Marax
Marax holds the 21st position in the catalog of the 72 spirits of the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the dual title of President and Earl, and in some editions of the text his name is spelled Morax.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
This spirit's name is spelled Marax in Mathers' edition (1904), but appears as Morax in related manuscripts and editions — a documented spelling variation among the different copies of the Goetic catalog. The text describes his form as that of a great bull, with the face of a man. Marax is notable for carrying the dual title of President and Earl, an uncommon rank combination among the 72 listed spirits.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, Marax is listed with the dual title of President and Earl, commanding a number of legions of spirits according to the text. He is described as having good knowledge of astronomy and the other liberal sciences, as well as knowledge of the virtues of herbs and precious stones. The tradition also attributes to him the ability to give excellent familiars, knowledgeable in the same subjects.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
The manuscript attributed to Thomas Rudd, predating Mathers' edition by roughly two and a half centuries, documents a distinct structural practice: each of the 72 spirits in the catalog is paired with a corresponding angel from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), functioning as a restraining/governing counterpart. Where the exact identity of the angel paired with a particular spirit is not firmly established in the available sources, it is more accurate to describe this pairing practice in general terms than to attribute a specific angelic name without documentary basis — a caution reinforced by Joseph Peterson's research on the Rudd manuscripts.
Interpretation — Luciferian Tradition (modern interpretation)
Modern Luciferian authors, chiefly Michael W. Ford (in works such as The Luciferian Goetia), reinterpret the Ars Goetia's 72 spirits not as external entities summoned through the authority of a higher divine power — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal masks representing currents of the practitioner's own psyche, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Marax's dominion over astronomy, the liberal sciences, and the hidden virtues of herbs and stones is reinterpreted not as knowledge granted by an external spirit, but as a symbol of the individual's own intellectual and intuitive capacity — the hybrid bull-and-man form representing the fusion of instinctive force and conscious reason, integrated as a path of inner knowledge.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Marax and Morax the same spirit?
- Yes. Marax, the form used in Mathers' edition, and Morax are spelling variants of the same name found across different manuscripts and editions of the Goetic catalog.
- Why does Marax hold two titles, President and Earl?
- Mathers' text attributes to Marax the dual rank of President and Earl, an uncommon combination among the 72 listed spirits, each of whom typically carries a single hierarchical title.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Marax 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).