Stolas

Stolas is the thirty-sixth spirit of the Ars Goetia, a prince with twenty-six legions. He teaches astronomy and the properties of herbs and precious stones. The catalogue gives him a bird form before a later human appearance.^[1][2]

Which bird?#

The Sloane manuscript describes a night raven. Peterson's notes trace the wording to an older bird term and record the different readings found in manuscripts and the 1904 edition. The familiar owl-like image in nineteenth-century demonological illustration is therefore a distinct stage of Stolas's visual reception.^[1]

A portrait can be recognizable without being a literal reproduction of every edition's wording. The bird in the text, the engraved owl-like creature, and a contemporary fictional character bearing the same name are different sources with different purposes.

Learning from the natural world#

Astronomy, herbs, and stones also appear in other Goetic offices. Morax combines these subjects with the provision of wise familiars. Stolas's entry concentrates on teaching them directly.^[2]

The mixture reflects a learned magical setting in which celestial knowledge and material properties belong to connected inquiries. It should not be simplified into a modern scientific qualification or a demonstrated capacity to identify medicinal treatments. The source gives Stolas a ranked place, an office of instruction, and a seal, all within the fictional authority assigned to Solomon in the grimoire.

See also#

• Morax
• Dictionnaire infernal
• Astrology in Western esotericism

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.