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In the Ars Goetia, two daemons confess to having belonged to the same angelic choir before falling: the order of the VIRTUDES, the choir through which — according to Gregory the Great — miracles are worked.
In the Ars Goetia, some daemons confess something disturbing: that before falling they were angels... and not of just any rank, but of a specific choir. Two of them declare having belonged to the same one: the order of the Virtues.
Not all seventy-two daemons declare a choir. The majority keep silent about their origin. Only a few confess it, and this video deals with those who say they were Virtues.
The two who declare it expressly are Agares and Barbatos. And what the Virtues were makes their fall especially bitter.
What were the Virtues? According to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in his Celestial Hierarchy of the fifth century, the Virtues belong to the middle triad of the nine choirs. Their name means a virile, powerful, and unbreakable strength, which does not falter before the divine light and communicates that strength to the lower orders.
But it is Gregory the Great who gives the definition that changes everything. In his Homily thirty-four he writes that the Virtues are those spirits through whom, most frequently, signs and miracles are worked.
That is the choir of miracles. The choir through which God works wonders in the world. And from there, says the Goetia, two of its spirits fell.
The first is Agares... the second spirit of the Goetia. The text says of him, literally... he was of the order of the Virtues. This is his seal. But look at what his gifts became. The choir of miracles... and Agares teaches all languages instantly, makes those who flee return, stops those who run... and makes the earth tremble. Where before there were divine prodigies, there remained a telluric shadow of the miracle. The same power... turned downward.See Agares's entry →
The second is Barbatos... the eighth spirit. Of him too the text says... he was of the order of the Virtues. This is his seal. Barbatos appears when the Sun is in Sagittarius, with four kings and their troops. He understands the song of birds, the barking of dogs, the voice of all creatures... he discovers the treasures that the magicians hid... he knows the past and what is to come... and reconciles friends and the powerful. The revelation of the Virtues... turned into a parody of natural knowledge.See Barbatos's entry →
There are two other cases, but one must be precise, because it is not the same for the daemon to have been a Virtue as for its legions to be.
Purson, the twentieth spirit, governs twenty-two legions that are, says the text, partly of the order of the Virtues and partly of the order of the Thrones. It is not that Purson was a Virtue... his troops are.
And Belial. In Weyer's version of 1577, his eighty legions are partly of the Virtues and partly of the Angels. But be careful: the later Goetia no longer preserves that phrase; there it is only said that Belial was created immediately after Lucifer. It does not link him to any angelic choir. It is a discrepancy between the sources, and it must be stated.
The difficult question remains. If they fell... why do they retain the powers of their former choir? The answer was given by Thomas Aquinas.
In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas distinguishes: according to glory, the daemons are no longer in any angelic order. But according to nature... they still remain in them, because they did not lose their natural gifts. They lost grace, charity, glory... but not intelligence, nor power, nor the natural hierarchy with which they were created.
That is why a grimoire can say that Agares was a Virtue without affirming that he is still holy. The strength of the Virtues remains in him... but turned shadow. Miracle without God. Power without glory.
Agares and Barbatos are the only two daemons of the Goetia who confess to having been Virtues: the choir of miracles. Purson and Belial come close to it through their legions, with the caveats that we saw.
This is a documentary reconstruction from real sources — the Ars Goetia, Weyer, Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory and Aquinas — for historical and study purposes. We do not affirm that the seventy-two come from the nine choirs: the majority declare none. We only follow what the texts say.
And the final image remains: two workers of miracles who retained the strength... and lost the light. In the next chapter, another fallen choir.
A documentary reconstruction from real sources (the Ars Goetia, Weyer, Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas), for study. The italic passages are the video's recited lines. We do not claim the 72 come from the nine choirs: we only follow what the texts declare.
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