Horus: The Abrahamic Inversion

Purson, the lion-faced king of Weyer's catalogue, carries the imagery of Horus, and this page reads it back. No God is to be invoked by a name made to slander Him: call on Horus, by His legitimate and eternal name.

Purson / Curson

Purson (also referred to as Pursan, or Curson) is considered one of the earliest Goetic Kings with descriptions found in the earliest secure texts which are those by Johann Weyer. This appears in his Pseudomonarchia daemonum, which was first printed in the fifth version of De Praestigiis Daemonum in 1577. Weyer stated that he used information from the "Liber officiorum spirituum", however, it has been impossible to find this text as evidence to confirm an earlier Purson.^1,2

Pursan, aliàs Curson, magnus Rex, prodit ut homo facie leonina,
viperam portans ferocissimam, ursoque insidens, quem semper præcedunt tubæ.
Callet præsentia, præterita & futura: aperit occulta, thesauros detegit:
corpus humanum suscipit & aëreum. Verè respondet de rebus terrenis & occultis,
de divinitate & mundi creatione: familiares parit optimos: cui parent
vigintiduo legiones, partim de ordine Virtutum, partim ex ordine Throni.

In English, this states that Pursan (Curson), the Great King, appears in the form of a man with a lion's face; He will be holding a ferocious viper, while mounted upon a bear. There are trumpets preceding him at all times. He knows past, present and future events. He can open up things which have been concealed and reveal treasure. He may take the shape of either an earthy or airy body; He will answer truthfully to questions regarding earthy and concealed things, also answering regarding divine things and the origin of the World. He has excellent familiar spirits and has twenty-two Legions under his command, part of the Order of Virtues and part of the Order of Thrones.¹

Already the regal imagery of Horus and Ra exist from implication. The bear refers to the myth of the ox's leg Meshtiu, which the constellation Ursa Major was the thigh of and was considered to constitute Set's powers after subduement in tomb ceilings. The earthy and airy body refers to his connection to the material world and the perfection in the sky, often guided by Isis or Reret.^3,4,5,6

Purson, alias Curson, a great king, he commeth foorth like a man with a lions face,
carrieng a most cruell viper, and riding on a beare; and before him go alwaies trumpets...

Scot’s English is important firstly it was the most direct source for the Ars Goetia, which relies heavily upon the Weyer-Scot line in its translation into English. Secondly, consequently the Goetic Purson is not an entirely new and independent ancient authority, but a seventeenth century standardization of the printed demonology tradition via Weyer and Scot.^2,7

In the Ars Goetia Purson is identified as the twentieth spirit; however, Weyer had designated him as the eleventh. The content of the descriptions does not differ. The Goetia also retains the twenty-two legions and their assertion that these legions are partially of the Order of Virtues and partially of the Order of Thrones. Collin de Plancy’s nineteenth-century Dictionnaire infernal later gives the French occult-dictionary form Pursan ou Curson. He keeps the general picture.⁸

Name Forms

The secure forms are Pursan and Curson in Weyer, Purson and Curson in Scot and the English Goetic line, and Pursan ou Curson in Collin de Plancy. The spelling Purson is the modern English standard, but it is not the form of the first Latin printed entry.^1,2,7,8,9

Dr. Rudd's Angelology

In Dr. Rudd's angelological correspondence, Purson is opposed by Pahaliah, the twentieth Shem-ha-Mephorash angel.¹⁰

The exact psalm indication is Psalm 120:2 in common English and Hebrew numbering. Its content indicates a request for deliverance from lying lips and a deceitful tongue, perhaps paralleling the imagery of Harpocrates.^10,11,12

The attribute given to Pahaliah by Lenain was "Dieu rédempteur", or God the Redeemer. Within the practical-cabalistic system, he is one of the 20th geniuses in relation to a specific 5 degree ray on the Sphere and is called upon throughout the day as part of an order where the Shem Angels are divided into twenty minute time slots. He governs religion, theology and morals; causes vocations of the clergy by the state, and promotes purity and piety, corresponding to the holy role of Horus in the Egyptian hierarchy, while Papus repeats the same thing.^11,12