The Many Faces of Bune

By James Donahue

About a century ago, S. L. MacGregor Mathers described the twenty-sixth Goetian Spirit Bune as "a dragon with three heads: a dog, a gryphon, and a man."

The other best known written authority on the demons of King Solomon is Johann Wier who wrote 400 years earlier that Bune "appeareth as a dragon with three heads, the third whereof is like to a man.

Wier also said that Bune "speaketh with a divine voice, he maketh the dead to change their place, and divels to assemble upon the sepulchers of the dead."

These writers were drawing on information passed to them by the early magicians, who successfully raised these demons and succeeded in getting personal glimpses of what they looked like.

Their descriptions were quite accurate, even though they lacked any scientific method of getting a true visual observation. Since the Goetian Spirits exist in other dimensions, while also being conscious of us in our own peculiar third dimension reality, it is difficult for even the very best magicians to see them, even after a successful evocation.

When a remote viewer recently raised Bune there was a surprise.

Bune did not appear as a dragon, as Mathers wrote, but rather a type of cloud or puff of smoke. And while there are three distinct heads appearing at the top, many other less developed faces with eyes seem to be peering out of the mist from just below the heads.

Bune is obviously an entity of many complexities and possibly many personalities.

Wier wrote that Bune "(greatly enriches) a man, and maketh him eloquent and wise, answering trulie to all demands."

But the Seagate Adventurers' Guild Beastiary suggests that Bune is not a very good spirit to have around the house.

"Bune requires an offering of human life before he will serve," according to Seagate. "Each head must have a life (three total) and only lives which are pleasing to the demon will be accepted. If dissatisfied with an offering. Bune can break any binding and will attack and devour the summoner."