Samigina
Samigina is the fourth of the 72 spirits catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the title of Marquis. In several editions and manuscripts his name also appears spelled Gamigin — one of many spelling variations common to the catalog's names across different manuscript and printed copies.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Samigina/Gamigin is described as initially appearing in the form of a small horse or ass, changing into human shape at the operator's request per the text, and speaking with a hoarse voice. The text attributes to him the teaching of the liberal sciences and the giving of accounts of souls that died in sin, including — per the manuscript's own description — souls connected to water or the sea.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Samigina holds the catalog's fourth position and is described as a Marquis, commanding 30 legions of spirits according to the text. He is listed with the attribute of knowing and reporting the fate of souls that died in sin.
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 Samigina, 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 Samigina 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 catalog's 72 spirits be read not as external entities summoned under a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal forces internal to the practitioner, to be recognized and integrated. In this reading, Samigina's shift between animal form (horse or ass) and human form is reinterpreted as the initiate's symbolic passage between instinctual impulses and rational consciousness, and his mastery of the liberal sciences is read as the archetype of self-education and intellectual mastery as an initiatory path. His accounts of souls that died in sin, especially those tied to water, are reinterpreted as the symbolic confrontation with repressed or unconscious emotional material.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Samigina and Gamigin the same spirit?
- Yes. Samigina and Gamigin are variant spellings of the same name, found in different manuscripts and printed editions of the Ars Goetia — a spelling variation common to several of the catalog's 72 spirits.
- What form does the text attribute to Samigina?
- According to Mathers' edition, he initially appears as a small horse or ass, able to take human form at the operator's request, and speaks with a hoarse voice.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Samigina 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).