The Lion-Horse with Serpent’s Tail

This is a composite magical image combining a lion’s head and torso, the body and legs of a horse, a serpent for a tail, and two additional serpents held in the right hand. The figure represents a synthesis of solar, martial, and chthonic powers: the lion’s solar ferocity, the horse’s swiftness and stamina in motion, and the serpent’s wisdom, regenerative force, and underworld connection. The two hissing serpents in the right hand are active agents of controlled force—magical current directed through will.

Position on the Tree of Life

This image corresponds to Path 22 of the Tree of Life (the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Tau, value 400), which connects Malkuth (the Kingdom) to Yesod (the Foundation). Tau is the final letter, linked to Saturn and the element of Earth in its most dense manifestation. This path governs the threshold between the material world and the astral realm; the serpent elements here indicate the guardianship and transformation required at this juncture.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

The image resonates with Saturn (as ruler of Tau) and with the earth-sign function of Capricorn, where Saturn is exalted. The serpent tail and hand-held serpents also invoke the Kundalini force coiled at the base of the spine, which must be guided upward through disciplined will.

Historical and traditional sources

This lion-horse-serpent figure derives from later Hermetic and grimoire traditions, particularly the Key of Solomon and the Heptameron, where composite animal forms represent planetary spirits or intelligences at the threshold of manifestation. In the Ars Paulina and Ars Almadel, such images served as focal points for evocation of spirits ruling the 28 mansions of the Moon or the 22 paths. The lion-horse hybrid has an earlier echo in the Greek hippalektryon (rooster-horse) and the Mithraic lion-headed god (Aion), who is encircled by a serpent. The specific mention of “hissing serpents” emphasizes the auditory as well as visual potency of the image—the serpents hiss as active threats or guardians, demanding proper preparation and purity from the operator.

In the Kabbalistic system of Aleister Crowley’s Liber 777, this image is listed in Column CLXIV (Magical Images of Column CLXIII) for the 22nd path, Tau. It is a theurgic icon intended to be visualized during pathworking or ritual, not a literal physical statue. The order of images in the column is deliberately heterogeneous—a stock-dove, a gryphon-winged man, a cruel ancient on a pale horse—each fixed to its own path. The lion-horse with serpent tail is unique to Path 22, representing the integration of the lowest (Earth) with the dynamic power of the serpent (Chokmah-Binah current) at the gateway to the astral.

In the table of Liber 777

At step 22 (Path 22, letter Tau), the corresponding magical image in Column CLXIV is “Lion on horse, with serpent’s tail, carries in right hand two hissing serpents.” It is listed alongside other images for adjacent paths: for Path 20 a beautiful woman on a camel; for Path 24 a child with angel’s wings riding a two-headed dragon. The lion-horse-serpent image thus occupies a precise place in the Kabbalistic schema as the guardian form of the 22nd path—a being of compounded forces that the initiate must confront and integrate.