Invoking Valefor in Magic: Powers, Correspondences & Dangers
Valefor is the sixth spirit listed in the Ars Goetia, the foundational catalog of the 72 spirits bound by King Solomon and recorded in the Lesser Key of Solomon. He holds the rank of Duke — a high-nobility title in the Goetic hierarchy, outranked only by Kings and Princes — and he commands 10 legions of infernal spirits. He is not the most widely discussed of the 72, but practitioners who work with him consistently describe him as one of the more immediately responsive Dukes, and his areas of power are surprisingly broad once you understand what theft and cunning actually represent in a magical context. If you're preparing to invoke Valefor's name in a working, this article gives you a real foundation: who he is, what he governs, what correspondences to work with, and the specific risk you need to take seriously before you begin.
Who Is Valefor? Rank, Role, and Character in the Goetia
Valefor appears as the sixth spirit in the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th-century grimoire that compiled and systematized centuries of demonological tradition. His name has been recorded in variant spellings across different manuscripts and grimoires — Malaphar, Malephar, and Valafar are the most commonly encountered — but Valefor remains the standard form used in modern practice. These variants matter when you're cross-referencing older source material, because you'll find him listed differently depending on the edition.
His rank is Duke, which in the Goetic hierarchy carries significant weight. The Dukes are among the most numerous and most frequently worked with of the noble ranks, and they tend to be responsive, capable spirits with clearly defined areas of expertise. Valefor commands 10 legions of spirits — a mid-range number in Goetic terms, where legions can range from just a few up to several hundred. Ten legions signals a spirit with real authority, not a minor functionary.
In classical descriptions, Valefor appears as a lion with the head of a donkey, though some sources describe him appearing with the head of a thief. Both images tell you something useful. The lion is a symbol of predatory power, courage, and nobility — he is not a weak or hesitant spirit. The donkey's head introduces cunning over raw force, and the association with thievery is the defining characteristic that Goetic tradition assigns to him most consistently. He is said to speak in a familiar, friendly way with those he works with, which is precisely where his specific danger lies.
Within the internal relationships of the Goetia, Valefor is not frequently cited in direct association with other spirits in the way that some Dukes and Marquises are. He operates somewhat independently in traditional accounts. His affinities, however, align him with spirits governing deception, hidden movement, and the breaking of locks — both literal and metaphorical. In modern practice, practitioners often pair him with spirits of the night, secrecy, and boundaries when constructing more complex workings. He is understood to be one of the spirits Solomon bound through the brass vessel, and like all 72, he is bound to serve the operator who calls him through proper form.
His listed powers in traditional sources center on theft — specifically, he makes thieves, meaning he can teach cunning, stealth, access to hidden or restricted things, and the ability to take what is not freely given. But read this symbolically and it opens up considerably. Valefor governs the magical territory of secret access, bypassing defenses, moving without being seen, and obtaining what others guard closely. In modern magical application, this maps onto workings for secrecy, gaining information, navigating systems that exclude you, reclaiming what was taken from you, or creating conditions of invisibility in social or professional environments. His limitations, as traditional sources note, are tied to the fundamental instability in his relationships — he gives much, but his companionship tends to carry a cost over time, which is addressed in the dangers section below.
Valefor's Correspondences
Working with Valefor becomes more precise when you align your ritual environment to his nature. Correspondences are not decorative — they are the vocabulary your working uses to call in a specific current of energy and direct it. Every candle color, herb, and timing choice either reinforces or dilutes the signal you're sending. Here are Valefor's core correspondences as understood in traditional and modern practice:
- Element: Fire — Valefor's predatory nature, his lion aspect, and the active, penetrating quality of his power all align with fire as the element of will, transformation, and force breaking through barriers.
- Direction: South — the directional correspondence of fire in Western ceremonial and neo-Pagan frameworks, reinforcing heat, drive, and the aggressive pursuit of hidden objectives.
- Planet: Moon — despite his fiery character, Valefor's deep association with secrecy, night movement, and the hidden side of things places him under lunar governance; the Moon rules what is concealed, what moves in shadow, and the instinctual cunning of predators.
- Number: 6 — his position as the sixth spirit of the Goetia; 10 — the number of his legions, useful as a ritual repetition or offering count when petitioning him.
- Colors: Deep red, black, and dark orange — red for the lion's aggression and fire, black for shadow and concealment, dark orange as the bridge between the two.
- Metals: Iron and silver — iron for force and penetration, silver for the lunar dimension of his power and its connection to night workings.
- Incense and Herbs: Dragon's blood resin, black pepper, wormwood, and sulfur — dragon's blood amplifies and attracts, black pepper activates and breaks through, wormwood opens contact with spirits of darker temperament, and sulfur is the classical Goetic offering material.
- Stones and Crystals: Obsidian, black tourmaline, and tiger's eye — obsidian for protection and shadow work, black tourmaline to hold boundaries during contact, tiger's eye for the predatory clarity and cunning that defines Valefor's character.
- Sigil: Valefor's unique sigil from the Ars Goetia — used as the focal point of any invocation or petition working.
- Day: Monday — governed by the Moon, appropriate for workings of secrecy, hidden access, and night-aligned operations.
- Time: Midnight to the hours just before dawn — the liminal hours when the veil is thinnest, movement is unseen, and Valefor's predatory energy is most active.
When designing a working with Valefor, you don't need every correspondence on this list. Choose the ones that resonate with your specific intention and that you can source or prepare properly. A focused working using three well-chosen correspondences beats a cluttered altar with twelve items chosen carelessly. What matters is that every element you place in the space is there intentionally, aligned to his nature, and held in mind as you work.
For petition work specifically — writing a request, charging it over his sigil, and releasing it — the sigil is the non-negotiable element. Everything else builds the energetic environment around that focal point. Draw his sigil by hand if you can. The act of tracing it is itself a form of concentration and alignment. Work in low light or by candlelight using red or black candles. State your petition clearly and specifically — Valefor responds to direct, unambiguous asks. Vague requests leave room for outcomes you didn't intend.
The Specific Dangers of Working With Valefor
Every Goetic spirit carries risk, but Valefor's risks are particular to his character, and you need to understand them clearly before you invoke him. The classical grimoires are more specific about Valefor's danger than they are about many other spirits. The warning is consistent across sources: he is good to the operator at first, speaks familiarly and seems cooperative, but he will lead those he works with into theft — either literally or in the broader sense of pursuing what is not theirs to take — and the relationship tends to deteriorate into harm over time.
What this means practically is that Valefor is a spirit who operates on familiarity. He presents as accessible and responsive, which can make practitioners lower their guard or extend the relationship beyond what their practice can hold. The danger is not that he will suddenly attack or turn on you dramatically. The danger is subtler: his influence tends to normalize transgression. If you call on him repeatedly for workings that push ethical limits — taking things, bypassing protections, acting deceptively — his energy can begin to shape your decision-making outside of ritual context. You may find yourself justifying actions in your daily life that you wouldn't have considered before working with him.
This is not a reason to avoid him. It is a reason to work with him deliberately, within defined boundaries, and to close the relationship cleanly after each working rather than leaving an ongoing invitation open. Do not petition Valefor casually or out of curiosity. Approach him with a specific purpose, complete the working, license him to depart properly, and do not maintain a persistent altar or standing invitation to his energy unless your practice is sophisticated enough to sustain that kind of relationship with clear discernment and strong banishing work as regular practice.
The other specific risk with Valefor is working with him for objectives that involve taking from others — whether that is information, resources, opportunity, or advantage. His power in this territory is real, but it comes with a binding principle: what you take through his influence tends to carry the energetic signature of the taking. Be precise about what you are actually asking for and whether that framing is genuinely necessary. In many cases, you can work with his bypassing and access-opening qualities without framing the working as theft at all — and that reframing protects you from the specific karmic weight that attaches to Valefor's more transgressive applications.
Historical Roots and Textual Background
Valefor's recorded history traces primarily through the Western grimoire tradition of the early modern period, but the material almost certainly synthesizes much older strands of demonological thought. The Ars Goetia as a text is generally dated to the mid-17th century, though it draws on the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum — a catalog of demons compiled by Johann Weyer and published in 1577 as an appendix to his larger work De Praestigiis Daemonum. Valefor, recorded there as Malaphar, appears in substantially the same form as in later Solomonic compilations.
Behind Weyer's catalog lie earlier medieval sources — manuscripts and summaries that passed through ecclesiastical and academic channels during the 15th and 16th centuries, often as warnings against demonic practice rather than guides to it. The irony is that the church's detailed records of demonology preserved the very knowledge they sought to condemn. Valefor's inclusion across multiple independent manuscript traditions suggests he was a well-established figure in the practical magical culture of this period, not a late addition or literary invention.
The 72 spirits of Solomon as a system has older mythological roots in Jewish mystical tradition, specifically in legends surrounding King Solomon's mastery over spirits and his use of a magical ring or seal to bind them into service. These legends appear in the Testament of Solomon, a Greek pseudepigraphical text probably composed between the 1st and 5th centuries CE, which describes Solomon summoning and binding demons to build his temple. Valefor is not named in the Testament, which predates the structured 72-spirit system, but the broader framework within which he operates originates there. By the time the Ars Goetia codified the full hierarchy in the 17th century, Valefor had a settled identity, rank, and function — which is exactly what makes him workable today.
Modern magical practitioners working in Goetic traditions treat the historical text as a technical document rather than a theological one. The grimoire tells you the spirit's rank, nature, appearance, and powers — and that information is the foundation of working practice regardless of what you believe about the ontological status of the spirit itself. Whether you approach Valefor as an independent intelligence, a current of energy shaped by centuries of magical engagement, or an aspect of your own psyche given form through ritual, the correspondences and warnings the tradition provides remain functionally useful. That continuity across belief frameworks is part of what makes the Goetia durable as a working system.
Continue Exploring the Goetic Hierarchy
Every spirit in the Ars Goetia belongs to a rank — King, Duke, Marquis, Count, President, Prince, or Knight — and knowing where a spirit sits in that hierarchy is what turns a list of names into a real working knowledge of the tradition. If you're ready to see how Valefor fits alongside the other 71 spirits and the Dukes he ranks among, read The 72 Demons of Solomon: A Complete Compendium by Rank. It organizes the full Goetic catalog by nobility and walks you through the powers and character of each spirit in turn.
Approach this work with respect, move at the pace your practice can hold, and trust that your understanding will deepen with every spirit you come to know.