“A bull with the face of a man, teacher of the stones and the herbs.”
The Spirit
Marax — also called Morax or Foraii in variant manuscripts — is the twenty-first spirit of the Ars Goetia, described in the tradition as both a Great Earl and a President, a doubling of rank not uncommon among the middle spirits of the Lesser Key. The grimoire portrays him as a great bull bearing the face of a man, a chimeric form that pairs bovine strength with human intellect. This union of beast and reasoning countenance suits a spirit whose offices are largely those of teaching and instruction in the hidden lore of the natural world.
The bull was a symbol of both power and learning in the older iconographies from which the grimoire drew, and Marax stands among the several Goetic spirits who bridge the animal and the scholarly.
Office
According to the Goetia, Marax makes men wonderfully knowing in astronomy and in all the liberal sciences, imparting a scholar’s command of the heavens and the arts. He gives good and wise familiars who understand the virtues of herbs and of precious stones, extending the operator’s knowledge into the properties of the natural creation. He is thus a spirit sought for erudition rather than for the passions or the workings of fortune.
Attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Number | 21 |
| Rank | Great Earl and President |
| Legions | 30 (some sources give 36) |
| Appearance | A great bull with a man’s face |