The Seventy-Two Spirits · 18

Bathin

Also recorded as Bathim

Knowing the virtues of herbs and precious stones, and transporting people swiftly between countries. [1]

Goetia 1904

Spirit profile

Rank: Duke [1]
Attributed Office: Knowing the virtues of herbs and precious stones, and transporting people swiftly between countries. [1]
Legion Count: 30 legions. [1]
Description of the Entity: A strong man with a serpent's tail, mounted on a pale-coloured animal; the translator supplies horse in brackets, while Crowley reports ass in the quartos. [1]

Illustration of Bathin — **Artistic interpretation** Bathin · Goetia 1904.

Bathin, First-edition plate 1, figure 21, attributed to Bathin — **Source reproduction** Bathin · First-edition plate 1, figure 21, attributed to Bathin.

Bathin, First-edition plate 1, figure 22, attributed to Bathin — **Source reproduction** Bathin · First-edition plate 1, figure 22, attributed to Bathin.

The earlier English account

Scot names Bathin and Mathim and explicitly gives the strong, serpent-tailed man a pale horse. The 1904 passage leaves the kind of pale mount to an editorial insertion, while Crowley’s note reports an ass in the quarto witnesses. The earlier English account therefore records a clear horse reading within this variable detail. [2][1]

The office joins knowledge of herbs and precious stones with sudden transportation from country to country. Thirty legions accompany that combination in both accounts. The serpent’s tail belongs to the rider in Scot’s description, while the pale horse is his separate mount. [2][1]

Sources and editions

The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King — entry 18: Bathin
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile supplied by Keep Silence. Shemhamphorash, numbered catalogue entry 18, Bathin; facsimile PDF page 14 (PDF index includes three preliminary plates)
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
The Discoverie of Witchcraft · Bathin
Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584); Brinsley Nicholson’s reprint of the first edition (1886), Project Gutenberg transcription. Book XV, chapter II, Bathin; 1886 reprint page 315
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10

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Spirit profile

The earlier English account

Sources and editions