66. Cimejes: a marquis of the Ars Goetia

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Cimejes is spirit 66 of the 72 in the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a marquis ruling 20 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Cimejes rules over all spirits “in the parts of Africa.”

He rules the spirits of Africa and teaches the three arts of language. Each part below carries a label for its layer, explained in how to read a spirit page.

At a glance

The 1904 entry

Historical The full entry from the 1904 edition, with footnote numbers and the dash after the heading left out and the heading set in ordinary type:

Cimejes, or Cimeies, or Kimaris. The Sixty-sixth Spirit is Cimejes, or Cimeies, or Kimaris. He is a Marquis, Mighty, Great, Strong and Powerful, appearing like a Valiant Warrior riding upon a goodly Black Horse. He ruleth over all Spirits in the parts of Africa. His Office is to teach perfectly Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, and to discover things Lost or Hidden, and Treasures. He governeth 20 Legions of Infernals; and his Seal is this, etc.

Cimejes appears “like a Valiant Warrior riding upon a goodly Black Horse”. “Goodly” means fine or handsome. “He ruleth over all Spirits in the parts of Africa”, the only spirit given a continent. His office is “to teach perfectly Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, and to discover things Lost or Hidden, and Treasures”. He governs “20 Legions of Infernals”.

Appearance

Historical Cimejes appears “like a Valiant Warrior riding upon a goodly Black Horse.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

Historical The offices of Cimejes, in the order the 1904 text gives them:

• Rules over all spirits “in the parts of Africa.”
• Teaches perfectly grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
• Discovers things lost or hidden, and treasures.

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical The Weyer catalog, as Scot renders it, gives “Cimeries” as “a great marquesse and a strong, ruling in the parts of Aphrica,” who teaches “grammar, logicke, and rhetorike,” discovers treasures and things hidden, and makes “a man shall seeme with expedition to be turned into a soldier.”

He “rideth upon a great blacke horsse.” The Goetia drops the soldier office. Both give 20 legions.

Historical Weyer’s Latin is “imperans in partibus Africanis”, ruling in the African regions, and he “docet perfectè Grammaticam, Logicam & Rhetoricam”. The soldier office reads “Facit ut homo cursu celerrimo videatur transmutari in militem”: the man only seems to be changed. In Weyer the black horse comes at the end, almost as an afterthought. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical The 1904 text gives Cimejes, Cimeies and Kimaris, Weyer and Scot Cimeries. The j and i are one letter in older printing, and Kimaris looks like a phonetic spelling. No meaning is known.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Cimejes’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in silver, the metal of his rank. Why seals were worn, why editions draw them differently and how to study one are explained in seals, circle and triangle.

Later tradition and modern practice

Later tradition Cimejes’s three teaching offices are the trivium, the first three of the seven liberal arts in medieval education. His rule over “the parts of Africa” reflects early modern European geography and imagination, not any African tradition.

Modern Modern writers often recommend him to students and writers.

Lore about Cimejes’s personality, likes or chosen people is modern, not grimoire material; modern approaches explains where such claims come from.

Beginner’s quick reference

Before you burn or handle anything listed for Cimejes, read incense, plants and offerings.

Practical notes

Cimejes fits the beginner criteria. He is a marquis whose main offices are grammar, logic, and rhetoric. A question about how to write or argue more clearly would suit a first contact.

In the directory, Cimejes is one of the 30 spirits that fit the beginner criteria.

Try this: one question to study

Grammar, logic and rhetoric are the trivium. Write one sentence on what each of the three teaches, then decide which Cimejes’s other office, finding lost things, is most like.

What next

To compare Cimejes with other spirits of his rank, read Andrealphus and Andras.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Cimejes is the night spirit of the third decan of Capricorn, which belongs to the Four of Pentacles; the day spirit of the same decan is Forneus (spirit 30).