Sabnock
Sabnock is the 43rd of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Marquis according to the text. In some editions and manuscripts his name also appears spelled Savnok — one of the spelling variations common to the catalog's names.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Sabnock is described as appearing in the form of an armed soldier with a lion's head, riding upon a pale-colored horse. The text attributes to him the building of high towers, castles, and cities, furnished with weapons and armaments. He is also described, per the manuscript, as able to afflict people with wounds and rotting sores full of worms for several days — a documentary description of the text's attributed traits, not an indication of use.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Sabnock holds the catalog's 43rd position and is described as a Marquis, commanding 50 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attributes of building towers, castles, and fortified cities, afflicting people with wounds as narrated in the manuscript, and giving good familiar spirits.
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 Sabnock, 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 Sabnock 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), 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, to be understood and integrated in service of self-deification. In this reading, Sabnock's attributed capacity to build towers, castles, and fortified cities is reinterpreted as a symbol of constructing inner psychic structures of defense and autonomy, while the wounds and sores the text attributes to him represent the necessary confrontation with what wounds and corrodes before healing or transformation can occur.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What form does the text attribute to Sabnock?
- According to Mathers' edition, Sabnock appears in the form of an armed soldier with a lion's head, riding upon a pale-colored horse.
- Are Sabnock and Savnok the same spirit?
- Yes. Savnok is a variant spelling of the same name, found in different manuscripts and printed editions of the Ars Goetia.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Sabnock 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).