los espíritus de varios grimorios tardomedievales y modernos tempranos; la inicial capitular queda suelta en la capa de texto (*S tellas*).

«The book unravels these texts’ mythical, etymological, magical, and religious dimensions and, most importantly, draws out their astrological correspondences.» — [solapa] y las cinco dimensiones que la solapa promete, con la astrológica destacada como la principal.

«Although the precedents for the incorporation of astrology into magical practices are ancient,” writes David Crowhurst, “the relationship between them has drifted into a precarious position in recent times.» — [solapa] la solapa cita a Crowhurst por su nombre, entrecomillando el arranque de la introducción.

«The author goes on to show how the spirit entities featured in these Goetic grimoires can be best understood by studying the celestial nature apparent in the ancient concept of the daimon and through an extensive study of ninety-three of the spirits featured in the medieval and Renaissance texts.» — [solapa] y da la cifra que el volumen maneja: noventa y tres espíritus estudiados por la naturaleza celeste del daimon.

«The book also explores how Judeo-Christian traditions ultimately “demonized” such expressions due to their polytheistic roots and made punishable by death any attempts to reconnect with them.» — [solapa] la demonización judeocristiana, que la solapa adjudica a las raíces politeístas de esas expresiones.

«The nature of this work is strongly infl uenced by the author’s own magical practices, but its presentation does not resort to subjective or personal experiences, having a style that is more formal and research-based.» — [solapa] y la declaración de método: la práctica mágica del autor influye el libro, pero la exposición no recurre a la experiencia personal; el OCR parte la ligadura (*infl uenced*).

«This edition fi rst published in 2020 by Weiser Books, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, llc With offi ces at: 65 Parker Street, Suite 7 Newburyport, MA 01950» — [derechos] la página de derechos fecha la edición en 2020 y da el sello y la dirección; el OCR parte la ligadura (*fi rst*, *offi ces*).

«Copyright © 2020 by David Crowhurst Foreword copyright © 2020 by Lon Milo DuQuette Foreword copyright © 2020 by Stephen Skinner» — [derechos] tres copyrights separados: el del autor y uno por cada prologuista, que es lo que sostiene tratar los dos prólogos como voces propias.

«All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, llc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.» — [derechos] la reserva de derechos, con la excepción de la cita breve por reseñistas.

«ISBN: 978-1-57863-691-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request. Project design by Kathryn Sky-Peck Interior by Happenstance Typeset in Times New Roman Printed in the United States of America» — [derechos] el ISBN y el equipo de producción; la ficha de la Library of Congress se declara disponible a petición, es decir, no impresa aquí.

«Dedicated to my parents for their love, patience, and support.» — [derechos] la dedicatoria, que comparte plana con los derechos.

«The Celestial Nature of Daemons 1 II. Terrestrial Manifestation 25 III. The Seven Chiefs 35 IV. Spirits of the East 69 V. Spirits of the South 103 VI. Spirits of the West 151 VII. Spirits of the North 179 VIII. The Remaining Spirits» — [índice] la arquitectura del volumen en ocho capítulos, con el folio impreso de cada uno: tres capítulos de doctrina y cinco de catálogo, repartidos por los cuatro puntos cardinales.

«Behenian Fixed Stars and Their Talismanic Qualities 298 II. Locations, Natures, and Images of the Behenian Fixed Stars 300 III. Powers of Agrippa’s Zodiacal Talismans 301 IV. Powers of the Decans According to Agrippa and the Picatrix 302 V. Powers of the Planets in the Greater Key of Solomon 308 VI. Positions of the Lunar Mansions and Fixed Stars 309 VII. Talismanic Objectives, Images, and Rulers of the Lunar Mansions 314 VIII. Spirits of the Zodiacal Decans 316 IX. Spirits of the Lunar Mansions» — [índice] y los nueve apéndices, que son el aparato de correspondencias: estrellas behenias, talismanes zodiacales de Agrippa, decanos según Agrippa y el Picatrix, planetas de la Greater Key, mansiones lunares y espíritus de decanos y mansiones.

«M agic (or Magick as it is alternately spelled) is a spiritual art form older than religion.» — [DuQuette] el prólogo abre definiendo la magia como arte espiritual anterior a la religión; la capitular queda suelta en la capa de texto (*M agic*).

«In practice, magic is performance art staged for an audience of one—a lavishly costumed and meticulously choreographed meditation projected externally upon the screen of the magician’s own objective reality.» — [DuQuette] y la describe como arte escénico ante un público de uno solo.

«Magic can be generically described as . . . the dramatic and ceremonial awakening of symbols and mythological archetypes and metaphors performed with intent to trigger specific changes in the magician’s consciousness.» — [DuQuette] la definición que ofrece en forma de cita sangrada: despertar dramático y ceremonial de símbolos, arquetipos y metáforas con intención de cambiar la consciencia del mago.

«For over two millennia the study and practice of magic have been condemned by religious and civil institutions whose administrators refused or found it impossible to grasp the subtle spiritual dimensions of art or metaphors or human consciousness. Two thousand years of violent condemnation and persecution have driven the practices associated with magic underground, and the scraps of literature that have seen publication (often merely representing the drafts of one magician’s diary notes) are obfuscated so severely as to make it impossible for the uninitiated to understand or effectively put technique to practical use.» — [DuQuette] la explicación que da de la oscuridad de los grimorios: dos milenios de condena empujaron la práctica a la clandestinidad y lo publicado son apuntes de diario deliberadamente ofuscados.

«David Crowhurst’s Stellas Daemonum is a comprehensive, monumental, and scholarly text that has painstakingly dilated the fragmented material of the classic grimoires and connected them back to their more ancient and not readily accessible source material.» — [DuQuette] el juicio que hace del libro que prologa.

«OROBAS. —The Fifty-fifth Spirit is Orobas. He is a great and Mighty Prince, appearing at first like a Horse; but after the command of the Exorcist he putteth on the Image of a Man. His Office is to discover all things Past, Present, and to Come; also to give Dignities, and Prelacies, and the Favour of Friends and of Foes. He giveth True Answers of Divinity, and of the Creation of the World. He is very faithful unto the Exorcist, and will not suffer him to be tempted of any Spirit. He governeth 20 Legions of Spirits.» — [DuQuette cita el Lemegeton] la entrada de Orobas tal como el prólogo la reproduce, para mostrar cuánto da un grimorio clásico.

«While this was technically enough information to allow me to successfully evoke Orobas, it was in a sense like conjuring a stranger whose background and nature I knew little or nothing about.» — [DuQuette] y lo que echa de menos en esa entrada: bastaba para evocarlo, pero era como conjurar a un desconocido.

«Contrast this with the 911-word curriculum vitae of Auros (Orobas’s real name) found in the pages of Stellas Daemonum—background information that brings to Technicolor life what was once for me just a caricature of a horse demon.» — [DuQuette] el contraste con la entrada de este volumen, donde Orobas figura bajo el nombre Auros.

«Crowhurst applies the same thorough scholarship to entire hierarchies of traditional spirits, filling in countless holes, omissions, and breaches in the classic grimoires and giving to the modern magician the opportunity to piece together what approximates a unified field theory of Solomonic magic.» — [DuQuette] lo que le atribuye al conjunto del libro: rellenar huecos de los grimorios y acercarse a una teoría unificada de la magia salomónica.

«Magic is art, and imagination is the lifeblood of the artist.» — [DuQuette] la sección *The Art of Magic*, que hace de la imaginación la sangre del artista.

«Every artist is a magician, and every magician is an artist.» — [DuQuette] y la equivalencia entre artista y mago.

«The painter’s creation is a painting; the composer’s creation is the score; but the magician’s creation is the magician—nothing else. Ultimately, the only thing the magician can directly change with magic is the magician.» — [DuQuette] su tesis sobre el alcance de la operación: la creación del mago es el mago, y lo único que la magia cambia directamente es él.

«This is certainly not to say that the results of a magical evocation cannot not have real and tangible effects upon other people or circumstances in the objective world around us.» — [DuQuette] con su límite dicho enseguida: eso no niega efectos reales y tangibles sobre otras personas o circunstancias.

«But such apparent magical “miracles,” while sometimes eerily impressive, are ultimately the indirect result of the changes the ceremony has effected in the magician’s own character and consciousness.» — [DuQuette] pero adjudica esos efectos a un resultado indirecto del cambio de carácter y consciencia del operador.

«But even though you might think you’ve compelled a famous demon to take time out of its busy schedule of festering wounds and sinking ships to bewitch the neighbor girl’s heart, that’s not how magic works.» — [DuQuette] el ejemplo del hechizo de amor, que niega como descripción de lo que ocurre.

«If your demonic love spell is to work, it won’t be because you or your demon has the power to neutralize her sovereign will.» — [DuQuette] niega que el operador o su demonio puedan anular la voluntad soberana de la otra persona.

«If the operation is to work, it will be because your demon has somehow helped you find a way to change yourself into the kind of person she always wanted to fall in love with.» — [DuQuette] y adjudica el resultado, si lo hay, a que el demonio ayudó al operador a cambiarse a sí mismo.

«Beginning magicians often have unrealistic expectations as to how the spirit appears and goes about obeying commands.» — [DuQuette] lo que señala sobre las expectativas del principiante.

«The spirit seldom appears as a visible cartoon character or a shimmering holographic image that flies off vowing, “Your wish is my command!”» — [DuQuette] y la forma en que niega la aparición espectacular.

«Adventures are not always pleasant, and these character-mutating escapades may often be painful, uncomfortable, and, until you recognize what’s going on, seemingly unrelated to the object of your operation.» — [DuQuette] y advierte que esas aventuras pueden ser dolorosas y parecer ajenas al objeto de la operación.

«Obviously, the dangers of casually tinkering with this kind of magic increase in direct relation to the magician’s own level of self-awareness and capacity for self-delusion. It should be obvious that unless you’ve already developed a significant level of wisdom and discernment, you won’t be self-aware enough to know what is or what is not in your own best interests.» — [DuQuette] el peligro que declara: crece con la capacidad de autoengaño de quien opera.

«The spirits are severely efficient, and your orders must be well thought out. There must be no room for loopholes in how one goes about obeying your commands. Once your conjuration lights the fuse, the demon will take the fastest, most direct path of least resistance in order to most quickly effect your mutation.» — [DuQuette] su regla operativa: las órdenes se piensan sin resquicios, porque el demonio tomará el camino más rápido.

«Foremost among the mythological archetypes and metaphors that make up the magical artist’s palette is a vast array of ancient and traditional angels, spirits, and demons representing the entire spectrum of consciousness from godhead to your head. This hierarchy of spirits populates the magician’s inner reality and really comprises the main characters and the subject of the book you are holding right now.» — [DuQuette] y su lectura de la jerarquía de espíritus como paleta del artista mágico y como asunto del libro.

«Like a chain of spiraling fractals of natural forces, archangels rule angels who rule spirits and demons and progressively more specialized and fragmented spiritual forces. The ultimate nature of these forces—like existence itself—is as aspects of consciousness.» — [DuQuette] la jerarquía como cadena de fractales de fuerzas naturales, cuya naturaleza última llama aspectos de la consciencia.

«For example, the fundamental force of nature, “gravity,” could be personified as a great archangel (let’s call it Gravity-ael). Gravity-ael rules sets of lesser angels who in turn rule more specialized aspects of gravity (angels with names like Mass-Attract-ael, or Black-Hole-ael, or Bend Light-ael, or Orbit-ael, or Tide-ael), who in turn might rule more specific or fragmented gravitational dirty-workers (like Tug-al, or Sag-ael, or Plummet-ael, or Plunge-al, or Splat-ael, or Sink-ael)» — [DuQuette] el ejemplo con que la ilustra, inventando nombres angélicos a partir de la gravedad.