The Almadel of Solomon: The Wax Tablet of the Angels

The Almadel is a rite for calling angels to appear in visible form above a tablet of coloured wax, preserved in medieval Latin manuscripts and, in its best-known form, as the Ars Almadel, the fourth book of the seventeenth-century Lesser Key of Solomon. Unlike the Goetia, it addresses angels rather than demons, and it promises knowledge and good things rather than power over others. The Spellbook presents it as history only, because it is a conjuration of spirits into visible appearance, which this site does not teach, and because its authors themselves surrounded it with warnings of purity and danger.

How it was done§

The heart of the rite was the almadel itself: a square tablet of wax, about six inches across in the English version, its colour matching the "altitude" or choir of angels to be called. The Ars Almadel describes four altitudes (choras), with white wax for the first, a rose-red for the second, green mixed with silver for the third and a dark colour for the fourth. The surface was inscribed with divine names and a central figure, and pierced at the corners.

Four candles of the same wax were made, each with a foot, and the tablet was set on them so that it stood raised above the table. Beneath it, an earthen censer with burning mastic sent smoke up through the holes in the tablet. On the tablet the magician placed a seal of pure gold or silver engraved with names. The angels of the chosen altitude, such as Alimiel and Gabriel in the first, were expected to appear in the smoke above the wax, often described as beautiful youths, and to answer questions or grant requests suitable to their order.

The operator prepared by prayer and fasting, made the tablet and candles at particular times, faced the quarter assigned to the altitude, and recited a prayer to God asking that the angel be sent. The text stresses humility: the angel was to be asked, not commanded, and dismissed with thanks. It also warns that the rite should be performed only at its proper season and by one who is clean in life.

Origins and history§

The word almadel comes, through Latin almandal, from Arabic al-mandal, a term for a ritual circle or area used in Arabic magic and divination. Medieval Latin sources knew a Liber Almandal attributed to Solomon: the Speculum astronomiae, a mid-thirteenth-century guide to astrology long ascribed to Albertus Magnus, lists an Almandal among the books of necromancy it condemns as detestable. Julien Véronèse's critical study and edition (2012) shows that the Latin Almandal survives in several versions from the fifteenth century onward, and that it combined Arabic ideas with Christian angelology and the theurgic practices of works such as the Liber juratus.

Johannes Trithemius mentioned the Almadel in his catalogue of magical books, the Antipalus maleficiorum (1508). The English Ars Almadel was incorporated into the Lemegeton compiled in the mid-seventeenth century, alongside the Goetia, the Theurgia-Goetia, the Ars Paulina and, in some manuscripts, the Ars Notoria. Joseph H. Peterson's edition of the Lesser Key (2001) printed the Sloane manuscripts' text and figures, and the rite has attracted attention from modern ceremonial magicians and historians alike, as an example of "angel magic" that sat uneasily between devotion and forbidden conjuration.

Historians such as Claire Fanger and Frank Klaassen have shown that medieval Christian practitioners, often clerics, regarded such angelic rites as pious, while church authorities frequently treated them as indistinguishable from demonic magic, since one could never be sure what kind of spirit appeared.

Why this is presented as history§

The Almadel is a conjuration of spirits into visible appearance. The Spellbook gives practical instructions only for prayers, blessings and charms that do not involve calling spirits, and it describes the Almadel as part of the history of Solomonic magic. Readers interested in angels within living religious practice may prefer the devotions to the archangels and guardian angels found in Jewish and Christian prayer.

Safety and good sense§

The historical rite involved burning incense under wax, which is a fire risk; such historical descriptions are not suggestions to experiment. Those who feel drawn to contact spirits, or who experience visions or voices that trouble them, should talk with a doctor or a trusted religious adviser.

Sources and further reading§

• The Lesser Key of Solomon: Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis — Joseph H. Peterson, 2001
• L'Almandal et l'Almadel latins au Moyen Âge — Julien Véronèse, 2012
• Invoking Angels: Theurgic Ideas and Practices, Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries — Claire Fanger (ed.), 2012
• The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance — Frank Klaassen, 2013
• Grimoires: A History of Magic Books — Owen Davies, 2009
• Antipalus Maleficiorum — Johannes Trithemius, 2024