Comparing the Ars Goetia and the Lesser Key of Solomon: Key Differences

A grimoire collector once asked us whether the Ars Goetia was a separate book from the Lesser Key of Solomon. The answer surprised them: the Ars Goetia is not a rival text. It is the first and most famous section inside the larger compilation, a distinction that shapes how both are used, cited, and misunderstood.

The Ars Goetia is the first of five books within the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th-century grimoire that catalogs 72 demons and the rituals for summoning them. The Lesser Key, also called the Lemegeton, contains the Goetia plus four other sections: the Theurgia-Goetia, the Ars Paulina, the Ars Almadel, and the Ars Notoria. Knowing which text you are holding matters, because each section demands different tools, different hours, and a different relationship with the spirits it names.

Compare the Ars Goetia against the full Lesser Key of Solomon: what each book contains, who compiled them, how their rituals differ, and why readers keep confusing the two.

What Is the Ars Goetia?

The Ars Goetia, Latin for “the art of goetia,” is the first book of the Lesser Key of Solomon. It lists 72 demons, from Bael the first king to Stolas the 36th and Furfur the 55th, each with a seal, a rank, and a description of how it appears. The text assigns each spirit to one of four emperors: Amaimon, Corson, Zimimay, and Gaap, who rule the four cardinal directions.

The word “goetia” itself carries weight. In ancient Greek, goeteia meant sorcery or witchcraft, often with a pejorative tone. The Greek magicians who practiced it were called goetes, and their art was considered lower than theourgia, or divine work. The grimoire tradition flipped this: the Ars Goetia treats the summoned spirits as servants bound by divine names, not as gods to be worshipped.

The book opens with a warning. The practitioner must be clean, chaste, and free of sin for nine days before attempting any operation. This requirement appears in the prefatory material, and it sets the tone for the entire work: the Goetia is not a casual exercise.

What Is the Lesser Key of Solomon?

The Lesser Key of Solomon, or the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, is a compilation of five grimoires bound together. The name “Lesser Key” distinguishes it from the Greater Key of Solomon, a separate and older text on ritual magic attributed to King Solomon. The Lesser Key is not a single authored work. It is an anthology assembled from earlier sources, and its five books serve different purposes.

The five books are:

• Ars Goetia: 72 demons and their summoning rituals
• Theurgia-Goetia: 31 spirits, mostly aerial, governed by seven princes
• Ars Paulina: spirits of the hours, days, and zodiacal signs
• Ars Almadel: a wax tablet used to contact 20 celestial spirits
• Ars Notoria: prayers and orations for acquiring knowledge and memory

Each book has its own history. The Ars Notoria is the oldest, with manuscript fragments dating to the 13th century. The Ars Almadel and Ars Paulina draw on medieval astrological magic. The Theurgia-Goetia blends angelic and demonic names in a way that scholars still debate. The Goetia, despite being the most famous, is not necessarily the oldest section.

Where Do These Texts Come From?

The Lesser Key of Solomon survives in several manuscripts, none of which predate the 17th century. The earliest complete copy, Sloane MS 3825, dates to the 1680s and sits in the British Library. Another important version, Sloane MS 2731, was produced around 1688. These are the anchor texts for modern editions.

The attribution to Solomon is traditional, not historical. The grimoire claims to record the magic of the biblical king, who “excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.” No scholar believes Solomon wrote it. The rituals, seals, and spirit lists draw on earlier Jewish, Christian, and Arabic magical traditions, including the Testament of Solomon, a Greek text from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE that describes Solomon commanding demons to build the Temple.

The modern history of the Goetia is more traceable. In 1904, the occultist Aleister Crowley published an edition titled The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King, with a preface by MacGregor Mathers, a founding member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Crowley’s edition included the famous “Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia” and shaped how 20th-century occultists approached the text. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers had prepared the translation, and Crowley added his own commentary, including the claim that the demons were “portions of the human brain.”

How Do the Rituals Differ Between the Books?

The Ars Goetia is the most operationally demanding section. Its rituals require a circle, a triangle, a brass vessel, a wand, and the seals of the 72 spirits. The practitioner draws a circle on the ground, places the spirit’s seal inside a triangle outside the circle, and recites the conjurations while holding the wand. The spirits are bound by the names of God, and the text insists they will appear “in a comely shape” if summoned correctly.

The other books ask for different tools. The Ars Paulina works with the hours of the day and night, each governed by an angel, and requires a “round circle” marked with the names of the hours. The Ars Almadel requires a wax tablet, about the size of a hand, inscribed with the names of the 20 spirits and placed on an altar. The Ars Notoria is the outlier: it requires no circle or triangle at all, only a book of prayers recited at specific times.

The Goetia is also the only section that uses the “triangle of art,” the device that confines the summoned spirit. In the other books, the spirits are invoked into the air or into the wax tablet, not into a bounded triangle. This difference matters for practice. The triangle creates a hard boundary, and the Goetia warns that a spirit outside the triangle will “torment” the operator.

What Do the 72 Demons Actually Represent?

The 72 demons of the Ars Goetia are not a random list. They are arranged in a hierarchy that mirrors the structure of a royal court. There are kings, dukes, presidents, earls, marquises, and knights, each with a number of legions under their command. Bael, the first spirit, is a king who rules 66 legions. Paimon, the ninth, is a king who must be “observed” with offerings and who speaks in a loud voice. Vassago, the third, is a prince who can declare past and future events.

Each demon has a seal, a unique geometric design that the practitioner draws on parchment or metal. The seal is the spirit’s signature, and the text insists it must be shown to the spirit during the summoning. The descriptions are vivid: Bael appears as a cat, a toad, or a man with a hoarse voice; Agares rides a crocodile and carries a goshawk; Marbas appears as a great lion and answers questions about hidden things.

The demons are not uniformly evil in the text. Many are described as “good of nature” or as spirits who “tell truly of things past, present, and to come.” The Goetia treats them as fallen angels, but fallen angels who can be compelled to serve. This ambiguity is part of why the text fascinates readers: it is a catalog of powers, not a moral treatise.

How Does the Ars Goetia Compare to the Other Four Books?

The Goetia is the only section of the Lesser Key that deals exclusively with demons. The Theurgia-Goetia mixes spirits of both “good” and “evil” nature, and its 31 spirits are mostly aerial, governed by seven princes who correspond to the days of the week. The Ars Paulina and Ars Almadel are angelic in focus, invoking angels of the hours, days, and zodiac. The Ars Notoria is a prayer book, closer to a devotional text than a summoning manual.

This difference shapes the reputation of each book. The Goetia is the “dark” section, the one that gets reprinted in popular occult books and discussed on forums. The other four sections are comparatively obscure. Fewer practitioners work with the Ars Almadel, because the wax tablet is expensive and the instructions are dense. The Ars Notoria is studied more by scholars than by practitioners, because its prayers are long and its effects are internal.

The Goetia is also the only section with a fully developed demonic hierarchy. The other books list spirits, but they do not give them ranks, legions, or seals in the same detail. This is why the Goetia is often treated as a standalone text, even though it is only one-fifth of the Lesser Key.

What Do People Get Wrong About These Texts?

The most common error is treating the Ars Goetia and the Lesser Key as separate, competing grimoires. The Goetia is a part of the Lesser Key, not an alternative to it. A reader who buys a copy of the Lesser Key and expects only the 72 demons will be surprised by the angelic prayers of the Ars Notoria.

Another misconception is that the Goetia is a medieval text. The earliest complete manuscripts date to the 1680s, which places the compilation in the early modern period, not the Middle Ages. The Testament of Solomon is older, but the Goetia as we know it is a 17th-century production.

A third error is assuming the Goetia is a work of Satanism. The text invokes the names of God constantly, and its rituals are framed as acts of divine authority. The practitioner is not worshipping demons; they are commanding them. This distinction is central to the grimoire tradition, and losing it distorts the entire practice.

Finally, many readers assume the Goetia is a complete system. It is not. The text assumes the practitioner already knows how to consecrate tools, cast a circle, and perform the necessary purifications. The Goetia is a manual for one operation, not a full magical curriculum.

FAQ

Is the Ars Goetia the same as the Lesser Key of Solomon? No. The Ars Goetia is the first of five books within the Lesser Key of Solomon, also called the Lemegeton. The other four books are the Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria.

Who wrote the Lesser Key of Solomon? No single author is known. The text is attributed to King Solomon, but the earliest complete manuscripts date to the 1680s, and the contents draw on older Jewish, Christian, and Arabic magical traditions.

How many demons are in the Ars Goetia? The Ars Goetia lists 72 demons, each with a seal, a rank, and a description. They are organized under four emperors who rule the cardinal directions.

Do practitioners still use the Ars Goetia today? Yes. The text is used in modern occult traditions, including ceremonial magic and some forms of demonolatry, though practitioners often adapt the rituals to their own frameworks.

The Boundary Between the Books

The Ars Goetia is the loudest voice in the Lesser Key, but it is not the only one. The other four books offer a different magic: angels instead of demons, prayers instead of conjurations, wax tablets instead of brass vessels. Reading the full Lesser Key means holding all five together, and the contrast is instructive. The Goetia is the section that gets quoted, reprinted, and argued over. The Ars Notoria is the section that gets ignored, and it is the oldest.

The Lesser Key is a library in miniature, and the Goetia is its most famous shelf. For a deeper look at the spirits it catalogs, start with our guide to the Ars Goetia’s 72 demons. To understand the wider tradition of Solomonic magic, browse the vertical hub on demonology and goetia, and check the glossary entry on grimoires for the terms that connect these texts. The books are old, but the questions they raise are not.