The 4 elemental kings are some spirits that I feel are quite useful to new practitioners of magic. They do require a bit of getting used to and there are other options, but these are a good first choice for many practitioners. They are considered kings of each element or sometimes Sovereigns. They are believed to rule the elementals of each respective element. For example, Djinn rules the salamanders or fire elementals.
They fit incredibly well with Franz Bardon’s magic mirror exercise and they are a perfect means to develop pathworking and dreamspace skills. In fact, having a regular practice where you address the Elemental King about your progress with the Element. In this article, I will simply look at who they are and in another article I will look at the means through which they might be summoned to the dreamspace and worked with.
I can find no evidence of their appearance before Eliphas Levi’s Ritual of High Magic where they appear in Chapter 4 as a quick name-drop after most of the ritual. Until this time I can find no evidence of them existing at all. Perhaps they formed part of a Martinist teaching, but they would have been made up (or discovered) somewhere, why not by Eliphas Levi? It should also be noted that Levi wasn’t the best for being consistent or accurate.
Each king presides over their own of the 4 Empedoclean Elements.
- Djinn is the sovereign over the fire elementals (or salamanders)
- Nichsa is the sovereign over the water elementals (or undines)
- Paralda is the sovereign over the air elementals (or sylphs)
- Ghob is the sovereign over the earth elementals (or gnomes)
Please note that sometimes a “ch” was used by Eliphas Levi to represent a sound like the ch in loch. For example “Hochmah” (the second sephirah). It is with that in mind that it is sometimes spelt as its closest English equivalent “Niksa” or “Nicksa”. Sometimes an x is used, like the Greek letter chi which looks like an x and is pronounced like the ch of loch. So sometimes Nichsa is rendered Nixsa. I have seen Djin rendered with only one n before and Gob without his “h” and sometimes with a second “b”. You would think that since we have so little to go on other than their names people would stick closely to them, but nooooo.
Because there is no traceable history of these characters it is hard to produce a standard sigil for summoning them. Many people have made their own sigils including those made by tracing the king’s names on the Hermetic Rose as was done in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Alternatives involve making sigils from Runes or the Witches Alphabet.
Now these sigils are perfectly adequate for summoning the elemental kings however they were not provided at the source and so it is my assumption that people can summon them using any sigil they desire just as effectively. What is provided at the source is (a) that they are first and foremost elementals themselves and (b) [of elementals] “Their signs are: the hieroglyphs of Taurus for the gnomes… Leo for the Salamanders…the eagle for the Sylphs… and finally, Aquarius for the undines.” (Note we have another mistake here. Aquarius while being the water-bearer is actually an air sign and I understand the eagle to be one of the 3 parts of the water sign Scorpio.) I believe at some point Crowley changed the eagle and Aquarius over as well because he associated air with the bird and the water-bearing nature of Aquarius took over from its air status.
So we do have an instruction saying that they have signs so I decided to make sure I included their respective signs in my own sigils. See below my own sigils for summoning them. Each has 4 branches on which the element symbol is shown, 4 branches where the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn sigil appears, the name as it originally appeared in Levi‘s work with the respective symbol. Each has a circle in the centre symbolising the earth sphere in which I wish them to manifest in the centre of the branches which are like rays down from the purer spheres.
Little is said about their appearance which is why I feel it is a great opportunity for the practitioner to design their own spirit so to speak. Obviously, no matter what they draw, it’s not the outer appearance of the spirit that we are trying to connect to. By designing their own spirit in a way we are really making an energy construct of an interface for connecting to an unseen force. A force which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn associates so very closely with the Tau path.
Each King is associated with a part of Malkuth the qabalistical “kingdom”. This kingdom is an ordered system with boundaries, resources and order, guarded from the chaos that existed in the dangerous wilderness outside of the kingdoms. Therefore, the kings symbolise those balanced aspects of each element. The Fire King, Djinn, is able to express himself without being rash or impulsive. The Air King, Paralda, is able to be remote, analytical and detached, but without losing all capacity to emotionally associate. The Water King, Nichsa, is able to reflect, feel and empathize without losing themself to their emotions. The Earth King, Ghob, is able to be assertive without being stubborn, they can relax without being lazy and be diligent without being obsessive.
You can picture them however you wish. Some people like to render them like beasts, but some people see them as humanoids. Some people treat Water and Earth kings as females. There’s little consistency when I listen to people’s UPG images of the kings so it is easy to conclude that they give little guidance about their representation in people’s minds. Here are a few AI-generated pictures to give you an idea. Other common visualisations are the Zora people from Zelda for water elementals, the Rito people from Zelda for air elementals, the Gorons from Zelda for earth elementals, the Orsimir from Elder scrolls for Earth elementals, Argonians from Elder Scrolls for water elementals and more. You get the picture or pictures…
