today's episode is brought to you by one
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bale
also known as
bael
a demon so detestable so vulgar
so sickening to gaze upon that perhaps
his omission and ambiguity in modern
religious belief is best left that way
but for the curious as i'm sure you are
you'll likely want to at least
understand what exactly this demon
represented what his motives were what
his powers were and why anyone would
want to summon this despicable creature
at all
whilst many will not have heard of the
demon bale given that none of the demons
from formalized classifications have
been canonized as far as mainstream
christianity goes bale is no stranger to
occultist communities and traditions
where he appears to not only be referred
to as a demonic king
but also as a ruler of 66 legions of
infernal spirits
we see bale mentioned quite vividly by
many occultist figures including johann
weyer in his pseudomonarchy de monum
otherwise known as the false monarchy of
demons
or by french occultist colin de plancy
in his dictionary infernal or the
dictionary of demons
but perhaps the most prominent mention
comes from a mid-17th century
compilation of texts from centuries
before
a book that's been studied by many
occultists and those seeking to summon
the dark beasts of the underworld
the lesser key of solomon an anonymous
entry into the literary world of
demonology is divided into five sections
though it is the first section the ass
goettia that interests us the most when
discussing bail
despite being influenced by other
classifications such as colin de
plancy's dictionary infernal which
portrays 65 demons the asgartia goes a
step further in presenting 72 demons
as well as providing detailed
descriptions of these creatures as well
as their powers and also
explanations on how to summon them
it is with this that we dive into the oz
goethe starting with the first demon who
graces these pages the demon bale
one thought to be a hideous body made up
of a human a cat
and a toad
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and now back to bail
the ascotia found in the lesser key of
solomon tells us specifically of baal
that
the first principle spirit is a king
ruling in the east called baal
he make a fee to go invisible he ruleth
over 66 legions of infernal spirits
he appeareth in diverse shapes
sometimes like a cat sometimes like a
toad and sometimes like a man
and sometimes all these forms at once
he speaketh hoarsely
this is his character
which is used to be worn as a layman
before him who calleth him forth or else
he will not do the homage
there's much that can be derived from
this explanation of baal
first we understand him to be the first
principal spirit
that is the first demon mentioned in the
oz goethe and that he is one of the many
chiefs in hell that rule over the
desolate land
specifically he commands 66 legions of
infernal spirits
that is to say he commands a significant
number of spirits that each do his
bidding
a single legion in the roman army for
example consisted of 5 000 units
so to have 66 legions is for him to
possess something like
363 000 spirits
of course we can't be sure as to what
capacity each legion in hell is made up
of
nor can it be determined as to what role
each legion served
presumably though these legions
commanded by demons such as bale were
ordered to torment humans who have been
damned to hell
the asgardia continues of baal that he
can
make a free to go invisible
which might give some inclination as to
why anyone would want to summon him
one can assume that given the nature of
a demon the use of its powers do not
come for free
but it remains unknown as to what deal
or bargain one must strike in order to
benefit from bale's powers of
invisibility
the concept of temptation most certainly
springs to mind here in that the
prospect of a superpower such as
invisibility would be difficult to turn
down
baal therefore fits into the usual
category of demons who attempt to lure
humans into worshiping them
or into doing their bidding and
ultimately denying them what the bible
suggests is the ultimate glory and
ultimate peace in heaven with god
with bale's mastery over invisibility it
stands to reason that he himself can
turn invisible and thus
like many demons it might be proposed
that they operate alongside humans but
are imperceptible to the human eye
we of course also learn of his form
in that he appears sometimes as a cat
sometimes as a toad sometimes as a man
or sometimes as a combination of all
three
providing us with the idea that bale has
some mastery not only of invisibility
but also of shape shifting
narratively speaking the transformation
into a singular cat toad or human would
make some sense in his efforts to
disguise himself amongst humanity
but his form which fuses all three
elements of which he is most commonly
depicted could very well be his true
form
or a form in which he adopts to shock
his victims and instill fear into those
who behold him
naturally as a creature that is able to
turn invisible or metamorphize into
diverse shapes it does beg the question
as to whether one of these variations is
his true form
or if he defaults to something else
you'll notice in the depictions by louis
lebreton
those which were originally featured in
colin de plancy's dictionary infernal
bail is also depicted with hairy spidery
legs which you might say is a creative
liberty that enhances the repulsiveness
of the creature
in any case lebron's depiction of baal
has since become the staple of how this
demon is depicted amongst occultist
communities and many modern
interpretations automatically adopt the
additional limbs that appear to hold the
demon up
despite not being mentioned in any text
we also gather that bale speaketh
hoarsely
revealing that to hear his voice is a
terrible thing
or that his voice is harsh or grating
it's probable that he speaks through his
human head
though it is not determined if his cat
head or toad head are able to vocalize
sound either
in any case going by this appearance of
this demon it is by no means a surprise
that its voice is unpleasant
the final part of the asgoritius
description of bale
tells us that whoever intends to summon
him to achieve his spell of invisibility
will need to be wearing a layman
for to do so without will cause the
demon to simply ignore the summoner
a layman is believed to be a sort of
magical pendant or breastplate that is
worn around the neck and or the upper
body with the intention of covering
one's heart
whilst its function does vary occultists
were believed to have used such an item
to focus magical energy
in this instance to focus it on
summoning bail
infamous occultist of the early 20th
century aleister crowley spoke of the
layman being a coat of arms that enabled
powers of those who wore it
with that being said it could be argued
based on the words from the goethe and
the layman that the layman was a
requirement when it came to summoning
spirits
let alone conversing with them
for to do so without such a magically
infused item would not be possible
there are some differences in attributes
when it comes to the various
classifications of demons
though in the case of bale most appear
to be almost unanimous
for example in johann waya's sudamanaki
de monum he tells us
their first and principal king which is
the power of the east is called bale
who when he is conjured up appears with
three heads
the first like a toad the second like a
man
the third like a cat
he speaketh with a hoarse voice
he maketh a man go invisible and wise
he hath under his obedience and rule
60 and six legions of devils
as we can see much of the account
corresponds with the goethe
likely on the account that both drew
from the same source material or that
one inspired the other
the only slight difference in waya's
account here is that baal is established
as power of the east which may be an
insidious nod to bale's influence
for it was once believed that mankind's
original home stemmed from the east
this would lead to many practitioners of
faith praying towards the east and so it
might be deduced that if baal occupies
the east then many prayers are being
delivered unto him
he is also described as being able to
turn a man not just invisible but also
wise
hinting that he who conjures the demon
will also incur wisdom
in the dictionary infernal meanwhile
colin de plancy makes note of waya's
account and cites him in his own
description telling us
the baal
demon sighted in le grand grimoire as
the head of all infernal powers
it is also with him that wayes begins
the inventory of his infamous
pseudomonarchy de monum
he calls bale the first king of hell
his estates are in the east
he is shown with three heads
of which one has the face of a toad
the other that of a man
the third that of a cat his voice is
raucous
but he is well formed
he repays those who invoke him with
cunning and slyness and teaches them how
to become invisible as needed
66 legions obey him
is he the same as baal
as can be seen much of what colin de
plans he tells us marries up with the
previous two accounts in dictionary
infernal and the lesser key of solomon
he does include some additional
information that fleshes out bale's
motives however noting that he repays
those who summon him with cunning and
slyness
perhaps teaching them the ways of
mischief and trickery
perhaps more interestingly though he
ends this section by pondering on the
question as to whether bale and the
canaanite god baal are one in the same
this is a reasonable thought to possess
given the similarities of their names
it is believed that both bale and baal
were derived from the same term baal
with an apostrophe a term which
indicated a title given to various pagan
deities in the near east
roughly translated baal was believed to
mean
lord
a term which was suited to baal who
would be considered a rival to the old
testament yahweh
and the lord to the israelites
interestingly in the libra officium
spiritum
or the book of the office spirits
a lost grimoire thought to have inspired
much of weir's classification baal is
described as being a hoarsely voiced
king
something that all classifications
reconcile was a prominent feature of
bale
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[Music]
you