Clavicula Salomonis — The Key of Solomon: The History of the Grimoire Attributed to King Solomon, Its Pentacles, Ceremonial Magic, and the Hidden Knowledge of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

 

Clavicula Salomonis — The Key of Solomon: The History of the Grimoire Attributed to King Solomon, Its Pentacles, Ceremonial Magic, and the Hidden Knowledge of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

Revista & Escolas de Mistérios | Independent Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia

Author: R.V. Garcia

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Introduction — One of the Most Enigmatic Grimoires in the Western Esoteric Tradition

Among the manuscripts that have survived throughout the history of European esoteric literature, few have generated as much interest, controversy, and curiosity as the Clavicula Salomonis, known in English as The Key of Solomon. Traditionally attributed to the legendary King Solomon, this work occupies a prominent position in the history of grimoires, ceremonial magic, and the occult traditions that developed between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Its contents present an intellectual world in which religion, astrology, symbolism, angelology, divine names, ritual geometry, and magical practices appear within an organized system of correspondences and procedures. Its pages describe ceremonial instruments, ritual preparations, conjurations, prayers, diagrams, special characters, and figures known as pentacles, to which the tradition assigns different spiritual and magical purposes.

The association with Solomon is not accidental. In biblical tradition and in various later religious narratives, the king of Israel appears as an exceptionally wise figure, knowledgeable about the mysteries of creation and possessing authority over spiritual forces. Over the centuries, this image was expanded through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, as well as popular narratives that transformed Solomon into a central figure in the literature of wisdom and magic.

There is, however, a fundamental distinction between the tradition attributed to the king and the available historical documentation. There is no evidence that the biblical Solomon wrote the Clavicula Salomonis. The surviving manuscripts belong to much later periods, and the work displays signs of transmission, adaptation, and compilation across generations.

Its formation is associated with the medieval intellectual environment, with documentary witnesses dating back to the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. During the Renaissance, different versions circulated throughout Europe, being copied, translated, reorganized, and incorporated into private collections of magical literature.

The history of the book also reveals an important aspect of the relationship between knowledge and power. At various points, magical treatises were persecuted, censored, and regarded as dangerous by religious authorities. Nevertheless, their manuscripts continued to circulate, often in private settings, among readers interested in astrology, natural philosophy, religion, and occult practices.

This investigation examines the history of the Clavicula Salomonis, its documentary origins, its relationship with Jewish and Christian traditions, the organization of its contents, the meaning of its pentacles, its planetary correspondences, and its influence on modern occultism.

The objective is not to present the supernatural abilities attributed to the book as established facts, but to understand historically how these ideas emerged, were organized, and survived over the centuries.

The investigation follows an essential distinction: documented facts, historical interpretations, and esoteric traditions.

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PART I — THE ORIGINS OF THE CLAVICULA SALOMONIS

1. The Meaning of the Title and the Solomonic Tradition

The Latin expression Clavicula Salomonis can be translated literally as "The Little Key of Solomon." The word clavicula is the diminutive form of clavis, the Latin word for key.

In English publishing, the work became known as The Key of Solomon or The Greater Key of Solomon. In Portuguese, the designation A Chave Maior de Salomão became established, particularly to distinguish it from the so-called Lesser Key of Solomon, or Lemegeton.

The word "key" also carries an important symbolic meaning. In different religious, philosophical, and initiatory traditions, a key represents access to knowledge, the understanding of mysteries, and the opening of paths previously considered inaccessible.

In this work, the idea of a key is associated with knowledge of procedures, symbols, names, and correspondences that, according to the tradition, would allow the practitioner to perform magical operations.

The attribution to Solomon was intended to confer ancestral authority upon the contents. The biblical king is presented as the possessor of exceptional wisdom, received from God, which supposedly allowed him to understand hidden aspects of nature and exercise authority over spiritual entities.

This attribution is part of a phenomenon known to historians as pseudepigraphy: the production or circulation of texts attributed to prestigious ancient or legendary figures, without necessarily having been written by them.

Ancient and medieval literature contains numerous examples of this practice. Works of philosophy, astrology, medicine, and religion were associated with historical or legendary personalities to lend authority to the ideas they transmitted.

Therefore, Solomonic authorship must be understood as part of the literary tradition surrounding the work, not as historically established information.

2. Who Was King Solomon in Religious Tradition?

Solomon is one of the most important figures in biblical tradition.

The son of King David, he became known primarily for his wisdom, the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and his association with the prosperity of the kingdom of Israel.

In the biblical narrative, particularly in 1 Kings, chapter 3, Solomon asks God for wisdom to govern his people. His request is granted, and his figure comes to represent the ideal of the wise ruler.

However, Solomon's image did not remain limited to biblical texts.

Over the centuries, different traditions expanded his reputation, associating him with knowledge of animals, spirits, angels, and invisible forces.

In later Jewish literature, narratives emerged concerning Solomon's power over spiritual entities. One of the most important works in this context is the Testament of Solomon, a pseudepigraphical text with a complex history of composition and transmission, in which the king interrogates and exercises authority over various demons.

In Islamic tradition, Solomon, known as Sulayman, is also presented as a prophet and ruler to whom God granted extraordinary authority. The Quran contains passages associating him with knowledge of animals and dominion over the jinn.

These traditions helped shape the cultural imagination in which Solomon came to represent knowledge of mysteries and authority over the spiritual world.

It was within this religious and literary environment that the tradition of Solomonic magical texts developed.

3. Medieval Antecedents

The Clavicula Salomonis did not suddenly appear during the Renaissance.

Its formation is associated with a medieval tradition of magical literature in which different forms of knowledge were brought together in manuscripts circulating among readers interested in astrology, invocations, medicine, natural philosophy, and religious practices.

One of the most important aspects of contemporary research is the discovery of very early manuscript fragments.

In 2021, researcher Matteo Cova published a study of two fragments of the Clavicula Salomonis preserved in Trento, dating approximately from 1380 to 1410.

These fragments are particularly significant because they demonstrate that the textual tradition already existed in the late Middle Ages.

Another important milestone is an Italian manuscript associated with the later structure of the work, completed in Milan around 1446.

A study published in 2026 by Gal Sofer in the academic journal Harvard Theological Review examines this textual transmission and demonstrates that the manuscripts should not be treated as identical copies of a single original.

The existence of different versions shows that the Clavicula was continually modified as scribes and readers incorporated materials, corrected passages, and adapted its contents.

Its history is therefore also the history of a literary tradition in constant transformation.

4. The Multiplicity of Manuscripts

One of the most fascinating aspects of the work is the number of surviving versions.

A study by Gal Sofer, published by Cambridge University Press in 2026, refers to at least two hundred manuscripts and printed books associated with the title Clavicula Salomonis.

This number does not mean that two hundred perfectly identical copies exist.

On the contrary, the differences can be significant.

Some manuscripts contain more concise material. Others include additional chapters, prayers, conjurations, illustrations, or instructions absent from certain versions.

There are also differences in language. The tradition circulated in Latin, Italian, French, German, Hebrew, and other forms of textual transmission.

This diversity is essential to understanding the work.

There is no single universal version that can be regarded, without qualification, as the definitive original text of the entire tradition.

The history of the Clavicula requires manuscript comparison, paleographic analysis, linguistic study, and investigation into the relationships between different copies.

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PART II — THE CONTENTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

5. How Is the Work Organized?

Traditional versions of the Clavicula Salomonis present an organization frequently divided into two major books.

This structure is particularly visible in manuscripts studied by researchers and in the 1889 edition prepared by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.

The first book focuses on the knowledge required to perform magical operations.

The second addresses practical matters, instruments, materials, preparations, and procedures associated with rituals.

It is important to remember that this division does not appear identically in every manuscript.

In many versions, the work functions as a manual intended to complement other magical recipes and practices. It provides general principles, correspondences, rules, and instructions that could be combined with material found in other texts.

This aspect was highlighted by Gal Sofer in his 2026 research.

The Clavicula should not be interpreted merely as a book of isolated magical recipes, but also as an attempt to systematize a broader body of knowledge and practices.

6. Book One: Astrology, Magical Operations, and Correspondences

One of the most important characteristics of the first book is the association between magical operations and the movements of celestial bodies.

The text presents relationships between the seven traditional planets and different objectives attributed to ceremonial practices.

In medieval astrological cosmology, each planet possessed its own symbolic qualities.

These correspondences were used to determine moments considered suitable for particular operations.

Among the objectives found in different versions are:

• Obtaining love and friendship.
• Gaining knowledge of particular circumstances.
• Recovering stolen objects.
• Protection.
• Producing illusions.
• Invisibility, according to the tradition.
• Operations associated with prosperity.
• Operations of a destructive nature.

The classification of these objectives reveals an important characteristic of the magical mindset of the period: the belief that the universe possessed a structure of correspondences connecting celestial bodies, natural elements, symbols, and human actions.

The practitioner was expected to understand these relationships in order to select the appropriate times and instruments.

This is not contemporary scientific astrology, but a historical cosmology that integrated astronomical observation, religious symbolism, and a magical interpretation of nature.

7. The Seven Planets and Their Correspondences

The Clavicula Salomonis employs the traditional system of seven planets.

In ancient and medieval cosmology, the Sun and Moon were included among the seven planets, together with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Each possessed its own symbolic characteristics.

Saturn

Traditionally associated with time, limitation, discipline, melancholy, old age, and processes of destruction or closure.

Jupiter

Related to authority, prosperity, justice, honor, expansion, and dignity.

Mars

Associated with strength, conflict, courage, warfare, energy, and destruction.

The Sun

Represented light, vitality, authority, reputation, and power.

Venus

Associated with love, beauty, attraction, friendship, and relationships.

Mercury

Related to intelligence, communication, knowledge, skill, and intellectual activities.

The Moon

Associated with cycles, imagination, change, fertility, and phenomena related to everyday life.

These correspondences were not inventions exclusive to the Clavicula. They belong to a much broader astrological tradition that developed throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The interesting aspect is how the grimoire uses this established repertoire to organize its magical operations.

8. Planetary Hours

Another important element is the system known as planetary hours.

In traditional magical astrology, the day was divided into periods associated with the seven planets.

These periods did not necessarily correspond to the fixed hours of the modern clock.

The traditional system divided the interval between sunrise and sunset into twelve parts, and the interval between sunset and the following sunrise into another twelve parts.

Consequently, the length of a planetary hour varied according to the season and geographical location.

Each period was associated with a planet according to a traditional sequence.

The choice of hour was considered important because the moment of performing an operation was believed to need to correspond symbolically with its intended purpose.

For example, operations related to love were traditionally associated with Venus, while certain operations involving authority were associated with the Sun or Jupiter.

The historical importance of this system lies in the way it demonstrates the integration of astrology and ceremonial magic.

9. The Pentacles of Solomon

Among all the elements of the Clavicula Salomonis, perhaps none is as well known as its pentacles.

These are geometric and symbolic figures, generally circular, containing inscriptions, divine names, Hebrew characters, and other graphic elements.

In different manuscripts, the designs display variations in composition, craftsmanship, arrangement, and artistic quality.

Within the book's tradition, the pentacles are associated with specific purposes.

Some are connected with protection, others with authority, prosperity, defense against certain influences, or the achievement of particular objectives.

Pentacles should not simply be confused with pentagrams.

Although certain designs may incorporate five-pointed stars, the category of pentacles is broader and includes different geometric forms, inscriptions, and symbolic combinations.

The word "pentacle," in this context, refers to a magical object or diagram, not necessarily a five-pointed star.

Divine Names and Hebrew Inscriptions

One of the most interesting aspects of the pentacles is the presence of names considered sacred.

In certain versions, we find references to the God of Israel, angelic names, religious expressions, and Hebrew characters.

The use of these elements reveals the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition in the formation of European ceremonial magic.

In the worldview of the authors and practitioners of these texts, the power of the symbols was not necessarily understood as independent of God.

In many passages, operations are grounded in prayers, invocations, and references to divine authority.

This characteristic distinguishes certain ceremonial magical traditions from modern simplified representations that portray every grimoire as an exclusively demonological practice.

Geometry as a Symbolic Language

The diagrams also demonstrate the importance of geometry in the construction of magical thought.

Circles, stars, triangles, crosses, and inscriptions are combined into structures intended to represent a spiritual order.

Geometry appears as a language capable of visually organizing religious and cosmological concepts.

In esoteric tradition, the circle frequently represents wholeness, protection, and the delimitation of a ritual space.

However, the precise meaning of each figure must be investigated within its respective manuscript. It is not correct to automatically assign every symbol a universal meaning.

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PART III — CEREMONIAL MAGIC AND RITUAL INSTRUMENTS

10. Book Two: The Preparation of the Practitioner

The second book concentrates on the material and ceremonial aspects of magical operations.

Its contents address the preparation of the practitioner, the organization of the space, the instruments, and the procedures considered necessary for performing magical work.

In certain versions, references appear to:

• Baths and purification.
• Fasting.
• Preparation of garments.
• Preparation of instruments.
• Making specific materials.
• Preparing the ritual space.
• Prayers and consecrations.
• Incense and fumigation.
• Organization of circles and diagrams.

These instructions demonstrate that ceremonial magic was conceived as an organized activity governed by rules and procedures.

The practitioner was not simply expected to pronounce certain words or draw symbols.

The tradition required physical, mental, and religious preparation, as well as observance of astrological and symbolic correspondences.

From a historical perspective, this reveals a conception of ritualized interaction between human beings, nature, and the spiritual world.

11. Magical Circles

Circles are important elements of ceremonial magical literature.

In the Clavicula Salomonis, they appear in connection with the delimitation of spaces intended for magical operations.

In certain traditions, the circle represents protection and symbolic separation between the everyday environment and the ritual space.

Its interior is conceived as an area organized according to religious and cosmological principles.

The designs may contain divine names, inscriptions, angelic references, and other symbolic figures.

The construction of the circle represents an attempt to establish a specific ritual order.

It is interesting to observe that this type of representation does not belong exclusively to the Solomonic tradition. Circles and diagrams appear in different cultures and religious traditions, although their meanings vary considerably.

12. Instruments Used in the Operations

The manuscripts describe various instruments associated with ceremonial practices.

Among them are:

• Ritual knives.
• Swords.
• Wands.
• Candles.
• Containers.
• Writing materials.
• Parchments.
• Specific fabrics.
• Incense and aromatic substances.

These objects were not regarded as mere accessories.

Within the system's internal logic, each instrument had a function and was expected to be prepared according to particular rules.

The creation of symbols on specific materials was also part of this organization.

Some versions describe the preparation of ink, paper, and parchment.

The Latin manuscript Ms. Codex 1673, preserved by the University of Pennsylvania and dating from the second half of the eighteenth century, offers a particularly interesting documentary example of this tradition.

The university catalog records instructions concerning the preparation of materials, instruments, and conjurations.

13. Prayers, Conjurations, and Sacred Names

Religious language occupies a central position in the Clavicula Salomonis.

Unlike the popular image of a grimoire consisting exclusively of mysterious formulas, the book contains extensive passages of a devotional nature.

Different versions include:

• Prayers.
• Confessions.
• Invocations.
• Conjurations.
• References to the names of God.
• Angelic names.
• Biblical passages.
• Formulas of spiritual authority.

The practitioner is frequently presented as someone who must acknowledge divine authority before performing certain operations.

This characteristic demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between magic and religion in medieval and Renaissance Europe.

To modern readers, it may seem contradictory to find Christian prayers in a book that teaches magical practices.

However, the historical boundary between religion, magic, natural philosophy, and devotional practices was more complex than contemporary classifications often suggest.

The authors and readers of these manuscripts could understand certain operations as religious practices, while ecclesiastical authorities classified them as superstition, illusion, or illicit invocation of spirits.

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PART IV — THE RELATIONSHIP WITH KABBALAH AND JEWISH TRADITIONS

14. The Presence of Kabbalah in Solomonic Magic

The relationship between the Clavicula Salomonis and Kabbalah is one of the most important questions for understanding the work.

Jewish Kabbalah is a mystical and interpretive tradition that developed over many centuries.

Its intellectual world includes reflections on the divine nature, creation, the attributes of God, Hebrew letters, numbers, and the spiritual structure of existence.

In European ceremonial magical literature, different elements of this tradition were incorporated and reinterpreted.

Among the elements found in Solomonic grimoires are:

• Hebrew divine names.
• Characters from the Hebrew alphabet.
• Angelic names.
• References to Scripture.
• Symbolic correspondences.
• Religious and cosmological diagrams.

Nevertheless, an important distinction must be established.

The Clavicula Salomonis should not be presented as a traditional work of Jewish Kabbalah.

It belongs to Solomonic magical literature, a broader field that received influences from different religious and cultural traditions.

The presence of Hebrew elements demonstrates intellectual exchange and appropriation, but it does not automatically transform the grimoire into a Jewish Kabbalistic treatise.

15. Sefer Mafteaḥ Shelomoh

A Hebrew textual tradition exists in connection with the title Mafteaḥ Shelomoh, an expression that can be translated as "The Key of Solomon."

A manuscript preserved at the British Library, identified as Or 14759, contains a Hebrew magical manual with passages and elements in other languages.

Another manuscript, Or 6360, also preserved at the British Library, brings together astrological, Kabbalistic, and magical fragments.

These documents demonstrate that the world of Solomonic magic also circulated in Hebrew-language writing environments.

Research published in 2026 by Gal Sofer provided new information about the chronology of these versions.

The study challenges the idea that Hebrew texts related to the Clavicula began appearing only in the late seventeenth century.

The research presents evidence of earlier circulation and examines the role of scribes in adapting the materials.

This is a particularly significant point: the transmission of knowledge did not occur in a single direction, nor can it be reduced to a straightforward translation from an original Latin text into Hebrew.

The manuscripts reveal more complex processes of compilation, adaptation, commentary, and reorganization.

16. The Influence of Abraham Colorni

Another important figure in this history is Abraham Colorni, a Jewish engineer and intellectual associated with the court of Mantua, Italy, during the sixteenth century.

The manuscript tradition connected with Colorni includes versions presenting the work as having been translated from Hebrew into Italian and subsequently into French.

These versions were particularly important in the editorial history of the Clavicula.

Colorni's name is associated with manuscripts that would later be used by Mathers in preparing his English edition.

However, caution is necessary when reconstructing the exact authorship and textual genealogy of these documents.

The appearance of a translator's name in a manuscript does not necessarily mean that all the materials found in that version were produced by that individual.

The textual history of the work is marked by multiple layers of transmission.

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PART V — THE RENAISSANCE AND THE CIRCULATION OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

17. The Renaissance Intellectual Environment

The European Renaissance was marked by an intense rediscovery of ancient texts, the development of the sciences, the circulation of manuscripts, and renewed interest in philosophical and religious traditions.

Within this environment, knowledge originating in Greco-Roman antiquity, Arabic philosophy, Jewish tradition, and Christian literature was studied and reinterpreted.

Astrology occupied an important position in the intellectual life of the period.

Alchemy, astrological medicine, natural philosophy, and different forms of learned magic were also part of certain intellectual circles.

It is within this context that we should understand the circulation of the Clavicula Salomonis.

The book does not represent Renaissance thought as a whole, but it constitutes an important document of one of the currents within the intellectual world of the period.

18. The Relationship with Cornelius Agrippa

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) was one of the best-known authors of Renaissance philosophical and occult traditions.

His most important work in this field, De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres, published in its complete form in 1533, seeks to organize knowledge related to natural magic, celestial magic, and ceremonial magic.

Agrippa discusses correspondences between the elements of nature, celestial bodies, numbers, symbols, and spiritual forces.

His work demonstrates the existence of an intellectual world in which different forms of knowledge were organized into systems of correspondence.

However, thematic proximity must not be confused with a direct documentary relationship.

The existence of similarities between Agrippa and the Clavicula Salomonis does not, by itself, demonstrate that one author copied the other.

Both belong to a broader environment in which astrological, magical, and religious knowledge circulated.

Further investigation should compare the texts, dates, and manuscripts before establishing specific relationships.

19. Renaissance Hermeticism

Another important field is Hermeticism.

The European Hermetic tradition was deeply influenced by the collection of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary figure associated with ancient Egyptian wisdom and philosophy.

During the Renaissance, the circulation of the Corpus Hermeticum contributed to new interpretations of the relationship between human beings, nature, and the universe.

Hermetic thought emphasized the idea of correspondences between different levels of reality.

This worldview displays affinities with the cosmology found in many grimoires.

Nevertheless, we should not claim that the Clavicula Salomonis is itself a strictly Hermetic treatise.

It belongs to the Solomonic tradition, although it shares elements with an intellectual environment in which astrology, symbolism, and ceremonial magic were interconnected.

20. Natural Magic, Astral Magic, and Ceremonial Magic

To understand the position of the Clavicula, it is necessary to distinguish several historical categories.

Natural Magic

Related to the study of hidden or poorly understood properties of nature, such as correspondences between minerals, plants, animals, and natural phenomena.

Astral Magic

Involved the interpretation of celestial influences on earthly events.

Ceremonial Magic

Employed ritualized procedures, prayers, symbols, instruments, and invocations.

The Clavicula Salomonis is particularly associated with ceremonial magic, but it incorporates astrological knowledge and elements from other traditions.

This combination demonstrates that these categories were not necessarily independent of one another.

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PART VI — CENSORSHIP, PROHIBITION, AND CLANDESTINE CIRCULATION

21. Why Did Grimoires Concern Religious Authorities?

The circulation of magical books raised concerns among religious authorities.

The use of invocations, conjurations, spiritual names, and procedures intended to produce supernatural results raised important theological questions.

From the perspective of certain religious institutions, some of these practices could represent illegitimate attempts to exercise spiritual powers or establish contact with prohibited entities.

The issue was not simply the existence of magical beliefs.

It also involved religious authority over the limits of knowledge, prayer, and spiritual practice.

The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation intensified disputes over doctrine, authority, and religious discipline.

Within this environment, books associated with ceremonial magic could be considered threats to religious orthodoxy.

22. Inclusion in the Index of Prohibited Books

The Clavicula Salomonis is associated with the history of European religious censorship and the Index Librorum Prohibitorum during the sixteenth century.

Gal Sofer's study, published in 2026 in Harvard Theological Review, highlights this status.

The Index was an instrument for controlling the circulation of texts considered incompatible with established Catholic religious principles.

The inclusion of a work in this context did not mean that every copy was destroyed or that its contents ceased to circulate.

Manuscripts could remain in private libraries, personal collections, and scholarly environments.

Furthermore, the existence of different versions made it difficult to identify every manuscript associated with a particular title.

23. Manuscripts, Smuggling, and Secret Transmission

The history of Solomonic magic also makes it possible to investigate networks of book circulation.

Daniel Precioso's article, published in the Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões, entitled "Treatises of Magic Attributed to Solomon: Censorship, Smuggling, Grammar, and Kabbalistic Influences (Europe, Sixteenth–Eighteenth Centuries)," examines precisely this phenomenon.

The study analyzes the diffusion of the Clavicula Salomonis and the Ars Notoria amid religious censorship and the expansion of printed literature in early modern Europe.

This work is particularly relevant because it demonstrates that the history of grimoires cannot be separated from the material history of books.

Scribes, translators, readers, collectors, and merchants all participated in the preservation and transformation of these texts.

Clandestine circulation should not be romanticized as though every manuscript necessarily contained extraordinary secret knowledge.

What the documents demonstrate is that readers were interested in content that, in certain historical contexts, was considered prohibited.

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PART VII — THE EDITION BY MACGREGOR MATHERS AND MODERN OCCULTISM

24. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers

One of the most important moments in the modern history of the Clavicula Salomonis occurred during the nineteenth century.

Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918) was a British occultist, a student of ancient magical traditions, and one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Mathers became interested in ancient manuscripts and sought to introduce different texts from the magical tradition to English-speaking readers.

In 1889, he published the edition:

The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis).

The book was published in London by George Redway.

Mathers used manuscripts preserved at the British Museum, including versions in Latin, French, and Italian.

His edition became one of the best-known presentations of the Solomonic tradition.

From a scholarly perspective, however, it should not be regarded as a definitive critical edition.

Mathers made his own editorial choices, combined material from different manuscripts, and did not provide a complete philological apparatus according to modern academic standards.

The modern research of Joseph H. Peterson also draws attention to these limitations.

This does not diminish the historical importance of the edition, but it requires readers to understand its characteristics when using it as a source.

25. The Influence on the Golden Dawn

The Golden Dawn was one of the most influential occult organizations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Founded in 1888, it brought together elements of Hermeticism, Western Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy, Christian symbolism, and ceremonial magic.

Mathers played a fundamental role in organizing its teachings.

The publication of the Clavicula Salomonis contributed to the circulation of one of the best-known grimoires in the Western tradition.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to distinguish the history of the book from the history of the Golden Dawn.

The presence of Solomonic elements in the order's literature does not mean that the organization originated the Clavicula or that all its practices derive directly from this manuscript.

The Golden Dawn represents a later stage in the reception and reorganization of occult knowledge.

26. The Key of Solomon and Contemporary Occult Literature

Throughout the twentieth century, the Clavicula Salomonis continued to be published in different editions.

Its contents became part of the repertoire of researchers, grimoire collectors, and practitioners of different esoteric traditions.

The work also influenced the modern iconography of ceremonial magic.

Its pentacles, diagrams, and symbols began appearing in books, studies, illustrations, and popular representations of the occult tradition.

With the digitization of historical collections, it has become possible to consult manuscripts that were previously accessible only to researchers authorized to visit certain libraries.

This process represents an important change in the history of documentary preservation.

Knowledge that circulated in private manuscripts for centuries can now be examined by researchers in different countries.

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PART VIII — THE GREATER KEY AND THE LESSER KEY: TWO DIFFERENT TRADITIONS

27. The Difference Between Clavicula Salomonis and Lemegeton

Confusion between the Greater Key and the Lesser Key of Solomon is relatively common.

Despite the relationship between the two works and their association with Solomon, they are not the same book.

The Clavicula Salomonis is a grimoire whose textual tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, with known witnesses from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Its contents are associated with ceremonial magic, pentacles, planetary correspondences, prayers, and ritual instruments.

The Lemegeton, known as The Lesser Key of Solomon, is a later compilation preserved in manuscripts dating primarily from the seventeenth century.

Its best-known section is the Ars Goetia, which presents a classification of spirits and descriptions of entities traditionally associated with demonology.

The Lesser Key also contains other sections, including the Ars Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, and Ars Notoria, although each has its own textual history and particular characteristics.

Therefore, the similarity of their titles should not lead to the merging of the two works.

They are related textual traditions, but they remain distinct.

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PART IX — HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS AND DOCUMENTS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

28. Manuscripts That Make It Possible to Study the Work

The history of the Clavicula Salomonis can be examined directly through documents preserved by international institutions.

Among the most important records are:

1. Trento Fragments — Approximately 1380–1410

Two manuscript fragments identified at the Capitular Library of Trento are considered among the earliest witnesses of the textual tradition.

They were studied by Matteo Cova in 2021.

2. Italian Manuscript from Milan — Approximately 1446

An important witness to the two-book structure, containing astrological and ritual material.

3. British Library — Sloane MS 2731

A French manuscript cataloged as Clavicle of Solomon, dated 1572.

4. British Library — Additional MS 10862

A Latin manuscript related to the textual tradition used by Mathers.

5. University of Pennsylvania — Ms. Codex 1673

A Latin copy from the second half of the eighteenth century, comprising 121 folios and containing magical instructions, diagrams, material preparations, and references to ritual instruments.

6. British Library — Or 14759

A Hebrew manuscript identified as Sefer Mafteaḥ Shelomoh, containing a magical manual in different languages and textual traditions.

7. Queen's University Belfast — MS 27/10/20

A manuscript known as Clavicula Salomonis Expugnata, associated with an expurgated textual tradition and written in German.

Comparing these documents makes it possible to understand the evolution of the text, its different versions, and the ways in which it was adapted to different cultural environments.

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PART X — REFLECTION: WHAT DOES THE KEY OF SOLOMON REPRESENT IN THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE?

The Clavicula Salomonis deserves to be studied not only because of its magical contents, but also because of the historical and intellectual environment in which it emerged and circulated.

It represents a period in which the boundaries between religion, astrology, natural philosophy, medicine, cosmology, and magical practices differed from those established by modern academic disciplines.

The book demonstrates that people sought to organize knowledge of the universe through symbolic correspondences.

Planets, numbers, divine names, letters, diagrams, and instruments were presented as parts of an interconnected structure.

The mindset expressed in these texts sought to understand a reality in which the visible world and the spiritual world were not necessarily considered completely separate dimensions.

This conception deserves historical analysis without requiring us either to accept or to reject in advance the supernatural claims contained in the manuscripts.

There is also an important question concerning the transmission of knowledge itself.

How did a work attributed to an ancient biblical king manage to survive for so many centuries, endure different religious environments, and eventually reach modern occultism?

The answer does not lie with a single individual or organization.

It lies in a long chain of scribes, translators, readers, collectors, and scholars who preserved, modified, and transmitted the texts.

The existence of hundreds of versions also demonstrates that written knowledge is not necessarily static.

A work can acquire new meanings as it passes through cultures, languages, and historical periods.

Another aspect deserves attention: the use of Jewish elements in manuscripts produced and adapted by different Christian European environments.

This phenomenon reveals cultural exchanges, intellectual appropriations, and transformations that must be studied carefully, avoiding simplistic assumptions about the origin of each symbol or concept.

Finally, the Clavicula Salomonis raises a question that remains relevant to the history of religion and philosophy: why have certain societies classified particular forms of knowledge as legitimate, while others have been considered dangerous, forbidden, or superstitious?

The answer depends on religious, political, cultural, and intellectual factors.

Studying these manuscripts allows us to observe not only what people believed, but also how societies established boundaries around what was considered acceptable knowledge.

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CONCLUSION — THE SURVIVAL OF ONE OF THE GREAT GRIMOIRES OF THE WESTERN TRADITION

The Clavicula Salomonis, known as The Key of Solomon, is one of the most important documents for understanding the history of European ceremonial magic.

Its textual tradition, developed during the Middle Ages and widely disseminated throughout the Renaissance and subsequent centuries, brings together elements of astrology, religion, symbolism, angelology, ritual practices, and traditions associated with Kabbalah.

Its attribution to King Solomon gives the work an ancestral identity, but does not correspond to historically demonstrated authorship.

The surviving manuscripts reveal a much more complex tradition: different versions, languages, scribes, and adaptations that transformed the book over the centuries.

Its pentacles represent one of the best-known symbolic collections in occult literature. Its planetary correspondences reveal the influence of medieval astrology. Its prayers and conjurations demonstrate the presence of religious elements within a system of ceremonial magic.

The history of its circulation also reveals tensions between religious practices, forms of knowledge considered legitimate, and traditions condemned by ecclesiastical authorities.

Mathers's 1889 publication represented a new stage in this history, introducing the work to English-speaking occult readers and contributing to its influence on modern esotericism.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery, however, is the documentary multiplicity of the tradition itself.

There is not just one manuscript, one version, or one linear process of transmission.

There are different witnesses that allow us to reconstruct, at least partially, the history of a body of literature that survived across centuries.

The Key of Solomon therefore remains an object of historical, religious, linguistic, and cultural investigation.

We do not need to accept its supernatural claims literally to recognize its historical importance. Nor should we dismiss its study simply because it belongs to the world of magic.

To investigate a document means understanding its context, examining its evidence, and recognizing the limits of what we can affirm.

Perhaps the true key to this investigation does not lie in the promise of mastering invisible forces, but in the opportunity to understand how different civilizations imagined, organized, and transmitted their knowledge of the universe and its mysteries.

Constant Investigation of Truth. Distinguishing documents, interpretations, and speculation. Remaining open to new discoveries.

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APPENDIX AND SUPPLEMENTARY DOSSIER: Historical, Liturgical, and Editorial Deep-Dives into the Clavicula Salomonis

Beyond the traditional structure of the work, the history of the Clavicula Salomonis (The Key of Solomon) opens fascinating windows into how magic, religion, and the transmission of knowledge intertwined over centuries in Europe and the Mediterranean. Below, we examine four essential analytical axes that deepen and complement the historical investigation of this foundational grimoire:

1. The Secret Liturgical Structure: The Power of the Word and the Noth (Magical Knots)

Although studies on the Key of Solomon typically focus on ritual instruments, planetary hours, and pentacles, one fascinating and frequently overlooked element in ceremonial grimoire magic is the use of ribbons, cords, and magical knots (noth) tied while reciting divine names—a practice echoing the magic of the ancient Near East.

• The role of silence and asceticism: In the earliest manuscripts, the operator was not merely viewed as a reader of formulas, but as an officiating priest who had to observe strict fasts (often abstaining from meat and wine for days), clad in pure linen tunics woven by unblemished hands or washed in specific natural springs.
• The ambivalence of language: Grimoires operate under the ontological belief that the Hebrew language (or its corrupted reflection in medieval copies) possessed an intrinsic creative force. Altering a single letter of a Divine Name (Shemhamphorasch) was not seen as a simple grammatical error, but as a spiritual hazard capable of nullifying the operation or inviting chaos.

2. The Occult Matrix: The Connection to the Picatrix and Arabic Astral Magic

Although tradition ascribes the work to Clavicula Salomonis, the intellectual matrix that allowed astral magic to flourish in medieval Europe came directly from the cultural melting pot of Al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) and Norman Sicily, where Arabic texts were translated into Latin starting in the twelfth century.

• The impact of the Picatrix (Ghayat al-Hakim): While the Picatrix is primarily a treatise on astral magic focused on planetary talismans based on hours and lunar mansions, its structural influence on the Clavicula is undeniable. The way planets channel cosmic forces that the operator "captures" through specific metals, colors, and timings is a direct borrowing from Hermetic-Islamic natural philosophy. Highlighting this Arabic root in the genesis of European magical thought helps demonstrate that grimoires were not born in the vacuum of medieval Christendom, but at the intersection of diverse cultural worlds.

3. The Ars Notoria vs. The Key: The Conflict Between Coercion and Divine Illumination

It is highly instructive to contrast the operational framework of the Clavicula with another celebrated medieval grimoire frequently associated with Solomon: the Ars Notoria.

• While the Clavicula Salomonis employs an operational system blending command, supplication, ritual geometry, and material talismans, the Ars Notoria relies on a system of "vision and contemplation" (notae). In the latter, the scholar does not command spirits; rather, they gaze intently upon complex geometric figures—often called visual prayers—combined with extreme fasts to instantly absorb knowledge of the liberal arts, theology, and languages granted directly by divine grace.
• This comparison highlights that the "Solomonic tradition" functioned as a vast umbrella, housing both ceremonial command practices and mystical pathways of intellectual illumination.

4. The Descent into Popular Print: The Transition to the Grimoires Noirs

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, the Clavicula underwent a fascinating editorial mutation that shaped the popular imagination surrounding grimoires today.

• From monastic elite to the Bibliothèque Bleue: In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France, popular, adapted, and often simplified versions of the Clavicula began circulating in cheap colportage editions (the famous Bibliothèque Bleue).
• From these popular derivations arose the so-called Grimoires Noirs or grimoires of "black and red magic" (such as the notorious Grand Grimoire or the Enchiridion Leonis Papae), which blended Solomonic pentacles with rural folk witchcraft recipes and demonological pacts. Contextualizing this descent from the academic/monastic manuscript to European print folklore explains how the figure of Solomon gradually shifted from a "biblical sage" to the "prototype of the sorcerer" in modern popular culture.

Complete Bibliography and Primary Sources

• AGRIPPA, Heinrich Cornelius. De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres. 1533. (A foundational historical source for understanding the intellectual milieu of Renaissance learned magic).
• BIBLE. First Book of Kings, especially chapters 3–11. (The essential religious source for studying the historical and traditional figure of Solomon).
• BOUDET, Jean-Patrice. Entre science et nigromance: astrologie, divination et magie dans l’Occident médiéval (XIIe–XVe siècle). Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006.
• COVA, Matteo. "Un manuale di negromanzia a Trento: rinvenimento e studio dei più antichi frammenti della Clavicula Salomonis". Studi Trentini – Storia, v. 100, n. 1, p. 149–176, 2021.
• KORAN. Surahs 21 and 27, among other passages related to the prophet Sulayman. (A complementary source for studying the Islamic tradition regarding Solomon).
• KIECKHEFER, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
• MATHERS, Samuel Liddell MacGregor (ed. & trans.). The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis). London: George Redway, 1889.
• PETERSON, Joseph H. (ed.). The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis). Esoteric Archives. Available at: https://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm.
• PRECIOSO, Daniel. "Tratados de magia atribuídos a Salomão: censura, contrabando, gramática e influências cabalísticas (Europa, séculos XVI–XVIII)". Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões, v. 17, n. 48, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4025/rbhranpuh.v17i48.69701.
• SOFER, Gal. "Upon the Magician’s Escritoire: A Recently Discovered Hebrew Clavicula Salomonis". Harvard Theological Review, v. 119, n. 2, p. 325–346, 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816026101205.
• THORNDIKE, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1923–1958.

Investigate constantly. Distinguish documents, interpretations, and speculations. Remain open to new discoveries.

COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DOCUMENTARY SOURCES

I. Primary Sources and Historical Editions

MATHERS, Samuel Liddell MacGregor (ed. and trans.). The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis). London: George Redway, 1889.

A historically important edition for studying the modern reception of the work. Prepared from different manuscripts preserved at the British Museum.

SOFER, Gal. "Upon the Magician's Escritoire: A Recently Discovered Hebrew Clavicula Salomonis." Harvard Theological Review, vol. 119, no. 2, 2026, pp. 325–346.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816026101205

A fundamental academic study of textual transmission, Hebrew versions, and the history of Solomonic manuscripts.

COVA, Matteo. "Un manuale di negromanzia a Trento: rinvenimento e studio dei più antichi frammenti della Clavicula Salomonis." Studi Trentini – Storia, vol. 100, no. 1, 2021, pp. 149–176.

A study of the earliest manuscript fragments identified in Trento.

II. Historical and Academic Studies

PRECIOSO, Daniel. "Tratados de magia atribuídos a Salomão: censura, contrabando, gramática e influências cabalísticas (Europa, séculos XVI–XVIII)." Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões, vol. 17, no. 48, 2024.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4025/rbhranpuh.v17i48.69701

A study of censorship, clandestine circulation, and Kabbalistic influences in Solomonic magical literature.

THORNDIKE, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1923–1958.

A major reference work on the history of magic, astrology, and intellectual traditions in medieval and early modern Europe.

KIECKHEFER, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

A fundamental study of magical practices, beliefs, and the relationship between religion and medieval society.

BOUDET, Jean-Patrice. Entre science et nigromance: astrologie, divination et magie dans l’Occident médiéval (XIIe–XVe siècle). Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006.

A study of the relationships between astrology, magic, and intellectual practices in the medieval West.

SOFER, Gal. "For Then Thou Shalt Make Thy Way Prosperous: The Interplay of Scriptures, Sacredness, and Magical Practices." Maimonides Review of Philosophy and Religion, vol. 3, 2024, pp. 185–209.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004508682_008

An academic study of biblical texts, sacred authority, and magical practices, including the Solomonic tradition.

BARBIERATO, Federico. Nella stanza dei circoli: Clavicula Salomonis e libri di magia a Venezia nei secoli XVII e XVIII. Milan: S. Bonnard, 2002.

A study of the circulation of the Clavicula Salomonis and magical books in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Venice.

GAL, Florence; BOUDET, Jean-Patrice; MOULINIER-BROGI, Laurence (eds.). Vedrai mirabilia: Un libro di magia del Quattrocento. Rome: Viella, 2017.

A scholarly edition of a fifteenth-century Italian magical manuscript, useful for understanding the broader textual and cultural environment of the Clavicula.

MATHIESEN, Robert. "The Key of Solomon: Toward a Typology of the Manuscripts." Societas Magica Newsletter, no. 17, 2007, pp. 1–9.

A study proposing a typology for the different manuscript traditions.

III. Historical Manuscripts and Institutional Collections

BRITISH LIBRARY. Sloane MS 2731 — Salomon, King of Israel: Clavicle of Solomon. French manuscript, 1572.

Historical manuscript catalog.

https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-002115103

BRITISH LIBRARY. Or 14759 — Sefer Mafteaḥ Shelomoh. Hebrew magical manual.

https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/032-003421623

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Ms. Codex 1673 — Clavicula Salomonis Regis: ex idiomate Haebreo versa. Latin manuscript, second half of the eighteenth century.

https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0002/html/mscodex1673.html

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA / BRITISH LIBRARY. Or 6360 — Mafteaḥ Shelomoh. Collection of astrological, Kabbalistic, and magical fragments.

https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0047/html/or_6360.html

QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST. MS 27/10/20 — Clavicula Salomonis Expugnata. Henry Collection.

https://cdm15979.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15979coll21/id/23/

WELLCOME COLLECTION. The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis). Edition by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, 1889. Digitized copy, Public Domain Mark.

https://preview.wellcomecollection.org/works/xhh2qvud/items

IV. Additional Reference Sources

PETERSON, Joseph H. (ed.). The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis). Esoteric Archives.

An electronic edition with an introduction, information about the manuscripts, and a revised presentation of the Mathers text.

https://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis). Cambridge Library Collection. Historical edition by Mathers, republished in an academic collection.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/key-of-solomon-the-king-clavicula-salomonis/7D32CC69C2B47B21C6F2D0F7738567C5

AGRIPPA, Heinrich Cornelius. De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres. 1533.

A historical source for understanding the intellectual environment of Renaissance learned magic.

THE HOLY BIBLE. First Book of Kings, particularly chapters 3–11.

A fundamental religious source for the study of the historical and traditional figure of Solomon.

THE QUR'AN. Surahs 21 and 27, among other passages concerning the prophet Sulayman.

A complementary source for the study of the Islamic tradition concerning Solomon.

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Methodological and Editorial Note

This study distinguishes the tradition attributed to Solomon from historically demonstrated authorship. The practices described in the grimoire are presented as historical contents and beliefs held by its authors and practitioners, not as proven supernatural phenomena.

The Clavicula Salomonis exists in multiple manuscript versions. Therefore, descriptions of chapters, instruments, pentacles, and procedures must be understood in light of the differences between individual documentary witnesses.

Revista & Escolas de Mistérios

Constant Investigation of Truth

Author: R.V. Garcia