Magog: A biblical place-name that typically occurs in conjunction with Gog. Magog is first referenced in Ezekiel 38 and 39, where the Son of Man is urged to “set thy face against Gog and the land of Magog.” Revelation 20:7 contains the following reference: “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go forth and seduce the nations which are over the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog: And shall gather them together to battle … ” Neither Ezekiel nor Revelation are very clear as to whether Gog and Magog are intended to represent a literal ruler and his lands or something more figurative. The only thing that is obvious from the biblical passages is that Gog and Magog are opposed to the children of Israel. Later, in the Book of Revelation, this is taken to mean that they stand in opposition to the Church. Over time, both Gog and Magog have developed into individual demon names. They are typically depicted as giants. The names have made their way into the demonology of the grimoires, although they are often rendered Guth and Maguth or Magoth. According to the Mathers translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Magog is one of the demonic servitors of the arch-fiends Asmodeus and Magoth (who is, himself, merely a variation on the name Magog). Interestingly, the list of demons under Asmodeus and Magoth appears only in the fifteenth-century French manuscript who served as Mathers’ source and one other version of the Abramelin material kept at the Wolfenbuttel library in Germany. Magog, under the guise of Maguth, also appears in the Sworn Book of Honorius. In the Joseph Peterson translation of this work, Maguth is a minister of Formione, king of the spirits of Jupiter. Here, he has the power to inspire positive emotions such as love, gladness, and joy. He can also help people to gain status in the eyes of others. When this version of the demon manifests, he takes on a body the color of the heavens. He is also connected with Thursdays and the north wind. Another variation on this name is Magot.
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SOURCE:
The Dictionary of Demons written by Michelle Belanger.
NOTE:
Edited and revised for the Web by Occult Media, the 23rd of April 2021. We use British English spelling.