Ipos - The Prince of Fools

By James Donahue

 It has been said that the demon Ipos has earned the title "Prince of Fools." That is because he has appeared to the ancients as one of the strangest concoctions of Earth animals ever known.

His description: "Ipos appears as an angel with a lion's head, the feet of a goose and the tail of a hare."

But suppose that Ipos is an alien that has used holographic images to portray himself when summoned by the great magicians of the past. Instead of the title Prince of Fools, he might better be called the "Fooling Prince," or the Prince that Fooled Us All.

 Ipos governs 36 legions of spirit and is said to reveal the future of man.

Johann Wier believed Ipos also "maketh a man wittie, and bold" and Seagrave added to this by saying "men are more likely to fight than talk when they are in the presence of Ipos."

S. L. MacGregor Mathers identified Ipos as the twenty-second Spirit of the Goetia. He wrote that this demon is an Earl and a Mighty Prince. “He knoweth all things, past, present and to come.”

Legend has it that Ipos also is the ancient Egyptian god Anubis. Anubis, whose image appears on ancient Egyptian architecture, appears as a man with the head of a jackal. This “god” was associated with the afterlife, which was an important part of Egyptian theology.

What is interesting is that in the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis was known as Inpu, Anup or Anpu.