Asmodeus

Asmodeus descends from Aeshma-daeva, the Persian demon of wrath, and enters the written record in the Book of Tobit, where he slays the seven bridegrooms of Sarah before the angel Raphael binds him in the deserts of Egypt. From scripture he passed into the grimoires as Asmoday, the thirty-second spirit.

The Ars Goetia paints him terrible and splendid: three heads — bull, man and ram — a serpent's tail, the feet of a goose, riding a dragon, bearing lance and banner. The Dictionnaire Infernal (1863) gave him his famous engraving, standing in flame.

Yet his office is precision, not ruin: he teaches arithmetic, astronomy, geometry and every handicraft, answers all questions truthfully, reveals where treasures lie hidden, and bestows the ring of virtues — upon those who invoke him bareheaded, standing, and unafraid.

ASMODEUS REX DESIDERII is our working in his current — the king of desire and of craft. Approach standing, as the old books command.