VMs: f57v - compass spirits...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

I've recently been going through "Magic in the Middle Ages" by R.Kieckhefer 
(there's a fairly recent revised edition in paperback) - highly recommended!

On p.169, Kieckhefer mentions Cecco d'Ascoli (the astrologer, burnt at the 
stake for the heresy of astrological determinism) as invoking the (dark) 
spirits of the four compass directions:
	N	Paymon
	E	Oriens
	S	Egim
	W	Amaymen

A similar set is mentioned on the web, in a Harry Potter-style kids website 
(bizarrely):
	N	Amaymon
	E	Magor
	S	Egym
	W	Paymon

I also found a description of Paymon (Paimon) on the web:

http://members.tripod.com/~Lilybunny/library/ref/troll/lieutenants.html

	A high-ranking devil, Paimon takes the form of a young woman
	wearing	a crown and riding a camel.

On the circular diagram on f57v: I can't make out a camel, but would you 
all agree that the character on the left appears to be a young woman 
wearing a crown?

Further reading indicated that the four directional spirits were often 
placed inside magic circles to enhance their power - there's a magic circle 
in the British Library with five concentric rings (MS Sloane 3556, f1v)... 
it might be interesting to compare this with f57v...

Has anyone here specifically looked at magic circles and directional 
spirits before? I couldn't find anything in the mailing list archives 
(though that's far from foolproof), so this appears to be new. :-)

Alternatively, descriptions of the other three directional spirits would be 
interesting, though I haven't had any luck so far - only Paymon appears to 
merit any description... perhaps that's why two of the other four are 
turned away on (f57v).

Alternatively, may I ask if anyone here can point me towards any books or 
papers on the history of magic circles?

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....

PS: the corresponding direction set for white magic (angels) is given as:
	N	Uriel
	E	Raphael
	S	Michael
	W	Gabriel

PPS: the fullest description of Paimon I found (which I now can't find the 
URL for, sorry) reads like this (this appears to have been cut and pasted 
from a number of overlapping sources):

Paimon/paymon
King and a Powerful Demon. He appears as a robust man with the face of a 
woman, mounted on a camel. Great King, and very obedient unto LUCIFER. He 
appears in the form of a Man sitting upon a Dromedary with a Crown most 
glorious upon his head. There goeth before him also an Host of Spirits, 
like Men with Trumpets and well sounding Cymbals, and all other sorts of 
Musical Instruments. He has a great Voice, and roareth at his first coming, 
and his speech is such that the Magician cannot well understand unless he 
can compel him. This Spirit can teach all Arts and Sciences, and other 
secret things. He can discover unto you what the Eart is, and what holdeth 
it up in the Waters; and what Mind is, and where it is; or any other thing 
thou mayest desire to know. He gives Dignity, and confirmeth the same. He 
bindeth or makes any man subject unto the Magician if he so desire it. He 
gives good Familiars, and such as can teach all Arts. He is to be observed 
towards the West. He is of the Order of Dominations. He has under him 200 
Legions of Spritis, and part of them are the Order of Angels, and the other 
part of Potentates. Now if thou callest this Spirit Paimon alone, thou must 
make him some offering; and there will attend him two Kings called LABAL 
and ABALIM, and also other Spirits who be of the Order of Potentates in His 
Host, and 25 Legions. And those Spirits which be subject unto them are not 
always with them unless the Magician do compel them. The Master of 
Ceremonies of Hell. A high-ranking devil, Paimon takes the form of a young 
woman wearing a crown and riding a camel. He is the master of ceremonies in 
Hell and commands two hundred legions of fiends. He supplants mortal 
thoughts with his own.