Description
David’s Comments: The Key of Solomon is the most famous, or infamous, of all magical textbooks. Although the grimoire is of unknown origin, MacGregor Mathers, who prepared this edition from seven manuscripts in the British Museum, believed it was written by King Solomon. The King instructs his disciples in incantations that summon and master the spirits. The process of summoning these beings illustrates the extraordinary complexity of Western ritual magic – choosing a time and place; preliminary prayers; fasting, fumigations, and preparations; as well as the need for magical equipment, robes, and trappings.
This work is of interest not only as the most celebrated of the Western magical texts, but also because it is edited by MacGregor Mathers, who was head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, perhaps the most influential of all modern magical groups. While he detested black magic, the Key itself amply demonstrates that the distinction between black magic and white, evil magic and good, is not so simply drawn.
Included in this edition is a new foreword by R. A. Gilbert, esoteric scholar and antiquarian bookseller. Gilbert highlights the importance of the Key as a primary source for those interested in Western ritual magic, as well as the historical background and contemporary magical contexts of MacGregor Mather‘s editorial work and commentary.
