Ghob

Ghob is the elemental King of Earth, one of the four ruling spirits of the classical elements in Western ceremonial magic. His name likely derives from the Hebrew gebiyah ("a hollow" or "container"), referencing earth as the vessel that receives and shapes spirit, or from a corruption of the Persian-Kabbalistic Gob — the name for a type of earth spirit. He is typically depicted as a dark, heavy presence, manifesting in the north as a moving light or as a figure riding a serpent, crowned with a diadem of jet and dressed in a garment of moss and lichen.

Position on the Tree of Life

In the schema of Liber 777, Ghob corresponds to scale step 32 bis — the quasi-path linking Malkuth to Tiphareth via the elemental perspective of earth. This placement echoes the formula of the four elemental Kings (Paralda, Niksa, Djin, Ghob) who rule over the lesser spirits stationed at the foot of the Tree, and who mediate between the fixed stars and the material world. Ghob specifically commands the gnomes, the spirits of earth, and governs all substances of density and growth.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

Ghob is associated with the pentacle of the north and with the zodiacal triplicity of the earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn). His planetary counterpart is the sphere of Saturn, in its most formative and crystallizing aspect, but he also partakes of the nocturnal light of the Moon in her earthy exaltation. In the heptarchic systems of the Ars Goetia, Ghob is sometimes conflated with the spirit Buer or with the earth-governing angel of the northern quarter.

Historical Context

The figure of Ghob emerges from the grimoire tradition of the Renaissance, most explicitly in the De Occulta Philosophia of Cornelius Agrippa (1533), who transmitted the names of the four elemental Kings from Arabic and Hermetic sources. Agrippa lists Ghob (often spelled "Gob" or "Ghob") as the King of the Spirits of Earth, who appears in the form of a great black serpent or a toad with human eyes. The Greater Key of Solomon places him among the four chief governors of the elemental world, to be invoked when the magician seeks to pacify earthquakes, open buried treasures, or solidify a circle against hostile shades.

Later occultists of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn refined Ghob's function. S.L. MacGregor Mathers, in his edition of the Greater Key, identified Ghob with the Hebrew letter Heh in its final, earthy form — the letter that closes the Tetragrammaton and seals spirit into matter. In the Enochian system of John Dee, Ghob finds a rough parallel in the King of the Table of Earth, though the names differ. The Golden Dawn hierarchy integrated Ghob as the commander of the gnomes under the archangel Uriel, assigning him to the watchtower of the north in the casting of the Elemental Circle.

In Liber 777

In Crowley's Liber 777, Ghob is entered at row 32 bis under the column "Kings of the Elemental Spirits." He is one of four Kings — alongside Paralda, Niksa, and Djin — who rule the minor elementals. His own line lists no other correspondences in this table row, as the four Kings are each distinct entries; but his presence at step 32 bis ties him to the formula of Tiphareth (the solar self) manifested through the earth element, a current of stability and incarnation that the initiate must master before ascending beyond the material.