Valac

Valak as depicted in the Dictionnaire Infernal
Seal of Valac (Ars Goetia)
Seal of Valac (Ars Goetia)

Valac is a demon described in the goetic grimoires The Lesser Key of Solomon (in some versions as Ualac or Valak and in Thomas Rudd's variant as Valu), Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (as Volac), the Liber Officiorum Spirituum (as Coolor or Doolas), and in the Munich Manual of Demonic Magic (as Volach) as an angelically winged boy riding a two-headed dragon, attributed with the power of finding treasures.

Variations

The Lesser Key, the Munich Manual, Rudd, and Weyer further agree in ranking Valac as a president and attributing him with the power to locate, summon, and control serpents. The Officium Spirituum similarly attributes Doolas with the power to give the summoner command of serpents as well as "household spirits," but it ranks Coolor and Doolas as princes instead of presidents.

Valac is listed 62nd in the Lesser Key (even by Rudd) and the 50th by Weyer, with either version claiming he leads 30 legions of demons (though some manuscripts say 38). The Munich Manual describes Volach as controlling 27 legions of spirits. The Officium Spirituum (depending on the manuscript) ranks Coolor as either 22nd (with no note of how many spirits he commands) or (in the copy found in the Folger Shakespeare Library) 22nd and commanding 13 legions of spirits. All extant and complete versions of the Officium Spirituum list Doolas as 25th demon, commanding 20 legions of spirits.

Rudd's version uniquely has Valac opposed by the Shem HaMephorash angel Iahhael.

A manuscript titled Fasciculus Rerum Geomanticarum lists him as Volach.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Peterson 2001, p. 35.
  2. 1 2 3 Rudd 2010, p. 164.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Weyer 1563, par. 50.
  4. 1 2 3 Porter 2011, pp. 14–15.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Porter & Weston 2015, p. 198.
  6. 1 2 3 Kieckhefer 1998, pp. 166, 292.
  7. 1 2 Rudd 2010, p. 34.
  8. 1 2 Weyer 1563, Introduction by Peterson.
  9. ↑ Rudd 2010.
  10. ↑ Porter 2011, p. 14.
  11. ↑ Porter 2011, p. 15.
  12. ↑ Rudd 2010, pp. 376.
  13. ↑ Boudet 2003, par. 25.

Bibliography