Bathin

Bathin is the eighteenth spirit in the Ars Goetia, a duke commanding thirty legions. He appears as a strong man with a serpent's tail riding a pale horse. His offices include knowledge of herbs and precious stones and the transportation of people from one country to another.^[1][2]

Stones, plants, and travel#

The catalogue brings knowledge of natural substances together with extraordinary movement. Herbs and stones belonged to the material vocabulary of learned magic, where properties of objects could be considered alongside celestial and spiritual influences.

Bathin's transport is described as sudden. It is a claim of the grimoire, not an account of an observed journey. The travel office can be compared with Gaap and Seere, whose entries also assign unusual powers of movement to a named spirit.^[2]

The mounted figure#

The pale horse links Bathin visually with several other mounted spirits, but the serpent's tail supplies his own distinguishing feature. The source does not give the horse an independent name or a separate biography. Artwork that supplies these details belongs to later interpretation.

Bathin's seal appears with the entry as a sign to be used within the ceremonial framework. Manuscript and printed versions can show differences in such signs, so a reproduction should retain a source attribution. For the text's own account, the conjunction of natural knowledge and travel is more central than a modern list of preferred candles or offerings.^[1]

See also#

• Gaap
• Seere
• Talismans

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.