THE FIERCE MARQUIS KIMARIS, also spelt Cimejes, Cimeies, or Cimeres… I have personally observed that
many of the lower-ranking daemons care very little about their titles while you are addressing them,
and Kimaris strikes me as particularly ambivalent. He is said to be a spirit of African origin, though
some believe his name also comes from the word Chimera, or even Cimmerian— While I don’t know about his
relation to the mythological Chimera, I will say he came across as definitively nomadic in both his
culture and wisdom. There was still some confusion on his origin, as he possessed knowledge of many
different kinds of sigilization, ranging from Goetic seals, to Icelandic staves and African vèvè. Perhaps
Kimaris represents some common spirit that exists in all hunter-gatherers, a broader symbol of man than
can be contained within any singular geography. Perhaps Kimaris is just so old and so far traveled that
the whole world is his home.
For Kimaris’ illustration I had wanted him to act as a sentry, keeping an eye on any ne’er-do-wells that
might cause trouble. As you can see he is well equipped for the job, comfortably scoping the premises with
a piercing gaze that misses nothing. Indeed, Kimaris is the king of the INTJ stare... I feel a sense of
security knowing that he is protecting this very website just by having him here. He is watching you, dear
reader, but he is nonplussed because he knows you won’t try anything… Right? That lance isn’t just for show,
and his trusty steed is combat ready as well. While working on this drawing Kimaris also PERSONALLY advised
that I incorporate that particular stave into the design, which some of you may recognize as the
Skelkunarstafur, a stave intended to drive fear into foes. I have never seen Kimaris’ reputed black horse
in my visionary workings with him, but I felt it was only right to provide him with this loyal mount.
When I initially met Kimaris it was during a vivid state of hypnagogia– Kimaris appeared to me as
concretely humanoid, with none of the tricks or transformations I’ve come to expect from other spirits.
Indeed he was down to earth, and firmly grounded in the human experience. I remember his face was stoic,
his features were Egyptian, and he was dusty. He and I were on an African savanna perched under a tree,
and he had been sharing a peach-like fruit with me. He would break pieces of its flesh off with his
dirty hands as we passed the fruit back and forth. The entire time his eyes were on the plains, closely
observing the wild gazelles. He had been communicating to me in such a way without words, and I silently
watched the animals with him. He provided instruction on how to hunt, pointing out small details of the
animals’ behavior, such as the way these animals were always vigilant of any potential predators as well
as their threat range. Sure enough, though the gazelles seemed relaxed and unaware, they had at least
one eye on us at all times and kept very conscious of our presence. He told me the trick to bagging one
of thesecritters was to have them comfortably underestimating your effective range, and that you would
only have one opportunity to strike them before the herd would disperse and never let you close enough
to them again.
Some time after this initial visit I had another dream of Kimaris. It was at the same savanna, by
the same tree. (Or maybe it was a different savanna under a different tree, I don’t know.) This time
he had been preparing a unique poison that he was using for hunting, a poison which he warned was
highly toxic. It looked like a tan, opaque ointment, like lard or butter– Perhaps it was some kind of
lard bound with the poisonous compound for easier application. The weapons he had been using looked like
half-length arrows with long, paddle-bladed arrowheads and thin wooden handles. Since the poison was so
dangerous to handle, he kept the poison in a vial and would only dip the blade before throwing it. He
threw them in such a way like a throwing knife, but so that they would sail forward in a half-turn
towards the target. He was quite effective with these instruments, and demonstrated that just a grazing
wound was enough to kill its prey over the course of a few hours.
I had a third vision where he visually communicated these very abstract concepts on the visual language
which sigils could be constructed with-- by pointing towards features on the landscape that illustrated
these shapes that could be found in sigils. For example, he pointed towards the horizon, and by doing
this explained that a long horizontal line can represent foundation, grounding-- or fertility, if there
are perpendicular features sprouting as if from the earth. A perpendicular line or a cross can signal
an inversion or contrast of these principles. Similarly, many sigils are pictographic in nature, the
shape of them conveying a scene, an object, or some other abstraction.
Throughout the duration of these visions, I have not heard Kimaris speak a single word, though he still
communicated all of these concepts very clearly. I also have not seen him smile once, and he maintained
the same intense gaze in my entire recollection of him. All the same, he was a patient and skillful
teacher, and very impressive to watch in action. This spirit seems to have a wealth of old world wisdom,
and I would also consider approaching him if you wish to better understand the art of sigil making– He
seems to impart a uniquely profound visual understanding of the components of sigils, staves, and vèvè
of many kinds.
