16. Zepar: a duke 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.

Zepar is number 16 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 duke ruling 26 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Zepar causes women to love men and brings them together in love.

His entry is one of several in which the Goetia treats love as something a spirit can impose, and Weyer’s version shows that even more plainly. 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:

Zepar. The Sixteenth Spirit is Zepar. He is a Great Duke, and appeareth in Red Apparel and Armour, like a Soldier. His office is to cause Women to love Men, and to bring them together in love. He also maketh them barren. He governeth 26 Legions of Inferior Spirits, and his Seal is this, which he obeyeth when he seeth it.

Zepar appears “in Red Apparel and Armour, like a Soldier”. His office is to make women love men and “bring them together in love”, and also to make them barren. The closing phrase about the seal, “which he obeyeth when he seeth it”, states the theory of the seals more directly than most entries.

Appearance

Historical Zepar “appeareth in Red Apparel and Armour, like a Soldier.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

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

• Causes women to love men and brings them together in love. Reported as history; not taught here.
• Makes them barren. Reported as history; not taught here.

He governs 26 legions. His seal is one “which he obeyeth when he seeth it.”

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical Scot’s Weyer has Zepar “appearing as a souldier, inflaming women with the loove of men,” and adds that “when he is bidden he changeth their shape, untill they maie enjoie their beloved.” The Goetia omits the shape-changing. Both give barrenness and 26 legions.

Historical Weyer’s Latin says nothing about red: Zepar simply appears “uti miles”, like a soldier. It adds a detail the Goetia drops: when ordered, he changes the women’s shape (“earum formam in aliam transmutat”) until the men can enjoy their beloved. The barrenness office follows in both texts. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical No etymology for Zepar is known; the spelling is stable from Weyer to the 1904 text.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Zepar’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in copper, 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

Modern Some modern writers present Zepar as a spirit of romantic partnership or of contraception. Both are modern readings of an entry centered on compelled desire and infertility.

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

Practical notes

Zepar’s offices are love compulsion and causing barrenness. He falls outside the beginner criteria, and I do not teach either office. Questions of fertility and reproductive health belong with a doctor.

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

Try this: one question to study

Underline every action in Zepar’s entry that is done to women rather than by them, in both the Latin and the 1904 text.

What next

To compare Zepar with other spirits of his rank, read Eligos and Bathin.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Zepar is the day spirit of the first decan of Virgo, which belongs to the Eight of Pentacles; the night spirit of the same decan is Alloces (spirit 52).