civitas germiniana

Venerated on this day in the occasion of the translation of his body and relics in 1106 to his namesake San Gimignano, Saint Geminianus was a fourth-century deacon and later Bishop of Modena. Rarely referenced outside of the region, his iconography usually depicts him as either a bishop bearing a model of his city or as a man calming the sea and residents credit his intercession to both sparing them from marauding Huns by shrouding the towers with a dense fog and casting out a demon from the daughter of the Emperor Jovian, the exorcism reportedly prompting Jovian to reverse some of the policies of suppression on the exercise of Christianity by his predecessor Julian.

savage intruder

Later re-released as Hollywood Horror House, we were delighted by this thoroughgoing, scene-by-scene review of the 1970 Donald Wolfe horror flick starring Miriam Hopkins, John David Garfield, Gale Sondergaard, Virginia Wing and Florence Lake from Poseidon’s Underworld (previously) that relates the story of an ageing actress living in a Tinsel Town mansion (in the spirit of Sunset Boulevard and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? with a bit of Rosemary’s Baby thrown in for good measure) attended by a retinue of domestics, who engages a new personal assistant—in the midst of a mysterious killing spree terrorising the area—who quickly comes to dominate the estate and household management. Here’s the feature in full below but honestly I got a bigger kick out of the screen-captures, trivia and commentary at the link above.

dia do saci

 Designated by an NGO calling themselves amigos of this trickster character of Brazilian folklore to coincide with Halloween as a way to counter American cultural hegemony, the holiday, even where backed with state-support, only enjoys limited recognition and celebration—despite familiarity and popularity of its mascot.

The monopod figure with an enchanted cap and always smoking a pipe, mostly active at night, can be dangerous and malicious—though most pranks are merely annoying—but will grant the wishes of those who trap him or free him, liable to caught in a bottle while disappearing and reappearing in the midst of a whirlwind. Reportedly Saci’s magic cap, according to those who’ve tried to steal it, has an indelibly foul smell and those who’ve handled it can never wash the stench away.  Saci can be propitiated with offerings of a libation of cachaça and a measure of tobacco for his pipe.

season of the witch

Coincidentally on this day in 1390 the first tribunal within the jurisdiction of the court of Paris was held also saw across the centuries and continents the dissolution of the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692—a standing commission (charged to “hear and determine”) with a judge of assize first convened in May of the same year to adjudicate cases in the Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts, authorities displeased with their conduct and proceedings. During that later five month period, two hundred were accused and nineteen condemned to capital punishment, hanged by the neck until dead. The former, after fourteen months of deliberation and sentencing led to the execution of soothsayer Jeanne de Brigue, whom was allegedly able to summon the demon Haussibut and with his aid find lost objects and catch thieves—which sounds like more of a public service than a crime.

your daily demon: shax

Our forty-fourth spirit governing from today through the first of November is a grand marquis ruling over thirty legion of mounted subordinates and presents as a stork or stock dove. A notorious liar, unless compelled by his summoner with the sign of his sigil to be called to the floor within a magic triangle, Shax’ powers including depriving the senses and understanding of any person upon the request of the exorcist as well as liberating loot not under the charm of another evil spirit. An avowed horse thief as well, Shax is countered by the guardian angel called Yelahiah.

your daily demon: sabnok

Our forty-third spirit ruling over the initial degrees of Scorpio, from today through 27 October, is a dread, infernal marquis presenting in the form of a lion astride a pale horse. Controlling fifty legions, fortifying cities and alike raising them asunder on his whim, Sabnok was confined to a brass vessel, it is said, by King Solomon. Also having the power to plague populations with festering sores, Sabnok is countered by the guardian angel Vevaliah.

your daily demon: velar

Our forty-second spirit is an infernal grand duke that presents as a merman, who is able to both raise dread tempest and drown sailors or provide safe passage, according to the will of a skilled exorcist. Ruling from today through 22 October, Vepar controls twenty-nine legions of subordinates and is opposed by the guardian angel Mikael.

eine deutsche volkssage

Presaging the studio's most technically advanced and expensive production by a year, F.W. Murnau's silent epic (see previously) Faust premiered this day in 1926 at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin. The director's last German film before moving on to Hollywood and upheld as an example of filmic Expressionism, it is a cinematic retelling of the downfall of elderly alchemist-resulting from a bet between a demon Mephisto and the Archangel, with the former wagering that he can corrupt any righteous soul and drive out any touch of divinity. Despite the odds stacked against our protagonist and literary precedent, there is a Hollywood ending with true and chaste love ultimately prevailing over diabolical forces.

your daily demon: focalor

Our forty-first spirit, governing from today through 17 October is an infernal grand duke presenting as a human with griffon wings. Though consenting and docile under the command of a skilled exorcist and can be bid to do no harm, Focalor has violent tendencies and will overturn ships at sea and drown those aboard. The demon commanding three legion has influence over the wind and waves and is countered by the guardian angel Hahael. His name an anagram of the Lucifuge Rofocale suggests an intellectual affinity with the archdemon, and is among those holding to the deluded belief that they will retake the kingdom of Heaven after a thousand years’ exile.

7x7

the boy on the bike: a trip down Golden Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset with a beloved bread advert directed by Ridley Scott with music by Dvořák  

dedication—devotion, turning all the night time into the day: more on the hypothesis (see previously) that the Dire Straits song can improve any movie ending 

the hauntening: various AIs try their hand at spookifying, exorcising Victorian mansions—previously

outbreak: a timelapse of COVID-19 cases in the United States over the past eighteen months 

just the punctation: what text without words reveals to authors about their style—via Waxy  

abecedarium: a 1968 Alphabet (previously) of the Dada movement hosted by Hans Richter (caution, some rapid, flashing images) 

rašínovo embankment: revitalised Prague riverfront features vaulted arches for cafes and gallery spaces

your daily demon: raum

Governing from today through 12 October, this fortieth spirit and infernal earl presents at first as another familiar with corvid-like characteristics. True to the German sense of his name, räumen—to empty, evacuate—he pilfers the houses of the rich and powerful with prejudice for dignities as well as engendering love and reconciliation. Others trace his origins to the identification with the Egyptian deity Khnum, the ram-headed god who crafts the bodies of people out of Nile clay before they’re born. Also known as Raim or Raym, he controls thirty legion and is opposed by the guardian angel Yaytzael.

your daily demon: malphas

Ruling from today through 7 October, our thirty-ninth spirit is an infernal president that presents as a crow at first be will assume human form at the sign of his sigil. 

Duplicitous and untrustworthy to an extent, Malphas can build mighty bulwarks and betray one’s enemies’ most secret desires and ambitions. Countered by the guardian angel Rehauel, Malphas controls forty legion of subordinate demons.

your daily demon: halphas

Our thirty-eighth spirit is an infernal Earl who rules from today through 2 October, and whilst presenting a dove—a symbol of peace—has the office of building up platforms and machines of war and sending soldiers into battle. Halphas commands twenty-six legion and is countered by the guardian angel Haamiah.

your daily demon: phenex

Our thirty-seventh spirit who governs the first degrees of the House of Libra, from today through 27 September, presents just as the mythological raptor that symbolises the cycle of rebirth and renewal but is deluded in the belief as shared by a few of his compatriots that they will be restored to the throne of Heaven in twelve-hundred years.

Obedient to the exorcist who bears his sigil, this grand marquis will faithfully dispense knowledge relating to the sciences and excels at poetry. Controlling twenty legions, Phexen is opposed by the guardian angel Aniel, one of the seventy-two corresponding supernatural beings encrypted in the Sigillum Dei, a sixteenth century magical diagram by occultist and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I John Dee that gave the initiated and enlightened influence of divine creatures—at least the godly kind that is.

your daily demon: stolas

Governing from today through 22 September, the cusps of Virgo and Libra, our thirty-sixth spirit is an infernal prince that presents in the form of a crowned owl with long-legs. Commanding twenty-six legion, Stolas is knowledgeable in the art of astronomy, herbs, plants and precious stones and can be a trusted teacher. The demon is opposed by the guardian angel called Menudael.

your daily demon: marchosias

Governing from today through 17 September, our thirty-fifth spirit is infernal grand marquis presents in the likeness of a she-wolf with the wings of a griffon and the tail of a serpent. A good ally to a conjurer and willing to aid in any fight, Marchosias formerly belonged to the angelic rank of Dominions with control of thirty legion and hopes in vain to be restored to Heaven and the Seventh Throne after twelve hundred years. Marchosias is opposed by the guardian angel Kaveqiah.

your daily demon: furfur

Likely from the Latin furcifer for scoundrel, the powerful infernal Earl leads twenty-six legions of demons—according to the Ars Goetia after Johann Weyer’s late sixteenth century hierarchy and expanded, elaborated by Aleister Crowley and illustrated by Jacques Collin de Plancy—this demon is depicted in the form of a peryton—that is a chimerical winged stag (the hybrid itself created by Jorge Luis Borges in 1957 despite its being imbued with mythological pedigree) and has a reputation for dispensing falsehoods, unless compelled to tell the truth by being bound with a magical triangle. 

Once tamed into eloquence, Furfur imparts teachings on secret and divine things, wields tempests and galvanises romance and is summoned with this sigil (see also) and partaking of a quadrant of Virgo corresponds to today through the fifteenth of September.

your daily demon: gaap

Our thirty-third spirit is an infernal prince who governs from today through 7 September and controls sixty-six legions. Gaap’s office is to teach philosophy and the liberal arts, can engender romance, transport people around the world on his back, steal away familiars from competing exorcists and impart knowledge regarding medical care. Formerly of the angelic order post postestates, Potentates, Gaap is the cardinal spirit of the south and opposed by the ShemHamphorash guardian angel Ieuiah.

your daily demon: asmodeus

Governing from today through 1 September, this thirty-second spirit on the demonological calendar is an infernal prince who presents as a three-headed apparition and rules over seventy-two legions of subordinates. Appearing in the Book of Tobit and many Talmudic legends, primarily associated with the construction of the temple of Solomon, Asmodeus was later classified in the Malleus Maleficarum as a demon of lust, lascivity and revenge, countered by Saint John—or the guardian angel called Veshariah.

7x7

roll out the barrel: eighteen spots that celebrate beer 

what fresh hell is this: a 1894, illustrated updating of Dante’s Inferno  

contraption: a soothing pinball drop render—see also   

kurzgesagt: a guided tour of our Solar System, unsere zu Hause im Weltall  

sifl & olly: the United States of Whatever (1999) 

landsat 9: a retrospective look at how the past five decades of satellite imagery has informed and transformed our world view 

klosterbrauerei: a visit with Germany’s last beer-brewing nun—see also