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The Hierarchy of Hell represents the organizational structure of Hell as envisioned by occult authors in their grimoires concerning demons, especially Goetic demons. Depending on the source, different authors ascribe varying ranks and positions to different infernal spirits. The best sources for this information are The Grand Grimoire and the Lesser Key of Solomon. The concept of the hierarchy and the categorization of spirits into various ranks seems to have been a serious preoccupation with the early authors of occult literature. Nearly every book on magic mentions at least a few demons and attempts to assign them a structure analogous to governments common in Europe at the time. They are all monarchical in nature.

In most works dealing with the 72 Goetic demons, there is a rigid hierarchical structure for the demons, grouping each of them into ranks of nobility (including a knight and presidents). Occultist author Travis McHenry further explored these demonic ranks in his book The Grimoire of Heaven and Hell, giving the reasons various demons were assigned to their specific class of nobility.

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Did you know...

Johannes Trithemius

• ... that Johannes Trithemius taught both Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus as students?
• ... that aeromancy is divination through aerial phenomena?
• ... that Pluto has five moons?
• ... that Yahweh was not considered the only god until after the Babylonian Captivity?
• ... that in the tarot, the Page of Swords is ruled over by Uranus?
• ... that Feng Shui is a traditional form of Chinese geomancy?
• ... that Anton Szandor LaVey based some of his rituals on the work of H. P. Lovecraft?
• ... that French occultist Éliphas Lévi believed The Grand Grimoire to be counterfeit?

This month in history Angeline Tubbs 1 August - Occultist Edward Kelley is born. (1555) 1 August - Witchfinder Margaret Aitken is exposed as a fraud. (1597) 4 August - Scottish nobleman William II de Soules is brought before the Black Parliament on charges of treason. (1320) 10 August - Astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel determines Sirius has an unseen companion. (1844) 12 August - Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins dies of tuberculosis. (1647) 16 August - Angeline Tubbs, the Witch of Saratoga, dies. (1856) 18 August - French priest Urbain Grandier is convicted of "magic, maleficence, and possession." (1634) 19 August - Five people are executed in the Salem Witch Trials. (1692) 19 August - Occultist and author Damien Echols is freed from prison after making an Alford Plea. (2011) 21 August - A Voodoo ceremony turns into a violent rebellion sparking the Haitian Revolution. (1791) 25 August - Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible is born. (1530) 25 August - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his telescope to Venetian lawmakers. (1609) 25 August - The occult horror film The Ninth Gate premiers in Spain. (1999) 29 August - Lilias Adie dies in prison, accused of witchcraft. (1704) 29 August - Austrian painter Christoph Haizmann visits a church in Pottenbrunn seeking an exorcism. (1677) 31 August - Mary Ann Nicholas is murdered, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims. (1888)

Featured image Ritual magic (also called ceremonial magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ritual magic is major element in Hermeticism and occultism. Photo credit: Travis McHenry (More Images)

Featured Quote "Mysticism is the means to a new universal life, richer, greater, and more full of resource than ever before." - Israel Regardie

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