The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) · 45 of 175 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Page 15 (part 1)
§ 2.
The Lesser Key of Solomon The Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon, Rabbi and King, is a work of far more exalted pretensions, which deploys all the hierarchies and evokes spirits by milliards.
About its antiquity there is no need for serious dispute; it claims to be translated from the Hebrew, but its earliest perfect examples are in French of the seventeenth century, and no one has heard of the original.
It must have existed, however, in a much earlier form; it is the subject of continual reference by demonologists like Wierus, under the style of the sorcerer's Liber Spirituum , and it is from this source that the scornful sceptic who was the pupil of Agrippa, derived his Pseudomonarchia Dæmonum , with, however, significant variations from the known copies.
The Lemegeton is divided into four parts, which control the offices of all spirits at the will of the operator, from whom the ordinary conditions are exacted.
With the exception of the first part, which gave materials to Wierus, this curious, and in many respects memorable, work has never been printed, although it has been taxed surreptitiously for contributions by most makers of Rituals and Grimoires.
It deals,.
as I have said, with the evocation of all classes of spirits, evil, indifferent and good; its opening Rites are those of Lucifer, Bel, Astaroth and the whole cohort of Infernus; it is entitled Goëtia , which sufficiently explains itself, and contains the forms of conjuration for seventy-two chief devils and their ministers, with an account of their powers and offices.
The second part, or Theurgia Goëtia , deals with the spirits of the cardinal points and their inferiors.
These are mixed natures, some good and some evil.
The third book is called the Pauline Art , for the significance of which name I am unable to account, it concerns the Angels of the Hours of the Day and Night and of the Zodiacal Signs.
The fourth part, or Almadel , enumerates four other choirs of spirits in a somewhat obscure manner.
There is one significant point about the entire work--the powers resident in the offices of Infernal Spirits are minutely set forth, but the Ritual is almost silent as to the special benefits which may be expected from intercourse with the higher classes of intelligence; it is, therefore, obvious to whom the magician would have recourse if he had a definite end in view.
It is, indeed, by no means improbable that the first or Goëtic portion constitutes the true Lemegeton , and that the other sections, apparently unknown to Wierus, are additions of a later date.
This division, in either case, is not only expressly connected with Black Magic, or rather exclusively devoted thereto, but it indubitably divides with the so-called Greater Key the forbidding honour of having been the chief inspiration of all the later handbooks of infernal ceremonial.
Devoid of any doctrinal part, it has nothing which calls for citation in this place, but as no Grimoire can pretend to completeness without it, all its hierarchic tabulations and all its evoking processes will be given in the Second Part.
I should state in conclusion that the Little Key is ascribed sometimes to Solomon the King and sometimes to a Rabbi of that name.
It should be distinguished, however, from the Key of Rabbi Solomon proper, which is more especially concerned with the composition, consecration and use of planetary talismans.
It pretends to deal only with "good Genies," but it includes the blood sacrifice, and there is the usual anxiety in respect of the form and aspect in which the intelligence may appear.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The text describes a cosmos populated by various classes of spirits (evil, indifferent, good) associated with specific domains like cardinal points and zodiacal signs.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The mention of spirits associated with 'cardinal points', 'Hours of the Day and Night', and 'Zodiacal Signs' reflects a system of cosmic correspondences.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The passage states the work controls 'the offices of all spirits at the will of the operator', emphasizing the magician's volition over spirits.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The passage explicitly describes the Lemegeton as a work dealing with the evocation of spirits, containing forms of conjuration for seventy-two chief devils and their ministers.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The passage refers to 'forms of conjuration' and 'evoking processes' which rely on the magical efficacy of spoken words and formulas.