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The Brass VesselThe Seventy-Two Spirits · 28
Also recorded as Beale, Beal, Bofry, Bolfry
Berith promises true answers, turns metals into gold and grants dignities. Yet the crowned soldier on a red horse is also called a great liar: his notice warns the caller against trusting the very spirit it credits with truth. [1]
Goetia 1904
Berith appears as a red-clothed soldier on a red horse, wearing a crown of gold. He speaks clearly and subtly, answers concerning past, present and future, turns all metals into gold, and grants and confirms dignities. Twenty-six legions are beneath this terrible duke. [1]
His calling requires the ring already described under Beleth. Yet the promised true answers are followed by the statement that Berith is a great liar and cannot be trusted. The edition’s own footnote draws attention to the disagreement rather than repairing it. [1]
Scot says Berith is compelled through divine power by a magical ring at a certain hour, without naming that hour. He assigns the names Beall, Berith and Bolfry to different groups of speakers. The 1904 notice instead presents Beale or Beal and Bofry or Bolfry as names given in later times. [1][2]
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile supplied by Keep Silence. Shemhamphorash, entry 28 and both notes; printed p. 19, PDF p. 16
Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584); Brinsley Nicholson’s reprint of the first edition (1886), Project Gutenberg transcription. Book XV, chapter II, Berith; 1886 reprint page 319
