72: The Celestial Conflict: the Lore of the 72 Spirits and Angels

Seventy-two spirits trouble the world. Seventy-two angels answer them. That is the whole of the old teaching in one line. It is also the first line of 72: The Celestial Conflict, the free game we have built from it at Peckham Crystals and Increatus.

This is the lore behind the game: where the spirits and angels come from, why each pair belongs together, and how a rite is laid on the Metatron Cube.

Play 72: The Celestial Conflict

The seventy-two who trouble the world

The spirits come from the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon. Tradition says King Solomon bound seventy-two spirits in a vessel of brass. Each was written down with its number, its rank (king, duke, prince, marquis, president, earl, knight) and its nature.

In the INFLUANCE reading that the game follows, each spirit is a pattern of trouble in a life. Bael, the first, brings confusion and misdirection. Vassago, the third, brings deception and false impressions. Samigina, the fourth, brings forgetfulness of duty. A spirit is known by what it harms, and the answer is always hidden in that harm.

The seventy-two who answer

The angels are the Shem HaMephorash, the “Name set apart”. It is drawn from three verses of Exodus (14:19-21), each seventy-two letters long. Read together, one letter from each, they give seventy-two names of three letters. To each name the old writers added -iah or -el, and so the seventy-two angels were named: Vehuiah, Jeliel, Sitael, Elemiah and the rest, down to Mumiah.

Cornelius Agrippa set them out in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), each with its own verse of the Psalms. The Golden Dawn later placed them on the decans of the zodiac in Book T.

Five degrees of heaven: why each pair belongs together

The zodiac’s 360 degrees, cut into five-degree pieces, make exactly seventy-two quinances. Each angel rules one quinance, and so does each spirit. Bael and Vehuiah share the first five degrees of Aries. Andromalius and Mumiah share the last five degrees of Pisces.

Every quinance also sits in a decan, and every decan has a planet. The planet gives the rite its candle and its fume, after Agrippa’s tables of fumigations. Mars brings a red candle and the odoriferous woods, red sandalwood and cypress. The Sun brings a gold candle and the gums: frankincense, mastic and benzoin.

The Metatron Cube: how a rite is laid

Metatron’s Cube is thirteen circles joined by seventy-eight lines. In the game it is the altar, and the Cube judges every rite. It never guesses.

• The centre is the angel. Call the wrong angel and the Cube will not agree; the rite stops at the first gate.
• Line three is the candle, in the colour of the planet.
• Line six is the stone and the incense, the earth and the air of the rite.
• Line nine is the Psalm, the word that holds it steady.
• Thirteen lines into one: when every object is in its place, the light runs from the edge to the centre and the spirit is answered.

A rite that fails is never wasted. The Cube shows which gate held, and the game sends you back to look again at what the spirit harms.

Jingin, the good jinn, and Obsidian, the judge

You do not walk the seventy-two alone. Jingin, the good jinn, an elder in a copper robe, stands beside the altar. He says where to look: “Listen to what it harms. The answer is always hidden there.” Obsidian is the voice of the Cube. He names each spirit as it arrives and gives the verdict when the rite is done.

Win a rite and the game shows the real pieces from our shop that match it: its stone, a candle of its colour, its incense. You can keep the rite at home.

Begin with Bael Play on WhatsApp

Questions people ask

Who are the 72 spirits?

They are the spirits of the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a grimoire written down in the 17th century. Each has a number, a rank and a nature. Bael is the first; Andromalius is the seventy-second.

Who are the 72 angels?

The angels of the Shem HaMephorash, the 72-fold Name drawn from three verses of Exodus (14:19-21). Agrippa lists them in the third of his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, each with its verse from the Psalms.

Why is each spirit paired with an angel?

Each angel rules five degrees of the zodiac, a quinance, and so does each spirit. Spirit and angel share their five degrees: the angel is the answer that stands in the same place in the heavens.

Is the game free?

Yes. It plays in your browser on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install. Your progress is kept on your own device.

Sources

• The Lesser Key of Solomon, Ars Goetia (17th century).
• Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy: Book III (the 72 angels) and Book I (fumigations).
• The Golden Dawn, Book T (the decans).
• The Holy Bible, King James Version: Exodus 14:19-21 and the Psalms.
• The INFLUANCE pairing of spirit and angel, from the Increatus rituals-72.

The game’s artwork and voices were made with AI tools; Obsidian speaks in Rob Reid’s own cloned voice. Crystals, candles and incense are part of many people’s practice for reflection and intention. They are not a substitute for medical or professional advice.