62. Volac: a president 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 62 of the Ars Goetia is Volac. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a president ruling 38 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Volac gives true answers of hidden treasures.

He is a winged child riding a two-headed dragon, and his name became famous through a horror film. 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:

Volac, or Valak, or Valu, or Ualac. The Sixty-second Spirit is Volac, or Valak, or Valu. He is a President Mighty and Great, and appeareth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon. His Office is to give True Answers of Hidden Treasures, and to tell where Serpents may be seen. The which he will bring unto the Exorciser without any Force or Strength being by him employed. He governeth 38 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is thus.

Volac “appeareth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon”. His office is “to give True Answers of Hidden Treasures, and to tell where Serpents may be seen”, and he will bring the serpents to the exorciser “without any Force or Strength being by him employed”. The phrase can be read two ways: he uses no force, or the serpents come without any strength of their own. Weyer, below, settles it.

Appearance

Historical Volac “appeareth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

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

• Gives true answers of hidden treasures.
• Tells where serpents may be seen, and brings them to the magician “without any Force or Strength being by him employed.”

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical Scot’s Weyer gives “Valac” as “a great president,” who “commeth abroad with angels wings like a boie, riding on a twoheaded dragon,” and answers of hidden treasure and where serpents may be seen, “which he delivereth into the conjurors hands, void of anie force or strength.” Weyer gives 30 legions, the Goetia 38.

Historical Weyer’s Latin is “progreditur uti puer alis angeli”, he comes forth like a boy with an angel’s wings. The serpents he hands over are “viribus destitutos”, deprived of their strength, so the harmlessness belongs to the snakes, not to the spirit’s manner. Sloane 3825, in Peterson’s edition, also gives 30 legions, so the 38 of the 1904 text is the outlier. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical The 1904 heading gives Volac, Valak, Valu and Ualac, and Scot writes Valac. U and V were one letter in early printing, so Ualac and Valac are the same spelling.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Volac’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in mercury, the metal of his rank. 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 follows the text closely: a winged, curly-haired child seated on a two-headed winged dragon.

Later tradition and modern practice

Modern The name Valak gained wide fame through The Conjuring 2 (2016) and its spin-off The Nun (2018), in which a demon named Valak appears as a nun.

The film character is a modern fiction and bears no resemblance to the winged child of the Goetia. Weyer’s phrase “void of anie force,” meaning the serpents are rendered harmless, is sometimes read in modern writing as an office of protection against snakes.

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

Practical notes

Volac is a president whose offices concern treasure and serpents. Neither is a teaching office, and neither is harmful in the text. He does not fit the beginner criteria well. Never handle wild snakes. If you are curious about the film, remember it is fiction.

In the directory, Volac is not among the 30 spirits that fit the beginner criteria.

Try this: one question to study

Read the serpent sentence in the 1904 text, then in Weyer’s Latin, and write down whose strength is missing in each.

What next

To compare Volac with other spirits of his rank, read Amy and Ose.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Volac is the night spirit of the second decan of Sagittarius, which belongs to the Nine of Wands; the day spirit of the same decan is Bune (spirit 26).