Sitri, the Demon of Love’s Agony: Who is He and Why Does He Fear the Image of the Mother of God?
July 30, 2026 at 3:51 pm,
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Today, I will tell you about Sitri - the twelfth spirit among the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia. Here is what Johann Weyer wrote about him in his work Pseudomonarchia Daemonum:
"Sitri, otherwise called Bitru, is a great Prince, and appeareth abroad with the face of a leopard, and he hath wings as a gryphon. When he taketh humane shape, he is exceeding beautiful. He inflameth a man with the love of a woman, and stirreth up a woman to the love of a man. Being commanded, he willingly discovereth the secrets of women, mocking them and flouting them, that they may make themselves naked. Sixty legions of spirits obey him."
I have already mentioned this spirit when describing my first experiments with him in my book, Love Magic in Different Traditions and Cultures. However, today that past experience seems far too superficial and primitive to me. That is precisely why I am writing this post, as I prepare for a new, larger-scale evocation of this undoubtedly powerful and dangerous adversary.
So, who is Sitri in reality? What constitutes his true essence, and what connects him with the other demons of the Goetic hierarchy?
To start with, just like any other demon, Sitri brings no positive outcomes in the grand scheme of things. Sitri's "love" is pure sex for the sake of sex. If a couple wants to get married, have kids, and live a long, happy life together, there is very little room for him there. That territory usually belongs to those who rule over the mindset of: "So what if there's no love? Love will come later, the main thing is to have kids and get a mortgage." But I will talk about them another time; let's get back to Sitri.
This is exactly where he first crashes hard into the Christian concept of the Mother of God. For him, She embodies the principle of "an effect without a cause" (since we are talking about the Immaculate Conception, where there is no sin). Sitri himself exists exclusively in the paradigm of "a cause without an effect" - when the sin is committed, but there is absolutely no constructive meaning or fruit born from it.
Fun fact: think about old American movies - how are prostitutes usually dressed there? Leopard print shows up in their wardrobe way too often, and that is not just a random coincidence with the Goetic demon's appearance. He literally runs this trade. Prostitution is the textbook definition of "sex without constructive effects" (after all, you definitely can't call STDs a constructive outcome).
What does a person under Sitri's influence actually feel?
But that was just scratching the surface. What does a person possessed by this spirit actually feel? How can his power be used in love magic services? And most importantly - how do you control Sitri so you don't end up as his slave?
"I will do whatever you want" - is the shortest and most accurate description of his influence. Deep down in a person's soul, a subtle bait-and-switch happens: true love gets replaced by a pathological urge to please the partner. At first glance, wanting to make someone "happy" and loving them seem like almost the same thing. But it’s an illusion. Have you ever heard of cases where a guy buys a woman a car, even though he knows damn well she doesn't really love him, and might even use it to drive over to her lover's place? What drives a person to make such "wise moves"? Sitri does.
His power messes with your head so badly that the victim doesn't even realize there are no genuine feelings left. A person becomes so obsessed with pleasing their object of affection that they completely stop listening to themselves. I remember Zemfira’s cult song “Khochesh?” (Do You Want To?) If we will check the year it came out, and remember what the singer was going through in her personal life back then, and with whom - that can be a textbook case of Sitri’s influence.
The Key to Control: The Icon of the Mother of God
However, even in this case, the best antidote to Sitri is the Icon of the Mother of God. While the demon fixes a person on the mindset of "I will do whatever the conjurer wants," the Mother of God declares: "I will do only what God wants."
Right here lies the key to taming Sitri. To avoid falling under his spell - or the influence of most other demons - a person must constantly seek God's will. Questions like "What does God want from me?" and "What should I be doing for God?" serve as the most reliable shield against falling into the slavery of demonic passions or the manipulation of others.
That is exactly why on the back of Sitri's lamen, I engraved the symbols and the cross of the Mother of God, rather than just the sigil of the Shem Ha-Mephorash angel who opposes this demon.