The Lesser Key of Solomon
Deep within the annals of esoteric history lies a text whispered about by scholars and practitioners alike: The Lesser Key of Solomon. This enigmatic grimoire, steeped in the mystique of King Solomon's legendary magical powers, offers a purported guide to commanding spirits, both demonic and angelic. It's a fascinating window into the complex magical beliefs of centuries past, revealing a world where unseen forces could be invoked with the right words and symbols. The Lesser Key of Solomon is a 17th-century compilation of older magical texts, divided into five distinct books, each dedicated to a different facet of spirit interaction. Its most famous section, the Ars Goetia, details the precise methods for summoning and controlling 72 powerful demons, complete with their sigils and attributes. Beyond demons, the grimoire also explores the invocation of angels, the creation of magical talismans, and even ancient techniques to enhance the magician's intellect and memory.
AI Summary
Deep within the annals of esoteric history lies a text whispered about by scholars and practitioners alike: The Lesser Key of Solomon. This enigmatic grimoire, steeped in the mystique of King Solomon's legendary magical powers, offers a purported guide to commanding spirits, both demonic and angelic. It's a fascinating window into the complex magical beliefs of centuries past, revealing a world where unseen forces could be invoked with the right words and symbols.
- The Lesser Key of Solomon is a 17th-century compilation of older magical texts, divided into five distinct books, each dedicated to a different facet of spirit interaction.
- Its most famous section, the Ars Goetia, details the precise methods for summoning and controlling 72 powerful demons, complete with their sigils and attributes.
- Beyond demons, the grimoire also explores the invocation of angels, the creation of magical talismans, and even ancient techniques to enhance the magician's intellect and memory.
The Lesser Key Revealed: A Grimoire of Power
At its heart, The Lesser Key of Solomon — also known by its Latin title, Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, or simply the Lemegeton — is a grimoire. What's a grimoire? Think of it as a magical textbook, a practical guide detailing spells, rituals, and instructions for communicating with supernatural entities.
This particular grimoire, a sprawling compilation from the mid-17th century, draws from materials several centuries older, creating a rich tapestry of magical tradition. It's organized into five distinct books, each exploring a different dimension of the occult arts.
A King's Legendary Authority
The entire collection is framed as a legacy from the biblical King Solomon, a figure legendary for his wisdom and, crucially, his supposed command over spirits. Ancient traditions recount how Solomon used a special ring to seal away troublesome demons, a power central to the grimoire's premise.
Ars Goetia: Summoning the Seventy-Two
Undoubtedly the most famous, and perhaps infamous, section is the Ars Goetia. This book focuses entirely on the evocation of demons, providing a detailed catalog of 72 distinct infernal spirits. For each, it outlines their rank, powers, and the specific sigil — a magical seal or emblem — required for their invocation and control.
The Meaning of 'Goetia'
The term 'Goetia' itself offers a clue to the nature of this magic. Derived from the Ancient Greek word 'goēteía,' it refers to charm, witchcraft, or jugglery. In medieval and Renaissance Europe, this type of magic — involving the summoning of evil spirits — was generally seen as illicit and heretical.
Contrast this with 'theurgia,' or angelic magic, and 'magia naturalis,' which involved manipulating natural forces. The renowned occult philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa starkly differentiated them, writing that Goetia was 'unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities... abandoned and execrated by all laws.'
A Pantheon of Demons
The 72 demons listed in the Ars Goetia are a fascinating blend of traditional and new entities. While many appear in earlier works like Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, the Ars Goetia introduces unique spirits such as Vassago, Seere, Dantalion, and Andromalius, each with specific attributes, from revealing secrets to granting love.
Beyond the 72 individual spirits, the text also identifies powerful demon kings associated with the cardinal directions. Figures like Oriens, Amaymon, Paymon, and Egyn rule over vast legions, sometimes even linked to familiar biblical or rabbinic names like Samael and Azazel.
Ars Theurgia-Goetia: Celestial Alignments
Moving from the explicitly infernal, the Ars Theurgia-Goetia presents a different set of spirits. Many of these derive from Trithemius's Steganographia, though the Lesser Key offers its own unique seals and order. Here, the spirits are often tied to specific compass points, suggesting a more ordered, celestial hierarchy.
This book describes powerful 'emperors' for the cardinal points, 'dukes' for inter-cardinal directions, and even 'wandering princes.' Each of these spirit leaders commands numerous lesser entities, painting a picture of a complex magical bureaucracy guiding the cosmos.
Ars Paulina: Angels of Hours and Zodiac
The Ars Paulina delves into angelic magic, claiming to transmit wisdom delivered by none other than Paul the Apostle himself — a powerful claim indeed, drawing on ancient Christian traditions of Paul's heavenly visions. This section blends elements from various sources, including astrological seals and works like The Magical Calendar.
This book is divided into two parts: one detailing 24 angels aligned with the 24 hours of the day, and another describing 360 spirits linked to the degrees of the zodiac. It's a sophisticated system for invoking celestial intelligences for various purposes, from gaining wisdom to foretelling the future.
Ars Almadel: Scrying for Divine Guidance
The Ars Almadel, a section with potential Arabic origins, focuses on a unique method of angelic contact. It instructs the magician on how to craft a wax tablet — the 'almadel' — with specific designs and then use it for scrying. Through this practice, one could reportedly commune with angels and receive divine revelations.
Ars Notoria: The Art of Intellectual Mastery
Finally, the Ars Notoria offers a different kind of magical pursuit: intellectual enhancement. This composite text, drawing from older 14th-century works, contains mystically formulated prayers and rituals. Their purpose isn't to command spirits, but to improve the magician's own mental faculties—memory, eloquence, and understanding.
It's a testament to the diverse goals of Solomonic magic, ranging from wielding power over demons to seeking divine wisdom and even self-improvement through esoteric means. The inclusion of such a text highlights the compilers' comprehensive vision for what a 'Key of Solomon' should unlock.
A Lasting Legacy
From its mysterious origins to its detailed instructions, The Lesser Key of Solomon has captivated minds for centuries. It stands as a pivotal text in the Western Esoteric Tradition, continuing to be studied, debated, and even practiced by those fascinated by the complex interplay of magic, religion, and the human desire for power and knowledge.
Article
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Secret Seal of Solomon
The Lesser Key of Solomon, also known by its Latin title Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis or simply the Lemegeton, is an anonymously authored grimoire on sorcery, mysticism, and magic. It was compiled in the mid-17th century from materials several centuries older.
It is divided into five books: the Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria. It is based on the Testament of Solomon and the ring mentioned within it that he used to seal demons.
Ars Goetia
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The magical circle and triangle, magical objects/symbols used in the evocation of the seventy-two spirits of the Ars Goetia
Terminology
The text is more properly called Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, or, The little Key of Solomon. The title most commonly used, The Lesser Key of Solomon, does not in fact occur in the manuscripts. A. E. Waite, in his 1898 Book of Black Magic and of Pacts does use the terms "so-called Greater Key" and "Lesser Key" to distinguish between the Clavicula Salomonis and Lemegeton, so he may have been the one to coin it. The Latin term goetia refers to the evocation of demons or evil spirits. It is derived from the Ancient Greek word γοητεία (goēteía) meaning "charm", "witchcraft", or "jugglery".
In medieval and Renaissance Europe, goetia was generally considered evil and heretical, in contrast to theurgia (theurgy) and magia naturalis (natural magic), which were sometimes considered more noble. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, writes, "Now the parts of ceremonial magic are goetia and theurgia. Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unlawful charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws."
The seventy-two demons
The 72 sigils
The demons' names (given below) are taken from the Ars Goetia, which differs in terms of number and ranking from the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Weyer. As a result of multiple translations, there are multiple spellings for some of the names, which are given in the articles concerning them. The demons Vassago, Seere, Dantalion, and Andromalius are new additions in Ars Goetia that are not present in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum that it is based upon. In contrast, the demon Pruflas appears in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum but not in Ars Goetia.
A footnote in one variant edition lists the kings of the cardinal directions as Oriens or Uriens, Paymon or Paymonia, Ariton or Egyn, and Amaymon or Amaimon, alternatively known as Samael, Azazel, Azael, and Mahazael (purportedly their preferred rabbinic names). Agrippa's Occult Philosophy lists the kings of the cardinal directions as Urieus (east), Amaymon (south), Paymon (west), and Egin (north); again providing the alternate names Samuel (i.e. Samael), Azazel, Azael, and Mahazuel. The Magical Calendar lists them as Bael, Moymon, Poymon, and Egin, though Peterson notes that some variant editions instead list: "Asmodel in the east, Amaymon in the south, Paymon in the west, and Aegym in the north"; "Oriens, Paymon, Egyn, and Amaymon"; or "Amodeo [sic] (king of the east), Paymon (king of the west), Egion (king of the north), and Maimon."
Ars Theurgia Goetia
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Ars Theurgia Goetia mostly derives from Trithemius's Steganographia, though the seals and order of the spirits are different due to corrupted transmission via manuscript. Rituals not found in Steganographia were added, in some ways conflicting with similar rituals found in the Ars Goetia and Ars Paulina. Most of the spirits summoned are tied to compass points: four emperors are tied to the cardinal points (Carnesiel in the east, Amenadiel in the west, Demoriel in the north, and Caspiel in the south); and sixteen dukes are tied to cardinal points, inter-cardinal points, and additional directions between those. There are eleven "wandering princes", so a total of thirty-one spirit leaders each rule several spirits, up to a few dozen.
Ars Paulina
The Lesser Key of Solomon
Derived from book three of Trithemius's Steganographia and from portions of the Heptameron, but purportedly delivered by Paul the Apostle instead of (as claimed by Trithemius) Raziel. Elements from The Magical Calendar, astrological seals by Robert Turner's 1656 translation of Paracelsus's Archdiocese of Magic, and repeated mentions of guns and the year 1641 indicate that this portion was written in the later half of the seventeenth century. Traditions of Paul communicating with heavenly powers are almost as old as Christianity itself, as seen in some interpretations of 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 and the apocryphal Apocalypse of Paul. The Ars Paulina is in turn divided into two books, the first detailing twenty-four angels aligned with the twenty-four hours of the day, the second (derived more from the Heptameron) detailing the 360 spirits of the degrees of the zodiac.
Ars Almadel
The Lesser Key of Solomon
Mentioned by Trithemius and Weyer, the latter of whom claimed an Arabic origin for the work. A 15th-century copy is attested to by Robert H. Turner, and Hebrew copies were discovered in the 20th century. The Ars Almadel instructs the magician on how to create a wax tablet with specific designs intended to contact angels via scrying.
Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit
The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit, or The Notory Art, which the Almighty Creator Revealed to Solomon, is a seventeenth-century composite text consisting of two separate and imperfect magical texts, the fourteenth century Ars Notoria, or the Notory Art (glossed version), and the mid-fourteenth century Ars Brevis, or the Short Art. From the original Ars Notoria (glossed version), the compiler of the Ars Notoria, quam Creator Altissimus Salomoni revelavit presents a new rearrangement of a series of mysteriously formulated prayers (which are also found in the London manuscript of The Sworn Book of Honorius) intended to enhance the mental faculties, such as memory, eloquence, and understanding, of the magician. Some editions of the Lemegeton contain the 1657 English translation of The Notory Art, which the Almighty Creator Revealed to Solomon being published and retitled by Robert Turner of Holshott as Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon, Shewing the Cabalistical Key of Magical Operations, The liberal Sciences, Divine Revelation, and The Art of Memory. Other editions of the Lemegeton omit this work entirely; A. E. Waite ignores it completely when describing the Lemegeton.
Editions
The Lesser Key of Solomon
• Crowley, Aleister (ed.), S. L. MacGregor Mathers (transcribed) The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King. Translated into the English tongue by a dead hand (Foyers, Inverness: Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth, 1904) 1995 reprint: ISBN 0-87728-847-X. • Greenup, A. W., "The Almadel of Solomon, according to the text of the Sloane MS. 2731" The Occult Review vol. 22 no. 2, August 1915, 96–102. • Henson, Mitch (ed.) Lemegeton. The Complete Lesser Key of Solomon (Jacksonville: Metatron Books, 1999) ISBN 978-0-9672797-0-1. Noted by Peterson to be "uncritical and indiscriminate in its use of source material". • de Laurence, L. W. (ed.), The Lesser Key of Solomon, Goetia, The Book of Evil Spirits (Chicago: de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1916) 1942 reprint: ISBN 978-0-7661-0776-2; 2006 reprint: ISBN 978-1-59462-200-7. A plagiarism of the Mathers/Crowley edition. • Peterson, Joseph H. (ed.), The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books, 2001). Considered "the definitive version" and "the standard edition". • Runyon, Carroll, The Book of Solomon's Magick (Silverado, California: C.H.S. Inc., 1996). Targeted more toward practicing magicians than academics, claims that the demons were originally derived from Mesopotamian mythology. • Shah, Idries, The Secret Lore of Magic (London: Abacus, 1972). Contains portions of Ars Almandel and split sections the Goetia, missing large portions of the rituals involved. • Skinner, Stephen & Rankine, David (eds.), The Goetia of Dr Rudd: The Angels and Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia (sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic) (London and Singapore: The Golden Hoard Press 2007) ISBN 978-0-9547639-2-3 • Thorogood, Alan (ed.), Frederick Hockley (transcribed), The Pauline Art of Solomon (York Beach, Maine: The Teitan Press, 2016) • Veenstra, Jan R. "The Holy Almandal. Angels and the intellectual aims of magic" in Jan N. Bremmer and Jan R. Veenstra (eds.), The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period (Leuven: Peeters, 2002), pp. 189–229. The Almadel is transcribed at pp. 217–229. • Waite, Arthur Edward, The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts. Including the rites and mysteries of goëtic theurgy, sorcery, and infernal necromancy, also the rituals of black magic (Edinburgh: 1898). Reprinted as The Secret Tradition in Goëtia. The Book of Ceremonial Magic, including the rites and mysteries of Goëtic theurgy, sorcery, and infernal necromancy (London: William Rider & Son, 1911). Includes the Goetia, Pauline Art and Almadel. • White, Nelson & Anne (eds.) Lemegeton: Clavicula Salomonis: or, The complete lesser key of Solomon the King (Pasadena, California: Technology Group, 1979). Noted by Peterson to be "almost totally unreadable". • Wilby, Kevin (ed.) The Lemegetton. A Medieval Manual of Solomonic Magic (Silian, Lampeter: Hermetic Research Series, 1985)