#39 · President

Malphas

The 39th of the seventy-two, a president. Builds houses and towers. In the language of this path, Malphas is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Rehael.

What the grimoires say

In the 1904 Goetia, Malphas is a President governing 40 legions. Builds houses and towers; brings artificers; gives familiars (may deceive).

A Mighty President who first shows himself as a crow, then takes human form and speaks hoarsely when the operator asks. He is a builder of houses and high towers, said to reveal the desires, thoughts and doings of one's enemies and to grant good familiars. The 1904 text warns that if offered a sacrifice he accepts it gladly but then deceives the giver. A public-domain Le Breton engraving of him exists (a crowned crow-like figure).

“The Thirty-ninth Spirit is Malphas. He appeareth at first like a Crow, but after he will put on Human Shape at the request of the Exorcist, and speak with a hoarse Voice. He is a Mighty President and Powerful. He can build Houses and High Towers, and can bring to thy Knowledge Enemies' Desires and Thoughts, and that which they have done. He giveth Good Familiars. If thou makest a Sacrifice unto him he will receive it kindly and willingly, but he will deceive him that doth it. He governeth 40 Legions of Spirits.”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain

The shadow it carries

Stripped to the bone, Malphas's traditional office turns on construction and solid foundations: building enterprises, homes and long-term structures. 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 Rehael; met together, behind protection, Malphas 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 Malphas ayer”

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 black or orange candle, a wednesday, 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 Malphas with intelligence-gathering: uncovering rivals' intentions, thoughts and past actions, granting of good familiars / working spirits. 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 builds you a house and may leave a crack in it. Check the work yourself.”