50. Furcas: the knight 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.

Spirit 50 of the Ars Goetia is Furcas. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a knight ruling 20 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Furcas teaches philosophy, astrology, rhetoric, logic, cheiromancy (palmistry), and pyromancy (divination by fire), “in all their parts, and perfectly.”

He is the only knight among the 72, and his entry is a curriculum of learned and divinatory arts. 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:

Furcas. The Fiftieth Spirit is Furcas. He is a Knight, and appeareth in the Form of a Cruel Old Man with a long Beard and a hoary Head, riding upon a pale-coloured Horse, with a Sharp Weapon in his hand. His Office is to teach the Arts of Philosophy, Astrology, Rhetoric, Logic, Cheiromancy, and Pyromancy, in all their parts, and perfectly. He hath under his Power 20 Legions of Spirits. His Seal, or Mark, is thus made, etc.

Furcas appears as “a Cruel Old Man with a long Beard and a hoary Head, riding upon a pale-coloured Horse, with a Sharp Weapon in his hand”. His office is a list: “Philosophy, Astrology, Rhetoric, Logic, Cheiromancy, and Pyromancy, in all their parts, and perfectly”. Cheiromancy is reading the hand, and pyromancy is divination by fire. The fearsome rider and the scholar’s syllabus belong to the same entry, a contrast the Goetia often makes.

Appearance

Historical Furcas “appeareth in the Form of a Cruel Old Man with a long Beard and a hoary Head, riding upon a pale-coloured Horse, with a Sharp Weapon in his hand.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

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

• Teaches philosophy, astrology, rhetoric, logic, cheiromancy (palmistry), and pyromancy (divination by fire), “in all their parts, and perfectly.”

He has 20 legions. He is the only knight among the 72.

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical In Scot’s English, Weyer gives “Furcas” as “a knight,” “in the similitude of a cruell man, with a long beard and a hoarie head,” on a pale horse with a sharp weapon, who “perfectlie teacheth practike philosophie, rhetorike, logike, astronomie, chiromancie, pyromancie, and their parts.”

Weyer has astronomy, the Goetia astrology. In the early modern period the two words overlapped. Both give 20 legions.

Historical Weyer’s Latin calls him “miles”, soldier or knight, and “sævi hominis”, a cruel man, with “capillitio cano”, grey hair; the Goetia adds the word “Old”. The list of arts is longer: “practicam, philosophiam, rhetoricam, logicam, chiromantiam, astronomiam, piromantiam”. It opens with “practicam”, the practical part of philosophy, which the Goetia folds into philosophy. The weapon is “telum acutum”, a sharp weapon, the word Latin uses for spears and darts. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical Furca is Latin for a fork, including the forked yoke used as a gallows, but no source links the word to the spirit. Weyer, Scot and the 1904 text all spell the name Furcas.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Furcas’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in lead, 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 As the only knight, Furcas is the only spirit whose seal the Observations assign to lead (see Rank rules).

Modern Modern writers often connect him with Saturn and with discipline in study.

Lore about Furcas’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 Furcas, read incense, plants and offerings.

Practical notes

Furcas fits the beginner criteria well. He is a knight, the lowest rank, and his offices are philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and forms of divination.

A question about how to study logic or philosophy would suit a first contact. If you practice pyromancy, watching flames, keep the flame in a safe holder, never leave it alone, and keep children and pets away.

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

Try this: one question to study

Write the arts in Weyer’s list and in the 1904 list side by side, and mark the ones that changed or disappeared.

What next

To compare Furcas with other spirits of his rank, read Crocell and Haagenti.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Furcas is the night spirit of the second decan of Leo, which belongs to the Six of Wands; the day spirit of the same decan is Leraje (spirit 14).