The Lemegeton: the five books of the Lesser Key of Solomon

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

When people say “the Lesser Key of Solomon,” they often mean the 72 spirits of the Ars Goetia. But the Goetia is only the first part of a larger collection, usually called the Lemegeton. Knowing what else is in that collection, and how it came together, helps you read the Goetia as what it is: one piece of a seventeenth-century magical anthology, not a single ancient book.

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What the Lemegeton is

Historical The Lemegeton survives in several English manuscripts of the seventeenth century, now in the British Library. Most scholars date its compilation to the middle or later part of that century. The individual parts draw on older material, some of it medieval.

The title Lemegeton appears in some manuscripts. Its meaning is unclear, and no one has explained it convincingly. The second name, “the Lesser Key,” sets it beside the older and better-known Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis), a grimoire of preparation, tools and talismans that survives in versions from the fifteenth century on.

The key point is that the Lemegeton is a compilation. English copyists gathered it from different sources. Calling it “the Lesser Key of Solomon” makes it sound like one ancient work. It is better described as an anthology.

The five books at a glance

1. Ars Goetia

Historical The best-known book and the subject of most of this part of my site. It is a catalog of 72 spirits, described as fallen angels, each with a rank, an appearance, offices, a number of legions and a seal. After the catalog come the “Observations” on times and metals, descriptions of the magic circle, the triangle, the hexagram, the pentagram, the ring, the brass vessel and the secret seal, and a series of conjurations ending with the license to depart.

Its catalog is closely related to Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia daemonum (1577) and to Reginald Scot’s English translation of it (1584), which I cover on Weyer and Scot. Mathers and Crowley published it in 1904, and that edition is the one most readers know. You can browse all 72 entries on the spirit directory.

2. Ars Theurgia-Goetia

Historical The second book is a catalog of spirits of the compass. Four emperors rule the cardinal points: Carnesiel in the east, Caspiel in the south, Amenadiel in the west and Demoriel in the north. Below them come a number of wandering princes, each with a seal and a list of subordinate dukes. The text describes these spirits as of mixed nature, partly good and partly evil, which is where the double name comes from.

Much of this material comes from the first book of the Steganographia of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, written around 1500 and printed in 1606. The Steganographia is now known to have been, at least in part, a work of cryptography dressed up as angel magic. Its “conjurations” can hide secret messages. The copyist who brought it into the Lemegeton seems to have read it as straightforward magic.

3. Ars Paulina

Historical The Pauline Art claims to have been discovered by the apostle Paul. Its first part deals with the angels of the twenty-four hours of the day and night, each with a seal. Its second part deals with the angels of the signs of the zodiac and their degrees, linked to the degree of a person’s birth. It draws on Trithemius and on older angel magic. Its tone is devotional, with long prayers, and it feels very different from the Goetia.

4. Ars Almadel

Historical The fourth book gives instructions for making the almadel, a square tablet of pure white wax inscribed with divine names, set over candles, with a seal of gold or silver. Through it the operator calls the angels of four “altitudes” or choirs, who are said to appear above the tablet. The almadel tradition is known from medieval Latin manuscripts and has been linked to Arabic sources, though the details are uncertain. Medieval writers already knew a Solomonic book called the Almandal.

5. Ars Notoria

Historical The Notary Art is much older than the rest. It is known in Latin from the thirteenth century and was credited to Solomon and to Apollonius. It uses prayers in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and words of unknown meaning, together with figures called notae, to gain memory, eloquence, understanding and mastery of the liberal arts. In other words, it is a magic of study.

Medieval church authorities condemned it, and Thomas Aquinas discussed and rejected it. Robert Turner printed an English translation in 1657, and that is the version some Lemegeton manuscripts include. The historians Julien Véronèse and Claire Fanger have published important studies of its medieval forms.

How the five fit together

Later tradition The five books move, roughly, from the most dangerous spirits to the most exalted angels: from the fallen spirits of the Goetia, through the mixed spirits of the compass, to the angels of the hours, the choirs of the almadel and finally the prayers of the Notary Art. Some modern writers read this as a deliberate ladder of ascent. Others see an anthology arranged by a copyist. There is no evidence either way, so I hold both readings lightly.

The manuscripts

Historical The Lemegeton comes down to us in a handful of British Library manuscripts, most of them from the collection of Sir Hans Sloane.

• Sloane MS 3825 contains a Lemegeton with the Goetia and other material. Editors often treat it as the main text.
• Sloane MS 2731 also contains a Lemegeton. A note dates it to 1687, and its seals and wording differ in places from 3825.
• Sloane MS 3648, from about 1655 or later, is a miscellany that also holds Agrippa and Paracelsus. The compiler of Sloane 2731 used it.
• Sloane MS 3824 is what Joseph Peterson calls a “proto-Lemegeton.” It holds an early form of the Theurgia-Goetia and entries for Seere, Dantalion and Andromalius.
• Harley MS 6483, dated 1712 to 1713 and linked to a Dr. Thomas Rudd, gives the 72 spirits with Hebrew names and pairs each with an angel of the Shem ha-Mephorash.

Not every manuscript has all five books, and the order varies. That is normal in a hand-copied tradition, where each copyist chose what to include.

Editions you can read

Modern Three editions cover most needs.

• Mathers and Crowley, 1904. Only the Ars Goetia, with Crowley’s additions. It is in the public domain and easy to find. See the 1904 Goetia.
• Joseph H. Peterson, The Lesser Key of Solomon (2001). All five books, edited from the manuscripts with variant readings and notes. For close study, this is the standard edition.
• Stephen Skinner and David Rankine, The Goetia of Dr Rudd (2007). The Rudd version with its angels.

Reading the Lemegeton well

A few points help when you meet the Lemegeton in books or online.

• Name the book. If someone says “the Lesser Key says,” ask which of the five books, and which manuscript or edition.
• Do not mix the angels and the demons. The angels of the Ars Paulina and the spirits of the Ars Goetia come from different sources. Later systems that pair each Goetic spirit with an angel come from the Rudd material and the Golden Dawn.
• Respect the age of each part. The Ars Notoria is medieval. The Goetia’s catalog is Renaissance in origin. The anthology itself is seventeenth century.

For the long story behind the whole collection, read the history of the Goetia, and for the legend that gave it its name, see King Solomon and the ring. Everything else in this part of my site starts from the Goetia hub.