Vassago: The Demon in the Mirror

taken from Vassago Demonology

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The Two-Headed Dog Orthrus: Sexual Symbolism of Seth and the Mysteries of Scorpio

A personal account of recurring dreams set within the House of Darkness, where mirrors become gateways, the dead deliver messages, and a mysterious figure known as Vassago emerges from beyond the threshold of ordinary perception.

Since childhood, I have dreamed of the House of Darkness. It is a place where I sometimes find myself suspended between waking and dreaming, but also a place where my dreams become lucid. The House of Darkness is therefore a place of awakening, but also a place of encounter, for that house is not empty. It is vast and shadowy, devoid of anything romantic. Instead, it radiates a heavy atmosphere that can only be described as demonic. There is something within it that affects beings and consciousness itself, something that possesses the power to imprison minds and spirits, although it does not always do so. In addition to the natural awareness that I am dreaming whenever I find myself there, it often happens that I cannot leave that dream. And even when I do manage to escape, I discover that I have merely entered another dream.

The House of Darkness sometimes spills its contents into this world as well. I perceive this as a slight uneasiness, the same oppressive atmosphere that exists within the dream, or within that strange state suspended between sleep and wakefulness. At times, in the dead of night, figures emerge from the shadowed corners of my bedroom, carrying that same weight with them.

On several occasions, the screen of my mind has been flooded by the impression of a woman gradually taking shape in the air. She is usually elderly. I can see her face clearly, as well as the eyes fixed unwaveringly upon me. I do not know who this woman is. She is not one of my deceased relatives, nor anyone I recognize. She is merely a presence whose origin I cannot determine.

The House of Darkness is also connected to the House of the Dead. The dead may enter it, while the inhabitants of Darkness may pass into the domain of Death. Yet the nature of these two places is entirely different. The House of the Dead is, for me, an extraordinarily pleasant place. I feel calm there, as though I belong within it, as though it were my true home. 

Whenever I find myself there in a dream, I often wonder:

Why do I spend so much time away from this place?

Why do I not simply return to where I belong instead of wandering through a foreign world?

Why not sit upon a couch and enjoy the silence that reigns there?

The House of Darkness, by contrast, is a place of work, but also a place where the mind is in constant danger of becoming trapped. This distinction, home versus place of labor, will run throughout this entire essay, and I shall return to it later through a Kabbalistic interpretation.

Once, within the House of the Dead, I encountered my deceased grandmother, who often brings me messages from beyond. Her presence briefly transformed the melancholy atmosphere, filling it with warmth and a peculiar sense of longing. During that encounter, I momentarily turned my gaze away from her and looked into a large vesica-shaped mirror. It possessed a dark green frame, sumptuous and heavy, carved from wood and large enough to contain the reflection of an entire human figure.

Yet it did not reflect me. Instead, a tall figure stood within the mirror, vaguely human in shape, though unmistakably not human. It wore a completely black covering. Its head was elongated and hairless, its ears sharp, and its hands resembled the talons of a bird perched upon a branch. It simply stood there, watching me. Then, suddenly, I heard a voice sharply whisper a name: Vassago. The double s was distinctly emphasized. At that moment, I awoke.

Strictly speaking, I am describing this as a single dream, but in reality it is a composite of impressions that have returned to me on several occasions within the same environment of the House of Darkness. The figure in the mirror and that characteristic whisper appeared repeatedly, and what follows should therefore be read as a synthesis of those recurring encounters rather than as an account of one isolated event.

The being I have described bears a remarkable resemblance, if not complete identity, to a figure that occasionally appears in my dreams and that I associate with GOTOS, the personalized manifestation of the egregore of Fraternitas Saturni. I do not draw this association lightly. The same elongated and impersonal form, the same cold and observant presence, accompanies dreams that I otherwise connect with the Saturnian, geometric quality of GOTOS. This time, however, the voice was unequivocal in identifying the apparition as Vassago. I am aware that Vassago is a demon of the Goetia and that he is not traditionally described in this manner. Yet this is how I saw him.

I have an unfinished intuition concerning all of this. The House of the Dead resonates with Saturn and with the Kabbalistic idea of the Great Mother, the Sephirah Binah. Following that chain of associations, one might logically conclude that the House of Darkness, since it echoes the energy of the Moon, should resonate with the Sephirah Yesod, the Foundation of the Tree of Life. Yet that is not what I feel. What I perceive there are solar vibrations.

In that sense, the House of Darkness is a manifestation of the Chthonic Sun. Figuratively speaking, it is a Sun concealed behind the Moon. The House of the Dead, as a place of complete peace and of returning home, resonates with the Upper Waters of Binah. It is the place from which souls come and to which they return in silence. For that reason it is home, whereas the House of Darkness is a place of work.

The mirror I described is not an ordinary object. Its form, the Vesica Piscis, is in geometry and esotericism a symbol of a gate, a passageway, and the birth of form itself. It arises from the intersection of two circles, the Upper and Lower Waters, while the space between them constitutes the opening through which consciousness passes from one world into another. Its dark green, sumptuous, and heavy wooden frame points toward Venus, whose presence in dreams is often expressed through form, beauty, and reflection. At the same time, the wood and its weight anchor this gateway firmly within the structure of the House of Darkness. That mirror does not reflect personality or ego. Rather, it devours the reflection of the one who gazes into it and replaces it with an archetype.

In the traditional Goetia (Ars Goetia), Vassago is the Third Spirit, described as a Mighty Prince who is by nature good and well suited to the operator. His primary function is to reveal the past, present, and future and to discover hidden or lost things. He is, in essence, a seer and a revealer. The dream figure I have described, with its elongated head, sharp ears, bird-like hands, and its identification with GOTOS, perfectly explains why it appeared in precisely that form and under that name.

A bird of prey, whether hawk, falcon, or owl, is a universal symbol of sight penetrating darkness. A being perched upon a branch, silently observing, is one of the most powerful symbols of vigilance and watchfulness. GOTOS, on the other hand, operates through cold intelligence and the laws of geometry. Within my personal myth, the Goetic Vassago is the operative face of that same principle. When GOTOS wishes to communicate within the Hall of Mirrors, he dons a black covering and presents himself under the name of Vassago.

Thus, in my personal experience, Vassago is not an entity from medieval grimoires that may be summoned into a circle through prescribed instruments and procedures. He is the entity of the mirror and the guardian of the gate between the House of Darkness and the House of the Dead. Since his Goetic function is the revelation of what is hidden, he appears precisely at the moment when my deceased grandmother, a messenger from the other side, brings me a message. Vassago is there to validate the communication and widen the field of perception. He is the intelligence of the mirror itself, the one who makes awareness possible within the House of Darkness, preserving consciousness while the body remains imprisoned within the dream.

The name VASSAGO, pronounced with an emphatic double S, vibrates with a frequency that stabilizes the reflection. Within Hebrew-operational logic, it may be written in several different ways depending upon which sound receives emphasis in the dream. In traditional Kabbalistic and Hermetic practice, particularly within the Golden Dawn tradition, which was among the first systems to systematically transliterate Goetic names into Hebrew in order to calculate their angelic and demonic correspondences, the name Vassago may be rendered in two principal ways depending upon whether emphasis is placed upon the root consonants or upon the phonetic pronunciation with the doubled S.

First Variant (VSAGV)

According to the root consonants:

Vav (6) + Samekh (60) + Aleph (1) + Gimel (3) + Vav (6) = 76

which reduces to:

7 + 6 = 13 → 4

The number 76 also corresponds to several expressions connected with secrecy and concealment, with that which remains hidden.

Second Variant (VSSAGV)

This spelling preserves the whispered emphasis through a duplication of the letter Samekh:

Vav (6) + Samekh (60) + Samekh (60) + Aleph (1) + Gimel (3) + Vav (6) = 136

This number is equal to the sum of all numbers in the magical square of Jupiter and also corresponds to the names of the Jovian Intelligence and Spirit, Jophiel and Hismael.

Reduced numerologically:

1 + 3 + 6 = 10 → 1

The same value is also carried by the Hebrew word kol ("voice").

Third Variant (VShGV)

Since the whispered sound possessed a sharp, hissing quality more closely resembling the letter Shin:

Vav (6) + Shin (300) + Gimel (3) + Vav (6) = 315

which reduces to:

3 + 1 + 5 = 9

The number of the Moon.

The number of Yesod.

The number of the Mirror.

The value 315 is also associated with Hebrew words denoting ice or crystal, with Yetzirah understood as formative power, with expressions referring to the vision of radiance or the mirror of splendor, and with Kurgasiax, the Qliphotic guardian of the Twenty-First Tunnel of Set corresponding to the letter Kaph.

Viewed in this manner, the appearance begins to make symbolic sense. The bird-like hands, the cold vigilance, the gate of the mirror, the lunar quality of reflection, and the function of discovering hidden things all converge into a single image. Vassago therefore appears not as a demon to be summoned but as a mask worn by a deeper intelligence. Within my personal mythology, he is the face that the geometric and Saturnian current of GOTOS assumes whenever it speaks from within the mirror.

I consider these three variants sufficiently suggestive in themselves. Each corresponds to a different layer of emphasis that I heard within the dream, and together they reveal the polyvalent nature of the name. I have encountered a similar sense of an emphasized double S in other, related situations, which suggests to me that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Vassago but belongs to a broader pattern.

On one occasion, I found myself literally haunted by the name of the demon Glasya-Labolas. Yet I heard it in an altered form, as Glassyabolas, with a distinctly emphasized S. Likewise, the first name that attached itself to me in this peculiar manner was Aiwass, which also contains the doubled s. These names sometimes appear in my mind like an irritating tune that refuses to leave, a melody accidentally heard yet impossible to forget.

The strongest impression of all, however, was produced by a barbarous word from Liber Samekh, which I found myself involuntarily and almost mechanically repeating as Essalonai. In my experience, this word conveyed the meanings of speed and boundary simultaneously. I had the distinct impression that it was the name of a hunter standing upon the edge of worlds. In any case, this prolonged and emphasized hissing functions like tension upon a wire.

The letter Shin represents the element of Fire. When it hisses, it burns away obstacles and pierces the mental screen. Samekh, on the other hand, signifies a pillar, a support, or a shield. Yet both visually and conceptually it also evokes the serpent biting its own tail: a closed circle, a mirror, a boundary. When the mind automatically transforms Glasya-Labolas into Glassyabolas, or when it fixes upon names such as Aiwass and Vassago, it is essentially inserting a condenser into an electrical circuit. These names become glassy in character: reflective, sharp, and edged. They become mirror-names.

I do not know whether the being in the mirror was truly Vassago. Perhaps it was merely a mask assumed by a deeper intelligence. Perhaps it was GOTOS speaking through a Goetic image. Or perhaps the mirror itself required a name in order to become visible to the mind. What remains certain is that the figure did not show me my reflection. It replaced it. And ever since then, whenever I return to the House of Darkness and pass through its halls, I am unable to look into a mirror without wondering what may be standing there before me, waiting for the moment when my own image once again steps aside.

NOTE:

Originally published in Serbian. This English version is an AI-assisted translation of the original text.

The Arrow, the Eye, and the Lyre

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In this chapter, titled "The Arrow, the Eye, and the Lyre," the author examines the esoteric underpinnings and ultimate trajectory of modern human civilization. Define modernity through its aspiration toward Apollonian powers—striving to control time, vision, and vibration. The narrative pivots around an apocalyptic vision from a dream, depicting a sky shrouded by friction-producing metallic and leaden clouds that conceal an expanding, encroaching nothingness. Through this vision, the author lays out the metaphysical foundation of the Divine Revolution of Catastrophe: a state of dissolution wherein the four elemental realms (guided by demonic frequencies and the awakening of slumbering Guardians) disintegrate. Rejecting standard anthropocentric and scientific frameworks, the text calls for embracing this "nothingness" as an extra-systemic, non-dual fifth element, signaling the breaking of the human mold and the dismantling of ordering structures altogether.

We live in a culture fundamentally grounded in reason, even though those very rational assumptions are considerably permeated with elements of the irrational. That culture did not fall from the heavens or arrive out of nowhere. It stems from that which already existed. It was produced through a series of reductions and deductions, breakthroughs and expansions, focus and dissipation. Its intention is to establish an endless memory, stretching both toward the past and into the future. Many of its pioneers were brilliant dreamers, with all their passions, strengths, and weaknesses. This produced absurdities and insurmountable contradictions that have plagued this very culture since its earliest beginnings.

What does it mean to be modern? What is modernity? I do not mean general definitions; rather, I attempt to observe modernity through an esoteric visor. In that sense, the modern is directed toward the solar principle. It seeks to master Apollonian powers and instruments—to possess the Arrow and the Eye, to master the Lyre. It wishes to govern time, to project it, and to fathom it in all directions. Therefore, it shoots the Arrow toward infinite eons and plunges into the infinitesimal depths of nanoseconds. It strives to master every perspective, which is why the Eye becomes the central symbol of the spirit of modernity. Finally, it strain to comprehend vibration. Hence, in the earlier stages of modernity, we have brilliant composers. Music. Rhythm. Vibration. Frequency. In short, the spirit of modernity strives to encompass and map virtually the entire universe, thus arriving at its boundaries which are, paradoxically, projected into infinity.

Nearly three decades ago, I had a significant dream. Dense clouds covered the sky, and for days neither the Sun, nor the Moon, let alone the stars, could be seen. An apocalyptic twilight covered the Earth. The guardians of illusion were convincing the public that it was a natural phenomenon, and that it was necessary to somehow get used to the new reality—to adapt, to change habits, lifestyles, and even ways of thinking. "Turn to the Earth!" they shouted. "Let us protect our Mother! We are her children!" In the dream, I sensed that something was deeply wrong, not merely with society and the authorities, but with the universe itself—and that the elite knew it, but were hiding it.

In the meantime, I went to the highest mountain and, with great effort, climbed to its peak, practically touching the sky itself, embodied in massive metallic clouds. All the while, a massive grinding sound was heard in the background, which, as I realized on that occasion, came from the friction of these metallic clouds. I was astonished and amazed at how it was possible for metallic clouds to float and completely seal the sky. Yet, they had not closed the sky entirely, for there were fissures. Since I had climbed the peak at night, I managed to scramble through a large fissure onto a massive leaden cloud to enjoy the stars that were hidden from the Earth below.

Only then was I truly stunned. Above the leaden clouds, there was nothing—no moonlight, no stars—only a blank black sky, an infinite void. Then a terrifying thought shook me: half of the universe had been swallowed by nothingness. I stared into that nothingness, which stirred and writhed voluptuously. I had discovered the secret that the earthly authorities were hiding from the people. The ordinary world was not allowed to learn that all the stars and the Moon had been swallowed, and that only the Sun barely managed to hold on, slowly gravitating toward dropping beneath the horizon, after which our world would be eternally bound in darkness. The elite had a plan...

In what did the plan of the Masters consist? They intended to hide the approach of nothingness from the public for as long as possible, hurrying to buy themselves a little more time by digging deep shafts and building dwellings as deep underground as possible. That is what they always do—buying a little more time, and a little more, and a little more... In the dream, I also visited those deep pits, and descending into the deepest and darkest one, I lay down and pressed my ear to the ground, listening to the dull rumbling from the depths. Then I realized something that even the elite did not know: that nothingness had already swallowed the center of the Earth, and that it was rising from below in equal measure as it was descending from above, for as above, so below.

The human world had rapidly shrunk, which was visibly absurd, as humans had practically already mastered the Arrow, the Eye, and the Lyre. How was that possible then? Time had accelerated, and the world had shrunk. Meanwhile, the scouts of the encroaching nothingness were advancing daily, taking new and closer positions. Then I decided to do something—or rather, to do nothing. To be clearer in this ambiguity: I chose an absurd stance, resolved to join the nothingness by becoming nothingness myself. The jaws of nothingness swallowed me. Thus, it gained its voice in man. Since then, when I speak, that nothingness speaks; when I breathe, nothingness breathes; when I laugh, nothingness laughs; when I dream, nothingness dreams; when I am silent, nothingness is silent. That act I named the "Divine Revolution of Catastrophe," whose instigators, inspirers, and secret chiefs reside within nothingness itself. No one can join the Revolution without first becoming nothingness completely, without remainder. Woe to him who, on that occasion, thinks to retain even a single atom of a selfhood composed of the elements!

Of what significance is this dream of mine for the theme of the spirit of the modern world and its fate? Somehow I know that it is connected, given that the dream pertains to the world and time in which I exist. I have no convincing explanation. Besides, every explanation is in some way vulgar and desecrates the narrative of the vision. Yet, let us say that the demons* whom the pioneers of modernity inadvertently invoked and built into the foundations of the New Age—like computer viruses—executed a spiritual subversion of those very foundations, invoking the vanguards of nothingness, for it is in their nature to do so. Esoterically speaking, the world composed of the four elements is in a state of dissolution.

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* Let us use the word demons as a convention, but let it be clear that these are not demons in the Christian sense, but rather archetypal forces that precede every religion.

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Even an explanation like this seems meaningless and entirely unusable, although tailored to the opinion and taste of modern minds. How to explain what elements are in an esoteric sense? If I say Fire, Water, Air, Earth, that means nothing, since these are analogies referring to certain qualities and contents. If we say that connected to these qualities and contents are certain forms of consciousness that exist in a way incomprehensible and considerably abstract to us, only then does the whole matter take on a twisted dimension. And if we add to that assertion that human beings and human consciousness are permeated and built of those qualities and contents, and that everything that exists, has existed, and ever will exist is linked and interwoven with the subtle strings of those qualities and contents, even then we will not be a step closer to an acceptable explanation.

Ultimately, the elements as qualities and contents, though mixed together, represent completely separate planes of existence that have distinct structures and laws. Within those structures are clearly defined and almost infinite hierarchies of entities. Anyone who has even superficially read classical Hermetic literature or modern researchers of the traditions of occultism, Hermeticism, alchemy, and similar fields can testify to the lists, inventories, names, and attributes of these hierarchies. Just as every hierarchy has someone at the top, so too do these hierarchies have their presiding entities.

It is precisely in the mystery of the presiding entities that the key facts explaining the cause of the catastrophe of the human world reside. Why is the world of mixed elements, in which our current existence is submerged, dissolving? Let us call the presiding entities of the elemental hierarchies the Guardians. Each of them has its own nature. That nature is precisely such that a world composed of elements cannot exist if each of the Guardians is active in the fullness of that nature. In short, they must subdue a good portion of their attributes—that is, they need to sleep in some way. Of course, if all of them were asleep, the world would again be unable to function. Therefore, the Great Architect of the Universe, let us call him that, decided that three Guardians should fall into a slumber, while only one of them remains awake. The element whose guardian remained awake is Air, thanks to which the creation of human species and the general dynamics of the world were made possible.

Then the demons stepped onto the scene. Following the impulses of their nature, they simply began to awaken the sleeping Guardians from their deep slumber. Of course, they are not easily awakened. But with persistent and sustained noise, sooner or later, they will succeed. In fact, they are certainly succeeding, because demons possess that power. Where do demons come from? In accordance with this explanation, their nature is tied to Air, which is their parent element. The wakefulness of the Guardian of Air, in this sense, besides enabling the creation of humans, also connected the human world with the demonic.

Yet, the power of demons could not bring the world of four elements into question were it not for human activity. On their own, they could never achieve it. The human element served as an amplifier or a soundboard for the transmission of demonic frequencies that awaken the Guardians. The cacophony of the modern world favored the strengthening of those demonic frequencies.

The human world would have lasted significantly longer had it not been for the simultaneously emancipatory and suicidal civilizational dynamics of the last five centuries. What is the alternative? When this question is posed, the first common-sense reaction would move in the direction of resistance or preventing the realization of the presented course of events. To such a line of thought, I would oppose the idea of the "Divine Revolution of Catastrophe," which aims at accelerating the process of annihilation, for the end of the world of four elements is not the end of life. The perspectives of the encroaching nothingness, from the optic of the Revolution, are seen as a meta-worldly environment composed of the fifth element.

The modern mind, accustomed to its own standards, would have many objections to this story. And that is fine, for this story is not intended for the modern mind. The first objection would pertain to the anthropocentrism and geocentrism of this viewpoint—for goodness' sake, the universe is infinite and composed of billions of worlds. Why would events on an insignificant little planet have cosmic significance? Why is Earth important, and why are humans important?

The method of habitual human perception created tools and measuring instruments with which we established the infinity of the universe as a fact, yet we are unable to move a step toward stellar magnitudes. By those very same means and methods, we practically cannot detach ourselves from the Earth. Therefore, the boundaries of our physical scope are simultaneously the boundaries of the universe. Beyond that are spheres which, no matter how close they might seem in the parameters of modern astrophysics, are actually unreachable. Beyond Pluto lies a terrifying abyss. Other destinations in the solar system are inaccessible to us. What is Pluto? What is Saturn? What is Jupiter? They are vast, non-human spaces that have significance only if we observe them from Earth and treat them within the categories of ancient stellar science. For them to be accessible to us, we must cease being human and become something else. We cannot exist outside the Earth; therefore, a catastrophe on Earth is simultaneously a cosmic catastrophe.

The order established by the mixing and harmonizing of the four elements also determined the order in our consciousness. In such an order, celestial bodies, galaxies, and an astronomically shaped space or world exist, which we perceive through instruments. In that order, the Earth exists as a sphere, with all its contents, including human beings. That order can also strive toward change and assume completely different qualities that in no way fit into our daily—or even scientific, provable, and proven—perceptual-cognitive mold. Hence, it is meaningless to question this tale using the means and methods of the everyday perceptual-cognitive mold; rather, it can be questioned and challenged only from the standpoint of a magical or entirely different perceptual-cognitive viewpoint.

If I use the word tale, let it be clear that this does not mean its narrative is untrue. It merely means it lies outside the domain of conventional verification. Even if its components were arbitrary, its final outcome is not. Someone might reasonably ask how I can be sure of what I say? How do I know I am not in delusion? That is a question for those who still believe there is some external confirmation of truth. I have no such confirmation, and that is precisely what makes my truth my own. Regardless of that, I have no doubts, because what I present is not in the domain of faith, but of vision.

And again, someone may reasonably ask how I know that my vision is not an illusion? To that, too, I have no good answer. The only thing I have is the experience of nothingness. From that standpoint, there is no lie and no truth, nor any duality whatsoever; rather, everything merges into the infinite One. The experience of nothingness is a non-human experience and represents an exit from the mold of humanity. Outside that mold, the world looks completely different. The time is coming for the shattering of the mold and a great transformation—not one that will bring a new order, but one that will transcend the very need for order. That is the moment invoked by the Divine Revolution of Catastrophe.

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NOTE:

Originally published in Serbian. This English version is an AI-assisted translation of the original text.