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Reading the Solomonic Books

The Book of Solomon follows stories drawn from Clavicula Salomonis and the Lemegeton: the king’s revelations, his hidden testament, and the vessel of imprisoned spirits. [1][2]

The Key and the Lemegeton

Clavicula Salomonis, commonly called the Greater Key, and the Lemegeton, commonly called the Lesser Key, are distinct works. Mathers explicitly distinguishes them in his 1889 Preface. The Greater Key contains ritual preparations, instruments, experiments and planetary pentacles. The Lemegeton gathers several books of spirits and prayers; Ars Goetia is its first part, with the seventy-two spirits and the brass vessel account. [1][2]

Their historical titles overlap. The 1904 Goetia prints the Latin heading Lemegeton vel Clavicula Salomonis Regis, using Clavicula for the Lesser Key as well. Salomonis and Solomonis are spelling variants of Solomon’s name. The title The Book of Solomon names the story cycle; each chapter identifies the particular work and introductory account from which its narrative is drawn.

[1][2]

Wisdom kept in a tomb

In the introduction attributed to Add. MS 10862, Solomon tells Roboam how Homadiel answered his prayer for wisdom. He gathers the knowledge into the Key, then commands his son to place it in an ivory casket and bury it beside him after his death. Concealment is intended to protect the teaching from wicked readers. [2]

Babylonian philosophers discover the casket while renewing Solomon’s tomb. They cannot understand its obscure words and arrangement until one of their company seeks divine help. An angel supplies the interpretation, and the philosopher returns the book to its casket. The Goetia gives another Babylonian discovery: treasure-seekers break open the brass vessel and release the spirits. Its cover bears the Secret Seal, a figure distinct from the individual spirit seals. [2][1]

A second account of revelation

Mathers also prints an introduction attributed to Lansdowne 1203. Solomon sees a blazing star through a shaded vista of trees and hears an angel’s voice. The teaching concerns celestial movements, angelic names and the natures of earthly things. Like the Add. MS 10862 introduction, it ends in instruction for Roboam, but the setting and manner of revelation differ. [2]

From inheritance to diagrams

Book I chapter XVIII describes the planetary pentacles and the purposes assigned to them. Its figures arrange divine names in squares, planetary characters in wheels, and biblical verses around circles; others present a face or a gateway. The notices and Mathers’s explanatory notes connect these structures and inscriptions with the office attributed to each pentacle. [2]

Sources and editions

The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translation; Aleister Crowley, editor, first edition, 1904. Latin heading Lemegeton vel Clavicula Salomonis Regis, printed p. 6; parallel introductory descriptions; numbered spirit catalogue; vessel account, printed p. 31; classified list, pp. 32–33; apparatus and figures 160–161
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
The Key of Solomon the King
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, 1889. Preface, including the distinction between the present Key and the Lemegeton; introductions attributed to Add. MS 10862 and Lansdowne 1203; Book I chapter XVIII, printed pp. 58–70; figures 11–54, Plates II–XIII
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10

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The Key and the Lemegeton

Wisdom kept in a tomb

A second account of revelation

From inheritance to diagrams

Sources and editions