The Lesser Key of Solomon

292 Pages·2001·12.75 MB·English

by  Joseph H. Peterson

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THE
LESSER KEY
OFSOLOMON
LEMEGETON CLAVICULA SALOMONIS
Detailingthe CeremonialArtof
Commanding Spirits Both Good and Evil
Joseph H. Peterson, Editor
®WEISERBoOKS
YorkBeach,Maine, USA
Firstpublished in 2001 by
Weiser Books
P.O.Box 612
YorkBeach, ME 03910-0612
www.weiserbooks.com
Copyright © 2001Joseph H. Peterson
Allrights reserved. No partofthis publicationmaybe reproduced or trans
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying,recording, orbyanyinformationstorage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from Weiser Books. Reviewers may quote
briefpassages.
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clavicula Salomonis. English
The lesser keyofSolomon lemegeton claviculaSalomonis / Joseph
H. Peterson, editor
p.em.
Includes bibliographicalreferences and index.
ISBN 1-57863-22o-X(alk.paper);ISBN1-57863-256-0(pbk, :alk. paper)
1. Magic-Earlyworks to 1800. 2. Magic, Jewish-Earlyworks to
1800. 1. Peterson,Joseph H. II. Title.
BF1601.C4313 2001
133.4'3-dc21 00-068529
MV
Typesetin 12pt. Adobe Caslon
Cover design by Ed Stevens
Printedin the United States ofAmerica
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
8 7 6 5 432 1
The paper used in this publication meets allthe minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed LibraryMaterials Z39.48-1992 (RI997).
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations i.x
Introduction xi
PrefacefromHarley6483 3
Part I: Ofthe Arte Goetia 7
Part II: TheArtTheurgiaGoetia 57
Part III: TheArtPaulineofKingSalomon 109
Part IV: Salomon'sAlmadelArt 147
Part V: ArsNotoria: The Notary ArtofSalomon 155
Appendix 1: Addendafound in Sloane2731and3648 221
Appendix2: JohannWeyer'sPseudomonarcbia daemonum 227
Appendix 3: ComparisonofGoetiawith Weyer 261
Appendix 4: Otherexamplesofsomeofthe drawings 263
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the British Museum for allowing me to study the
manuscripts firsthand, and for their help in preparing microfilm copies.I
amparticularlygratefulforthe high qualitynegativeofSloane3825,which
they prepared specially.
ABBREVIATIONS
C A. Crowley [and S.L. Mathers], The Goetia (York Beach, ME:
Samuel Weiser, 1995).
H HarleyMS 6483, British Library.
MS(S) Manuscriptis).
P Paracelsus, Archidoxes ofMagic, translated by Robert Turner
(1656, reprint NewYork:Samuel Weiser, 1975).
r Recto.
sec. man. secundamanu, i.e.,written in a different handwriting.
S1 Sloane MS 2731, British Library.
S2 Sloane MS 3648, British Library.
S3 Sloane MS 3825, British Library.
T JohannesTrithemius, Steganographia(Darmbstadii, 1621).
v Verso.
W Johann Weyer, Pseudomonarcbia daemonum, In Opera Omnia
(Amstelodami, 1660, pp. 649-666). English translation in R.
Scot, The DiscoverieofWitchcraft (1584, reprint NewYork:Do
ver Publications, 1972, pp. 217-227).
[] Alternate wording or explanation
< > Makes an error or accretion in the text that should be disre
garded.
INTRODUCTION
TheLemegeton isapopularhandbookofsorceryknownfrom the 17th cen
turyl in more or lessthe sameform asI will present it. Most ofthe mate
rial,however, isfound in varyingformsin earliermanuscripts,and someof
the material dates back asearly as the 14th century or earlier.s In a 1531
list ofmagical texts, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa mentioned three of the
books ofthe Lemegeton in the samebreath, ArsAlmade!, Ars Notoria, and
ArsPaulina)The relevantpassageisfound in achapter titled "Theurgia,"4
and the chapter which precedesit is titled "Goetia."5Goetia and Theurgia
Goetiaarethe namesofthe remainingbooksofthe Lemegeton.Thislistwas
repeated by Agrippa's student, Johann Weyer (a.k.a.Wier, or Wierus), in
1531. Reginald Scot,who relied to some extent on Weyer,doesIikewise.«
Thedate1641occursinthetextandmayindicate thatitspresentform datesfromthen.
2 To this period has been dated an importanttext ofthe Solomonicliterature, Liber
furatus, or The Sworn BookofHonorius, which has important connections with our
presentwork.
De incertitudineet vanitate omnium saentarum et artium (Paris, 1531, folios 54v-56v):
"Eiusitaquescho1aesunt,arsAlmade1,arsNotoria,arsPaulina,arsReue1ationum,& eius
modi superstitionum phira, quae eo ipso sunt pernicisiorum, quo apparent imperitis
diuiniora,"(OfthisschoolthereforeistheArtAlmade1,the NotaryArt,thePaulineArt,
the Art ofRevelations,and many similar superstitions, which are so much the more
pernicious,by how much they seem the more divine to the ignorant.)
4 Agrippaclassifiedthese threemagical books asbelongingto"theurgia,"thatcategory
ofmagic which works through the agencyofthe good angels and God.
S Accordingto Agrippa,Goetiais the othermajorcategoryofceremonialmagic. He
believed that goetiaworks through the agency of"unclean spirits."
6 ReginaldScot, DiscooerieofWitchcraft(1584, reprintNewYork:DoverPublications,
1972),Book 16, chapters 31 and 42.
xu INTRODUCTION
Weyer included a text closely related to the Goetia.'Thus the bulk ofthe
materials were possibly collected together before 1531.
The name Lemegeton was probably naively invented because of the
compiler's ignorance ofLatin. He or she was no doubt familiar with the
ClaviculaSalomonis (Key ofSolomon)8 andwantedto title thisworkthe Little
Key ofSolomon;this became Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis.
The major texts used for this edition have all been from the British
LibraryManuscriptcollection. Theyinclude HarleyMS 6483, and Sloane
MSS 2731,3825, and 3648.
Harley 6483 is cataloged as Liber Malorum Spirituum. Its description
reads as follows:
A Qgarto, containing allthe Names, Orders, & Offices ofallthe spirits
Salomon ever conversed with: the Seals& Characters belonging to each
Spirit;& the mannerofcalling themforth to visibleappearance. - Some
ofthese spirits arein Enoch's Tables describedin the formervolume, but
their seals& characters how they may be known are omitted,which are
therefore in this bookat large set forth.?
Harley 6483 is probably the latest manuscript and contains much addi
tional material, with extracts from de Abano's Heptameron replacing much
ofthe instructions includedin Book1ofthe othermanuscripts.Itishand
somely written, with circlesdrawn around the sigils,and Hebrewlettering
supplied in many places.l'' Itis dated 1712-1713. Note that Harley shares
many readings with Sloane 3648. In fact, a dependence ofboth on a com
mon ancestor can reasonably be established. Given the number ofdevia
tions from the majority,Harley6483isamongthe leastreliableofthe manu
scripts.
Sloane2731 iscatalogedas Clavicula Salomonis.Itisimportantbecauseit
hasbeen compiledfrom multipleversions,including Sloane3648.Thistextis,
Weyer,De Praestigiis Daemonum. Scot,DiscouerieofWitchcraft, includes an English
translation inBook16,chapter 2.SeebelowandAppendix 2ofthepresent volume.
ForLatin examplesofthe KeyofSalamon,seeBritish Library AdditionalMS 10862
(17th century) and Sloane2383. Foran English translation, seeThe Key ofSolaman
theKing (Clavicula Salamonis), first translated and edited from ancient manuscripts
intheBritishMuseum byS.LiddellMacGregorMathers(London: George Redway,
1889. Reissued,YorkBeach,ME: SamuelWeiser,2000).
BritishMuseum. Dept. ofManuscripts,A CatalogueoftheHarleianManuscriptsinthe
BritishMuseum, vol.III (London: G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1808-12), p. 369.
10 Forexamples,seeAppendix 3.Mathersjudged these to be"manifestlyincorrect in
orthography,"but includes them anyway, "such asthey are."
INTRODUCTION XU!
unfortunately,incomplete,makesarbitraryrearrangementsinthetext,hasmany
careless mistakes,and omits allofBook5.ItisdatedJanuary 18,1686.
Sloane 3825 is cataloged as TreatiseonMagic and includes two articles,
]anua Magica reserata(fol. 1 ff.) and Clavicula Solomonis,The Little Key of
Solomon (fol.100rff.). Carefullywritten and legible, it isalso a more com
plete and internally consistent text. It has the most consistently reliable
readings ofthe available manuscripts as well and is interesting in that it
contains a shorterversion ofThe NotaryArt, to which has been added the
remaining portions asfound in RobertTurner's translation.U
Sloane 3648, a collective codex, also contains pieces of Agrippa and
Parace1sus.This manuscript also dates from the 17th century and was ap
parently used by the writer of Sloane 2731. It is carelessly written, with
poorly executed drawings.
I have followed Sloane 3825 for this edition,except for the ArsNotoria.
For the latter, the manuscripts are clearly dependent on Robert Turner's
translation. I have therefore used his 1657 printed edition as my primary
source. Variants from other manuscripts are noted in square brackets [].
Also in square brackets are the folio numbers from Sloane 3825. I have
resisted the temptation to modernize the language.
PARTS OFTHE LEMEGETON
Goetia
GoetiaisaGreekterm more orlesssynonymous withmagic,butwith nega
tiveconnotations,asdistinguishedfrom the more elevated Theurgia ("work
ing of a god"). The compiler of the Lemegeton certainly recognized this
distinction.The first book, Goetia, corresponds closelywith the catalog of
demons publishedbyJohannWeyer asPseudomonarchiadaemonum, included
as an appendix to his De PraestigiisDaemonum (1563).12Weyer referred to
his source manuscript asLiberqjJiciorum spirituum, seuLiberdictusEmpto.
11 RobertTurnerofHolshot,AnNotoria:theNotoryArtofSolomon,shewingthecabalistical
key ofmagical operations,the liberalsciences, divine revelation, andthe art ofmemory.
Whereunto is added an Astrological Catechism,fUlly demonstrating the art ofJudicial
Astrology... Written originally in Latine[byApollonius, Leoultius, andothers.Collected)
andnowEnglishedbyR Turner, Filomathes. (London: 1657)
12 For example,the edition published at Basileae:Ex Officina Oporiniana, 1583.Un
fortunately, Pseudomonarchiadaemonum wasnotincludedin the recent edition pub
lishedasWitches,Deoils, andDoctorsintheRenaissancebyGeorgeMoraetal.(Tempe,
Arizona: Medieval & Renaissance texts and studies 1998). Note that Weyer dis
cussesGoetia and Theurgia in Book II, chapter ii.