The Elemental Sovereigns1

1 Introduction

Boswell (2014, pp. 957) gives the sovereigns of the elemental realms as follows:

Element Direction Elementals Sovereign

Fire South Salamanders King Djinn
Water West Undines Queen Nichsa
Air East Sylphs King Paralda
Earth North Gnomes King Ghob

These correspondences are consistent with other modern authors (e.g., Crowley (1986, p. 16,
column LXII of the Table of Correspondences) and Regardie (1984, Volume I, pp. 50-51))2 ,
as well as with Lvi (1986, p. 233):

Their respective sovereigns are Gob for the Gnomes, Djn for the Salamanders,
Paralda for the Sylphs and Nicksa for the Undines.

The following sections will trace historical references to the elemental sovereigns, starting
with original book by Lvi for which Waite provided the English translation quoted above,
moving to Lvis contemporaries, and then moving back in time to older references.
Our thesis is that names for the elemental sovereigns from the table above did not enter the
magickal lexicon until circa 1850 and that earlier grimoires did not mention the names of
the elemental sovereigns or used names from which modern names cannot be derived.

2 Eliphas Lvi, 1856

From Lvi (1856, p. 49), the original French is presented on the left, with a new translation
on the right:
Leurs signes sont: les hiroglyphes du tau- Their signs are hieroglyphs of the bull
reau pour les gnomes, et on leur com- for the Gnomes, and we command them
mande avec lpe; du lion pour les sala- with the sword; the lion for salamanders,
1
Copyright 2015 Luke Meyers. (Original version: October 12, 2015; current revision: January
18, 2016) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). All original (public domain) sources were hand-copied
from the scans referenced. All translations, unless otherwise noted, are original work produced for this paper.
2
Crowley uses the spelling Niksa and both Crowley and Regardie use the spelling Djin.
mandres, et on leur commande avec la
baguette fourchue ou le trident magique;
de laigle pour les sylphes, et on leur
commande avec les saints pantacles; en-
fin du verseau pour les ondins, et on les
voque avec la coupe des libations. Leurs
souverains respectifs sont Gob pour les
gnomes, Djn pour les salamandres, Par-
alda pour les sylphes, et Nicksa pour les
ondins.
and we command them with the forked
stick or magic trident the eagle for the
Sylphs, and we command them with the
holy pentacles; finally Aquarius for mer-
folk, and we evoke them with the libation
cup. Their respective sovereigns are Gob
for the gnomes, Djn for the salamanders,
Paralda for the sylphs, and Nicksa for the
merfolk.

3 Nathaniel Moulth, 1854

A few years prior to the publication of Lvis book, Nathaniel Mouth published Petit manuel
du devin et du sorcier. This book is not mentioned in Waites preface to Lvi (1986), although
he enumerates several other publications from the 1840s onward. Further, this author can
find no references to Moulth in the modern occult literature.
Moulth (1854, p. 132) presents a table of the king and queens, shown on the left with a new
translation on the right:
Palais. Rois et reines. Palace Kings and queens
Le feu. Djin, roi. Fire Djin, king
Lair. Paralda, reine. Air Paralda, queen
Leau. Nicka, reine. Water Nicka, queen
La terre. Gobb, roi. Earth Gobb, king

4 Adolphe Bertet, 1861

A few years after Lvis publication, Bertet (1861, p. 119) mentions a 17th century grimoire
(again, original on the left with a new translation on the right):
En magie, les esprits lmentaires fig- In magic, elemental spirits represented by
urs par les quatre animaux de la Ca- four animals of Kabbalah, corresponding
bale, correspondent aux quatre lments to the four elements and are four king-
et constituent quatre rgnes ou royaumes, doms or realms, namely: 1) that of sylphs

savoir : 1 celui des sylphes ou des vents, or winds, placed on the East, represented
plac lorient, reprsent par laigle by the eagle and controlled by Paralda;
et command par Paralda; 2 celui des 2) that of the salamanders or spirits of
salamandres ou des esprits du feu, plac fire, placed on the south, represented by
au midi, reprsent par le lion et com- the lion and controlled Djin; 3) that of
*
I.e., a bifurcated tree branch, or bune wand.

2
mand par Djin; 3 celui des nymphes ou
des ondins plac au couchant, reprsent
par lange ou lhomme et command par
Niksa; 4 celui des gnomes, fantmes ou
esprits lmentaires de la terre, plac au
nord, reprsent par le veau ou le buf de
saint Luc, et command par Gob. Le pape
Honorius, dans son grimoire magique, ap-
pelle le roi de lorient Magoa, abrviation
de Gog et Magog, au lieu de Paralda; celui
du midi Egym, par corruption de Djin;
celui du couchant Bayemon, au lieu de
Niksa; enfin celui du midi [sic] Amaymon,
la place de Gob.
nymphs or the merfolk placed at sun-
set, represented by the angel or the man
and ordered by Niksa; 4) that of gnomes,
ghosts or spirits elementary earth, placed
north, represented by the calf or ox of
St. Luke, and controlled by Gob. Pope
Honorius, in his magical grimoire, called
the king of the East Magoa, abbreviation
of Gog and Magog, instead of Paralda;
that of the south Egym, by corruption of
Djin; that of the west Bayemon, instead
of Niksa; finally that of the [north] Amay-
mon, instead of Gob.

5 Honorius, 1670

Pope Honorius III died in 1227, but the grimoire attributed to Pope Honorius III that is
quoted here did not get printed until the 17th century. As such, this work may have been
written by a different author, with a title reminiscent of Liber sacer sive juratus, that is the
The Sworn Book, authored by Honorius of Thebes (Fanger, 1998).
Driscoll (1977, pp. 98101) lists elemental kings in his modern translation of The Sworn
Book based on manuscripts dating to the late 14th or early 15th centurty. However, none of
these names match the names of the elemental sovereigns we are currently researching.
From Honorius (1670, pp. 28-30):
Je te conjure et invoque puissant I conjure and invoke O mighty Magoa,
Magoa, Roi de lOrient... King of the East...

O Egym! grand Roi du Midi... O Egym! great King of the South...

O Roi Bayemon! trs-fort, qui rgne aus O King Bayemon! very strong, King of the
parties Occidentales... West...

O Toi, Amaymon! Roi, Empereur des par- O Thou Amaymon, Emperor of the north-
ties septentrionales... ern parts...

6 Other Works

Seeber (1944) attributed the dramatic increase in the use of the elemental beings (sylphs,
undines, gnomes, and salamanders) in literature since the end of the 17th century to the pub-

3
lication of Le Comte de Gabalis. Unfortunately, the sovereigns of interests are not mentioned
in de Montfaucon de Villars (1670).
In the 16th century, Paracelsus discussed the elemental kingdoms, most notably in Paracelsus
(1566), but does not appear to mention the sovereigns.
In the 15th century, Agrippa names the kings (Tyson, 2000, p. 533), and Tyson (2000,
footnote 18, p. 536) provides additional information from other sources. In the interest of
completeness, names from these sources are combined with the ones discussed above in the
following table, in rough chronological order.

South (Fire) West (Water) East (Air) North (Earth)

Testament of
Solomon Amemon Boul Oriens Eltzen
ca. 1100-1200
Livre des Esprits
Amoymon Paymon Orient Cham
ca. 1450-1550
Agrippa ca. 1500 Amaymon Paymon Urieus Egin
Pseudomonarchia
Daemonum Gerson Goap Amaymon Zymymar
ca. 1515-1588
Honorius (1670) Egym Bayemon Magoa Amaymon
Moulth (1854) Djin Nicka Paralda Gobb
Lvi (1856) Djn Nicksa Paralda Gob
Bertet (1861) Djin Niksa Paralda Egym

7 Conclusion

The names of the elemental sovereigns have changed over time, as has their association
with the directions. The names frequently cited in modern publications were introduced
sometime between the mid 17th and mid 19th centuries and, with the possible exception of
Egym changing to Djin, are not derived from (or corrupted from) names and spellings found
in older texts.

From Tyson (2000, footnote 18, p. 536).

From Tyson (2000, p. 533).

This author would welcome information on contrary evidence regarding the names of the elemental
sovereigns based on original sources similar to those included in this paper.

4
References
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