The sixty-eighth spirit and one of the most ancient names in the entire Western tradition. The Goetia makes an extraordinary claim about Belial: he was created next after Lucifer himself — placing him at the very summit of the infernal hierarchy, second only to its first principle. He appears in a chariot of fire, distributes senatorships and positions of power, and causes favour among friends and enemies alike.
The Goetia's claim about Belial is striking: he was created next after Lucifer. In the cosmology of the Ars Goetia — where the 72 spirits are fallen angels who retained their powers and hierarchical positions — this places Belial at the very top of the structure, second only to Lucifer himself. No other spirit in the Goetia is given this specific cosmological positioning.
This cosmological positioning makes Belial — despite being the 68th spirit in the numerical order of the Goetia — one of the most powerful beings in the entire catalogue. The numerical order of the Goetia does not reflect hierarchical rank. Belial's position as second-created gives him an authority that transcends his catalogue number. He appears with two angels as his companions when called, which no other Goetia King does — a detail that further underlines his exceptional status.
The Goetia also notes that Belial must be given offerings and sacrifices — a specific ritual requirement that most other spirits do not demand so explicitly. This is consistent with his extraordinary rank: a being of his precedence in the hierarchy does not simply respond to the standard ceremonial conjuration. He requires appropriate acknowledgement of his standing.
Belial arrives in a chariot of fire — an image that resonates with the most dramatic moments of biblical prophetic literature. The chariot of fire appears in 2 Kings 9 to carry Elijah to heaven; the merkavah (divine chariot) is the central vision of Ezekiel's inaugural prophecy and the basis of the entire Merkavah mysticism tradition of early Jewish esotericism. A spirit who arrives in a chariot of fire is arriving in a vehicle whose shape is the vehicle of divine presence itself.
He appears as an angel — angelically formed, the Goetia says — not in a monstrous or terrifying form. This is itself significant. The most ancient and highest-ranking spirit in the Goetia still appears in the form of what he originally was: an angel. The form has not been distorted by the fall. What was created second after Lucifer remains, in appearance, what it was made to be.
He is accompanied by two angels of his court — subordinate spirit-beings who attend him when he manifests. No other King in the Goetia arrives with angelic companions. The combination of angelic form, chariot of fire and angelic attendants creates an arrival of extraordinary dignity and power — appropriate for the second-created being in the entire hierarchy.
The Sixty-eighth Spirit is Belial. He is a Mighty and a Powerful King, and was created next after Lucifer. He appeareth in the Form of Two Beautiful Angels sitting in a Chariot of Fire. He speaketh with a Comely Voice, and his Office is to distribute Presentations and Senatorships, and he also causeth favour of Friends and of Foes.
— Ars Goetia, Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, 17th centuryBelial is one of the very oldest demonic names in Western tradition — predating the Goetia by over a thousand years. The word belial (בְּלִיַּעַל) appears over twenty times in the Hebrew Bible, where it functions primarily as a common noun meaning worthlessness, wickedness or destruction. "Sons of Belial" (benei belial) appears repeatedly as a phrase meaning utterly worthless or wicked persons.
The shift from abstract noun to proper name — from "worthlessness" to "Belial, the demonic being" — happened gradually through the Second Temple period (6th century BCE to 70 CE), during which Jewish angelology and demonology developed considerably under Persian and Hellenistic influence. By the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls (roughly 150 BCE–70 CE), Belial had become a fully personalised figure: the Prince of Darkness, the chief spirit of evil, the angelic adversary of the Archangel Michael.
The Dead Sea Scrolls give us the most developed pre-Goetia portrait of Belial. In the War Scroll — a text describing an eschatological battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness — Belial leads the forces of darkness against Michael's angelic army in a cosmic conflict that prefigures the final judgment. This is not the Goetia's political and social power-distributor but a cosmic adversarial principle of equivalent scope to the divine itself.
Belial's powers in the Goetia are remarkably specific and political in nature — he distributes presentations and senatorships, and causes favour among both friends and enemies. For a being of his extraordinary cosmological status, these might seem modest. But they reflect the specific utility that the Goetia tradition was designed to serve: the practical advancement of the conjurer in the social and political world. A being with the power to determine who receives offices, appointments and the favour of those who matter is, in worldly terms, one of the most useful beings imaginable.
Working with Belial is considered among the most significant operations in the Goetia tradition — and among the most demanding. His requirements (offerings, sacrifices, proper acknowledgement of his rank) are not obstacles but prerequisites that ensure the conjurer approaches with the seriousness the working demands. A conjurer who cannot meet these requirements is not ready to work with the second-created being in the hierarchy.
Modern practitioners report that Belial responds particularly well to honesty about what is sought — he has no patience for disguised requests or for conjurers who ask for one thing while wanting another. His comely voice and his willingness to give excellent familiars suggest a spirit of genuine sophistication who rewards directness and preparation with genuine engagement.
Belial in modern Satanism: Belial occupies a central position in the theology of the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set, where he is associated with the Earth element and with the principle of self-mastery and independence. Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible (1969) lists Belial as one of the four Crown Princes of Hell. This modern appropriation draws on the Hebrew and Christian demonological tradition but reframes Belial's "worthlessness" as radical self-sufficiency — the refusal to subordinate oneself to any external authority. This is a theologically creative reading that bears a genuine relationship to the ancient meanings of the name even while it transforms them significantly.