The Book of Solomon

The Temple and the Angelic Notes

At the Temple altar, Solomon receives learned prayers and notes through Michael. The Lesser Key’s introductory accounts place this revelation among several books of spirits and sacred learning. [2]

Lesser Key · parallel introductory descriptions

The Temple and the Angelic Notes

The parallel introductions printed in the 1904 Goetia describe prayers and orations used by Solomon at the Temple altar. Several identify a fifth part as Ars Nova or Ars Notaria. Michael reveals the art, with brief notes written by the divine hand or finger amid thunder or lightning. The introductions credit these notes with teaching Solomon the arts and sciences. [2]

The same introductions outline Goetia, Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina and Ars Almadel. Goetia concerns spirits described as evil; the aerial spirits of Theurgia-Goetia have mixed natures; the Pauline and Almadel books concern good spirits. One introductory version counts four parts and others five, preserving different accounts of the compilation’s extent.

[2]

The 1904 volume publishes the Goetia, the first part of the Lemegeton. Its introductory descriptions also explain the neighbouring books of aerial spirits, Pauline material, the Almadel and learned prayers. These outlines place the seventy-two-spirit catalogue within a larger compilation rather than presenting it as the whole Lesser Key. [2]

The Temple revelation differs from the Greater Key’s account in Additional MS 10862. Here Michael reveals notes during Solomon’s prayers at the altar; there Homadiel appears before sleep in answer to a request for wisdom. The angelic names, settings and forms of teaching identify two distinct revelation stories. [2][1]

Sources and editions

Greater Key — Introduction from Additional MS 10862
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed pages 2–4; facsimile PDF pages 9–11. Revelation, address to Roboam, burial and rediscovery of the ivory casket.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
Lesser Key — parallel introductory descriptions of the Lemegeton
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Brief Introductory Description in parallel manuscript versions; facsimile PDF pages 5–8. Four/five-part outlines and Michael’s notes at the Temple.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10

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The Temple and the Angelic Notes

Sources and editions