Sigil of Decarabia
At a glance
- Entry
- 69 of 72
- Rank
- Marquis
- Legions
- 30 in the text
Description in the text
Decarabia is credited with explaining the properties of birds and precious stones. The passage also says he can cause bird-like forms to appear, sing, and drink as living birds do.
Read entry 69 on page 44 of the 1916 edition
Appearance
A star within a pentacle, later taking human form.
Topics attributed to this entry
- Birds
- Gemstones
- Appearances
Reading this entry
Decarabia first appears as a star inside a pentacle, then assumes human shape. That initial figure is a described appearance in the passage; it should not be confused with the separate seal printed for the entry. The marquis is credited with revealing the properties of birds and precious stones. He can also produce likenesses of birds that fly, sing, and drink like living ones.
The text calls them similitudes, leaving their exact nature unspecified. It does not say they are identified species, physical birds, or a method of ornithological study. Decarabia commands 30 legions and has a seal. The distinction between star-form appearance, birdlike simulacra, and the historical graphic seal helps avoid a common collapse of three different visual ideas into a single “sigil.”
Read entry 69 on page 44 of the 1916 edition or compare the 1904 transcription.
A closer reading of entry 69
What the numbered text says
Decarabia is unusual because its first form is already a sign, a star within a pentacle, before it assumes a human image. That described star should not automatically be equated with the separately reproduced seal. The attributed office concerns birds and precious stones: their virtues are discussed, and birdlike likenesses are said to fly, sing, and drink as natural birds do. The source describes similitudes rather than clearly stating that actual birds are created. Its rank appears at the end of the passage, after the 30-legion count.
About the printed seal
Seal 69 comes from the fifth frontispiece. The written star-in-pentacle appearance and the numbered printed seal are distinct objects unless an edition explicitly equates them. This witness does not: Seal 69 is the plate’s numbered emblem, separate from the star-form body described in prose.
Compare another entry
Compare entry 65: Andrealphus. Andrealphus also uses bird imagery, first as its own peacock form and later in a human transformation claim. Decarabia begins as a star and makes bird similitudes. The two entries use birds in three different grammatical roles.