A visitor to the reading room once pointed at the seal of Marbas in the bound Ars Goetia and asked: “Who broke this?” The seal was intact. The question, though, lingered. It comes up often enough that we decided to trace its origin. The answer is not a name. It is a misunderstanding of what a seal is and what breaking one would mean.
Marbas is the fifth spirit of the Ars Goetia, a bestial shapeshifter who reveals secrets and causes disease. His seal — a specific geometric diagram — is the instrument by which a magician commands him. No historical record describes anyone breaking that seal. The question itself belongs to a different tradition, one that conflates the seal of a spirit with the seal of Solomon and the legends that surround it.
Where the Question Comes From
The Ars Goetia (the first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon, compiled in the mid‑17th century but drawing on earlier grimoires) lists seventy‑two spirits. Each has a name, a rank, a description, and a seal. The seals are diagrams composed of lines and circles, sometimes letters, meant to be engraved on metal or drawn on parchment. They are not talismans that protect. They are the magician’s bond: as long as the seal is held and the conjuration spoken, the spirit is bound to obey.
The idea of breaking a seal enters popular occult imagination largely through the legend of Solomon’s ring. In the Testament of Solomon (a pseudepigraphical text likely from the 1st–3rd centuries CE), Solomon uses a signet ring to seal demons in jars. The story of that ring being stolen or broken appears in Jewish and Islamic folklore. But Solomon’s ring is not a Goetic seal. It is a different object with a different function.
When readers ask who broke the seal of Marbas, they are often repeating a story they half‑remember from a novel or a forum. The original Ars Goetia never mentions any spirit’s seal being broken. The question is modern. But that does not mean it is empty. It points to a real tension in the tradition: the seal is the magician’s tool of control, and losing it — whether through breakage, theft, or neglect, would mean losing command.
The Seal of Marbas: What It Actually Is
Marbas (also called Barbas) appears as a “great president” in the Goetic hierarchy, commanding thirty‑six legions of spirits. He is said to answer truthfully about hidden things, to cause and cure disease, and to change shape. His seal, as printed in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) and later in the Crowley/Mathers edition of the Goetia (1904), consists of a central circle with an inscribed cross and a series of angular lines branching outward.
We have seen medieval seals in manuscript form. The lines are not decoration. They correspond to specific planetary and angelic correspondences. In Goetic ritual, as described in the Lemegeton manuscripts and in later practice, the seal is placed inside a triangle of art, and the magician stands within a protective circle. The seal is the link. Breaking it would sever that link.
Has Anyone Actually Broken a Goetic Seal?
Not in any verified historical account. The grimoires do not record a single incident. What they do record are instructions for destroying seals: after an operation, the magician may burn or bury the material on which the seal was drawn. That is not breaking. It is decommissioning, done under controlled conditions.
The absence of a story about Marbas specifically is telling. If a famous occultist had broken the seal, if Crowley had done it, or if a scandal surrounded a 19th‑century French magician, we would know. The bibliographies of Goetic history (Peterson, 2001; Rankine, 2011) catalogue variants and provenance but contain no such anecdote.
Instead, the question draws power from the opposite direction: the seal of Marbas has survived intact in every surviving grimoire copy. The lines have not been erased. The diagram has not been tampered with. That is the historical fact.
What Breaking a Seal Would Mean
In ceremonial magic, a seal is a lock. The magician turns the key by vibrating the name and tracing the sigil. If the lock is broken, the spirit is no longer bound by that specific contract.
Goetic theory holds that each spirit is already bound by a higher power, God, or the angelic names in the conjuration. The seal is an intermediary. Breaking it does not unleash the spirit into the world; it simply removes the magician’s handle. The spirit remains in its assigned place (the north, according to the standard circle) but cannot be commanded without the seal.
This is different from the popular idea of a demon breaking free because someone smashed a sigil. The grimoires teach that the spirit is already present when the magician draws the seal and speaks the words. The operation ends with a license to depart. The seal is then stored or destroyed. Controlled destruction is safe. Accidental breakage during a ritual would be a failure of focus, not a catastrophe.
How You Handle a Seal Properly
If you work with the Goetia, the seal of Marbas is typically engraved on a brass or copper plate (the material varies by spirit). Some practitioners use parchment. We keep ours in a silk pouch between uses, never touched by bare hands except during the operation.
If you want to end a relationship with Marbas permanently, you do not break the seal. You burn it, bury it at a crossroads, or throw it into running water. The Ars Goetia does not prescribe a method. Later commentaries (such as the Complete Book of Demonolatry by S. Connolly, 2009) suggest respectful disposal. Breaking it, as in snapping a metal plate, is physically difficult and ritually meaningless.
Comparing the Seal of Marbas to Solomon’s Seal
The seal of Solomon, the hexagram, or the ring that binds demons, is far older and more mythologized. In Jewish folklore, the ring was thrown into the sea and later returned. In Christian demonology, it was broken and demons scattered. The story of the broken seal appears in the Testament of Solomon when the demon Ornias steals the ring and uses it to seal other demons. That is a narrative of theft, not breakage.
The question about Marbas borrows this dramatic weight. But Marbas is not Solomon. His seal is not a one‑time artifact. It is a reproducible diagram. There is no single original seal that could be broken. Every copy is equally valid if drawn correctly.
Common Misconceptions About the Seal of Marbas
“Breaking the seal will release Marbas to wreak havoc.” No. The seal is a control tool, not a prison door. Marbas existed before the seal was drawn and will continue after it is destroyed.
“The seal must be protected at all costs.” It must be kept clean and unaltered during the operation. Afterward, it can be stored or destroyed. The fear of breakage is overstated.
“A famous magician once broke the seal of Marbas in a challenge.” We have found no source for this. It is a modern myth, likely an invention of internet lore.
“The seal contains Marbas’s true name.” The seal contains geometric lines and sometimes letters, but not the full name. The name is spoken separately.
FAQ
What happens if you break the seal of Marbas during an evocation? The spirit would likely ignore further commands. The magician should close the circle with the license to depart and remake the seal before trying again.
Is there any historical record of the seal of Marbas being broken? None. The grimoires are silent on the event. The question is a modern interpolation.
How should the seal be destroyed if you no longer want to work with Marbas? Burn it completely, bury it in a natural place, or let it dissolve in water. Breaking it is not a traditional method.
Does the seal of Marbas have any power on its own, without the spirit? No. It is a symbolic diagram, not an amulet. Its power depends on the ritual context and the magician’s intention.
Where the Question Leads
The question “Who broke the seal of Marbas?” is a good one not because it has an answer, but because it reveals how easily grimoire lore gets mixed with popular legend. The seal of Marbas has never been broken. It sits in manuscripts and on metal plates, drawn and redrawn for four centuries, still intact. If you want to understand how the Goetic system actually works, the seals, the circles, the evocations, start with the source. We keep a guide to the full hierarchy of the Ars Goetia in the library, and a glossary entry on Goetic seals and their construction. For the deeper mechanics of binding and releasing, read the practical guide to evocation. The seal is not a mystery to be broken. It is a diagram to be learned.