This book, translated and edited by the occultist Samuel Liddell Mathers (1854-1918) and published in 1889, introduced to Victorian England an important work of Renaissance esoterica. Purportedly the deathbed testament of King Solomon to his son, distilling all the angelic wisdom he received in his lifetime, it provided its readers with detailed instructions in conjuring, divining and summoning God's power to work 'experiments', or spells. For Mathers, it represented 'the fountain-head and storehouse of Qabalistical Magic' and formed a central part of his efforts to lend scholarly respectability to occult research. Mathers edited the text using available manuscripts at the British Museum, and it continues to offer authoritative and fascinating insight into both Renaissance occultism and its Victorian revival. Features of this edition include introductions from three distinct manuscripts, a table of the planetary hours and their magical names, and spells for producing invisibility, creating magic carpets and identifying thieves.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface; Preliminary discourse from Lansdowne MSS. 1203; Introduction from Lansdowne MSS. 1203; Note by editor; The Key of Solomon: Book I: 1. Concerning the divine love which ought to precede the acquisition of this knowledge; 2. Of the days, and hours, and of the virtues of the planets; 3. Concerning the arts; 4. The confession to be made by the exorcist; 5. Prayers and conjurations; 6. Stronger and more potent conjuration; 7. An extremely powerful conjuration; 8. Concerning the medals or pentacles, and the manner of constructing them; 9. Of the experiment concerning things stolen, and how it should be performed; 10. Of the experiment of invisibility, and how it should be performed; 11. To hinder a sportsman from killing any game; 12. How to make the magic garters; 13. How to make the magic carpet proper for interrogating the intelligences, so as to obtain an answer regarding whatsoever matter one may wish to learn; 14. How to render thyself master of a treasure possessed by the spiritis; 15. Of the experiment of seeking favour and love; 16. How operations of mockery, invisibility, and deceit should be prepared; 17. How extraordinary experiments and operations should be prepared; 18. Concerning the holy pentacles or medals; Book II: Prefatory note; 1. At what hour after the preparation of all things necessary, we should bring the exercise of the art to perfection; 2. In what manner the master of the art should keep, rule, and govern himself; 3. How the companions of disciples of the Master of the Art ought to regulate and govern themselves; 4. Concerning the fasting, care, and things to be observed; 5. Concerning the baths, and how they are to be arranged; 6. Of the garments and shoes of the art; 7. Of places wherein we may conveniently execute the experiments and operations of the art; 8. Of the knife, sickle, poniard, dagger, lance, wand, staff, and other instruments of magical art; 9. Of the formation of the circle; 10. Concerning incense, suffumigations, perfumes, odours, and similar things which are used in magical arts; 11. Of the water, and of the hyssop; 12. Of the light, and of the fire; 13. Concerning the precepts of the art; 14. Of the pen, ink, and colours; 15. Of the pen of the swallow and of the crow; 16. Of the blood of the bat, pigeon, and other animals; 17. Of virgin parchment, or virgin paper, and how it should be prepared; 18. Of wax and virgin earth; 19. Concerning the needle and other iron instruments; 20. Concerning the silken cloth; 21. Concerning characters, and the consecration of the magical book; 22. Concerning sacrifices to the spirits, and how they should be made; Ancient fragment of the Key of Solomon, translated from the Hebrew by Eliphaz Lévi, and given in his 'Philosophie Occulte' serie II, page 136; The Qabalistical invocation of Solomon. Given by Eliphaz Lévi in 'Rituel de la Haute Magie', chapter xiii.
