Liber XXVIII · Solomonic Magic
What Is Solomonic Magic? King Solomon and the Grimoire Tradition
What is Solomonic magic? An introduction to King Solomon as master of demons and to the grimoires written in his name, from the Testament to the Goetia.
Solomonic magic is the tradition of ritual magic attributed to King Solomon of Israel, whom Jewish, Christian and Islamic legend credited with power over demons through a divine ring or seal. It comprises a large family of texts, from the late antique Testament of Solomon to the Byzantine Hygromanteia, the Renaissance Key of Solomon and the seventeenth-century Lemegeton, which teach purification, prayer, divine names, seals and circles for commanding angels and spirits.
From biblical wisdom to master of spirits§
The Hebrew Bible presents Solomon, son of David, as a king of extraordinary wisdom. According to 1 Kings 4, he spoke three thousand proverbs and discoursed on trees, beasts, birds, creeping things and fishes. This knowledge of nature was easily reinterpreted as hidden knowledge. By the first century CE the Jewish historian Josephus could write that God had granted Solomon skill against demons, that he composed incantations and exorcisms, and that a Jewish exorcist named Eleazar drew a demon out of a possessed man before the future emperor Vespasian using a ring and a root prescribed by Solomon.
Rabbinic literature tells how Solomon captured the demon king Ashmedai (Asmodeus) to help build the Temple without iron tools; see Solomon and Asmodeus. In the Qur'an and Islamic tradition, Sulayman is a prophet to whom God subjected the wind and the jinn; see Sulayman in Islamic tradition. Across these traditions, the instrument of his power was a ring engraved with a divine name, discussed in Solomon's Ring and the Seal of Solomon.
The Testament of Solomon§
The earliest substantial Solomonic magical text is the Greek Testament of Solomon, a work of uncertain date; scholars usually place its core somewhere in the first to fifth centuries CE, with surviving manuscripts much later. In it Solomon receives a ring from the archangel Michael, summons a series of demons, asks each its name, its activity and the angel that thwarts it, and sets them to work on the Temple.
The Testament is essentially a catalogue of demons and their remedies, which made it a model for later magical demonologies; see the Testament of Solomon. Amulets of the same period show Solomon as a horseman spearing a female demon, attesting to his popularity as a protector against evil. Such "Holy Rider" amulets, together with incantation bowls from Mesopotamia and Christian and Jewish charms invoking the "seal of Solomon", show that his name was used in everyday protective magic long before the learned grimoires took shape.
The Byzantine Hygromanteia and the Latin Clavicula§
Solomonic ritual texts multiplied in the Middle Ages. In Byzantium, manuscripts from the fifteenth century onward preserve the Hygromanteia or Magical Treatise of Solomon, a Greek compilation addressed by Solomon to his son Rehoboam, with planetary hours, angels and demons, prayers, circles and instructions for preparing the magician (the Hygromanteia). Many scholars regard it as an ancestor of the Latin and Italian Clavicula Salomonis.
The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis) circulated in Latin, Italian, French and later Hebrew versions from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It presents a complete system: confession and purification, the preparation of instruments, the making of pentacles for each planet, the drawing of the circle, and conjurations for calling spirits under the authority of divine names. Other medieval Solomonic texts include the Ars Notoria, which offered prayers and figures for gaining knowledge, the Liber juratus or Sworn Book of Honorius, the Almadel and the Sepher Raziel.
The Lemegeton and the Goetia§
The most famous Solomonic book today is the Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon, known from seventeenth-century English manuscripts. It combines five parts: the Ars Goetia, a catalogue of 72 spirits with their ranks, seals and powers; the Ars Theurgia-Goetia, on spirits of the compass points; the Ars Paulina, on angels of the hours and zodiac; the Ars Almadel; and the Ars Notoria. The Goetic catalogue closely resembles Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia daemonum (1577), and both derive from earlier manuscript lists. See the Lesser Key of Solomon and the Ars Goetia and its 72 spirits.
Methods of Solomonic ritual§
Despite their variety, Solomonic grimoires share a recognisable method, here described historically:
- Piety and purification — the operator fasts, confesses, bathes and prays, since power over spirits derives from God, not from the magician.
- Divine names — Hebrew and Greek names of God, including Tetragrammaton, Adonai, Agla and the names associated with the Shem ha-Mephorash, are the core of every conjuration; see the seven names of God.
- Consecrated instruments — knives, wands, parchment, ink and garments are made and blessed at proper times.
- Seals and pentacles — figures inscribed with names and signs protect the operator and compel spirits.
- Circle and timing — operations are performed within a circle at astrologically chosen days and hours.
- Conjuration and licence — spirits are called, questioned and bound, then given formal permission to depart.
Some medieval manuscripts include animal sacrifice or the use of blood; these elements are recorded by historians as part of the texts' history and are not practices to imitate.
Church condemnation and the clerical world§
Solomonic magic was condemned from early on. A writing attributed to Solomon appears among the forbidden books of the so-called Gelasian Decree (usually dated to the sixth century), and medieval theologians, including Thomas Aquinas, argued that any conjuration of spirits implied a pact with demons. Nevertheless, the grimoires were copied mainly by literate clerics and scholars, a milieu Richard Kieckhefer calls the "clerical underworld". Inquisitorial records and confiscated manuscripts reveal a lively trade in Solomonic books, especially in Renaissance Italy.
Modern editions and influence§
The modern reputation of Solomonic magic rests largely on English editions. S. L. MacGregor Mathers published The Key of Solomon the King in 1889, and the Goetia appeared in 1904 in an edition translated by Mathers and published by Aleister Crowley. These texts shaped the Golden Dawn and later ceremonial magic; see What Is Ceremonial Magic?. Since the 1990s scholarly editions by Joseph Peterson, Stephen Skinner and David Rankine, and studies by Jean-Patrice Boudet, Claire Fanger and others, have placed the grimoires within the history of medieval and early modern religion. The demonological background is discussed in our guide to demonology.
Frequently asked questions§
Did King Solomon write the grimoires?§
No. The grimoires attributed to Solomon were written many centuries after any historical Solomon, by anonymous authors in late antiquity, Byzantium and medieval and early modern Europe. Attributing them to Solomon gave them authority.
What is the difference between the Key of Solomon and the Lesser Key?§
The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis) is a general manual of ritual magic, with pentacles, instruments and conjurations, circulating from the fifteenth century. The Lesser Key or Lemegeton is a seventeenth-century English compilation of five books, best known for the Goetia's catalogue of 72 spirits.
Is Solomonic magic black magic?§
It was often condemned as such, because it involves conjuring demons. Its texts, however, present the work as a pious exercise of God-given authority through prayer and divine names, and they also invoke angels. The label depended on who was judging.
Sources and further reading§
- The Key of Solomon the King — S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889
- The Lesser Key of Solomon — Joseph H. Peterson, 2001
- The Veritable Key of Solomon — Stephen Skinner & David Rankine, 2008
- The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments — James H. Charlesworth, 1983
- Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century — Richard Kieckhefer, 1997
- Grimoires: A History of Magic Books — Owen Davies, 2009
- Jewish Antiquities — Flavius Josephus, 94