18. Bathin: a duke of the Ars Goetia

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Bathin is spirit 18 of the 72 in the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a duke ruling 30 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Bathin knows the virtues of herbs and precious stones.

He is the catalog’s clearest travelling spirit, with a knowledge of plants and stones on the side. Each part below carries a label for its layer, explained in how to read a spirit page.

At a glance

The 1904 entry

Historical The full entry from the 1904 edition, with footnote numbers and the dash after the heading left out and the heading set in ordinary type:

Bathin. The Eighteenth Spirit is Bathin. He is a Mighty and Strong Duke, and appeareth like a Strong Man with the tail of a Serpent, sitting upon a Pale-coloured [Horse ?]. He knoweth the Virtues of Herbs and Precious Stones, and can transport men suddenly from one country to another. He ruleth over 30 Legions of Spirits. His Seal is this which is to be worn as aforesaid.

Bathin appears “like a Strong Man with the tail of a Serpent, sitting upon a Pale-Coloured Horse”. He knows “the Virtues of Herbs and Precious Stones” and can “transport men suddenly from one country to another”. In early modern natural magic, the “virtues” of herbs and stones were their hidden powers, studied alongside their medical uses.

Appearance

Historical Bathin “appeareth like a Strong Man with the tail of a Serpent, sitting upon a Pale-coloured [Horse?].” Mathers added “horse” in brackets because the word is missing or unclear in the manuscripts; Crowley notes that “the Quartos have ‘ass.’”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

Historical The offices of Bathin, in the order the 1904 text gives them:

• Knows the virtues of herbs and precious stones.
• Can transport men suddenly from one country to another.

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical Weyer, in Scot’s English, gives “Bathin, sometimes called Mathim,” “a great duke and a strong,” a very strong man with a serpent’s tail on a pale horse, who understands “the vertues of hearbs and pretious stones” and transfers “men suddenlie from countrie to countrie.” There are no significant differences. The 1904 rank list spells him Bathim.

Historical Weyer has “Bathym, alibi Marthim” and “equo pallido”, a pale horse. The Latin for the travel office is “cursu velocissimo”, by a most swift course, from region to region. Weyer’s version contains nothing the Goetia leaves out. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical Bathin, Bathym, Mathim and Marthim are all recorded. No meaning is known.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Bathin’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in copper, the metal of his rank. Why seals were worn, why editions draw them differently and how to study one are explained in seals, circle and triangle.

Modern The pale horse reminds many readers of the fourth horseman in Revelation 6:8. The text does not make that link, so treat it as an association, not a source.

Later tradition and modern practice

Modern Bathin’s office of transporting people has made him popular in modern writing about travel, astral projection, and safe journeys. These are modern applications. His knowledge of herbs and stones links him, in modern practice, with crystal and herbal study.

Lore about Bathin’s personality, likes or chosen people is modern, not grimoire material; modern approaches explains where such claims come from.

Beginner’s quick reference

Before you burn or handle anything listed for Bathin, read incense, plants and offerings.

Practical notes

Bathin is a duke whose offices are knowledge of herbs and stones and transport. He fits the beginner criteria for a question about the study of plants or minerals. Do not take herbs or handle stones in unsafe ways on the basis of anything received in practice. Some minerals are toxic, and some “crystal elixirs” are dangerous to drink.

In the directory, Bathin is one of the 30 spirits that fit the beginner criteria.

Try this: one question to study

Write down what “virtues of herbs and stones” meant to a sixteenth-century reader, then compare it with what you would look up today.

What next

To compare Bathin with other spirits of his rank, read Sallos and Zepar.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Bathin is the day spirit of the third decan of Virgo, which belongs to the Ten of Pentacles; the night spirit of the same decan is Murmur (spirit 54).