THIRD ENTRY OF GOETIA GOODIES AND GOONS
The Third Spirit is a Mighty Prince, being of the same nature as Agares. He is called Vassago. This Spirit is of a Good Nature, and his office is to declare things Past and to Come, and to discover all things Hid or Lost. And he governeth 26 Legions of Spirits, and this is his Seal.
(Liber Officium Spirituum: Clarifies that he manifests as an angel, and that he is Just and True. Can give the love of women, and explicitly refers to finding hidden treasures.)
Opposing angel: Sitael. Negative influences involved: Hypocrisy, ingratitude, perjury.
Note that Vassago is not in the Pseudomonarchia. Basically, when translating the Pseudomonarchia, Reginald Scot accidentally left out Pruflas. When the Ars Goetia was compiled, the authors added four spirits in his place (Vassago, Seere, Dantalion, Andromalius), possibly to get the count to the same 72 that the Shem ha-Mephorasch angels number. Vassago originally came from the Liber Officium Spirituum, Dantalion from the Cambridge Book of Magick, and Seere’s name is apparently derived from Mt. Seir, where Lilith is said to be bound in Jewish legend. I have no idea where Andromalius might have appeared before, though.
Anyway, just from the Goetia description, Vassago doesn’t seem that bad. It outright says he’s good, echoing the Liber’s Just and True. Explains situations of the past and future (this will come up a lot), find concealed things…seems up and up, right? Just concerned with making sure things are as they should be, right?
Well, when adding in the Liber, he seems a lot less Just and True. Namely, what is with the procuring of women’s love without their say-so?! (This is something else we’ll see frequently in the Goetia.) It really speaks to medieval assumptions that women were property. The grimoire writers may have deemed this just and proper. Us? Not so much.
Sitael’s opposition also makes things thorny. It basically makes Vassago look rather uncaring about anything that doesn’t impact him. I will grant it’s hard to find the specific overlap between “find hidden/lost things”, “discover temporal secrets”, “bind women to your romantic will”, and “ingratitude”. Maybe he delights in revealing secrets God or other virtuous agents wanted kept secret for the time?
Just and True? Uh-huh. Combining everything, I have to say…
