Spirit Guide: Bilifo, Guardian of Secret Societies

Franz Bardon in his 1956 book, "Die Praxis der magischen Evokation" ("The Practice of Magical Evocation"), lists many spirits that the magician can call upon; one of these spirits is Bilifo. Bardon's works, which also includes "Initiation into Hermetics" and "The Key to the True Quabbalah [Kabbalah]", is a modern approach to the esoteric sciences. Bardon combines several traditions to create his system of self-initiation.

The Practice of Magical Evocation details the evocation of spirits to guide the magician and fulfill his needs. Inside its pages, many spirits of the grimmoires are dusted off and have their purposes updated for the modern magician. One of these spirits is Bilifo.

Stephen Skinner, in his book "The Complete Magician's Tables", notes that Bilifo is one of the spirits of Belzebud (Beelzebub) that Ambramelin lists in his book. The grimmoires are likely the source of all the spirits that Franz Bardon includes in his list, though he changes their astrological attributions around.

Bardon assigns Bilifo to the 26th degree of Gemini, and says of his abilities:

"This head is in charge of the custody of all magic and mystical circles, associations and sects so that one may call him their legal guardian. He decides on the creation, maintenance and decay of such associations. A discrete magician may get detailed information on magic and mystic lodges and all secrets by this head without being himself a member of such or similar associations, brotherhoods, etc. He will, of course, keep the information and knowledge gained to himself for his own personal use."

In this regard, Bilifo is related in function to Bifrons [Bifrous, Bifrous] of the Goetia (Lemegeton Book I) who provides the magician with knowledge of astrology and geometry, the liberal arts and sciences; the spirit Agaliarept of the Grand Grimoire (Agalierap of the Grimoirium Verum) also is similar in function, discovering arcane secrets in the courts of the world and unveiling sublime mysteries.

Exactly what type of individual would chose to evoke Bilifo? Perhaps two types, one who would rather not deal with the interior politics that haunt the esoteric Orders; the other who due to personality problems would not be allowed into the higher circles of the mysteries.

The latter probably would have a hard time keeping the information gained to themselves; often those who should not be in the esoteric Orders are the very people who end up creating new Orders. A handful of secrets, obtained though published material or received from initiates and spirits, is often all that is necessary to build up the structure and instructional program of a new Order.

While Bardon provides a sigil for Bilifo, he does not give any hint about what Bilifo looks like. A guess can be built up from a possible Hebrew spelling of Bilifo. The spirit might chose to manifest as a blonde, blue eyed pale young man with a slender build; dressed in robe divided into two sections, the upper in green, the lower in red, he carries a lamp and a sword; on his feet are red-orange sandals, though perhaps one would glimpse cow hooves instead.

Is Bilifo a friend or foe? It is hard to say. One man's magician and prophet (miracle worker) is another man's sorcerer and devil's servant. While it is possible to gain the information of the secret societies from Bilifo, one has to ask if it is really necessary to do so. There are perhaps better ways to go about this quest for knowledge; after all, Bilifo may just be a remodeled and repackaged demon.

Inside the Inner Order of Golden Dawn, the RR et AC, according to some accounts, the Adepts would be assigned a Egyptian god or goddess to guide them further into the mysteries of the system. If it worked for the Adepts of Golden Dawn, would it not work for others? One does not even need to restrict themselves to the Egyptian pantheon; there are many forgotten deities, besides saints and angels, who would be readily adapted to this particular task.