A scribe in 17th-century England sits hunched over a desk, copying a manuscript he calls The Key of Solomon the King. On the shelf beside him lies a newer book: The Lemegeton, or The Lesser Key of Solomon. He does not see them as separate. To him, both are revelations from the same source. The Clavicula Salomonis (Key of Solomon) is a medieval grimoire of ritual magic attributed to King Solomon, used for conjuring spirits. The Lemegeton is a later compilation of five books, one of which draws directly on the Clavicula. Their relationship is one of older source and younger synthesis: the Clavicula provides the ritual framework, the Lemegeton the catalog of spirits.
A Definition That Cuts Through the Confusion
The Clavicula Salomonis, also called the Greater Key of Solomon, is a single grimoire containing prayers, pentacles, seals, and instructions for invoking both angels and infernal spirits. It survives in manuscripts from the 14th century onward, the earliest known being a Latin version dated to around 1350 (British Library Sloane MSS 3826). The Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon, is a collection of five books – the Goetia, Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria – compiled in the 17th century. The Goetia, the first and most famous book, contains descriptions of seventy-two spirits, their seals, and the methods to summon and bind them.
The two texts are not the same, but their fates are tangled. Over time, the Clavicula was sometimes bound together with the Lemegeton in manuscripts, creating the impression that it formed part of the same system. We still hear practitioners refer to “the Keys of Solomon” as though they were one unified work.
Where Each Grimoire Comes From
The Clavicula Salomonis circulated in manuscript form across Europe from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance. Its roots lie in Arabic and Hebrew magical traditions, especially the Picatrix and the Hekhalot literature, which were absorbed into Latin grimoires. The earliest surviving Latin manuscripts date to the 14th century, but the text probably emerged a century earlier. The scribes who copied it often added their own innovations, so no two versions are identical. The version most modern readers know is S.L. MacGregor Mathers’s 1889 translation based on manuscripts from the British Library.
The Lemegeton is younger, appearing in the 17th century during the peak of English grimoire production. The most important manuscript is Harleian 6483, housed in the British Library, which dates to around 1670. Another key witness, Sloane 2731, contains the full Lemegeton with illustrations of the spirits’ seals. The Lemegeton drew on several earlier sources, including the Heptameron of Pietro d’Abano (13th century) and the Liber Spirituum (a medieval list of demons). The Goetia, its most influential part, was edited and republished by Aleister Crowley in 1904 as The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King, which introduced it to 20th-century occultists.
The Clavicula predates the Lemegeton by at least three centuries. The Lemegeton did not evolve from the Clavicula; rather, both belong to the same Solomonic tradition, with the Clavicula providing the ritual grammar and the Lemegeton building a distinct lexicon of spirits.
What the Keys Mean, Beyond the Words
The title “Key” is not literal. It symbolizes the idea that the grimoire unlocks access to spiritual beings and hidden knowledge. The Clavicula opens with a diagram of the magician’s circle and the triangle of conjuration. These two figures – a circle nine feet in diameter drawn with consecrated chalk, and a triangle with a central point where the spirit appears – became the standard stage for Solomonic magic. The circle represents divine protection and the operator’s place of power; the triangle is a boundary of judgment, a space where the summoned spirit must appear.
The pentacles in the Clavicula are not mere decorations. They are woven from names of God, angelic names, and geometric figures. Each pentacle is consecrated for a specific purpose: protection, love, invisibility, treasure finding. The user is instructed to inscribe them on virgin parchment or engraved metal at specific planetary hours.
The Lemegeton’s symbolism is more taxonomic. It assigns each spirit a rank (king, duke, prince, marquis, earl, president, or knight), a number of legions, and a specific appearance. For example, the demon Buer appears as a star-shaped figure with five rays, and teaches herbal medicine. This organization is unprecedented in the Clavicula, which does not classify spirits so systematically. The Lemegeton’s innovation was to make the spirit world knowable through a hierarchy, like a court or army.
How the Two Grimoires Are Used in Practice
The Clavicula prescribes a rigorous preparatory regimen. The operator must purify himself with fasting, abstain from sex, and perform prayers for nine days. He must consecrate his tools – the pentacles, the sword or wand, the robe, the crown – with exorcisms and fumigations of frankincense and myrrh. The actual conjuration is spoken from the center of the circle, the spirit’s name and seal held in the triangle, and the operator commands in God’s name. The tone is authoritative, even harsh: “I conjure thee, O spirit, by the power of the Almighty.”
The Lemegeton’s Goetia follows the same basic structure but simplifies the preliminaries. The operator still needs a circle, a triangle, and consecrated tools, but the specific purifications are less extensive. Instead, the Lemegeton provides a standardized “Call” that can be adapted for any of the seventy-two spirits, using their unique seals and names. The spirit is then bound by the “Shemhamphorash” – the seventy-two-fold name of God derived from Exodus – which is also the source of the seventy-two spirits’ names.
A concrete difference: in the Clavicula, the operator conjures for a specific request, whether to find a treasure or gain a familiar. In the Lemegeton, the operator often works systematically through the hierarchy, making pacts with individual spirits for long-term service. The Clavicula is a toolbox; the Lemegeton is a court roster.
Comparing the Two: Sources, Scope, and Influence
The Clavicula influenced the Lemegeton indirectly. Many of the Goetia’s seals are based on planetary sigils found in the Clavicula. The prayers of the Clavicula, especially the “Consecration of the Circle,” reappear in the Goetia’s opening invocations. Yet the Lemegeton’s authors did not simply copy the Clavicula. They drew on separate manuscript traditions, such as the De Furtivis Literarum Notis (a book of angelic and demonic names) and the Liber Juratus (the Sworn Book of Honorius). The Clavicula is primarily a book of operations; the Lemegeton is a book of spirits.
Notable figures shaped both texts. John Dee, the Elizabethan mathematician and occultist, had a manuscript of the Clavicula; his Enochian system shares its angelic names and celestial hierarchies. Johann Weyer, a 16th-century demonologist, included excerpts from the Clavicula in his De Praestigiis Daemonum. Later, the French occultist Éliphas Lévi criticized the Lemegeton as superstitious but praised the Clavicula as containing “real magical science.”
Common Misconceptions, Laid to Rest
The most persistent error is treating the Clavicula and Lemegeton as the same book. We often see “the Key of Solomon” used to refer to the Goetia. In fact, the Goetia is only one-fifth of the Lemegeton, and the Lemegeton is not the Clavicula. The two titles “Greater Key” and “Lesser Key” were assigned by Mathers and others in the 19th century to distinguish the Clavicula (more ritual) from the Lemegeton (more spirit-focused). The names are modern editorial inventions.
Another mistake: assuming the rituals were meant to be performed by anyone. The grimoires were intended for a trained operator who had studied theurgy and knew the names of God. A casual reading can lead to dangerous misunderstandings. The Lemegeton warns that the spirits will appear “terribly and with a great noise,” and that the operator must stand firm.
Finally, some believe the grimoires are “black magic.” The texts themselves claim divine authority, invoking the God of Abraham. The ethics are ambiguous: commanding spirits can be seen as a form of sorcery, but the prayers and purity rules suggest a religious framework. We classify them as ceremonial magic, not necessarily malevolent.
FAQ
Is the Clavicula Salomonis part of the Lemegeton? Not originally, but some later manuscripts bind them together, and the Goetia adopts elements from the Clavicula. They are separate works in separate manuscript traditions.
Which one is older? The Clavicula Salomonis, with surviving manuscripts from the 14th century. The Lemegeton appears in the 17th century.
Can these grimoires be used in modern occult practice? Yes, but the rituals are demanding. Many present-day practitioners adapt the seals and names while simplifying the long preparations. The ethics remain a personal decision.
What is the difference between the Greater and Lesser Keys? The Greater Key (Clavicula) focuses on ritual operations and pentacles. The Lesser Key (Lemegeton) catalogues seventy-two spirits and their summoning methods. Both claim Solomonic origin but serve different purposes.
Where to Go from Here
The Clavicula and the Lemegeton are two pillars of the Solomonic tradition, each with its own logic and purpose. Understanding their relationship clarifies how medieval and Renaissance magicians thought about the spirit world – as something that could be organized, commanded, and put to work. To go deeper, explore our guide to Solomonic magic and the vertical hub on grimoires. For the visual key to this system, see our glossary entry on the Solomonic seal, whose geometry appears in both works. The tradition is not dead. It is still being studied, copied, and practiced.