A student of the occult once laid two manuscripts side by side. One bound in black leather, the other in brown. Both claimed to be the work of King Solomon. Both had pentacles. Both instructed the magician to draw circles. But the contents could not have been more different. The first commanded planetary spirits through elaborate purification. The second listed seventy-two demons by name, rank, and sigil, and taught the magician how to threaten them into submission.
The Greater Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis) and the Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton) are two distinct grimoires, separated by centuries of development, different purposes, and opposing approaches to spirit work. The Greater Key focuses on commanding planetary spirits through ritual purity, while the Lesser Key is a compendium of demonic conjuration and binding.
Defining the Two Works
The Greater Key of Solomon, also called the Clavicula Salomonis, is a medieval grimoire that presents itself as a manual for summoning and commanding planetary spirits. It stresses the magician’s personal purity: fasting, confession, the wearing of clean linen vestments, and the timing of operations by astrological hours. The text is rich in diagrams of pentacles, each designed to attract a specific celestial influence.
The Lesser Key of Solomon, or Lemegeton, is a 17th-century compilation that includes five books: Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria. The Ars Goetia alone lists 72 demons with their seals, ranks, and the methods to conjure and bind them. The magician’s authority here rests not on purity but on the names of God and the threat of torment.
These two works are not versions of the same text. They are separate traditions that share a common attribution to Solomon and a few structural elements, such as the circle and the use of seals.
History and Origins
The oldest manuscripts of the Greater Key date from the 15th century, primarily in Latin and Hebrew. The text circulated across Europe in numerous recensions, with the earliest known copy housed in the British Library (Sloane MS 3847). The grimoire draws heavily on earlier Arabic astrological magic, such as the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (the Picatrix), and on the Jewish mystical tradition of the Sefer Raziel. The legendary attribution to Solomon is a medieval convention, not a claim any modern scholar takes literally.
The Lesser Key appears later. The earliest known manuscript is Sloane MS 3825, dated to the 17th century. The Lemegeton is a patchwork of earlier sources: the Ars Goetia borrows from the 16th-century Pseudomonarchia Daemonum by Johann Weyer, while the Ars Notoria is a much older work, traceable to the 13th century. The compilation was likely assembled by a single editor, or a small group of editors, who drew from different manuscript traditions and standardized them under the Solomonic framework.
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, a founding member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, published the first English translation of the Greater Key in 1888. He relied on several 17th-century French manuscripts. The Lesser Key was published later, in 1904, by Mathers and Aleister Crowley, with the Ars Goetia section accompanied by Crowley’s commentary. The Mathers-Crowley edition remains the most widely used version in English.
Symbolism and Meaning
The Greater Key operates on a cosmology of planetary hierarchy. The magician is a purified intermediary who commands spirits of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon by invoking the names of God and presenting the appropriate pentacle. The pentacles are the central symbols: circular diagrams inscribed with Hebrew names, angelic signatures, and geometric figures. They are not merely protective; they are talismans that attract the spirit’s presence and compel obedience by divine authority.
The Lesser Key works on a different symbolic logic. The demons are named individuals with specific offices. The Ars Goetia gives each demon a seal, a rank (king, duke, prince, marquis, etc.), and a description of its appearance. Bael, the first king, appears with three heads: a toad, a man, and a cat. The magician’s power comes from the authority of the divine names, written in the circle and on the triangle of art. The triangle is not a talisman; it is a prison. The spirit is summoned into it and forced to answer questions or perform tasks.
The difference in symbolism reveals a difference in theology. The Greater Key assumes a universe of sympathetic correspondences where the magician can work with the grain of creation. The Lesser Key assumes a universe of fallen spirits that must be subdued by force.
Practices and Traditions
In the Greater Key, the magician must prepare for days. The text specifies a period of fasting, abstention from sexual intercourse, and a ritual bath. The robes are white linen, the instruments are consecrated with elaborate prayers, and the circle is drawn on the ground with a consecrated sword or knife. The operation is timed by the planetary hour of the spirit to be summoned. The tone is reverent. The magician addresses the spirit as a servant of God, not as an enemy.
In the Lesser Key, the preparation is less concerned with personal purity and more with the correct construction of the circle and the triangle. The Ars Goetia provides a set of conjurations that include threats and curses if the spirit does not appear. The magician must name the spirit by its seal, recite the names of God, and if the spirit delays, burn its seal or torment it with “sulphurous and stinking fumes.” The tone is confrontational. The spirit is an enemy to be mastered.
We have seen both approaches in practice. A Golden Dawn ritual based on the Greater Key can take hours, with the magician reciting from a prepared script and moving through a fixed sequence of invocations. A Goetic operation from the Lesser Key often ends with the magician dismissing the spirit with a harsh command and then performing a banishing ritual to cleanse the space.
Comparisons and Notable Figures
The two works are often compared to the Ars Paulina and the Ars Almadel, which are also books of the Lesser Key. The Ars Paulina deals with the planetary hours and the angels of the hours, a system closer to the Greater Key than to the Goetia. The Ars Almadel uses a wax tablet with four candles to summon angels. This overlap shows that the Lesser Key is not a single coherent system but a collection of separate traditions bound together.
The Greater Key has its own parallel tradition in the Key of Solomon family of manuscripts, which includes the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses and the Magical Calendar. These later works adapt the Greater Key’s structure to folk magic and Christian kabbalah.
The most famous figure associated with both keys is Aleister Crowley. He edited the Lesser Key, wrote a commentary on the Goetia, and incorporated the Greater Key’s pentacles into his own magical system. But his approach was idiosyncratic: he reinterpreted the demons as forces of the self to be integrated rather than external spirits to be bound.
Common Misconceptions
The two keys are not the same book. The most persistent error is that the Lesser Key is a shortened version of the Greater Key. They are independent works with different histories, sources, and methods.
The Greater Key is not “white magic” and the Lesser Key is not “black magic.” Both are ceremonial magic rooted in the same medieval worldview. The Greater Key invokes spirits that are, by its own definition, fallen or neutral, not angels. The Lesser Key includes the Ars Notoria, which is a system for acquiring knowledge through prayer, indistinguishable in tone from the Greater Key.
The attribution to Solomon is symbolic, not historical. No scholar believes King Solomon wrote either grimoire. The attribution was a standard medieval device to lend authority to a text. The real authors were anonymous clerics and magicians who compiled material from Jewish, Arabic, and Christian sources.
The Lesser Key does not contain 72 demons in all editions. The number 72 comes from the Ars Goetia, but some manuscripts of the Lemegeton include more or fewer spirits in the other books. The Ars Theurgia Goetia lists 31 aerial spirits, and the Ars Paulina adds 720 angels.
FAQ
Are the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon the same book?
No. They are two separate grimoires with different contents, histories, and methods, though both claim to be written by Solomon.
Which one is more dangerous?
Neither is intrinsically dangerous, but the Lesser Key’s confrontational approach is more likely to cause psychological distress in an unprepared practitioner. The Greater Key’s emphasis on purification makes it less alarming.
Do I need to read the Greater Key before the Lesser Key?
No. They are independent works. However, reading the Greater Key first helps understand the astrology and ritual structure that the Lesser Key assumes.
Why are both attributed to Solomon?
The attribution was a medieval convention. Solomon was seen as the archetypal wise king who commanded demons to build the Temple. Any grimoire that claimed to command spirits was often attributed to him.
Closing
These two grimoires represent two poles of the Solomonic tradition: one working with the celestial order, the other with the infernal. For a deeper look at the spirits named in the Lesser Key, see our guide to the Ars Goetia. To understand the symbolic language of the Greater Key, explore the Seal of Solomon in our glossary. And for the full context of both traditions, visit our ceremonial magic hub.