A compilation of five books

The five books

The seventy-two spirits everyone knows it for are only the first of those five. The other four — aerial spirits, the spirits of the 360 degrees of the zodiac, the spirits of the four altitudes, and a book of prayers — are barely read by comparison.

The first book has overshadowed the other four so thoroughly that the Lesser Key is often mistaken for the Goetia alone. The summaries below come from the compilation's own preface.

1. 1 Ars Goetia the seventy-two It is the reason the whole compilation is known. Every modern list of the seventy-two descends from here, and in practice from the 1904 printing of it.

   "A Book concerning Spirits of Evil, and which is termed THE GOETIA OF SOLOMON, sheweth forth his manner of binding these Spirits for use in things divers. And hereby did he acquire great renown." The catalogue of seventy-two, and the only part of the Lemegeton most readers ever encounter.

   It is the reason the whole compilation is known. Every modern list of the seventy-two descends from here, and in practice from the 1904 printing of it.

   Its seventy-two spirits, in the catalogue →

   What is unsettled about it

   Its spirits and offices have older parallels in sixteenth-century demonologies. Those lines of descent remain to be traced directly through the earlier texts.

2. 2 Theurgia-Goetia The mixed nature is the point: the first book's spirits are called evil outright and the third and fourth books' are called good, while these are neither, and are ordered by direction rather than by rank.

   "One which treateth of Spirits mingled of Good and Evil Natures, the which is entitled THE THEURGIA-GOETIA, or the Magical Wisdom of the Spirits Aérial, whereof some do abide, but certain do wander and abide not." Thirty-one chief spirits of the points of the compass, each with a following of its own.

   The mixed nature is the point: the first book's spirits are called evil outright and the third and fourth books' are called good, while these are neither, and are ordered by direction rather than by rank.

   What is unsettled about it

   Its material is closely related to the Steganographia attributed to Trithemius, though that textual relationship is not traced in detail here.

3. 3 Ars Paulina This is the compilation's most astrological book, joining the Lemegeton to a scheme of hours and zodiacal degrees.

   "Treateth of the Spirits allotted unto every degree of the 360 Degrees of the Zodiac; and also of the Signs, and of the Planets in the Signs, as well as of the Hours." An angel for every degree of the circle, and for every hour of the day.

   This is the compilation's most astrological book, joining the Lemegeton to a scheme of hours and zodiacal degrees.

   What is unsettled about it

   Attributed in its own title to the Apostle Paul, on the strength of his having been caught up into the third heaven. Nobody maintains the attribution.

4. 4 Ars Almadel With the Ars Paulina it forms what the compilation itself calls the Theurgia of Solomon — the half of the work that treats of good spirits alone, "whose knowledge is to be obtained through seeking unto the Divine".

   "Concerneth those Spirits which be set over the Quaternary of the Altitudes." The shortest of the five: a wax tablet, four altitudes, and the angels of each.

   With the Ars Paulina it forms what the compilation itself calls the Theurgia of Solomon — the half of the work that treats of good spirits alone, "whose knowledge is to be obtained through seeking unto the Divine".

   What is unsettled about it

   The name is older than the Lemegeton and the tablet appears in earlier Arabic-derived magical literature; the line of descent is not traced here.

5. 5 Ars Notoria It is not a book of spirits at all, and it is the oldest material in the compilation: the Ars Notoria circulates independently from the thirteenth century, long before anything called a Lemegeton.

   "One of Prayers and Orations. The which Solomon the Wise did use upon the Altar in the Temple." Prayers said to have been revealed to Solomon by the archangel Michael "in thunder and in lightning", by which he is said to have gained his wisdom.

   It is not a book of spirits at all, and it is the oldest material in the compilation: the Ars Notoria circulates independently from the thirteenth century, long before anything called a Lemegeton.

   What is unsettled about it

   Its presence is the clearest evidence that the Lemegeton is a compilation rather than a composition — a book of prayers for acquiring learning, bound behind a catalogue of spirits to be bound.