Greater and lesser Paimon

Spirits, Evocation & Possession
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As some of you may know, certain demonic hierarchies list four cardinal kings above all others and below Lucifer; in these hierarchies, Paimon is included as one of those kings. I always assumed he was the same Paimon who appears in the list of 72 demons we all know from the Ars Goetia—after all, Flauros is also included there as just another demon—but when you look into it further, you realize that some people place him on the same level as these aforementioned cardinal kings. Anyway, I was reading the book “Demonic Pathworkings” by Jareth Tempest, and in the info about the cardinal king Paimon, he included the following note:

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This confused me and led me to wonder: Could it be that the Paimon listed among the 72 is a lesser emanation of the Paimon who is a cardinal king? Doesn’t that mean they’re technically the same? And if so, why should I treat them as separate entities? Can’t I just do pathworking for the greater Paimon and expect the same results as with the lesser one? I’ve looked at the areas of influence for both, and they seem similar enough to support the theory that they’re the same entity, but I still don’t understand why it wouldn’t be enough for me to simply do pathworking for the greater one. Can anyone help me with this?

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It totally is. Tempest didn’t say they were different - spelling of paymon with a Y vs paimon with a I notwithstanding - he said he personally thinks "it is more useful" to treat them separately. That’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it.

It’s pretty common for people to make statements as fact when they are more like opinions, that doesn’t mean you have to take it as gospel - I’d say do your on research into his reasoning, compare whatever the demonic hierarchies are (you didn’t say but there’s a few)and do your own rituals - whether YOU find that to be true really depends on your experience and discernment, not anyone else’s. :slight_smile:

For me, I think I have enough contact with the Paimon of the Ars Goetia. If as or when I use another tome or sigil to contact him and something very different comes through, I’ll bear this in mind. Otherwise for now it just goes in the “that’s interesting” bucket and I’ll reserve judgement unless or until I can experiment with it.

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