#71 · Duke
Dantalion
The 71st of the seventy-two, a duke. Teaches all arts. In the language of this path, Dantalion is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Haiaiel.
| Rank | Duke |
| Number | 71 of the 72 |
| Legions | 36 |
| Direction | Not assigned in the primary grimoires — the Weyer (1577) and Mathers–Crowley (1904) texts give Dantalion no cardinal direction. Modern correspondence tables sometimes place Dukes under the "king" Amaymon (South), but these are later, inconsistent attributions rather than a traditional datum. |
| Also called | Dantalian · Dantanian |
| Angel (light pole) | Haiaiel — Shem #71 |
What the grimoires say
In the 1904 Goetia, Dantalion is a Duke governing 36 legions. Teaches all arts; reads and changes thoughts; shows any person's likeness; causes love.
A duke said to appear as a man whose single head cycles through innumerable human faces, both men's and women's, holding an open book in his right hand.
“The Seventy-first Spirit is Dantalion. He is a Duke Great and Mighty, appearing in the Form of a Man with many Countenances, all Men's and Women's Faces; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one; for he knoweth the Thoughts of all Men and Women, and can change them at his Will. He can cause Love, and show the Similitude of any person, and show the same by a Vision, let them be in what part of the World they Will. He governeth 36 Legions of Spirits; and this is his Seal, which wear thou, etc.”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain
The shadow it carries
Stripped to the bone, Dantalion's traditional office turns on teaching and study — the acquisition of arts, sciences, and knowledge. 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 Haiaiel; met together, behind protection, Dantalion 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.
| Correspondence | Value | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Tarot | Ten of Cups | Modern — Golden Dawn / Crowley decan mapping: Goetia #71 falls on the third (diurnal) decan of Pisces, whose pip card is the 10 of Cups (Mars in Pisces). Not in any historical grimoire. |
| Zodiac / decan | Pisces, third decan (20°–30°), diurnal spirit of the pair | Modern — decan attribution from the 72-spirits-to-zodiac schemes (e.g. Crowley's 777, Poke Runyon). Absent from the source grimoires. |
| Planet | Mars (Chaldean ruler of the Pisces third decan) | Modern — follows the decan attribution above; some love-focused lists instead cite Venus. Not traditional. |
| Day | Tuesday | Modern — derived from the Mars decan-ruler; correspondence tables disagree. Not traditional. |
| Element | Water | Modern — inferred from the Pisces attribution. Not in the grimoires. |
| Metal | Copper (some modern lists, tied to love-work); iron would follow the Mars decan-ruler | Modern and inconsistent across sources; no traditional attribution. |
| Candle colour | Purple / violet (also gold in some love-work lists) | Modern practitioner convention for mind- and love-related work. No traditional basis. |
| Incense | Sandalwood generally; rose for love workings | Modern practitioner convention; varies by author. Not in the grimoires. |
| Plant | No consistent attribution | None traditional; modern lists vary and none is well-sourced, so no reliable value is given. |
| Animal | No consistent attribution | None traditional; the grimoires assign no animal and modern lists disagree. |
| Date-window | ≈ 11–15 March (via the paired Shem angel Haiaiel, Pisces ~20°–25°); the demon-decan scheme instead spans Pisces 20°–30°, ≈ 11–20 March | Modern — from the Kabbalistic 72-names calendar (Lenain / Ambelain) and the decan scheme; the two systems differ slightly. Not a grimoire datum. |
Its modern Enn — a chant from the Demonolatry current, not found in any grimoire:
“Avage ayer Dantalion on ca — MODERN data point only: a Demonolatry "Enn" chant from the 20th-c. Dukante/Connolly-era corpus. It appears in no historical grimoire”
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 purple candle, a tuesday, 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 Dantalion with perception of thoughts — insight into what others are thinking or intending, persuasion and reconciliation — shifting minds and easing conflict. 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. 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 can show you any face — even your own. Look, and do not flinch.”