Kimaris, as Cimeries, is also found on Anton LaVey's list of infernal names, although it is not known why LaVey chose Kimaris as one of the comparatively few Goetic daimons included. Aleister Crowley in 777 gives Kimaris the Hebrew spelling KYMAVR and attributes him to the four of disks and the third decan of Capricorn by night. KYMAVR may allude to "Khem-our" (black light), a form of Horus mentioned in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. In Sepher Sephiroth, he is listed as KYTzAVR, with a gematria of 327, although KYMAVR=277. Since Tzaddi=90, which is also Mem spelled in full, the gematric substitution may be deliberate or a blind.
In Harlean Mss. 6482, Dr. Rudd lists Cimeries as the 26th spirit made use of by King Solomon. He also attributes an angel Cimeriel to one of Dee's[?] Enochian Ensigns of Creation, the tablet of 24 mansions (see McLean, Treatise on Angel Magic). The earliest mention of Chamariel is in Rossi's Gnostic tractate (see Meyer and Smith, Ancient Christian Magic). It is probable that the earliest mention of Kimaris is also Coptic, found in the London oriental mss 6796 where the name "Akathama Chamaris" appears (Meyer and Smith). In this text, the entity in question does not appear to be evil; rather, he is addressed as a godlike helping spirit. Coincidentally (or not!) akathama turns out to be a Sanskrit term meaning "without words" or "unconditioned." Perhaps the "wordless" Chamaris is in contrast to his fallen, daimonic form, the rhetorician Kimaris.
Baskin's Dictionary of Satanism speculates that Cimeries is derived from Cimmerians, a warlike people mentioned in the works of several classical authors as dwelling totally in darkness. It is also possible that Cimeries is derived from Chimaira, the three-headed, fire-breathing lion-goat-serpent who eventually became one of the guardians of the underworld. There is a precedent, considering that the harmless Phoenix is also demonized in the Goetia. More likely, both Chimaira and Kimaris (and perhaps Cimmerian as well, although scholars of Indo-european would dispute this) derive from a Phoenician or Hebrew root KMR (kamar) meaning fire, darkness and desire. Cimeriel would then literally mean "darkness of god."
Search Encyclopedia
|
Featured Article
|