Bow and arrow is a paired weapon consisting of a flexible stave (the bow) that stores mechanical energy, and a shaft tipped with a point (the arrow) that delivers that energy to a mark. In the symbolic language of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s Liber 777, the bow and arrow is a magical weapon representing directed will and the controlled release of force. The bow is the tensile, coiled potential; the arrow is the trajectory of desire made linear.

Position on the Tree of Life

The bow and arrow appears as the magical weapon correspondences for the 21st Path of the Tree of Life. This path runs between Netzach (Victory, sphere of Venus) and Tiphereth (Beauty, sphere of the Sun), forming the vertical channel that balances emotional drive with focused solar consciousness. At step 12 of the Magical Weapons column—within the 21st Path—the weapon is the Bow and Arrow. Its placement signals the sudden, straight application of force across that connecting passage, a compression of will that releases along a single line.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

While the 21st Path is assigned to the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Peh (פ), which corresponds to Mars under the system of the Sepher Yetzirah, the weapon itself is not exclusively Martian. The Bow and Arrow in Hermetic practice is more precisely a symbol of the Sun in its aspect of active, direct will—Apollo’s silver bow, the archer god who shoots from afar. The arrow’s swift and straight flight aligns with the focused application of force mentioned in the 777 table notes for Path 25: “The Arrow (swift and straight application of force).” The bow and arrow together fuse the tension of stored power (bow) with the penetrating path of the ray (arrow).

Historical context

The bow and arrow as a magical weapon appear in multiple esoteric traditions. In the Golden Dawn system, the bow was sacred to the gods of the Sun and the Moon: Apollo and Artemis (Diana). Apollo’s golden bow dispensed plague or healing from a distance; his arrows were rays of light. Artemis’s silver bow was a symbol of the Moon’s cold, precise beams. The classical image of the hunter-goddess with drawn bow reinforced the weapon’s association with focused intention and swift action.

In Western ceremonial magic, weapons were keyed to specific sephiroth and paths. The bow and arrow is not found among the major sephirotic weapons (Wand, Cup, Sword, Pantacle) but appears on the Paths as a specialized tool. At the 21st Path, the Bow and Arrow complements the Cross of Equilibrium and the Fornace, suggesting a weapon for the phase of concentrated release after preparation and balance. In The Book of Thoth, Crowley identifies the 21st Path as “The Prince of the Chariot” and notes that the bow and arrow symbolizes the will that transfixes its object.

In the table

In Liber 777, at row XLI (Magical Weapons), column 12 (the 21st Path), the entry is simply “Bow and Arrow”. The sibling entries for other scale steps show the weapon’s relatives: the Swastika at Keter, the Wand at Chesed, the Sword at Geburah, the Arrow alone at Path 25, the Lamen or Bow and Arrow at Path 31. The bow and arrow at this step stands for the swift and straight application of force along the path connecting Netzach and Tiphereth—a release of energy that is no longer general force (the Wand, the Sword) but directed, precise, and irrevocable.