Agni: The Abrahamic Inversion

Scirlin, the messenger of the Grimorium Verum, is read by the Temple as Agni, the messenger fire. One does not invoke a God by a slanderer's name; call on Agni by His own, eternal name.

Scirlin

The name "Scirlin" or "Scyrlin," the demon or intermediary spirit known today by either name, is first found in the London, Wellcome Collection MS.983 (L'Art Magique) which is dated approximately to 1709. As noted by Peterson in his discussion of the early manuscripts and prints, the first part of this manuscript is a French grimoire, or livre 1r des Clavicules de Salomon, which forms the ancestral version of the later printed Grimorium Verum. Although the name "Scyrlin" or "Scirlin" appears in both versions of the manuscript, the original character or seal mentioned in the manuscript was deleted when the defective printed French edition was created.^1,2

Unlike other members of the listed ranks of demons, Scyrlin is referred to as an intermediary who directs the action of all other spirits. The French tradition describes all of these other spirits as dependent on Scyrlin and as calling him their messenger, a parallel to the invocatory fire of Agni. Further, according to the French tradition, Scyrlin has enough power to force the other spirits to present themselves before the magician against their will because he holds the authority granted to him by Lucifer.²

... d’ice-lui dépend tous les autres, comme messager des autres ... comme ayant le pouvoir de l’Empereur.

The incantation invoked in connection with Scyrlin begins with Helon, Taul, Varf, Pan, Heon and continues through Homonoreum, Clemialh, Serugeath, Agla, Tetragrammaton and Casoly. The early manuscript also provides Scyrlin’s character. Peterson writes that this character is absent from the later Alibeck print but survives in Wellcome MS.983, p.25. Because this character survived until the publication of a manuscript-based view of the period, it demonstrates that Scyrlin was not an invention of a nineteenth-century typesetter.^1,2

This Grimorium Verum states that it was translated into French from Hebrew by Plaingiere (“Jésuite Dominicain”) and indicates that it was printed “Chez Alibeck, l’Egyptien” at “Memphis” in 1517. However, this latter reference to date is spurious. While the British Library copy of the book is dated 1817, the manuscript evidence demonstrates that many parts of this Grimoire had been circulating for nearly a hundred years prior to this date. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between two chronological periods: circa 1709 for the earliest secure manuscript attestations of Scyrlin/Scirlin and 1817 for what is now considered to be the earliest printed French iteration of the tradition.^2,3

In the 1817 text, the operator is instructed to create and then write out the characters representing Scirlin and place his invocation above these characters. This text once again assigns Scirlin a functional role as an intermediary to facilitate communication between the operator and other spirits. Nevertheless, the printed edition is defective: although it includes references to creating Scirlin’s character and invoking him, it omits the actual character and thus leads to confusion with respect to Aglasis, another spirit who is described as quick to serve and having the ability to grant power over other spirits, though the possibility Aglasis is related to Agni is possible.^2,3

Although the Milanese La Vera Clavicola del Re Salomone of 1868 refers to making “caratteri Scirlin” in its ritual directions concerning Scirlin, it refers to the invocation as being directed toward Claunech. In fact, below Claunech’s invocation is provided a Helon-Taul-Varf series identical to that found in conjunction with Scirlin in the French tradition.⁴

The same Italian passage goes on to describe Aglasis as ready to assist and able to provide control over other spirits. These examples clearly show how three separate names, Scirlin, Claunech and Aglasis, were ultimately crammed together in a mangled ritual process.^1,4

Waite and the English transmission

Arthur Edward Waite brought Scirlin into a much wider English-language readership in The Book of Ceremonial Magic in 1911. He translated the spirit as the one “from whom all other spirits depend,” their messenger, able to compel them to appear because the Emperor’s power has been delegated to him. Waite also noticed the practical defect in the printed text: the character of Scirlin was not supplied.⁵

Unlike Raum, Ipos, Halphas, Malphas and the other numbered spirits of the Ars Goetia, Scirlin is not one of the seventy-two Goetic spirits.⁶

The importance of the c.1709 witness has become clearer in modern editions. Peterson’s critical reconstruction places Wellcome MS.983 at the head of the surviving Grimorium Verum manuscript evidence and uses it to restore material lost or garbled in the Alibeck and later editions. Aaman Lamba’s complete English translation of MS.983, published in 2024 as The Magical Art, makes that early French witness directly accessible and confirms that Scyrlin belongs to the manuscript stratum of the tradition, long before the nineteenth-century editions that popularized the spelling Scirlin.^2,7