#5 · President
Marbas
The 5th of the seventy-two, a president. Answers of hidden things. In the language of this path, Marbas is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Mahasiah.
| Rank | President |
| Number | 5 of the 72 |
| Legions | 36 |
| Direction | South |
| Also called | Marbas · Barbas · Margas |
| Angel (light pole) | Mahasiah — Shem #5 |
What the grimoires say
In the 1904 Goetia, Marbas is a President governing 36 legions. Answers of hidden things; causes and cures disease; changes shapes.
First manifests as a great lion, then at the operator's request takes on human form.
“The Fifth Spirit is Marbas. He is a Great President, and appeareth at first in the form of a Great Lion, but afterwards, at the request of the Master, he putteth on Human Shape. He answereth truly of things Hidden or Secret. He causeth Diseases and cureth them. Again, he giveth great Wisdom and Knowledge in Mechanical Arts; and can change men into other shapes. He governeth 36 Legions of Spirits. And his Seal is this, which is to be worn as aforesaid.”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain
The shadow it carries
Stripped to the bone, Marbas's traditional office turns on revealing hidden or secret matters and giving truthful answers to concealed questions. Read plainly, that is a real human force; in the language of this path its raw, unowned form is a shadow pole. Its shadow is what that force does when it runs you from the dark; its gold is the same force — seen, owned, governed.
You never reach for it alone. Its light pole is the angel Mahasiah; met together, behind protection, Marbas becomes a disowned part of yourself approached while the light is already in the room.
Correspondences
A word of honesty first: almost none of the table below is from the old grimoires. The rank, legions, direction and office are traditional; the planet, day, colour, tarot, incense and the Enn are modern attributions (mostly 20th–21st-century Demonolatry and correspondence compilations), and the sources openly disagree. Use them as a working frame, not as law.
| Correspondence | Value | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Rank / Office | Great President; governs 36 legions of spirits | Primary source — 1904 Mathers/Crowley Goetia; consistent with Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1577) and de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal (1863) |
| Zodiac / Decan | Aries 20 to 25 degrees (5th quinance; third decan of Aries) | Modern — Golden Dawn / Crowley (Liber 777) quinance mapping beginning at 0 degrees Aries |
| Tarot | Four of Wands (third decan of Aries) | Modern — Golden Dawn decan-to-minor-arcana attribution |
| Planet | Venus (Chaldean/Golden Dawn ruler of 20 to 30 degrees Aries); some modern sources instead cite the Sun via the lion imagery | Modern — astrological decan rulership; not in the primary sources |
| Day | Friday | Modern — extrapolated from the Venus decan attribution |
| Element | Fire | Modern — from the Aries (fire sign) attribution |
| Metal | Copper | Modern — from the Venus attribution |
| Candle colour | Green or gold (sources vary widely) | Modern — ceremonial/Demonolatry practice; inconsistent between sources, no traditional basis |
| Incense | Frankincense (also dragon's blood in some lists) | Modern — ceremonial/Demonolatry practice; no traditional basis |
| Plant | Various solar/Aries herbs are cited (e.g. bay/laurel); not standardized | Modern — ceremonial practice; inconsistent between sources |
| Animal | Lion | Primary source — the grimoires describe Marbas appearing as a great lion |
| Date-window | Approximately 10 to 14 April | Modern — corresponds to the 20 to 25 degrees Aries quinance in the Shem ha-Mephorash calendar scheme |
Its modern Enn — a chant from the Demonolatry current, not found in any grimoire:
“Renich Tasa Uberaca Biasa Icar Marbas”
Making a connection
Gathered from what practitioners report, put plainly — a starting point, not a rule:
- Sit with the seal above as the first meeting-place: trace it, hold it in the mind’s eye, and let impressions arrive without grabbing at them.
- Set a gentle frame. Keep it simple — a green or gold candle, a friday, a little incense, a moment of quiet. If you work the Demonolatry current, chant the Enn softly — more like settling than commanding.
- Bring the real theme. Practitioners associate Marbas with health and illness: traditionally associated with both causing and curing disease (invoked in practice for healing), gaining wisdom and practical skill in mechanical and technical arts and crafts. Name what you actually want, and ask — don’t demand.
- Journal before and after, and treat everything as your own experience, not fixed doctrine.
Rank, legions, direction and office are from the public-domain grimoires (Weyer 1577; Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia, 1904). Images are public domain: the 1904 seal. The Enn and the planet/day/colour/tarot correspondences are modern attributions (Demonolatry and compilations), flagged as such; sources disagree, and no copyrighted description or artwork is reproduced. Angel pairing per the Rudd tradition. Take the technique, never the tribe.
“The hand that opens a wound is the one that knows how to close it.”