Rank: Marquis · Legions: 30 · Element: Fire · Direction: South · Enn: Avage malprg Orias ramec
Orias, written also Oriax, is the fifty-ninth spirit of the Ars Goetia, a Great Marquis who governs thirty legions of spirits. He appears in the form of a lion with a serpent's tail, riding upon a mighty and strong horse, and he holds in his right hand two great serpents, hissing. His office is to teach the virtues of the stars, and to make one know the mansions of the planets and how to understand their virtues; he also transforms men, and gives dignities and prelacies and the confirmation of them, together with the favour of friends and of foes. What sets Orias apart from the several other teachers of astrology in the Goetia is the word virtue. Where they teach the reading of the heavens — the observing of the stars, the knowing of their courses — Orias teaches their virtues, their powers and influences, and how those powers may be understood and worked with. His is not the astronomy of the watcher but the astrology of the mage: the practical art of the celestial forces, the drawing-down and the wielding of the virtues that flow from the stars and the planets. He holds two serpents in his hand because he holds the powers of the heavens in his hand. And because the stars govern fortune — the rising and the falling of a life — the master of their virtues is also the giver of dignities, who can align the favourable influences that raise a person and confirm their standing. Orias is the master of the planetary virtues, the wielder of the powers of the sky.
He is Orias in many books, and Oriax in others. He appears in Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of 1577, passed into the Ars Goetia as it was gathered into the Lemegeton in the seventeenth century, and was set into modern English by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley in their 1904 edition. The texts agree on his account: the lion with the serpent's tail upon the mighty horse, the two hissing serpents in his hand, the teaching of the virtues of the stars and the mansions of the planets, the transforming of men, and the dignities and prelacies with their confirmation — the Great Marquis of thirty legions.
Orias's form gathers power and the mastery of power. He is a lion — the beast of celestial majesty and of rulership, the king of animals for a spirit who commands the powers of the sky — and he wears a serpent's tail, the sign of subtle and coiling wisdom. He rides a mighty and strong horse, the mount of one who bears great force. And in his right hand he holds two great serpents, hissing. The serpents are the heart of the image, for the serpent is the ancient sign of the hidden current and the flowing power — and Orias holds two of them, gripped and mastered, in his hand. He does not fear the serpents or flee them; he wields them. The two hissing serpents are the powers of the heavens held in the master's grip, the astral currents seized and directed. The image cannot but recall the caduceus, the twin serpents of Hermes the astrologer-mage, the emblem of one who commands the flowing forces between heaven and earth; and that resonance is right, for Orias is exactly such a one — the wielder of the powers of the stars, the serpents of the sky held tame and hissing in his hand.
The centre of Orias is the word virtue, and it makes all the difference. To teach the virtues of the stars is not to teach the mere observing of them — their names, their courses, the reading of a chart — but to teach their powers: the influences that flow down from them into the world below, and how those influences may be understood, drawn upon, and worked with. This is astrology raised into astral magic, the practical art of the celestial forces. The old and serious astrologers held that each star and planet pours out a virtue, a specific power and quality — the martial fire of one, the loving warmth of another, the cold gravity of a third — and that the mage who understands these virtues may align themselves with them, draw them down, and act with the powers of the heavens behind them. Orias is the master and the teacher of exactly this. From him one learns not only what the stars are but what they do, and how to work with what they do — the great practical secret of the astral art.
Orias teaches also the mansions of the planets, and how to understand their virtues — the dwelling-places and stations of the celestial powers, the map of where each virtue is strong and where it is weak, when it rises and when it sets. This is the practical grammar of the astral art: for to wield the virtue of a planet, one must know its mansion — its place, its hour, its season of strength — and so time and align the working with the moment the power is at its height. The mansions are the when and the where of the celestial virtues, and Orias, who teaches them, gives the practitioner the timing that makes the astral magic effective. To know the virtues is to know the powers; to know the mansions is to know when and how to reach them. Orias teaches both, and so gives the whole practical art.
Orias's second great office follows directly from his first, and the connection is the key to it: he gives dignities and prelacies, and — notably — the confirmation of them, along with the favour of friends and of foes. For the stars have always been held to govern fortune, the rising and the falling of a person's estate; and the master of the virtues of the stars is therefore the master of the fortunes they rule. Orias can align the favourable celestial influences that raise a person into honour and high office, and — this is his particular mark — can confirm that elevation, making it hold and last rather than pass. Where another spirit might grant a fleeting favour, Orias grants the confirmed dignity, the standing made secure under the influences of heaven. This Vault reads the office, as it reads all such, toward genuine and worthy advancement — true honour rightly gained and soundly kept, real goodwill even from former foes — and not the hollow standing seized by trickery. The one who raises by the true virtues of the stars raises truly.
Orias also transforms men, and in a spirit of the celestial virtues this transformation has a particular colour. The old astral philosophy held that each planetary virtue shapes and refines a different part of the soul — that to work with the powers of the heavens is to be worked upon by them, changed and refined under their influence. Orias's transforming of men reads, in this light, as the transformation of the self through the celestial virtues: the deliberate refinement of one's own nature by drawing upon the powers of the stars, each planet reshaping the part of oneself it governs. To master the virtues of the heavens is, in the end, to be transformed by them — and Orias is the master of that transformation.
Orias is placed in the element of Fire and the quarter of the South — Fire for the celestial fire of the stars whose virtues he wields, the burning powers of the sky. For the planetary correspondence this Vault reads him, of all things a spirit of all the planets might be read as, under Jupiter. The two serpents in his hand recall the caduceus of Mercury, and a practitioner who read him as Mercurial — the hermetic astrologer, the wielder of the flowing forces — would not be wrong; but his deeper office points to Jupiter. For Jupiter is the celestial king, the greatest of the planets and the lord of the heavens' beneficial influences; Jupiter is the giver of dignities, prelacies, honours, and high fortune, the very gifts Orias bestows and confirms; and Jupiter is the planet of expansion and of the raising-up of a person's estate, which is exactly what the master of the stellar virtues does. Where Orobas wore Jupiter as the faithful and honourable Prince, Orias wears it as the celestial sovereign, the lord of the powers of the sky and the fortunes they govern. Set his metal as tin, his day as Thursday, and his colours the royal purple of his celestial sovereignty and the serpent-green of the powers in his hand. These correspondences are read as symbolic rather than handed down as documented tradition; the grimoires give only his element, his form, and his offices, and the Jovian reading follows from the dignities, the fortunes, and the mastery of the heavenly virtues at the heart of them.
In the old demonology Orias is a notable spirit, marked by his striking form of the serpent-tailed lion with the two hissing serpents, and by his teaching of the virtues and mansions of the planets — a practical astral knowledge prized by the astrologer-mages who worked with the grimoires. Weyer and the Ars Goetia give the same account: the lion and the serpents, the virtues of the stars, the mansions of the planets, the transforming of men, the dignities and prelacies and their confirmation. Commentators have long noted the depth of his astrological office, so much more than the mere observing of the heavens, and the aptness of the serpents to a wielder of the celestial powers. He is a Marquis respected for the practical mastery he teaches.
Carried into the modern revival through the 1904 Mathers and Crowley edition, Orias is worked today chiefly by students of astrology and of astral and planetary magic — those who wish not only to read the heavens but to work with their powers, to draw down the virtues of the stars and time their workings by the mansions of the planets. Modern practitioners prize his teaching as the practical grammar of the celestial art, read his dignity-giving as the aligning of favourable influence for genuine advancement, and his transforming of men as the refinement of the self under the planetary virtues. He remains a powerful and sought-after Marquis, valued for the mastery of the heavens he confers.
Orias is masterful, subtle, and commanding — the serpent-tailed lion who holds the powers of the heavens in his hand, the teacher not merely of the stars but of their virtues, the wielder of the celestial forces. He gives the practical art of the astral magic, raises and confirms the dignities that the stars govern, and refines those who work with the powers of the sky. He is a spirit of high and practical mastery, the commander of the flowing forces of the heavens. Met with respect and a genuine wish to learn the deep and practical art of the celestial virtues — to wield the powers rightly, and to rise and be transformed truly — he is among the most powerful and rewarding of all the spirits of the Goetia, the master of the virtues of the stars.
The grimoires give Orias a striking and powerful form: a lion -- the beast of celestial majesty and rulership -- but with the tail of a serpent, riding upon a mighty and strong horse, and holding in his right hand two great serpents that hiss. Every part speaks of power mastered: the lion's rule, the serpent-tail's coiling wisdom, the strong horse's borne force, and above all the two hissing serpents gripped in his hand -- the powers of the heavens seized and directed, the astral currents held tame, an image that cannot but recall the twin serpents of the caduceus. Those who work with him describe a commanding, subtle, and potent presence, charged with a sense of forces held and wielded -- not a fierce and simple power but a mastered and directed one, the felt presence of a spirit who holds the flowing virtues of the sky in his grip and knows exactly how to loose and to bind them.
Enn: Avage malprg Orias ramec
Working with Orias is working with the master of the planetary virtues -- the serpent-tailed lion who holds the powers of the heavens in his hand and teaches not merely the reading of the stars but the wielding of their virtues. His is the practical art of astral and planetary magic, and the raising of the fortunes the stars govern. This Vault comes to him to learn the deep and practical art of the celestial powers, to align favourable influence for genuine advancement, and to be transformed under the virtues of the sky -- with respect for the potency of what he teaches. What follows is a guide built around that mastery.
Come to Orias with respect for a powerful Marquis and a genuine wish to learn a deep and practical art. Cleanse yourself and the space, and set his seal at the centre of the working. Where the correspondences are followed, the Jovian suits him: royal purple and serpent-green, the metal tin, the hours of Jupiter and of Thursday -- and, fittingly for a master of the mansions, a working timed to a favourable celestial hour honours his own teaching. Then open the way by reciting his Enn -- Avage malprg Orias ramec -- steadily, and let a commanding, subtle, potent presence gather, charged with the sense of forces held and wielded.
For his central teaching, come to Orias not merely to read the heavens but to learn to work with their powers. Ask him to teach you the virtues of the stars and planets -- the specific power and quality each pours out, and how those powers may be understood, drawn upon, and directed. This is astrology raised into astral magic, and it is a serious and practical study; approach it as an apprenticeship in a real art, not a quick charm. Ask him, too, to teach you the mansions of the planets -- the stations and timings of the virtues, when each power is at its height -- for to wield a planetary virtue one must know its mansion and reach it at its strength. Take his teaching as the beginning of a long practical mastery, and do the study between the workings.
For his gift of elevation, come to Orias when you would rise into honour, office, or standing, and ask him to align the favourable influences of the heavens toward it -- and, as is his particular mark, to confirm it, so that the standing holds and lasts rather than passes. Hold this to genuine and worthy advancement: true honour rightly gained and soundly kept, real goodwill won even from former foes, not a hollow position seized by trickery. The dignity raised by the true virtues of the stars is a dignity truly held; work with him toward the advancement you can honestly keep.
For his transforming office, come to Orias to be refined under the powers of the heavens. Name the part of yourself you would reshape, and ask him to teach you which planetary virtue governs it and how to draw upon that virtue to refine it -- the martial fire to strengthen the will, the loving warmth to open the heart, the cold gravity to steady the mind, each planet reshaping its own domain. This is the self-transformation of the astral mage: to be worked upon by the very powers one works with, and refined, part by part, under the virtues of the sky.
Practitioners describe Orias's presence as commanding and potent, charged with a sense of forces held and directed, and often accompanied by a heightened awareness of the celestial and the astral -- the felt nearness of the powers of the sky. When he has heard, his help tends to arrive as a new grasp of the practical art -- an understanding of a planetary virtue suddenly clear and usable, a working timed and aligned and taking effect, a standing that rises and holds, a part of the self refined under a power drawn down. Keep a written record, with special note of the timings and the celestial conditions, for his is an art of when as much as of what.
Work with Orias with respect for the potency of what he wields. Approach his teaching as a real and serious art, to be studied and practised, not a quick trick. Hold his dignity-giving to genuine and worthy advancement, honestly gained and soundly kept, never the hollow standing of manipulation. Wield the celestial virtues he teaches with care, for real powers are real, and let the transformation they work refine you toward your true and greater self. He is the master of the virtues of the stars, a spirit of high and practical mastery, and to the seeker who comes to learn the deep art of the celestial powers and to rise and be transformed truly, he is among the most powerful and rewarding teachers in the whole book.