Marbas; The Spirit With Cat Eyes

By James Donahue 

The old magickians said Marbas first appeared to them as a large cat . . possibly a lion.

S. L. MacGregor Mathers says Marbas is a shapeshifter that can appear as either lion or man. "He possesses knowledge of secrets, causes diseases and cures them, and has great knowledge in the mechanical arts."

The Seagrave art site suggests that the powers of Marbas allow it to alter its shape may extend to an ability to cause others around him to look different. "He also may change the shape of men by his touch so that they become as wolves or bears."

Johann Weyer in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, says Marbas also goes by the name Barbas. He is a "great president, and appeareth in the forme of a mightie lion; but at the commandement of a conjuror commeth up in the likenes of a man and answereth fullie as touching anie thing which is hidden or secret . . . "

Weyer continues on to say that Marbas brings on disease, but also cures disease. "He promoteth (wisdom) and the knowledge of mechanicall arts, or handicrafts." His talents also include changing men into "other shapes."

The concept of shapeshifting is not foreign to this writer. A few years ago, while my wife and I lived among the Navajo, Hopi and Apache Tribes of Arizona, we actually met a woman who practiced the black arts. We believe she came to visit us one windy day in that desert, while in the midst of a severe sand storm. The dogs were putting up a terrible fuss and when my wife looked out, she saw what looked like a large wolf among them. As she watched the animal ran around the house and disappeared behind an abandoned structure that was no longer in use and boarded up.

I grabbed my rifle and we went out to look. There we saw the wolf tracks still clearly imprinted in the blowing sand, but when the tracks reached the other side of the building they turned into moccasin tracks. This person had small feet, like those of a woman. The tracks led right to the wooden wall of the structure and disappeared. This person seemed to have passed through the solid wall and was hiding inside that boarded up building.

My wife suggested that I return to the house and get our camera and try to capture the prints on film. She realized that nobody was going to believe such a story as this. The sand was blowing so quickly, within minutes the prints were gone.

Since seeing evidence that some humans can do this, the story that this cat-like alien can change its form at-will is not unbelievable.

Marbas is the fifth listed Spirit Of The Goetia.