Three heads—bull, man, ram—rise from a single neck. A serpent’s tail coils behind, and the eyes burn with flame. The creature rides a bear. This is the magical image assigned to the nineteenth path on the Tree of Life in the correspondences of Liber 777. The figure is a composite of three distinct animal and human forms, bound together by a reptilian spine and a gaze of fire, mounted on the raw power of the bear. No single name is given in the source; the image itself is the subject, a visual glyph for a specific current of force.

Position on the Tree of Life

This image belongs to Path 19, which connects the sephirah Chesed (Mercy) to Geburah (Severity) on the central pillar. The path is attributed to the Hebrew letter Teth (ט), meaning “serpent” or “basket,” and to the zodiac sign Leo. In the Tarot, this path corresponds to the card Strength (Atu XI in Crowley’s system, often called Lust). The image here replaces the more familiar crowned woman and lion with a chimeric rider and bear, emphasizing a more primal, less anthropomorphized expression of the path’s energy.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

Path 19 is ruled by Leo, the fixed fire sign, and its planetary governor is the Sun. The three heads—bull (earth, Taurus), man (air, Aquarius or intellect), ram (fire, Aries)—may reflect the three fixed signs of the zodiac (Taurus, Leo, Aquarius) with the ram substituting for the lion? Alternatively, they represent the three alchemical principles: Salt (bull), Mercury (man), Sulfur (ram). The serpent’s tail ties to the letter Teth itself, which in some traditions is drawn as a coiled snake. Flaming eyes denote solar illumination or the wrathful gaze of a guardian. The bear, a creature of raw strength and solitude, replaces the lion of Leo, perhaps indicating a more chthonic or untamed aspect of the solar force.

Historical Context

The description appears in the “Magical Images of Col. CLXV” of Liber 777, a column that compiles visual forms for each path and sephirah. Unlike the Golden Dawn’s standard images (e.g., a woman and lion for Path 19), this set draws on older grimoire sources. The three-headed figure with a serpent’s tail is reminiscent of demons in the Ars Goetia—for example, Buer (who has a star-shaped head) or Balam (three heads: bull, man, ram, with a serpent’s tail, riding a bear). Indeed, Balam, the 51st spirit of the Goetia, is described exactly as: “three heads: the first like a bull, the second like a man, the third like a ram; he has the tail of a serpent, and flaming eyes; he rides a furious bear.” The Liber 777 table has simply lifted this Goetic description and placed it on Path 19, likely to represent the raw, untamed force that must be mastered on that path. In the Abramelin system, similar composite forms appear as the “evil spirits” of the second and third orders. The choice of a bear rather than a lion may also reflect the Hebrew letter Teth’s association with the serpent (nachash) and the idea of a coiled, waiting power.

In the 777 table, this image stands at step 19, a visual key for the magician working with the forces of Teth, Leo, and the Sun. It is a reminder that the path of Strength is not gentle domestication but the integration of wild, chimeric energies under a single will—the flaming eyes of the rider seeing through all illusion.