Olympic Spirits
Hagith
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Origin 1575
Hagith is one of the seven Olympic spirits of the Arbatel de magia veterum, first printed in Latin at Basel in 1575 and rendered into English by Robert Turner in 1655. He is the governor set over the sphere of Venus. The Arbatel gives each Olympic spirit 196 provinces of the world and a successive age of the world lasting 490 years, a structure distinct from Dee's later Heptarchia and from the Goetic hierarchy of the Ars Goetia.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account1575 is the date of the first printing. The book itself records neither when it was written nor by whom. 1 Place of OriginSourced to the subject's own accountBasel, where the Latin text was first printed 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountPrinted anonymously. The Arbatel names no author. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountRobert Turner made the 1655 English translation by which the seven are known in English 1 LanguageSourced to the subject's own account LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Rival Systems
A Rival System's AttributionSourced to the subject's own accountAgrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy sets its own intelligence and its own spirit over the sphere of Venus, under names the Arbatel does not use 2 A Rival System's AttributionJohn Dee's Heptarchia Mystica sets King Baligon over Friday and Venus, a separate system with a separate cast of names 3 Sources
Primary SourceSourced to the subject's own accountArbatel de magia veterum, 1575, English translation by Robert Turner, 1655. 1 Attributions
Ruling PlanetSourced to the subject's own account GovernsSourced to the subject's own accountBeauty and grace; turning copper into gold and gold back into copper; faithful serving spirits; a court of four thousand legions. 1 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategorySourced to the subject's own accountA modern system making claims scholarship never entertained; it never held scholarly standing 1 Learn More
Powers and Office in the Arbatel
In the Arbatel de magia veterum, Hagith is the Olympic spirit given governance over the sphere of Venus, and the text credits her with making those who bear her character exceptionally beautiful and graceful in appearance. She is also credited with the power to convert copper into gold and gold back into copper, a transmutation the Arbatel ties specifically to her rather than treating alchemical gold making as common to all seven spirits, and with granting faithful serving spirits to those she favors.
Hagith commands a court of four thousand legions in the Arbatel's account, organized under subordinate kings appointed over each thousand at set seasons, a somewhat different structure from the layered kings, princes and dukes the text gives some of the other six spirits. Her office follows the traditional astrological association of Venus with beauty, love and adornment, consistent with the pattern the Arbatel keeps across all seven Olympic spirits of matching each one's stated powers to their planet's established character. Like the rest, her reign is counted as one of the seven successive 490 year ages the text assigns to the group as a whole. The Arbatel does not say whether the beauty attributed to those who bear Hagith's character lasts only while the character is carried or is described as a lasting change, and this entry does not resolve that ambiguity beyond noting it exists in the source.
History and Later Influence
Hagith entered English language readership through Robert Turner's 1655 translation of the Arbatel de magia veterum, first printed in Latin at Basel in 1575 and bound by Turner with his own edition of the pseudo Agrippa Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. As the only one of the seven Olympic spirits the Arbatel names as female, Hagith has drawn particular attention in later popular writing about the text, sometimes discussed alongside other Venusian or beauty associated figures from unrelated grimoire and folk traditions, a comparison this atlas does not extend beyond noting the pattern exists in secondary literature.
The Arbatel itself gives no extended account of her beyond the beauty, transmutation and service offices already described, and this entry does not add detail the source does not contain. This atlas treats Hagith as belonging to the Arbatel's own distinct seven spirit system, kept separate from John Dee's Heptarchia Mystica and the Ars Goetia, two other grimoire traditions from a similar period with their own independent casts of named spirits. Later popular writing on the Arbatel has sometimes read more into Hagith's single female presence among the seven Olympic spirits than the text itself supports, and this entry limits itself to what the Arbatel actually states about her offices.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Named as the Olympic spirit of this planetary sphere.
Attributed To
One of the seven Olympic Spirits the Arbatel assigns to the seven classical planets.
Disciplines That Use This
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.