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The seal of Botis, from the 1904 edition
S. L. MacGregor Mathers & Aleister Crowley (1904 edition). Wikimedia Commons ↗ · Public domain.

the 17th spirit

Botis

  • Titles President and Earl
  • Seal in Mercury
  • Legions 60
  • Of seventy-two No. 17

Reading this entry

The number places Botis in this edition's seventy-two-part catalogue. Its titles and the metal assigned to its seal come from the edition's classified appendix; the legion count is read from the entry itself. The passage below may describe an appearance, an office, a voice or an older order of beings. These are things the book says, not independent facts about a spirit. The original wording is left intact so a reader can check exactly where the description ends and our notes begin.

Edition: Mathers translation, Crowley edition, 1904. View the printed volume ↗

What the book says

From the 1904 edition, with its spelling and capitalisation preserved.

The Seventeenth Spirit is Botis, a Great President, and an Earl. He appeareth at the first show in the form of an ugly Viper, then at the command of the Magician he putteth on a Human shape with Great Teeth, and two Horns, carrying a bright and sharp Sword in his hand. He telleth all things Past, and to Come, and reconcileth Friends and Foes. He ruleth over 60 Legions of Spirits, and this is his Seal, etc.

The Goetia, trans. Mathers, ed. Crowley, 1904 — spirit 17.

Two titles

The appendix lists this spirit under President and Earl. It is one of seven given more than one rank, an inconsistency the edition itself notes but does not resolve.

Sources

Goetic office canonical

President and Earl, 60 legions

Rank and legion count as the 1904 edition gives them. The legions come from the phrase that closes almost every entry; the rank comes from the book's own appendix, which classifies all seventy-two and states the metal each rank's seal is to be made in — mercury for this one. TWO TITLES. The appendix lists this spirit under President and Earl, and the edition's note remarks on exactly this: several spirits possess two titles of different ranks. The entries use rank words descriptively as well — Eligos appears 'in the form of a goodly Knight' and Barbatos comes 'with four noble Kings' — so a rank harvested from the prose would invent titles the book does not give. Only the appendix classifies.

Sources (1)
  1. Lemegeton , The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King — The Goetia, spirit 17
    “The Seventeenth Spirit is Botis, a Great President, and an Earl. He appeareth at the first show in the form of an ugly Viper, then at the command of the Magician he putteth on a Human shape with Great Teeth, and two Horns, carrying a bright and sharp Sword in his hand. He telleth all things Past, and to Come, and reconcileth Friends and Foes. He ruleth over 60 Legions of Spirits, and this is his Seal, etc.”

    Verbatim, cut from the 1904 text by script/extract_goetia.rb. Mathers' spelling and capitalisation are left exactly as printed.

    Read at archive.org ↗

Goetic rank canonical

The APPENDIX classifies this spirit, not its entry. The entries use rank words descriptively as well — Eligos appears 'in the form of a goodly Knight' — so a rank taken from the prose would invent titles the book does not give. This spirit holds two titles of different ranks, and the edition's own note remarks on it.

Sources (1)
  1. Lemegeton , The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King — Classified List of the 72 Chief Spirits

    Read at archive.org ↗

Goetic rank canonical

The APPENDIX classifies this spirit, not its entry. The entries use rank words descriptively as well — Eligos appears 'in the form of a goodly Knight' — so a rank taken from the prose would invent titles the book does not give. This spirit holds two titles of different ranks, and the edition's own note remarks on it.

Sources (1)
  1. Lemegeton , The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King — Classified List of the 72 Chief Spirits

    Read at archive.org ↗

Other presidents

Correspondences 2 sourced correspondences
Attested correspondences for Botis
Relation To First attested
Goetic rank President 1600 CE
Goetic rank Earl 1600 CE

See it on the map As a table The goetic spirits table