25. Glasya-Labolas: a president and earl 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.

Glasya-Labolas is number 25 in the catalog of 72 spirits that opens the Lesser Key of Solomon. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a president and earl ruling 36 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Glasya-Labolas teaches all arts and sciences “in an instant.”

His entry puts teaching and bloodshed side by side more bluntly than almost any other. 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:

Glasya-Labolas. The Twenty-fifth Spirit is Glasya-Labolas. He is a Mighty President and Earl, and showeth himself in the form of a Dog with Wings like a Gryphon. He teacheth all Arts and Sciences in an instant, and is an Author of Bloodshed and Manslaughter. He teacheth all things Past, and to Come. If desired he causeth the love both of Friends and of Foes. He can make a Man to go Invisible. And he hath under his command 36 Legions of Spirits. His Seal is this, to be, etc.

Glasya-Labolas appears as “a Dog with Wings like a Gryphon”. He teaches “all Arts and Sciences in an instant” and is “an Author of Bloodshed and Manslaughter”. He also knows past and future, causes the love of friends and foes, and can make a person invisible. “Manslaughter” in early modern English meant killing in general, not the modern legal category.

Appearance

Historical Glasya-Labolas “showeth himself in the form of a Dog with Wings like a Gryphon.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

Historical The offices of Glasya-Labolas, in the order the 1904 text gives them:

• Teaches all arts and sciences “in an instant.”
• Is “an Author of Bloodshed and Manslaughter.” Reported as history; not taught here.
• Teaches all things past and to come.
• If desired, causes the love both of friends and of foes. Reported as history; not taught here.
• Can make a man go invisible.

He has 36 legions.

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical Weyer, in Scot’s English, gives “Glasya Labolas, alias Caacrinolaas, or Caassimolar,” “a great president,” like a dog with griffin’s wings, who gives “the knowledge of arts” and is “the captaine of all mansleiers.”

Weyer calls him only a president; the Goetia adds earl. Both give 36 legions. The double name with a hyphen in the Goetia may come from the joining of two names in an earlier source.

Historical Weyer gives three names, “Glasya labolas, aliàs Caacrinolaas vel Caassimolar”, and calls him “dux omnium homicidarum”, the leader of all killers, which Scot rendered as “the captaine of all mansleiers”. Weyer calls him only a president; the Goetia adds the rank of earl. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical The hyphenated name joins two words, Glasya and Labolas, and the aliases Caacrinolaas and Caassimolar look like garbled forms of a third. No meaning for any of them is known.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Glasya-Labolas’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in mercury or copper and silver, the metals of his two ranks. Mercury is toxic, so a modern copy belongs on paper. Why seals were worn, why editions draw them differently and how to study one are explained in seals, circle and triangle.

Later tradition Le Breton’s 1863 plate, titled Caacrinolaas, shows a winged dog, close to the text.

Later tradition and modern practice

Modern The contrast in this entry, instant teaching beside bloodshed, is often discussed by modern writers as an example of the Goetia’s mixed offices. Some modern practitioners approach Glasya-Labolas for fast learning. Others avoid him because of the manslaughter office. Both responses are modern. The winged dog appears in many modern illustrations and in games.

Lore about Glasya-Labolas’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 Glasya-Labolas, read incense, plants and offerings.

Practical notes

Although Glasya-Labolas has a teaching office, the text also names him an “Author of Bloodshed and Manslaughter.” I do not teach that office, and I do not recommend him for a first contact.

The beginner criteria ask beginners to avoid spirits whose entries center on harm. When an entry places teaching and killing side by side, choose another spirit. There are many with teaching offices and no such shadow.

In the directory, Glasya-Labolas is not among the 30 spirits that fit the beginner criteria.

Try this: one question to study

Write the three names Weyer gives this spirit and notice which one Collin de Plancy chose for his heading.

What next

To compare Glasya-Labolas with other spirits of his rank, read Foras and Botis.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Glasya-Labolas is the day spirit of the first decan of Sagittarius, which belongs to the Eight of Wands; the night spirit of the same decan is Zagan (spirit 61).