Rank: President · Legions: 30 · Element: Earth · Direction: East · Enn: Renich tasa uberaca biasa icar Morax
Marax, written also Morax or Foraii in the older books, is the twenty-first spirit of the Ars Goetia — a great Earl and a President, who governs thirty legions of spirits. He appears in the form of a great bull with the face of a man, and his office is the office of the teacher and the scholar: he makes those who seek him very knowing in astronomy and in all the other liberal sciences, he gives good and wise familiars, and he knows the virtues of herbs and of precious stones. In Marax the seeker meets the bull-scholar of the Goetia — a spirit of learning and of the disciplined mind, whose great strength is bent toward the teaching of the sciences and the reading of the heavens. He is approached, in the reverent tradition, above all as a teacher: for knowledge of astronomy and the stars, for mastery of the liberal arts and sciences, for the gift of a wise spirit-companion, and for the hidden virtues of the natural world.
He descends to the modern practitioner through the long chain of grimoires, his name written as Marax, Morax, or Foraii. He appears among the earls and presidents of the infernal hierarchy in Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of 1577, and was carried over as the twenty-first spirit when that material was gathered into the Ars Goetia, the first book of the Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon in the seventeenth century. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley fixed the modern English text in their edition of the Goetia in 1904, and Jacques Collin de Plancy kept his memory among the spirits of his Dictionnaire Infernal. Across all of these the account holds firm: the great Earl and President, the bull with a man's face, the teacher of astronomy and the liberal sciences, the giver of good and wise familiars, and the knower of the virtues of herbs and precious stones, ruling over thirty legions of spirits. He is remembered, wherever he appears, as a spirit of learning and of the disciplined mind.
The grimoires are precise about how Marax comes: as a great bull bearing the face of a man. The image is a fitting one for a teacher, for it joins two things in a single form. The bull is the beast of great and grounded strength, of the earth and the plough, of a patient and enduring power; and the human face is the sign of reason, intellect, and the disciplined mind. Together they portray a spirit in whom earthy strength and human learning are one — the grounded, patient power of the bull turned toward the labour of the mind. It is an apt shape for the master of the sciences, for true learning is itself a kind of patient, ploughing labour, and the bull-faced-with-a-man's-reason is the very picture of strength yoked to study. To picture Marax rightly is to see this great bull with the calm, knowing face of a man — power and intellect joined.
Marax holds a double rank, unusual among the spirits: he is named both a great Earl and a President. The earldom is a title of nobility and command; the presidency is an office of presiding authority, held by spirits who govern, reveal, and teach. Together they mark him as a spirit of unusual dignity, at once a noble lord and a presiding master of knowledge, ruling over thirty legions of spirits. To call upon Marax is to come before a doubly-titled teacher — a noble and presiding master of the sciences, whose authority is bent toward learning and the disciplined mind.
The first of Marax's gifts, and the one the grimoires name first, is the teaching of astronomy — the science of the heavens, of the stars and the planets and the turning of the celestial spheres. In the old world astronomy was among the highest of studies, the reading of the great clock of the sky, and to be made very knowing in it was to be given the keys to the order of the cosmos itself. Marax is its great patron among the spirits, sought by those who would understand the heavens: the courses of the stars, the movements of the planets, the vast and ordered architecture of the night sky. His is the knowledge of the celestial, the science of the ordered heavens, and to those who seek it he opens the reading of the stars.
Beyond astronomy, Marax teaches all the other liberal sciences — the whole compass of the learned curriculum of the old world. The liberal arts and sciences were the disciplines of the free and educated mind: the arts of language and reason and the sciences of number, measure, harmony, and the heavens. To be made knowing in all of them is to be given the complete education of the scholar, the mastery of the disciplines by which the mind is ordered and the world understood. Marax is therefore a true patron of scholarship and of learning in its fullest sense — of the student, the scholar, and all who would master the disciplines of knowledge. Where a lesser spirit might grant a single art, Marax teaches the whole family of the sciences, and the disciplined mind that can hold them.
The grimoires say that Marax gives good familiars, and they add a word not always given: his familiars are wise. He provides not merely faithful spirit-companions but learned ones — familiars knowing in the sciences and the hidden virtues, fitting companions for a scholar's path. This gift sits naturally beside his teaching, for a wise familiar is itself an ongoing tutor and aid, a learned ally in the long labour of study. It marks Marax once more as a spirit of learning: even the companions he gives are chosen for their wisdom.
The last of Marax's named gifts is the wisdom of the natural world: he knows the virtues of herbs and of precious stones — the hidden powers that sleep in the green things of the earth and in its gems and minerals. This lore joins the learning of the heavens to the learning of the earth, so that Marax teaches both the far science of the stars and the near virtue of the herb and the stone. Practitioners drawn to herbalism, to the working of magic with crystals and gems, and to natural lore have long found in him a knowing teacher of the hidden virtues that the earth conceals in its living and its stony treasures.
What gathers Marax's gifts into one is the union that his very form declares: the joining of the grounded and the learned, the bull's earthy strength to the human mind. He teaches the highest science of the heavens and the near virtue of the herb; he grants the mastery of the disciplines and the patient strength to hold them; he gives even his familiars for their wisdom. In him learning is not a fragile or airy thing but a grounded and enduring mastery, rooted like the bull in the patient labour of study. It is this, more than any single science, that practitioners come to value in him — a teacher who yokes strength to knowledge, and makes of study a patient and enduring power.
Within demonolatry and the modern left-hand path, Marax is honoured as the bull-scholar of the Goetia — a great teacher of astronomy, the sciences, and the natural virtues, approached with respect and a genuine wish to learn. The reverent practitioner does not regard him as a slave to be coerced by threats, as the older exorcists' rites would have it, but as a noble and presiding master to be met with sincerity and diligence. He is widely held to be capable and patient with those who come to him honestly, and especially close to students, scholars, astronomers, herbalists, and all who would master the disciplines of knowledge. To work with Marax in this spirit is to enter a kind of apprenticeship to a great teacher — to be made knowing in the sciences of heaven and earth, and given a wise companion for the road of study.
The journey from the medieval and renaissance grimoires to the modern altar has changed how Marax is approached without much changing who he is said to be. The old rites framed every Goetic spirit as a danger to be bound within a triangle and compelled by divine names. The modern reverent practitioner, by contrast, comes to Marax with the seal, the Enn, and an honest wish to learn — most often for the study of astronomy and the sciences, for aid and mastery in scholarship, for the virtues of herbs and stones, or for a wise familiar to aid the work of study. His bull's form and man's face are understood as the sign of strength yoked to intellect. The forms have softened; the spirit described is the same great bull-scholar who has taught seekers for four centuries and more.
In contemporary demonolatry Marax is approached through his seal and his Enn — the chanted phrase Renich tasa uberaca biasa icar Morax — by which practitioners open the way to him and hold his presence near. He is called upon for the study of astronomy and the heavens, for mastery of the liberal arts and sciences and success in scholarship, for the knowledge of the virtues of herbs and precious stones, and for the gift of a good and wise familiar. Those who keep company with him describe a presence that is strong, patient, and knowing — a sense of a great bull with a calm and learned face, of a grounded strength turned toward the labour of the mind, of a patient teacher's attention. He rewards diligence, sincerity, and a genuine engagement with study, and he is, by the long testimony of the tradition, a capable and patient teacher to those who come to him ready to learn.
What endures across every telling is the grounded learning of him. Marax is knowledge made a bull: the great beast with a man's face, the teacher of the stars and the sciences, the giver of wise familiars, the knower of the virtues of herb and stone. He is strong where many spirits are subtle, patient where many are swift, and close to an old and honourable human hope — to understand the order of the heavens and the disciplines of knowledge, and to master them with a grounded and enduring strength. He asks for diligence, sincerity, and a genuine engagement with study, and to those who bring them he is, by the steady witness of the grimoires and of those who work with him still, a great Earl and President: the bull-scholar who yokes strength to knowledge, and teaches the sciences of heaven and earth.
The grimoires describe Marax as a great bull bearing the face of a man — an image that joins two things in a single form. The bull is the beast of great and grounded strength, of the earth and the plough, of a patient and enduring power; the human face is the sign of reason, intellect, and the disciplined mind. Together they portray a spirit in whom earthy strength and human learning are one, the grounded power of the bull turned toward the labour of the mind. Those who work with him today describe a presence that is strong, patient, and knowing — a sense of a great bull with a calm and learned face, of a grounded strength turned toward study, of a patient teacher's attention.
Enn: Renich tasa uberaca biasa icar Morax
Working with Marax is, at its heart, an apprenticeship to a great teacher — a bull-scholar whose gifts are the sciences of the heavens and the earth, the mastery of the disciplines, and the gift of a wise companion for the road of study. His is a grounded and patient learning, the strength of the bull yoked to the labour of the mind, and it is rightly sought with diligence and a genuine wish to learn. He comes in strength, as a great bull, and gives his learned counsel to those who meet that strength with the patient labour of study. What follows is a guide to that relationship: how to approach the Earl and President, how to learn astronomy and the sciences from him, and how to receive his wise familiars and his natural lore.
Come to Marax as you would come to a great and noble teacher — with respect, sincerity, and a genuine wish to learn. He is not a spirit to be summoned idly, for his gifts are the gifts of study and the disciplined mind, and he answers best to those who come ready to do the patient labour of learning rather than seeking knowledge without effort. Approach him with respect for his strength and his mastery, steady and diligent, neither grovelling nor presuming, and be clear about the study you would undertake. The relationship with him is built, like that between a student and a master, upon diligence and sincerity, and the earnest labour of the student he tends to meet with a teacher's patience.
Prepare a clean and quiet place where you will not be disturbed, and prepare yourself with the attentive and ready mind of a student. Many practitioners cleanse themselves and the space beforehand and set out his seal as the single focus of the working. Because his nature is bound up with the sciences and the natural world, some bring the tools of study into the working — books, instruments of astronomy, or the herbs and stones whose virtues they would learn. Settle your breathing and your mind, and bring with you a clear sense of what you seek: the science of the heavens to be studied, the art or discipline to be mastered, the virtue of a herb or stone to be understood, or the wise familiar to be sought.
Open the way to Marax by setting your attention upon his seal and reciting his Enn — Renich tasa uberaca biasa icar Morax — slowly and steadily, letting the chanted words carry your intent and call his presence near. Repeat the Enn until you feel the air of the working change: a gathering of strong and patient presence, a sense of a great and knowing teacher drawing near. Do not rush this; let his grounded, patient presence gather and settle before you bring your study before him, for the work with Marax is a work of learning, best begun with a steady and attentive mind.
To seek Marax as a teacher of astronomy and the sciences, name the study you would undertake — the heavens and the courses of the stars, or another of the liberal arts and sciences — and ask him to make you knowing in it. He teaches the disciplines of knowledge, and his teaching is best received by one already doing the work of study. Bring your books, your instruments, and your questions into the working; ask him for insight into a difficulty, for the grasp of a principle that has eluded you, for mastery of the discipline you pursue. Then return to your study and put what you are given to use, for he teaches the diligent and not the idle, and his gift takes root only in a mind that labours at its learning.
Marax teaches not a single art but the whole family of the sciences, and to seek this wider mastery, come to him as a scholar seeking not merely facts but the ordered understanding of the disciplines. Ask for the patient strength to hold and master a difficult study, for the disciplined mind that can range across the sciences, for success and clarity in scholarship. His gift is the grounded, enduring mastery of the bull yoked to the mind, and it is best sought by one willing to labour patiently and long. Bring your studies faithfully before him, and return to them with the patience he embodies.
Marax gives good and wise familiars, and to seek one, come to him having earned some measure of his favour through diligent and sincere study, and ask him for a wise spirit-companion to aid you on the road of learning. His familiars are chosen for their wisdom, fitting companions for a scholar; ask sincerely, be clear about the aid you seek, and keep faith with the companion you are given, tending the bond as you would a lasting alliance. Such a familiar, the tradition holds, is a learned ally in the long labour of study.
Marax knows the virtues of herbs and precious stones, and to seek this natural lore, name the herb, plant, or stone whose virtue you would understand, and ask him for the knowledge of its hidden powers. Bring the herbs or stones themselves into the working where you can, and join the asking to real study and practice; ask for the understanding of a plant's use or a stone's virtue, and then handle and work with them, for his teaching of the natural virtues, like all his teaching, takes root best in diligent hands. Use what you learn with care and responsibility.
Practitioners describe the signs of Marax's presence and favour in strong and steady terms fitting to a patient teacher. There may be a gathering sense of strong and patient presence, a feeling of a knowing attention turned upon the study at hand, a grounded steadiness rather than any dread. In the days that follow some report a new clarity in a difficult study, a principle suddenly grasped, a mastery settling over a discipline that had resisted, or an insight into the virtue of a herb or stone. Keep a written record of what comes during and after the working — the insights, the masteries, the turns of understanding in the following days — for his teaching, like all learning, unfolds and deepens over time.
Work with Marax honestly, diligently, and with a genuine engagement with study. Seek his teaching as one ready to do the real labour of learning, not as a shortcut around it, for he teaches the diligent and answers idleness with silence. Treat the virtues of herbs and stones with proper knowledge and care, for the powers of the natural world include the power to harm as well as to heal. Keep faith with any familiar he gives, and turn all his teaching — of the heavens, the sciences, and the natural virtues — toward good and worthy ends. Come to him always in good faith, sincere in your wish to learn and diligent in your study — for he is a great and patient teacher who answers diligence with mastery, and idleness or ill use with silence.