Naberius; A Fluttering Bird

By James Donahue 

One thing commonly known about the 23rd Goetian Spirit Naberius is that it is filled with energy.

When one contemporary magician evoked this spirit he said he saw it as a bird whirling around his head. Nearly all of the older shamans that recorded their personal experiences with this demon agreed.

Death Metal Band member Dan Seagrave once said Naberius "appears as a large black crane which flutters around the summoner and speaks in a rough and grating voice."

In the classic Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, Johann Wier wrote that: “Naberius [Naberus], alias Cerberus, is a valiant marquesse, shewing himselfe in the forme of a crowe, when he speaketh with a hoarse voice."

This demon hasn't always appeared in the form of a bird, however. Collin de Plancy in Dictionnaire Infernal described him as a raven and sometimes a three headed dog. “He has a raucous voice but presents himself as eloquent and amiable."

Wier associated this demon with the Greek spirit Cerberus. He believed these were two different names for the same demon.

An old art work, supposedly depicting Cerberus, shows a creature with several heads but with the body and feet of a bird.

What is the specialty of this spirit? S. L. MacGregor Mathers wrote that "he knows of arts and sciences, especially the art of rhetoric."

If there is anything this world needs more of these days, is rhetoric. For those of you who don't know the word, it means the art of speaking correctly, and with clarity.

Naberius holds the title of a Marquis of Hell. He is said to command 19 legions of demons