Zagan
Zagan is the sixty-first spirit catalogued in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lemegeton. He is described with the dual title of Great King and President according to the text — an uncommon hierarchical combination among the catalog's 72 spirits, most of whom hold only a single title.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-20
Historical fact
In Mathers' edition (1904), Zagan is described as initially appearing in the form of a bull with griffin's wings, later taking human shape at the operator's request according to the text. The manuscript attributes to him the power to make men witty, to turn wine into water and water into wine, blood into wine, and to convert common metals into coin of the corresponding realm — as well as, per the same description, to make fools wise.
Interpretation — Solomonic Tradition (Mathers/Crowley, 1904)
In Mathers' edition, published with commentary by Aleister Crowley, Zagan holds the catalog's sixty-first position and is described with the dual title of Great King and President, commanding 33 legions of spirits according to the text. He is one of the few spirits in the catalog to hold two hierarchical titles at once, and his documented attributes revolve around transformation — of liquids, of metals, and of human understanding itself.
Interpretation — Dr. Rudd's Tradition (manuscript, c. 1650)
The manuscript attributed to Thomas Rudd, predating Mathers' edition by roughly two and a half centuries, pairs each of the 72 spirits in the catalog — including Zagan — with a corresponding angel drawn from the Kabbalistic Shem HaMephorash system (72 divine names), as a structural restraining/governing counterpart, an element absent from Mathers' edition. The consulted sources offer no reliable confirmation of which specific angel name Rudd assigned to Zagan; the general pairing practice, however, is well documented in 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), propose that the catalog's 72 spirits be read not as external powers subordinate to a higher divine authority — the Solomonic model — but as archetypal processes of inner transformation available to the practitioner. In this reading, Zagan's dual title of Great King and President is reinterpreted as the integration of sovereign authority with applied discernment, and his powers to transmute wine into water, water into wine, and blood into wine, as well as common metals into coin, are read as metaphors for the alchemical process of converting raw internal states — illusion, confusion, unrefined impulse — into conscious understanding and lasting value. His attribute of making fools wise is interpreted as the very archetype of self-directed awakening.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Zagan hold two titles, King and President, in the Ars Goetia?
- The text does not explain the criteria for this combination; it simply attributes both titles to Zagan at once, an uncommon hierarchical overlap among the catalog's 72 spirits, most of whom hold a single title (King, Duke, Prince, Marquis, President, Earl, or Knight).
- What transformative powers does Mathers' edition attribute to Zagan?
- According to the text, Zagan can turn wine into water, water into wine, and blood into wine, convert common metals into coin of the corresponding realm, make men witty, and make fools wise.
- Is the Luciferian reading of Zagan 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).