#9 · King
Paimon
The 9th of the seventy-two, a king. Teaches all arts and secret things. In the language of this path, Paimon is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Haziel.
| Rank | King |
| Number | 9 of the 72 |
| Legions | 200 |
| Direction | West — "He is to be observed towards the West" (traditional, stated in the 1904 Goetia) |
| Also called | Paymon · Paimonia · Paemon · Paymonia |
| Angel (light pole) | Haziel — Shem #9 |
What the grimoires say
In the 1904 Goetia, Paimon is a King governing 200 legions. Teaches all arts and secret things; binds men to the will.
A crowned, kingly figure who rides a dromedary and is preceded by a host of spirits sounding trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, announcing his arrival with a great roaring voice.
“"The Ninth Spirit in this Order is Paimon, a Great King, and very obedient unto Lucifer. He appeareth in the form of a Man sitting upon a Dromedary with a Crown most glorious upon his head. There goeth before him also an Host of Spirits, like Men with Trumpets and well-sounding Cymbals, and all other sorts of Musical Instruments." (Mathers–Crowley, The Goetia, 1904 — public domain)”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain
The shadow it carries
Stripped to the bone, Paimon's traditional office turns on teaching of the arts and sciences and other hidden or secret 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 Haziel; met together, behind protection, Paimon 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Animal | Dromedary (camel) | Grimoire-grounded — Weyer (1577) and the 1904 Goetia describe him seated upon a dromedary; the Le Breton 1863 engraving depicts the same |
| Tarot | Six of Pentacles / Disks | Modern — Golden Dawn / Thomas Rudd decan system, where Goetia spirit 9 falls in the 2nd decan of Taurus (card of that decan). Not in the grimoires |
| Zodiac / decan | 10–15° Taurus (2nd decan of Taurus) | Modern — Crowley's 777 / Rudd 'quinance' mapping assigns spirit 9 to the 9th five-degree segment (40–45° of the zodiac). Not in the grimoires |
| Planet | Moon | Modern — Chaldean / Golden Dawn ruler of the 2nd decan of Taurus. Not in the grimoires |
| Day | Monday | Modern — inferred from the lunar decan-ruler; no day is given in the grimoires |
| Element | Water | Modern — Demonolatry convention (S. Connolly), following the western/left-hand directional scheme. Not in the grimoires |
| Metal | Silver | Modern occult convention — from the lunar association. Not in the grimoires |
| Candle colour | Blue (varies: also dark blue / purple) | Modern occult / Demonolatry convention; varies by source. Not in the grimoires |
| Incense | Sandalwood (varies: also frankincense) | Modern occult convention; varies by source. Not in the grimoires |
| Plant | No fixed traditional attribution; modern sources vary | Modern — no plant is given in the grimoires; later lists are inconsistent |
| Date-window | ≈ 1–5 May | Modern — Sun's transit of 10–15° Taurus per the quinance mapping; aligns with the paired Shem angel Haziel's window. Not in the grimoires |
Its modern Enn — a chant from the Demonolatry current, not found in any grimoire:
“Linan Tasa Jedan Paimon”
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 blue candle, a monday, 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 Paimon with answering cosmological and metaphysical questions (e.g. the nature of the earth and of the mind), granting and confirming dignities, honours and standing. 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.
“Knowledge without humility is a crown that devours the head beneath it.”