Shax is the forty-fourth spirit in the Ars Goetia, a marquis ruling thirty legions. The catalogue describes a bird with a hoarse, subtle voice. His offices include depriving people of sight, hearing, or understanding and taking money from royal houses.[1][2]
Conditions on discovery#
Shax can disclose hidden things, but the entry makes an exception for things guarded by other spirits. The qualification narrows an otherwise broad claim and links this office to the catalogue's wider inhabited world.[2]
The text also says that Shax must be placed in the triangle or he will deceive the operator. Furfur receives a similar connection between constraint and reliable speech. Both entries show how the catalogue presents its apparatus as a condition of an effective encounter.
Theft and return#
One particularly strange detail is the proposed return of stolen royal money after twelve hundred years if commanded. The timescale belongs to the spirit's literary office, where familiar human aims can be joined to durations far beyond one person's life.[1][2]
Shax is sometimes spelled Chax or Scox in related catalogues. These forms should be compared through the associated description. Raum offers another bird-like figure credited with taking treasure from a king, but his other offices and former angelic order differ. The Goetic signs likewise give the two entries distinct visual identifiers.
See also#
References
- Lemegeton, Goetia: Shax, Sloane 3825 transcription · Joseph H. Peterson edition of the historical grimoire, with manuscript readings. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
- S. L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley, The Goetia (1904), spirit 44 · Public-domain edition. Offices and appearances are statements in this catalogue. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩