LEMEGETON CLAVICULA SALOMONIS or
THE LESSER KEY OF SOLOMON Detailing the ceremonial art of commanding spirits both good and evil
Edited by Joseph H. Peterson,
Kasson, Kasson, MN 55944 USA March 27, 1999 Copyright © 1999
Contents y y y y y y y y y
Acknowledgements Introduction Notes to introduction Pref ace from Ha Harl. 6483. oetiaa Goeti heurgiaa Goeti oetiaa Theurgi Ars Pa Paulin ulinaa Ars Alma Almadel Ars Notoria Notoria
Acknowledgments thank the British Museum for a for allowing me to study the ma manuscripts firstha firsthand, and for their help in copying the ma manuscripts onto I would like to tha microfilm.
Introduction The
Lemegeton is a popula popular ha handbook of sorcery known from the 17th century [1] in more or less the sa same form as I will present it. Most of the materia terial however is found in va varying forms in ea earlier ma manuscripts, and some of the ma materia terial da dates ba back a ck as ea early as the 14th century or ea earlier [2] rlier [2].. Reginaald Scot, Regin Scot, in his lists of ma magica gical texts [3] [3],, mentions Ars Pa Paulin ulinaa, Ars Alma Almadel del,, and Ars Notoria Notoria in the sa same brea breath. He also includes a text closely rela related to the Goeti oetiaa [4] [4].. So the bulk of the ma materia terials were possibly collected together by 1584. The
na name Lemegeton me Lemegeton is proba proba bly na naively invented beca because of the compiler's ignor ance of La Latin. He or she wa was no doubt f amilia miliar with the Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon) and wa wanted to title this work the "Little K ey ey of Solomon;" So lomon;" this beca became "Lemegeton Cla Clavicula vicula Salomonis."
The
maj major or texts used for this edition ha have been all from the British Libr ary Ma Manuscript collection. They include Ha Harl. 6483, and Sloa Sloane Mss. 2731, 3825, and 3648. Ha Harl. 6483 is proba proba bly the la latest, and conta contains much additiona dditional ma materia terial. It is da dated 1712-3. Sloa Sloane 2731 is importa important beca because it ha has itself been compiled from fro m multiple versions (including Sloa Sloane 3648). This text is unfortuna unfortunately incomplete, and omits all of book 5. It is da dated Janua nuary 18, 1687. Sloa Sloane 3825 is a more complete and interna internally consistent text. It is also interesting in tha that it conta contains a shorter version of The Nota Notary Art to which ha has been added the rema remaining portions as found in Robert Turner's tr ansla nslation.
Kasson, Kasson, MN 55944 USA March 27, 1999 Copyright © 1999
Contents y y y y y y y y y
Acknowledgements Introduction Notes to introduction Pref ace from Ha Harl. 6483. oetiaa Goeti heurgiaa Goeti oetiaa Theurgi Ars Pa Paulin ulinaa Ars Alma Almadel Ars Notoria Notoria
Acknowledgments thank the British Museum for a for allowing me to study the ma manuscripts firstha firsthand, and for their help in copying the ma manuscripts onto I would like to tha microfilm.
Introduction The
Lemegeton is a popula popular ha handbook of sorcery known from the 17th century [1] in more or less the sa same form as I will present it. Most of the materia terial however is found in va varying forms in ea earlier ma manuscripts, and some of the ma materia terial da dates ba back a ck as ea early as the 14th century or ea earlier [2] rlier [2].. Reginaald Scot, Regin Scot, in his lists of ma magica gical texts [3] [3],, mentions Ars Pa Paulin ulinaa, Ars Alma Almadel del,, and Ars Notoria Notoria in the sa same brea breath. He also includes a text closely rela related to the Goeti oetiaa [4] [4].. So the bulk of the ma materia terials were possibly collected together by 1584. The
na name Lemegeton me Lemegeton is proba proba bly na naively invented beca because of the compiler's ignor ance of La Latin. He or she wa was no doubt f amilia miliar with the Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon) and wa wanted to title this work the "Little K ey ey of Solomon;" So lomon;" this beca became "Lemegeton Cla Clavicula vicula Salomonis."
The
maj major or texts used for this edition ha have been all from the British Libr ary Ma Manuscript collection. They include Ha Harl. 6483, and Sloa Sloane Mss. 2731, 3825, and 3648. Ha Harl. 6483 is proba proba bly the la latest, and conta contains much additiona dditional ma materia terial. It is da dated 1712-3. Sloa Sloane 2731 is importa important beca because it ha has itself been compiled from fro m multiple versions (including Sloa Sloane 3648). This text is unfortuna unfortunately incomplete, and omits all of book 5. It is da dated Janua nuary 18, 1687. Sloa Sloane 3825 is a more complete and interna internally consistent text. It is also interesting in tha that it conta contains a shorter version of The Nota Notary Art to which ha has been added the rema remaining portions as found in Robert Turner's tr ansla nslation.
Sloane 3825 for this edition except for the Ar s Notor ia. ia. For the la latter the ma manuscripts are clea clearly dependent on Robert Turner's I have followed Sloa tr ansla nslation; I have therefore used his 1657 edition as the prima primary source. Va Varia riants from other ma manuscripts are noted in squa square br ackets []. Also in squa square br ackets are the folio numbers from Sl. 3825. I have resisted the tempta temptation to modernise the la langua nguage. The
pa parts of the Lemegeton are as follows:
Goetia oetia, corresponds closely with the ca catalog of demons published by John Wier (or Joha Johann Wierus) as Pseudomon Pseudomonaarchi rchiaa daemonum The first book, Goetia, in his 1563 De 1563 De P r a Daemonum. In Wier's text there are no demonic sea seals, and the demons are invoked by a simple con jur jur ation, not the raestigiis estigiis Daemonum. ela ela bor ate ritua ritual found in the Lemegeton the Lemegeton..
Theurgia Goetia This
text ha has close pa par allels with book one of Trithemius' Steg Stegaanogr a phi phiaa. Although the a bunda bundant spirit sea seals are not found in Trithemius, those few tha that ca can be found ma match exa exactly. For exa example, these four sea seals are found in Steg . I. cha cha pter xi, dea dealing with Usiel and his subordina subordinates:
Compa Compare these with the following following sea seals found in the Lemegeton the Lemegeton in the section dea dealing with the eleventh e leventh spirit, Usiel, and his subordina subordinates (Ada (Adan, Ansoel, Ma Magni and Aba Abariel):
jur ations are actua that Trithemius' rithemius' con co n jur ctually his exa examples of hidden writing ('stega ('steganogr a phy'), and do not correspond with the It should be noted tha con j con jur ur ations found in Theugia Goetia. oetia. Steganog r a was not published until 1608. It wa was, however, widely circula circulated in raphia phia was written in 1500, but wa manuscript form.
Ars Paulina The
raphia, phia, Book 2. spirits in Pa P art 1 of this book coincide exa exactly with those found in Trithemius' Steganog r a 2. According to Thorndike [5] [5],, the "The Pauline art," wa was purported to ha have been discovered by the Apostle Pa Paul after he ha had been sna snatched up to the third hea heaven, and delivered by him at
Corinth. Robert Turner mentions a sixteenth-century manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale [6]. Although this text is based on earlier versions, repeated mention of the year 1641 and guns, shows a late redaction. The "ta ble of pr actice" has similarities with Dee's "holy ta ble". In the former the seven seals have the char acters of the seven planets, which also occur in the "Magical Calendar" (published 1620, but with possible connections with Trithemius.)
Saturn
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus
Mercury
Moon
The
descriptions of the seals for each sign of the Zodiac are evidently a bstr acted from Par acelsus, The Second T re atise of Celestial Medicines, cf. of Magic tr anslated by Robert Turner, 1656, pp. 136 ff.
Ar chidoxes
Ars Almadel In
1608, Trithemius mentioned a long list of books on magic, including the book " Almadel attributed to K ing Solomon" [7] Ars Almadel is also found in the Hebrew manuscript of the Key of Solomon, ed. Gollancz, Sepher Maphteah Shelomoh, 1914, fol 20b. Turner mentions a fifteenthcentury manuscript in Florence. [8]
Ars Notoria
s Notor ia is a Medieval Grimoire of the 'Solomonic Cycle'. Many Latin manuscripts are extant, the oldest are dated thirteenth century, and The Ar possibly earlier. Like Liber Jur atus (also thirteenth century), the text centers around an even older collection of or ations or pr ayers which are interspersed with magical words. The or ations in Ar s Notor ia and those in Liber Jur atus are closely related, and suggest to me a common or al tr adition. The or ations in both works are said to have mystical properties which can impart communion with God and instant knowledge of divine and human arts and sciences. Older manuscripts of the Ars Notoria contain exquisite dr awings, the "figures" mentioned in the text. [9] Their omission adds greatly to the confusion of the text. Not all manuscripts of the Lemegeton include the Ar s Notor ia, their contents listing only four books. Those that do are entirely dependant on Robert Turner's 1657 edition, which is evidently his own t r anslation from the Latin. Notes:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The
date 1641 occurs in the text, and may indicate that its present form dates to then. this period has been dated an important text of the Solomonic liter ature, Libe r Jur atus, or The Swor n Book of Honor ius, which has important connections with our present work. Discover ie of Witchcr aft , 1584, Book 16, cha p. 31 and cha p. 42. O p. cit. cha pter 2 consists of a tr anslation of J. Wier's Pseudomonar chia Daemonum. See below. Magic and Expe r imental Science, cha pter xlix, 1923, pp. 279 ff. BN 7170A. See Robert Turner, Elizabethan Magic, 1989. pp. 140-1. See I. P. Couliano, E ro s and Magic in the Renaissance, Chicago, 1987, p. 167. I bid. Florence II-iii-24. For examples of the illustr ations and an excellent discussion of the Ar s Notor ia, see the article by Michael Camille in Claire Fanger, Conjur ing Spir its, Texts and T ra ditions of Medieval Ritual Magic, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998, pp. 110 ff. To
[Preface from Harl. 6483] [The sixth Sheet of Dr. Rudd Liber malorum Spirituum seu Goetia This
Book contains all the names, orders, and offices of all the spirits Salomon ever conversed with. The seals and char acters belonging to each spirit, and the manner of calling them forth to visible a ppear ance.
y
y
The
ch
fourth part of this Booke is called Ars Almadel Solomonis [sic], contayning 20 cheife spirits w governe the four Altitudes or the 360 degrees of the world & signes [zodiac] &c. These twoo last orders of spirits is of good, and are called the true Theurgia, and it is to be sought affter by divine seeking &c. s The fifth part is a Booke of or ations and pr ayers that wise Salomon used upon the alter in the Temple which is called Ar tem Novam [sic. ( Ar ch Nova)] The w was revealed to Salomon by the holy angel of God called Michael, and he also recieved [sic] many breef Notes written by the ch e c fingar of God w was delivered to him by y said Angell, with Thunder cla ps, without w Notes Salomon hadd never obtained to his great knowledge, for by them in short time he knew all arts and siences both good and badd which from these Not es [this book] is [also] called Ars Notoria. In this Booke is contained the whole art of Salomon although there be many other Bookes that is said to be his yet none is to be compared with this, for this containeth them all, although [100v] they be titled with sever all other names, as the Booke Helisoe wch is the very same as ch this last [book] is, w called, Ar tem Novam & Ar s Notar ia &c..
These
Bookes were first found in the Chaldean & hebrew tongues at Hierusalem, by a Jewish R a bbi, & by him put into the greeke Language, & from e thence into y Latine, as it is said &c.
APPENDIX - Other examples of some of the drawings Sigil for Baal, from Harl. 6483.
Sigil for Agares, from Harl. 6483.
Sigil for Vasago, from Harl. 6483.
Magical circle and triangle, from Sloane 3648.
Hexagram to be worn as a Lamin, from the Hebrew manuscript of the Gollancz, fol. 38a.
Pentagram, from Harl. 6483.
Clavicula Salomonis, (Sepher Mafteah Shelomoh) :, fol. 38a. Or. 14759
The Magic Ring, from Sloane 2731.
Brass vessel, from Sloane 2731:
Sigil for Carmasiel, from Harl. 6483.
Sigils for some of Carmasiel's Dukes, from Harl. 6483.
The
Seal of Solomon, from Harl. 6483.
Seal of Solomon from the Magical Calendar .
Seal of Solomon, frontispiece from British Library manuscript Lans. 1203, l'Hebreux en langue Latine, Par le Rabin ABOGNAZAR.
LE S
VÉRITAB LE S C L AVICU LE S D E SA LO M ON , Traduites de
Sigilla, nempe XII signorum zodiaci, from Paracelsus, Archidoxis
magicae, Liber II.
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libr a
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Ca pricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
The Almadel, from Gollancz, Sepher
Maphteah Shelomoh , 1914, fol 20b.
Note the dr awing at the bottom showing how the candles are to be constructed with feet to support the Almadel.
"Picture of the Almadel ", from Or. MS. 6360:
First note of the art of grammar, from Sl. 1712, fol. 14v.
the
fol.
Second note of art of grammar, from Sl. 1712, 15r.
The fourth note of rhetoric and the note of geometry, from Sl. 1712, fol. 19r:
Second, third, and fourth notes of theology, from Sl. 1712. fol 21v.
