Difference between revisions of "Lesser Key of Solomon"

The ''Ars Theurgia Goetia'' is mostly derived from Trithemius's ''Steganographia'', though the seals and order for the spirits are different due to corrupted transmission via manuscript. Rituals not found in ''Steganographia'' were added, in some ways conflicting with similar rituals found in the ''Ars Goetia'' and ''Ars Paulina''. Most of the spirits summoned are tied to points on a compass, four emperors are tied to the cardinal points (Carnesiel in the east, Amenadiel in the west, Demoriel in the north and Caspiel in the south), and sixteen dukes are tied to cardinal points, inter-cardinal points, and additional directions between those. There are an additional eleven "wandering princes", totalling thirty-one spirit leaders who each rule several to a few dozen spirits.

Traditions of Paul communicating with heavenly powers are almost as old as [[Christianity]] itself, as seen in some interpretations of 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 and the apocryphal Apocalypse of Paul. The ''Ars Paulina'' is in turn divided into two books, the first detailing twenty-four angels aligned with the twenty-four hours of the day, the second (derived more from the Heptameron) detailing the 360 spirits of the degrees of the zodiac.

Mentioned by Trithemius and Weyer, the latter of whom claimed an Arabic origin for the work. A 15th-century copy is attested to by Robert H.Turner, and Hebrew copies were discovered in the 20th century. The ''Ars Almadel'' instructs the magician on how to create a wax tablet with specific designs intended to contact [[angel]]s via [[scrying]].

The oldest known portion of the ''Lemegeton'', the ''Ars Notoria'' (or Notory Art) was first mentioned by Michael Scot in 1236 (and thus was written earlier). The ''Ars Notoria'' contains a series of prayers (related to those in the ''[[Grimoire of Pope Honorius|Sworn Book of Honorius]]'') intended to grant eidetic memory and instantaneous learning to the [[magician]]. Some copies and editions of the ''Lemegeton'' omit this work entirely. [[A.E. Waite]] ignores it completely when describing the ''Lemegeton''. It is also known as the ''Ars Nova''.