Sathariel
“The Concealers” · “Those Who Hide”
Shadow of Binah · Ruled by Lucifuge Rofocale
Binah, “Understanding,” is the great mother of the kabbalistic tree. If Chokmah is the instantaneous flash of wisdom, then Binah is the force that receives that flash and gives it form: she limits it, defines it, unfolds it in time. Binah is the matrix in which potential becomes concrete. Her names are Ama and Aima, the dark and the bright mother, and she holds within herself both birth and death, for that which takes form must one day lose it.
Sathariel is concealment. Where Binah gives understanding form and renders it knowable, Sathariel wraps it in an impenetrable veil. This has nothing to do with ignorance. It is the active hiding of what could have been understood, since the knowledge exists even while access to it stays sealed.
Correspondences
| Hebrew name | סָתָרִיאֵל |
| Translation | The Concealers; Those Who Hide |
| Shadow of | Binah (Understanding) |
| Ruling demon | Lucifuge Rofocale |
| Number | 3 as the absence of form |
| Quality | Concealment, opacity, the darkness of understanding |
The nature of Sathariel
Lucifuge Rofocale, a name whose first half means “the one who flees the light” (Lat. lucem fugiens), is one of the most enigmatic demonic figures of the Grand Grimoire. His connection with Sathariel is natural, since both represent avoidance, not the destruction of light. The light is there. It has not been extinguished; only no one can reach it.
In the wider context of the Dark Tree, Sathariel occupies the place of the Supernal Mother, the force that ought to have preserved and transmitted understanding down the tree. When Sathariel takes that place instead, the transmission breaks, and the lower Sephiroth, together with their dark counterparts, remain cut off from the source of meaning. This makes Sathariel one of the most fundamental Qliphoth: it tears the very channel of understanding, not merely a single quality.
The demonic ruler
Lucifuge Rofocale: the first half of the name is Latin (lucifugus, “shunning the light”), while “Rofocale” has no clear etymology; it is read as a rearrangement of the letters of the Goetic Focalor. His chief source is the Grand Grimoire (XVIII century), where he is described as the first minister of Lucifer, in charge of all earthly riches. This is no accident, since whatever is hidden underground (ores, roots, the dead) falls under his domain. In the ritual instructions of the Grand Grimoire, Lucifuge is the only one among the higher demons who does not appear at the first summons; he flees the conjurer until forced by the blasting rod (verge foudroyante) and the reinforced conjuration. His whole essence is flight and avoidance. → See the catalogue of rulers