#20
Goetia Spirit · King · East
Purson
The 20th spirit of the Lesser Key of Solomon.
The old books set Purson down as a King of the Goetia, 20th of the seventy-two, commanding 22 legions and approached from the East. The recorded form: lion-faced man on a bear, carrying a viper, preceded by trumpets. What follows is what the sources say, and the name of the answer they give.
A note on this material
This is a defensive reference, not an instruction in summoning. Every spirit here is set beside its countermanding angel, the Watcher whose office stands opposite. You are given the name of the answer, never the procedure of the call.
What the Lesser Key records
- Number in the Goetia
- #20 of 72
- Rank
- King
- Legions commanded
- 22
- Direction approached from
- East
- Also known as
- Curson, Pursan
- Appearance recorded
- Lion-faced man on a bear, carrying a viper, preceded by trumpets
- Domain / Powers
- Knows hidden things, can find treasure, tells past/present/future
- Countermanding angel
- Pahaliah
- Paired angel number
- 2020
Where the sources differ
Weyer set this spirit 11th in his catalogue of 1577. The Lemegeton, assembled the following century, moved it to 20th and reordered the hierarchy around rank. Neither list is a copy of the other.
The name travels badly. Purson appears variously as Curson, Pursan — the drift of a name carried through Latin, French and English hands over four centuries.
If this spirit’s domain has touched your life
The domain the tradition assigns to Purson is this: knows hidden things, can find treasure, tells past/present/future. If you believe something of that shape is working against you or around you, the older grammar is blunt about the response. You do not address the spirit. You call the angel set against it.
Call on Pahaliah. The Watcher whose office stands opposite this domain. Read the full profile and the traditional prayer →
The protection the tradition prescribes
- Name the pattern. Write down, clearly, the specific way you suspect the influence is operating. Vague suspicion gives the influence cover.
- Call on Pahaliah by name. Speak or write the call. Do not address the spirit directly.
- Guard the purse. Refuse the sudden windfall that arrives with a condition attached, and the scheme that requires your silence. Where this office works, the money is the hook and not the harm.
- Carry the stone the tradition gives. The medieval lapidary assigns particular stones to particular protections — see the Crystal Directory.
- Repeat for forty days. The tradition is consistent on this duration — long enough to break a settled pattern.
Common questions
Is it dangerous to read about Goetia demons?
No. Reading what a tradition recorded about a spirit's domain is not the same as calling on it, and nothing here gives a procedure for calling. These are the same attributes catalogued in every serious historical and academic treatment of the Lemegeton, set down so that a reader can recognise a pattern and find the protection named against it.
Who is the angel that counters Purson?
Pahaliah. The pairing runs through the countermanding tradition, angel set against office. Pahaliah's profile, prayer, and paired stone →
How was the Goetia compiled?
The Goetia is the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon, assembled in the seventeenth century out of older material. Johann Weyer had printed much of the same catalogue in 1577, and Reginald Scot carried it into English in 1584. The lists do not always agree, which is the most useful thing about them.