43. Sabnock: a marquis 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.

Sabnock is number 43 in the catalog of 72 spirits that opens the Lesser Key of Solomon. The 1904 edition by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley calls him a marquis ruling 50 legions, and the first office it gives him is this: Sabnock builds high towers, castles, and cities, and furnishes them with armor.

He is the catalog’s master of fortification, and his entry mirrors Vepar’s harm in the language of the battlefield. 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:

Sabnock. The Forty-third Spirit, as King Solomon commanded them into the Vessel of Brass, is called Sabnock, or Savnok. He is a Marquis, Mighty, Great and Strong, appearing in the Form of an Armed Soldier with a Lion’s Head, riding on a pale-coloured horse. His office is to build high Towers, Castles and Cities, and to furnish them with Armour, etc. Also he can afflict Men for many days with Wounds and with Sores rotten and full of Worms. He giveth Good Familiars at the request of the Exorcist. He commandeth 50 Legions of Spirits; and his Seal is this, etc.

Sabnock is “an Armed Soldier with a Lion’s Head, riding on a pale-coloured horse”. His office is “to build high Towers, Castles and Cities, and to furnish them with Armour”, and also to “afflict Men for many days with Wounds and with Sores rotten and full of Worms”. He gives “Good Familiars”. His entry is the only one to say that his number follows the order in which “King Solomon commanded them into the Vessel of Brass”.

Appearance

Historical Sabnock appears “in the Form of an Armed Soldier with a Lion’s Head, riding on a pale-coloured horse.” The entry calls him the 43rd “as King Solomon commanded them into the Vessel of Brass.”

Offices in the Ars Goetia

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

• Builds high towers, castles, and cities, and furnishes them with armor.
• Can afflict men for many days “with Wounds and with Sores rotten and full of Worms.” Reported as history; not taught here.
• Gives good familiars at the magician’s request.

He commands 50 legions.

Source comparison: Weyer and Scot

Historical Weyer, in Scot’s English, gives “Sabnacke, alias Salmac,” “a great marquesse and a strong,” as an armed soldier with a lion’s head on a pale horse, who “dooth marvelouslie change mans forme and favor,” builds high towers and cities, and “inflicteth men thirtie daies with wounds both rotten and full of maggots.”

Weyer has thirty days, the Goetia “many days.” The Goetia drops the change of form. Both give 50 legions.

Historical In Weyer’s Latin the change of form comes first, “Hominis formam transmutat mirè”, and the wounds are inflicted only “ex mandato exorcistæ”, at the exorcist’s command, a condition the Goetia leaves out. He commands “quinquaginta legionum”, fifty legions, the same as the Goetia. (About Weyer and Scot.)

Name and etymology

Historical Weyer gives “Sabnac, aliàs Salmac”, Scot “Sabnacke”, and the 1904 text Sabnock or Savnok. No meaning is known.

Seal and images

Historical The seal above is Sabnock’s as printed in 1904, and by the rules of the Observations it would be made in silver, 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.

Later tradition and modern practice

Modern Some modern writers present Sabnock as a spirit of fortification and protection, following his building office.

Lore about Sabnock’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 Sabnock, read incense, plants and offerings.

Practical notes

Sabnock’s offices include inflicting festering wounds. He falls outside the beginner criteria, and I do not teach that office.

In the directory, Sabnock is not among the 30 spirits that fit the beginner criteria.

Try this: one question to study

List every spirit in the catalog with a building office (Halphas, Malphas and Sabnock among them) and note which of them also have an office of harm.

What next

To compare Sabnock with other spirits of his rank, read Shax and Phenex.

Later tradition In the Golden Dawn scheme of the decans, Sabnock is the night spirit of the first decan of Gemini, which belongs to the Eight of Swords; the day spirit of the same decan is Amon (spirit 7).