#61 · King & President
Zagan
The 61st of the seventy-two, a king and president. Makes men witty. In the language of this path, Zagan is a shadow pole — worked only with its angel, Umabel.
| Rank | King & President |
| Number | 61 of the 72 |
| Legions | 33 |
| Direction | North (modern attribution, varies by source). |
| Also called | Zagam · Zagan |
| Angel (light pole) | Umabel — Shem #61 |
What the grimoires say
In the 1904 Goetia, Zagan is a King & President governing 33 legions. Makes men witty; turns water to wine, metals to coin; makes fools wise.
The 1904 Goetia gives a king-and-president who first appears as a bull with gryphon's wings, then takes on human shape. Weyer's earlier text gives the same winged-bull form. (My own summary; no Le Breton engraving of Zagan exists.)
“The Sixty-first Spirit is Zagan. He is a Great King and President, appearing at first in the Form of a Bull with Gryphon's Wings; but after a while he putteth on Human Shape. He maketh Men Witty. He can turn Wine into Water, and Water into Wine; also Blood into Wine, and Wine into Blood, and Fools Wise. He can turn all Metals into Coin of the Dominion that Metal is of. He governeth over 33 Legions of Spirits.”— Mathers & Crowley, The Goetia (1904), public domain
The shadow it carries
Stripped to the bone, Zagan's traditional office turns on transformation and alchemy — turning one substance or state into another (wine/water, metals into coin). 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 Umabel; met together, behind protection, Zagan 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tarot | 5 of Swords (Rudd / modern goetic table, matching Aquarius decan); 8 of Wands in the Golden Dawn scheme | modern — two competing systems |
| Zodiac/decan | Aquarius 0–5° (Joy of Satan quinance); Sagittarius 0–10° (Golden Dawn/Rudd table) | modern — systems disagree |
| Planet | Saturn/Uranus (Joy of Satan, Aquarius rulers); Sun/Mercury (Golden Dawn table) | modern — varies by source |
| Day | Saturday (from Saturn attribution) | modern — derived from planetary ruler |
| Element | Air (Joy of Satan, Aquarius); Water/Earth (Golden Dawn table) | modern — varies by source |
| Metal | Lead (Joy of Satan); Gold/quicksilver (Golden Dawn table) | modern — varies by source |
| Candle colour | White (Joy of Satan); Yellow/Orange (Golden Dawn table) | modern — varies by source |
| Incense | Frankincense / Storax | modern correspondence table |
| Plant | Hyssop | modern (Joy of Satan) |
| Date-window | Jan 20–24 (Joy of Satan quinance); Nov 23–Dec 2 (Golden Dawn/Rudd table) | modern — systems disagree |
| Animal | Bull, gryphon (from the grimoire form) | traditional / grimoire |
Its modern Enn — a chant from the Demonolatry current, not found in any grimoire:
“Anay on ca secore Zagan tasa" — MODERN”
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 white candle, a saturday, 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 Zagan with wit, cleverness and quick understanding; making the foolish wise, reversals of circumstance and financial situations; changing the value of a thing. 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 fool and the sage share one road. Only patience tells them apart.”