u/captainblueflame

Like found in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho or Oregon.

Appreciate any help I can get.

*sigil making is a passionate hobby of mine*

I really wanted to tap this out yesterday (waning Moonday) but life had other plans.

Hasmodai - (Chasmodai) muscular planetary spirit of the moon. And someone somewhere saying "hey that looks like Asmoday/Asmodai/Asmodeus"

I decided not to care, so if you all wanna talk more specifically about this, please feel free.

Ancient King Asmodai has plenty of miles under their belt. He (he came as a he) says to me, "look" and pulls a small lunar square from his pocket. He half turns in place and reveals a mostly shaded silver side of himself and says "we Kings align with the Sun, but the Moon is where what is hidden can be known, where secret battles are won, and where shadows find illumination"

Who am I to argue with that? The sigil above is specifically to work with Hasmodai on breaking free from addiction. Like the hermit's lantern, often times in the light of a waning moon only one step can be seen at a time. Addiction being the overarching problem, with many smaller issues being parts of a whole.

For instance -

Time Filler Habit - addicts are brilliant time fillers. Loneliness Buddy Habit - our little buddy the addiction is the best friend we've ever had.

Hopeless Critic Habit - eh, you've done it this long stopping now won't help. To name only a few.

This form of clarity is what one can hope for when working with Hasmodai in this capacity. My gasts have been flabbered and I am grateful.

Lately, I’ve noticed a rise in posts and questions about President Buer, so I thought I’d share a bit about the 10th spirit in the Ars Goetia, or 7th in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. It’s exciting to see so much interest in Buer—I imagine he’d appreciate it too.

That said, I tend to avoid using specific pronouns for demons, since people experience them as different genders. While I’m not saying no one has ever encountered Buer in a feminine form, I personally have never come across any descriptions of him that way.

In the Ars Goetia, President Buer is the 10th demon, commanding 50 legions of spirits He teaches both moral and natural philosophy, as well as logic and the virtues of all herbs and plants. He provides good familiars and can heal all illnesses in humans. I’ll share a bit of my own UPG here while keeping this as general as possible for those interested in working more closely with Buer. The origin of his name is unknown, though there is a notable association with a suburb in Germany called Buer.

It’s said that Buer teaches logic, which helps in distinguishing truth from fiction and aids in solving problems by finding what’s true. He also teaches moral and natural philosophy. First mentioned in the *Pseudomonarchia Daemonum* in 1583, just before the Renaissance, “natural philosophy” at the time likely covered physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, and astrology, as well as understanding the elements. “Moral philosophy” would include religion, ethics, civic matters, and broader philosophical thought. Essentially, he’s a demon who tackles the “big” questions, with his other traits being fairly self-explanatory.

Since Buer doesn’t have deep origins like many other demons in the grimoires, I’ve done some digging of my own. I’ll start with those before moving on to correspondences and discrepancies I’ve found. The most recognizable image of President Buer is likely the one depicting a lion’s head surrounded by goat or horse legs, allowing movement in all directions. Buer is also known as Sagittari, and appears when the sun is in this sign, linking him to the Centaurs—particularly Chiron, the wounded healer—due to their similar attributes. While the galactic center is cyclical and located in Sagittarius, it wasn’t mentioned until the 1700s, so I doubt it has any real significance here.

Where did Buer come from? Examining other demons in the grimoires reveals some minor similarities in their teachings, but none match the complete picture Buer presents. Chiron’s origin story provides parts of the puzzle, but how does the leader of the Centaurs end up in a 16th-century book on demons? The best answer is simply, “they don’t.”

I think the blending of these two “aspects” came much later, likely around the time of this illustration, perhaps influenced by practitioners eager for a richer story and noticing parallels between Chiron and Buer. Buer is a sub-lunar, functional, conjurable demon, while Chiron is a mythological, symbolic archetype. The common practice in occultism of collapsing archetypes may have happened during the drafting of Buer’s synopsis.

Is President Buer a necessary addition to the mix, drawn from Greek sources to create an invocable aspect of Chiron? Or does he originate elsewhere? Interestingly, there’s a centaur tale that fits more closely with Buer and the Christian ideology of demons as fallen beings—only in this case, the fall is from Olympus. In short, Ixion (with “Ixionidai” meaning centaur) earned Zeus’s pity after killing his father-in-law. But instead of gratitude, Ixion set his sights on Hera. To punish him, Zeus fashioned a nephele (cloud) in Hera’s likeness and placed it beside him. Ixion took the bait, and when Zeus learned of it, he struck him with a bolt, condemning him as a blazing wheel doomed to spin endlessly through Tartarus. To the union of Ixion and nephele was Centaurus a deformed hunched child who found no kinship with humans, so he mated with mares thus producing the Centaur race.

A depiction of Ixion can be seen in the image on the far left.

Is this a stretch, of course it is. We have to make the breadcrumbs smaller to find the path. We do know that the PD was largely influenced by the "The Book of The Offices of Spirits" and if we go back far enough with these grimoires, we will undoubtedly find Greco-Egyptian influences. Some holes can be filled in by Eastern traditions, if you trust Dr. Skinner. Which leads me to my next possible concept of origin.

Pictured in the upper right is Wanyudu (I have no idea how to create accents so please forgive me) which translates from Japanese to wheel monk; is a well-known yokai. Reports of Wanyudu date back to the Heian period and is depicted as figure with a male face attached to the center of an ox-cart wheel on fire. The condemned soul of daimyo doomed to roll about the underworld for all eternity stealing souls and guarding the gates of hell. A kasha. The folklore is quite frightening.

If you have read this far you can start to see some pieces that when forced, fit together. Visual likenesses, mixed with a weary conflation of attributes.

Wanyudu and Ixion meet Chiron and Christianity.

Sorry, I know I am a nerd. And if you're interested in Buer, maybe you are too. Let's go over some of the fun stuff shall we. Some of you may already be aware. President Buer and I play chess together. That's truly more an experiment in humility, and punishment. I am in the process of experimenting with correspondences though, and I am not certain they align. Much of the text says Buer should be called upon on the day and hour of Mercury, under Amaymon to the south, with an orange candle, etc.

Since Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter and the Cardinal King is Paymon of the West, I plan to try this, adjusting the time and day I work with him as well as the direction I set the triangle. I’ll comment later on how it goes.

Personally, I feel it's very important to discuss some aspects of UPG regarding President Buer. Firstly, never offer alcohol or recreational substances to Buer, and if I am being honest, I wouldn't recommend being under the influence of any of them either. However, he will give you grace in this if you are seeking him for addiction recovery. Any kind of addiction. Buer can bring you out of the deepest pit of rock bottom. Buer enjoys herbal teas. Classical music, and practitioners who formulate their rituals in the nature of structure. I personally cannot say that he is a pal-around with kind of demon. And if you search his name in this subreddit, you will rarely if ever see him as patron. He is no nonsense.

I heard (read) demons described as a kind of Earthly immune system. I prefer to see them a type of amplifier. Intelligences that plug into our already established foundations. If you're unstable, they will amplify that instability. I think this is absolutely the case for President Buer.

Thanks as always for your time! "Let's talk about all the good things, and the bad things that may be!"

I've played chess most of my life. I think I began with my step-dad around age 7. So more moons than I care to mention. It's been harder as an adult to play; what with life, and lack of people who know the game.

I've worked with President Buer for a time, and he revealed to me that he enjoys a good "wood push" and my first thought was..

"I am not playing chess with an ancient deity!"

But alas I found myself setting up one of my boards (<< avid chess board collector 🤌) and seeing on what level I could embarrass myself.

President Buer is a serious but subtle force. Buer doesn't like fluff. Buer doesn't like excess. He reminds me truly of sitting for 3 hours at my Grandma's kitchen table while she was at work; listening to my Grandpa tell stories like they were straight out of a Louis L'Amour novel.

Anywayyyyy, our game is still on going but I think he just "checked" me. The photo above is of a book I've had for nearly two years. I've read it about 3 times fully and will periodically grab it to refresh certain liturgical practices. It is NOT a book on Daemons, the Goetia, or "Solomonic" practice in any way. The seal is very very faint and I had never noticed it til just now. President Buer is not even mentioned in any part of the book at all.

Sneaky, clever President Buer.

Stay tuned to see if I get my ass kicked!