Bathin
Bathin is the eighteenth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Duke, appearing according to the text as a strong man with the tail of a serpent, seated upon a pale-colored horse.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
The name Bathin also appears in earlier demonological catalogs, such as Johann Weyer's 1577 Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, as Mathim (or Bathym), a documented precursor text that scholars trace as a source for portions of the Ars Goetia catalog. In Mathers' edition (1904), Bathin is described as a mighty and strong Duke who appears in the form of a strong man with the tail of a serpent, seated upon a pale-colored horse.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Bathin holds the eighteenth position in the catalog and is described as a Duke, commanding 30 legions of spirits according to the text. The source attributes to him knowledge of the virtues of herbs and of precious stones, and the ability to transport men suddenly from one country to another — attributes the text frames as knowledge of natural properties and swift movement across distance.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
Thomas Rudd's manuscript, predating Mathers' 1904 edition by roughly two and a half centuries, documents a related but distinct version of the catalog in which each of the 72 spirits — Bathin included — is paired with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), functioning as a structural restraining counterpart absent from Mathers' edition. The specific angelic correspondence assigned to each entry in Rudd's tradition has been documented through the research of scholars such as Joseph Peterson, whose editions catalog the Rudd manuscripts' pairings in detail.
Interpretation — Luciferian Tradition (modern interpretation)
Modern Luciferian authors, chiefly Michael W. Ford (in works such as The Luciferian Goetia), reinterpret the 72 spirits not as external entities to be commanded by invoking a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal masks or psychological currents representing aspects of the practitioner's own consciousness, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Bathin's knowledge of the virtues of herbs and precious stones is reframed as the practitioner's inner mastery over their own natural and intuitive faculties, while his ability to transport men suddenly from one country to another is read as a symbol of rapid transition between states of consciousness — the archetype's capacity to shift one's own perspective or identity unbound by ordinary time and space.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Bathin related to the figure called Mathim?
- Mathim (also rendered Bathym) is the name used for the same entry in Johann Weyer's 1577 Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, a demonological catalog that predates and is documented as a source for portions of the Ars Goetia; the sources treat it as an alternate name rather than a separate figure.
- Do Mathers' edition and Dr. Rudd's manuscript describe Bathin the same way?
- In a related but not identical way. Rudd's manuscript, predating Mathers' edition, adds a corresponding angel to each spirit — a layer of Kabbalistic correspondence absent from the better-known Mathers/Crowley version.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Bathin as old as the Mathers and Rudd traditions?
- No. It's a modern interpretation, developed mainly from the 2000s onward by Luciferian authors such as Michael W. Ford, who reframe the Ars Goetia's spirits as psychological archetypes for self-development — a contemporary symbolic reading, not a historical manuscript like Mathers' or Rudd's.
Sources
- S. L. MacGregor Mathers (trans.), Aleister Crowley (ed.). The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (1904).
- Joseph H. Peterson (ed.). The Lesser Key of Solomon (2001).
- Thomas Rudd (manuscript), ed. Adam McLean. Dr. Rudd's Treatise on Angel Magic (c. 1650 (2007 ed.)).
- Michael W. Ford. The Luciferian Goetia (2007).