Murmur
Murmur is the 54th of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the dual title of Duke and Earl according to the text — one of the few entries in the catalog to combine two simultaneous hierarchical classifications. In different manuscripts and editions his name also appears spelled Murmus or Murmuur.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Murmur is described as appearing in the form of a warrior riding upon a griffin, with a ducal crown upon his head, preceded by two ministers sounding great trumpets according to the text. The manuscript attributes to him the perfect teaching of Philosophy and the ability to constrain the souls of the deceased to appear before the operator to answer questions, per the text's own description — a documentary characterization of what the manuscript narrates, not usage instruction.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Murmur holds the catalog's 54th position and is described with the dual title of Duke and Earl, commanding 30 legions of spirits according to the text. The manuscript records that he belonged partly to the order of Thrones and partly to the order of Angels before his fall.
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 related but distinct version of the catalog — in it, each of the 72 spirits, including Murmur, is paired with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), a restraining/governing structural element absent from Mathers' edition. No reliable record of the specific angel name Rudd's manuscript assigns to Murmur was found among the sources consulted for this entry; the general pairing practice is documented by researchers such as Joseph Peterson.
Interpretation — Luciferian Tradition (modern interpretation)
Modern Luciferian authors, chiefly Michael W. Ford (in works such as The Luciferian Goetia), propose that the Ars Goetia's 72 spirits be read not as external entities subordinate to a higher divine authority but as archetypal masks of aspects of the practitioner's own psyche, integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Murmur's dual title — Duke and Earl — is reinterpreted as the archetype of two complementary natures integrated into a single sovereign will, much as his mount, the griffin, unites in a single body the lion's instinct and the eagle's elevated vision; his perfect teaching of Philosophy symbolizes the constant pursuit of self-knowledge, while his text-described ability to constrain the souls of the deceased to appear and answer is read symbolically as the initiate's confrontation with his own past, with his psychic ancestors, and with the hidden knowledge residing in the shadow — not as any actual ritual practice.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Murmur hold two titles, Duke and Earl?
- Mathers' text simultaneously attributes to Murmur the titles of Duke and Earl, one of the few entries in the Ars Goetia catalog to combine two hierarchical classifications in the same description, without detailing the reason for this dual title.
- What office does the text attribute to Murmur?
- According to Mathers' edition, Murmur teaches Philosophy perfectly and constrains the souls of the deceased to appear before the operator to answer questions — a documentary description of the text, not usage instruction.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Murmur 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).