Sigil of Barbatos
At a glance
- Entry
- 8 of 72
- Rank
- Duke
- Legions
- 30 in the text
Description in the text
Barbatos is said to interpret birdsong and other animal voices. He is also associated with enchanted hidden treasure, knowledge of past and future events, and reconciliation among friends or powerful people.
Read entry 8 on page 23 of the 1916 edition
Appearance
He arrives with four noble kings and their companies when the sun is in Sagittarius.
Topics attributed to this entry
- Animal voices
- Hidden treasure
- Reconciliation
Reading this entry
Barbatos has an unusually specific time of appearance: the sun in Sagittarius. He arrives with four noble kings and their companies, so the description is a procession rather than a single animal or human portrait. The duke is said to understand birdsong and the calls of other creatures, with barking dogs given as an example. He is also credited with revealing enchanted treasure, knowledge of past and future, and the reconciliation of friends or powerful people.
The entry says Barbatos formerly belonged to the Order of Virtues and retains something of it, but it does not define what that remnant is. Its phrasing mixes an astrological timing note, angelic rank, animal voices, and treasure lore. These details make Barbatos more than a general “nature” figure. The claimed 30 legions and seal belong to the same historical account, not to an independently documented organization.
Read entry 8 on page 23 of the 1916 edition or compare the 1904 transcription.
A closer reading of entry 8
What the numbered text says
Barbatos is introduced as an arrival scene: a duke appearing when the sun is in Sagittarius, accompanied by four kings and their companies. The passage does not tell us what Barbatos’s own body looks like. Its animal-language claim includes birds and other creatures, with barking dogs as a concrete example. The hidden treasure is specifically treasure placed under enchantment, a narrower claim than finding any lost object.
About the printed seal
The entry calls its sign a “Seal of Obedience”; the 1916 plate labels it number 8. The seal is a separate printed object from the four-king procession. No source passage identifies a bird, dog, or zodiac glyph in its lines.
Compare another entry
Compare entry 10: Buer. Buer is the other early entry tied to Sagittarius. Barbatos receives an arrival time and entourage; Buer’s text says that Sagittarius is his shape when the sun is there. These are different kinds of zodiac statement and should not be exchanged.