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Oriens is a demon mentioned in many grimoires dealing with ritual magic. He is most frequently named alongside Paimon, Egyn, and Amaymon as kings of the cardinal directions. He is the king of the east. He appears with a fair and feminine countenance wearing a crown upon his head. He rides upon an elephant with a large number of musical instruments. Sometimes, he appears in the shape of a horse (with multiple heads, variously stated as 100 or five), but once he has been constrained by an invocation, he will take a human shape.

Many abilities are attributed to Oriens such as giving the magician wealth in the form of silver and gold, answering questions about the past, present, and future, giving divinatory visions, the power to fly, providing familiars. He also has powers of necromancy and is able to revive the dead.

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Buddha Statue

• ... that Buddhism has over 40,000 sacred texts?
• ... that Archangel Zaphkiel bestows garments on the souls of the righteous?
• ... that author Jean Bodin wrote the earliest definition of a witch?
• ... that the goetic demon Foras appears as a strong man?
• ... that Benjamin Franklin was acquainted with Antoine Court de Gébelin through the Paris Masonic lodge?
• ... that the top section of the Tree of Death is the Realm of Mud and Clay?
• ... that some branches of Islam condemn using amulets, while others permit them?

This month in history Marie Laveau and her daughter. 7 September - Scottish witch Agnes Sampson causes a storm which kills Jane Kennedy. (1589) 7 September - Helena Blavatsky and others establish the Theosophy Society in New York City. (1875) 8 September - French saint Joan of Arc is wounded during a failed assault on the city of Paris. (1429) 8 September - NBC airs a television pilot for The Omen. (1995) 10 September - Rosicrucian philosopher John Heydon is born. (1629) 10 September - New Orleans voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau is born. (1801) 11 September - At age 13, Frederick Santee becomes the youngest person to attend Harvard University. (1920) 12 September - Astrologer Simon Forman dies. (1611) 14 September - Italian poet Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, dies. (1321) 14 September - Occultist and author Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa is born. (1486) 14 September - Occult publishing company Bloodstone Studios is founded in Los Angeles, California. (2018) 15 September - Reginald Scot, author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, writes out his will. (1599) 15 September - Congolese soldier and tribal leader, Ngongo Lutete, is executed for treason. (1893) 16 September - The earliest-known reference to Trionfi cards are recorded by a Florentine notary. (1440) 17 September - Occultist, witch, medical doctor, and child prodigy Frederick Santee is born in rural Pennsylvania. (1906) 18 September - Aleister Crowley performs a "suicide stunt" in Lisbon, Portugal with Fernando Pessoa. (1930) 18 September - Artist Pamela Colman Smith dies. (1951) 18 September - Occult horror film The Witch screens at the Toronto International Film Festival. (2015) 19 September - Accused witch Giles Corey is executed by being crushed to death in the Salem Witch Trials. 20 September - Australian cannibal Alexander Pearce escapes from prison. (1824) 24 September - German alchemist Paracelsus dies. (1541) 24 September - Austrian painter Christoph Haizmann signs a diabolical pact with Satan. (1668) 24 September - L. Ron Hubbard begins studying civil engineering at George Washington University. (1930) 26 September - Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses is first published in the United Kingdom. (1988) 29 September - Michael Servetus is born. (1509/1511) 30 September - Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims. (1888)

Featured image A rune is a letter in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised purposes thereafter. In addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic and divination as a form of cleromancy. In the early 20th century, Germanic mysticism coined new forms of runic magic some of which were continued or developed further by contemporary adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. Modern systems of runic divination are based on Hermeticism, classical Occultism, and the I Ching. Photo credit: Nick Fraser (More Images)

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