Lion with gryphon’s wings

The Lion with gryphon’s wings is a composite magical image combining the kingly solar lion with the winged, eagle-headed form of the gryphon. In this hybrid, the lion’s body—traditionally representing royalty, strength, and the fixed fire sign Leo—is given the gryphon’s pinions, fusing chthonic and aerial powers. The image is not merely a decorative blend but a deliberate theurgical emblem, intended to express a specific spiritual formula.

Position on the Tree of Life

The image occupies Path 25 on the Tree of Life, which connects Binah (Understanding) to Geburah (Severity). This path belongs to the letter

• Teth (Hebrew: ט), whose meaning is "serpent" or "snake," and whose zodiacal attribution is Leo.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Because the path is ruled by Leo, the lion aspect is directly astrological: the fixed fire sign governs the heart, the Sun’s exaltation, and the sovereign principle in nature. The gryphon’s wings add a Mercurial and aerial element, lifting the otherwise earthly lion into the sphere of volatile spirit. The combined form suggests the solar force made volatile—the lion’s heat harnessed for ascent.

Historical context

The earliest description of a winged lion—perhaps the direct ancestor of this image—comes from the Mithraic mysteries, where the leontocephalus (lion-headed god) is entwined with a serpent and often shown with four wings. In Hellenistic magic, the winged lion appears on amulets for solar invigoration and protection. The medieval grimoire tradition systematized such composite figures: the Key of Solomon and the Heptameron describe spirits appearing in forms that combine lion and gryphon features. By the Renaissance, occultists such as Agrippa (in De Occulta Philosophia) listed the “lion with gryphon’s wings” as an image proper to the Sun when one wishes to acquire volatile spiritual power and stable kingly authority—a marriage of volatility and fixity. In 777, Crowley places this image directly on Path 25, following the pattern of other hybrid guardians: the Bull with gryphon’s wings (Path 18), the Lion on black horse carrying viper (Path 17), and the three-headed figure on a bear (Path 19). All represent the crossing of elemental boundaries to produce a third, magical force.

In table 777, the Lion with gryphon’s wings appears in Column CLXV, Magical Images, for the 25th Path. It is a synthetic emblem: the king of beasts made volatile, the solar fire given the wings of intelligence and aspiration. The image is used in operations requiring the fixation of volatile essences or the volatilization of fixed ones—the alchemical solve et coagula expressed in bestial form. It is not a gentle power: the lion’s teeth and claw remain; the gryphon’s eagle-beak rends. But the wings promise journey beyond the earth.