#51 · King

Balam

The 51st of the seventy-two, a king. Gives true answers of past/present/future. In the language of this path, Balam is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Hahasiah.

What the grimoires say

In the 1904 Goetia, Balam is a King governing 40 legions. Gives true answers of past/present/future; makes men invisible and witty.

A terrible, powerful King with three heads (a bull, a man and a ram), flaming eyes and a serpent's tail; he rides a fierce bear and carries a goshawk on his fist, speaking with a hoarse voice.

“The Fifty-first Spirit is Balam or Balaam. He is a Terrible, Great, and Powerful King. He appeareth with three Heads: the first is like that of a Bull; the second like that of a Man; the third like that of a Ram. He hath the Tail of a Serpent, and Flaming Eyes. He rideth upon a furious Bear, and carrieth a Goshawk upon his Fist. He speaketh with a hoarse Voice, giving True Answers of Things Past, Present, and to Come. He maketh men to go Invisible, and also to be Witty. He governeth 40 Legions of Spirits.”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain

The shadow it carries

Stripped to the bone, Balam's traditional office turns on true answers on past, present and future (divination). Read plainly, that is a real human force; in the language of this path its raw, unowned form is a shadow pole. Its shadow is what that force does when it runs you from the dark; its gold is the same force — seen, owned, governed.

You never reach for it alone. Its light pole is the angel Hahasiah; met together, behind protection, Balam becomes a disowned part of yourself approached while the light is already in the room.

Correspondences

A word of honesty first: almost none of the table below is from the old grimoires. The rank, legions, direction and office are traditional; the planet, day, colour, tarot, incense and the Enn are modern attributions (mostly 20th–21st-century Demonolatry and correspondence compilations), and the sources openly disagree. Use them as a working frame, not as law.

Its modern Enn — a chant from the Demonolatry current, not found in any grimoire:

“Lirach tasa vefa wehl Balam”

Making a connection

Gathered from what practitioners report, put plainly — a starting point, not a rule:

• Sit with the seal above as the first meeting-place: trace it, hold it in the mind’s eye, and let impressions arrive without grabbing at them.
• Set a gentle frame. Keep it simple — a white candle, a sunday, a little incense, a moment of quiet. If you work the Demonolatry current, chant the Enn softly — more like settling than commanding.
• Bring the real theme. Practitioners associate Balam with invisibility — symbolically, discretion and going unnoticed, wit, cleverness and quick thinking. Name what you actually want, and ask — don’t demand.
• Journal before and after, and treat everything as your own experience, not fixed doctrine.

Rank, legions, direction and office are from the public-domain grimoires (Weyer 1577; Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia, 1904). Images are public domain: the 1904 seal and Louis Le Breton’s Dictionnaire Infernal engraving (1863). The Enn and the planet/day/colour/tarot correspondences are modern attributions (Demonolatry and compilations), flagged as such; sources disagree, and no copyrighted description or artwork is reproduced. Angel pairing per the Rudd tradition. Take the technique, never the tribe.

“He answers plainly and leaves you unseen. Truth needs no audience.”