Murmur is the fifty-fourth spirit in the Ars Goetia, holding the titles duke and earl and ruling thirty legions. He appears as a soldier riding a griffin, wearing a ducal crown. Two attendants with trumpets precede him.[1][2]

Philosophy and the dead#

Murmur teaches philosophy and brings deceased souls before the operator to answer questions. The text presents the latter as a constrained appearance, placing necromantic inquiry inside the same commanding framework used for the catalogue's other spirits.[2]

This office differs from Bifrons's movement of bodies and Bune's gathering at sepulchers. All three concern the dead, but each description specifies a different relationship to bodies, burial places, or souls.

Crown and trumpets#

The procession expresses Murmur's rank through sound and dress. Trumpets also announce Goetic kings such as Purson, but Murmur's two attendants and griffin mount supply his particular appearance. The catalogue remembers him as partly belonging to Thrones and partly to Angels.[1]

Murmus and Murmux are among the variants recorded in editions. A reproduction of the seal or a historical engraving should identify which witness it follows. The grimoire gives a mounted teacher and a role in questioning the dead; it does not supply a general modern theology of death or an account of every being described as a necromantic spirit.

See also#

References

  1. Lemegeton, Goetia: Murmur, Sloane 3825 transcription · Joseph H. Peterson edition of the historical grimoire, with manuscript readings. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  2. S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, The Goetia (1904), spirit 54 · Public-domain edition. Offices and appearances are statements in this catalogue. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
goetiagrimoiresdemonologymurmur

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