A wolf with a gryphon’s wings and serpent’s tail, breathing flames. This chimeric hybrid fuses three distinct animal natures—the canine cunning and pack‑instinct of the wolf, the raptorial air‑dominion of the gryphon, and the chthonic, regenerative power of the serpent—into a single fiery image. The composite creature does not appear in classical mythology under a fixed name, but its elements recur in medieval bestiaries and in the alchemical Wundergeburt tradition, where mixed beasts signify the union of opposing elemental forces.

Position on the Tree of Life

This image occupies Path 29, the twenty‑ninth step of the Qabalistic Tree, connecting the sephiroth Hod (Splendour, Mercury) and Netzach (Victory, Venus). The path is attributed to the Hebrew letter Qoph (ף), whose zodiacal association is Pisces. As a “Magical Image” on this path, the winged wolf–serpent functions as a visual glyph for the transformative, often turbulent energy that flows between intellectual discipline and emotional desire.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

The path of Qoph is ruled by Pisces (water, mutable, dream‑infused) and by the planetary influence of Neptune in modern systems—or, in older Qabalistic frameworks, by the moon via Pisces’ watery nature. The serpent’s tail anchors the image in watery depths; the gryphon’s wings lift it into air; the flame‑breath injects a spark of fire. No earth element appears, marking this beast as pure volatile spirit, capable of dissolving boundaries between spheres.

Historical Context

The wolf‑gryphon‑serpent hybrid has no single canonical source, but each component draws from deep strata of iconography.

• Wolf: In Norse and Roman tradition, the wolf is both the devourer (Fenrir) and the nurse (the she‑wolf of Rome). In alchemy, the lupus metallorum is a voracious solvent that consumes base metals.
• Gryphon’s wings: The gryphon (griffin) is a guardian of treasure and solar power, combining lion‑body with eagle‑head and wings. By giving the wolf gryphon‑wings, the image absorbs the gryphon’s solar, aerial watchfulness; the wolf is no longer earthbound but becomes a creature of two spheres.
• Serpent’s tail: The serpent or dragon‑tail (ophidian) is the oldest symbol of cyclic renewal, underworld wisdom, and the coiled kundalini energy. In medieval bestiaries, a tail ending in a serpent’s head often appears on hybrids that guard thresholds (e.g., the basilisk, amphisbaena).
• Breathes flames: Fire‑breathing is standard for dragons but rare for wolves. The detail likely derives from the chimera of Greek myth (lion‑head, goat‑body, serpent‑tail, fire‑breath) or from the salamander of alchemical flame. Here the flame signifies the alchemical ignis noster—the secret fire that purifies and volatilises.

Medieval grimoires such as the Munich Manual of Demonic Magic and the Clavicula Salomonis list composite animal forms as “spirits of the path of Qoph,” often described as “a wolf with wings, having a serpent for a tail and breathing fire.” Arabic texts on talismanic magic (e.g., the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, the Picatrix) include similar beings under the lunar mansions associated with transformation and illusion.

No single ancient sculpture or illumination exactly matches this description, but illuminated bestiaries from the 12th‑13th centuries (e.g., the Aberdeen Bestiary, the Rochester Bestiary) show wolf‑like monsters with feathered pinions and serpentine tails, labelled crocotta or leucrotta—hybrids born of corrupted generation. The flame‑breath may be a later alchemical addition, crystallised in Renaissance emblem books where the creature symbolises the volatile Azoth—the universal solvent.

Role in Liber 777

In the “Magical Images” column of column CLVII at step 29, this beast stands as the sole visual focus. It is neither a named demon nor an angel, but a raw magical image intended for path‑working: the practitioner visualises the wolf‑gryphon‑serpent to gain passage across the turbulent stream of Qoph, harnessing its fire to burn away illusion and its wings to ascend from the depths of Piscean dream to the clarity of Hod.