Medieval Solomonic Magic Grimoires

Core Grimoires of the Solomonic Tradition

Testament of Solomon
Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis)
Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton)

Ars Goetia
Ars Theurgia-Goetia
Ars Paulina
Ars Almadel
Ars Notoria

The Magical Treatise of Solomon
The Hygromanteia (Greek Magical Treatise of Solomon)
Grimoirium Verum
The Grand Grimoire (Red Dragon)
The Book of Abramelin
The Sworn Book of Honorius
The Heptameron (Pseudo-Peter de Abano)

Grimoires are magical manuals—books dedicated to spirit invocation, celestial and infernal hierarchies, angelic intercession, and occult philosophy. They served as primary vessels for the transmission of esoteric knowledge and magical technique throughout the pre-modern era, with their influence exploding across Europe in the aftermath of the Renaissance.

The Heptameron

The Heptameron, also known as The Magical Elements of Peter d’Abano. This text condensed earlier medieval ritual systems into a widely used early modern guide for summoning planetary archangels by means of aerial spirits. We’ll examine the legacy of its alleged author, Peter of Abano—accused necromancer and learned physician—while tracing the influence of Arabic spirit traditions on this work. Particular focus will be given to its ritual diagrams: magical circles encoded with divine names, spiritual correspondences, and temporal markers. We’ll also consider how later textual distortions muddled its procedures, particularly when compared to the earlier Elucidation of Necromancy, upon which the Heptameron was partially based.

The Arbatel

The Arbatel (also called the Isagogue), a more compact and philosophical manual of magic that enjoyed popularity in Paracelsian circles. It combines Hellenistic theurgy with Christian ethical teachings, offering instructions on contacting the so-called “Olympic Spirits”—celestial entities tied to planetary powers. The 49 aphorisms at its core act as both magical guidelines and moral reflections, demonstrating that this grimoire was as much about spiritual alignment and ethical living as it was about achieving magical results.

The Cambridge Book of Magic

The sixteenth-century Cambridge Book of Magic, preserved in Cambridge University Library MS Additional 3544 and attributed to Paul Foreman. This eclectic collection comprises 91 magical ‘experiments’ covering a wide range of purposes: calling spirits both angelic and demonic, divination, recovering lost items, cursing enemies, uncovering hidden treasure, herb gathering, and consecrating magical tools. This book exemplifies how many grimoires were less structured systems and more personal anthologies—a bricolage of practical magic, charms, and esoteric secrets.

The Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke

Two mid-sixteenth-century manuscripts housed in the British Library: The Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke, and its accompanying text The Visions. The former is a ritual manual for summoning the Four Demonic Kings of the cardinal directions, designed to empower the magician through visionary scrying. The Visions serves as a spiritual diary, chronicling the magical operations of its authors—Humphrey Gilbert and John Davies. Together, they reveal a dynamic interplay between angelic invocation, demonic pact-making, and necromantic mentorship, with the magician calling on spirits to grant ever more powerful magical books and knowledge.

The Grimoire of Pope Honorius

The grimoires attributed to Pope Honorius, which flourished in the seventeenth century. These texts blend angelic, demonic, and planetary magic to command spirits assigned to each day of the week. We’ll also explore the “Books of Secrets” often appended to these grimoires, which contain a rich collection of folk charms and talismanic operations—ranging from enchanted garters for effortless travel to the notorious Hand of Glory, along with protective prayers, fire-extinguishing charms, wound-healing spells, and rituals for luck, invulnerability, and more.

The Veritable Key of Solomon

A collection of texts known as the Keys of Solomon—a catch-all term for countless magical books attributed to the legendary King Solomon. We’ll explore a wide range of Solomonic operations: consecration of tools, sigil crafting, summoning rituals, chains of divine and barbarous names, and Christianized reworkings of older Hebrew angelology and magical traditions. These texts were foundational for the ceremonial magic of the early modern period and became deeply intertwined with both learned and popular forms of magic.

The Grimorium Verum

The Grimorium Verum, or True Grimoire—perhaps the most infamous book of so-called “black magic.” Though it crystallized in the eighteenth century, its roots trace back to earlier sources like the Clavicula Salomonis de Secretis. Revived and reinterpreted in the 21st century by scholars like Jake Stratton-Kent, this grimoire is now seen not as mere demonology, but as a window into ancient European goetia. It describes rites for making pacts with elemental spirits, fairies, chthonic beings, and the dead—many of whom were later demonized by the Church. It represents a deeply rooted folk magic that existed before Christian theology labeled such spirits as unclean.

Classical magic texts (aka Grimoires)

Abramelin, Book of the Sacred Magic
Agrippa

Albertus Magnus (Pseudo-), Egyptian Secrets for Man and Beast
Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor (The Book of Soyga), edited and translated by Jane Kupin, 2014. Used with permission.
Almadel [EN] [DE]
Arbatel of Magic (1575) (English+Latin) (Deutsch)
Ars Notoria This medieval magic text centers around orations which can impart instant knowledge of divine and human arts and sciences.
Book of Protection, Hermann Gollancz (1912)
Armand Delatte: Anecdota Atheniensia: Containing the text of a large number of magical manuscripts, including the Magical Treatise of Solomon (in GREEK)
Folger MS. V.B.26 Book of Magic (ca. 1577-1583)
Ganell, Berengar: Summa Sacrae Magicae (contents)
Ghent 1021A excerpts: Scrying with the 7 aerial kings
Hermes The Book of the 12 Images of the Hours of the Night , courtesy of Mihai Vârtejaru (2021)
Honorius of Thebes: Liber Juratus, or the Sworn Book of Honorius. This thirteenth century Grimoire is one of the foundation works of European magical practice. It was one of Dr. Dee's sources for the Sigillum Dei Aemeth.

Key of Solomon variants:

This is the most famous and influential handbook of magic.

Key of Solomon Mathers' edition.
The Key of Knowledge. A Sixteenth-Century English translation of the .

Key of Solomon

The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian. (Sloane 3847)
Clavicules du Roi Salomon, Par Armadel. Livre Quatrieme. Des Esprits qui gouvernent sous les Ordres du Souverain Createur. (The Key of King Solomon, Book 4: The Spirits which govern under the Orders of the sovereign Creator.) (Excepts, French)
The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon, Translated from Hebrew into the Latin Language by Rabbi Abognazar (Lansdowne MS. 1203).
Mafteah Shelomoh / Clavicula Salomonis, A Hebrew Manuscript Newly discovered and now described, by Hermann Gollancz (1903)
Sepher Maphteah Shelomoh (Book of the Key of Solomon) An exact facsimile of an original book of magic in Hebrew, ed. by Hermann Gollancz, (1914)
VSG334 (pp. 25 ff.) (Latin, ca 1550)
Zecorbeni sive Claviculae Salomonis Transcribed from Oxford, Bodleian Libraries MS. Aubrey 24.

D388. Clavicula Salomonis filii David. Printed book, ca 1650.

The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton): All five books. This famous 16-17th century grimoire was compiled from earlier texts. It was considered important by Crowley, Mathers, Waite, and others. The scrying methods correspond closely with Dee's.
Liber Trium Animarum ("The Book of Three Souls") (Latin)

The Magical Calendar (Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum) by Johann Baptista Großchedel. (excerpts)
Messalah: The Book of the Seven Rings of the Planets of Messalah, edited and translated by Mihai Vârtejaru. Used with permission.
Paracelsus: Archidoxis of Magic (excerpts, English)
Peter of Abano (pseudo):

Heptameron, or Magical Elements (Latin with English translation)
Lucidarium in arte magica (Latin)

Picatrix (The Goal of the Wise) pseudo-Majriti. (Summary)
Reginald Scot's collection of magical texts A fine example of Elizabethan English
Romanus-Büchlein Little Charm-book of the Roma (Gypsies). One of the main sourceworks for Hoodoo and American Folk magic. (German and English)
A. W. Greenup: Sefer ha-Levanah -- The Book of the Moon (Hebrew)
Sefer Shimmush Tehillim - Book of the Magical Uses of the Psalms
Ebenezer Sibly, A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Book 4. (1795?) Methods used for raising up and consulting Spirits are laid open, including a general Display of the Mysteries of Witchcraft, Divination, Charms, and Necromancy. Also includes an alchemical process for raising the form of plants from their essences (ala Borelli).
Sepher Raziel (English translation from Sl. 3846, colophon dated 1564)
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. This has already become one of the most requested documents at this site.
Sword of Moses Tenth century Hebrew handbook of magic
Testament of Solomon One of the oldest magical texts attributed to King Solomon, dating First to Third Century A.D. Includes a catalog of demons summoned by King Solomon, and how they can be countered by invoking angels and other magical techniques.
Theosophia Pneumatica

Vadian manuscript (VSG 334) . One of the earliest texts of the Key of Solomon as well as Lucidarium of the Art of Necromancy. Used with permission.

Black Magic

Clavicula Salomonis de Secretis (Secrets of Solomon) (LATIN)
Clavicules du Roi Salomon, Par Armadel. Livre Troisieme. Concernant les Esprits & leurs pouvoirs. ("Concerning the Spirits and their Capabilities")
Douze Anneaux (Lansdowne MS 1202)
Grimoire pour les conjurations (18th ce)

Le Grand Grimoire One of the most famous and outrageous Grimoires of black magic. (French and English)
L'art de commander les esprits ... du Grand Grimoire (1750?) Another edition. (French)
Il Grand Grimoire (Italian)

Le Grimoire du Pape Honorius, "Perhaps the most frankly diabolical of the rituals connected with Black Magic."

Véritable gremoire (Lyon, ca 1770?)
Le Grimoire du Pape Honorius. "Rome 1670" (French)
GREMOIRE du Pape Honorius, avec un recueil des plus rares secrets (Rome, 1670-B). Another edition, with quite different text and drawings. (French)
Gremoire du Pape Honorius. "Rome 1800" (French) Very similar to 1670-B, but missing one plate
Grimoire du Pape Honorius. "Rome 1760" (i.e. Lille, Blocquel) (French)
The True Grimoire of Pope Honorius ("1736") Edited and translated by Mihai Vārtejaru, 2003. Used with permission.

Grimorium Verum: (Alibeck 1817, French) Called "par excellence the magical book of Europe."

The Necromantic Rings of Solomon. Translated and edited by Mihai Vartejaru (2017)
Le Petit Albert Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit Albert
Johann Weyer: Pseudomonarchia daemonum (Latin with English translation) This catalog of demons was perhaps the prototype for the Goetia.
Verus Jesuitarum Libellus (Latin with Eng. transl.)

Sigillum Dei Aemeth

UPenn LJS 226 (1410)
Ganell's Summa Sacre Magice, Kassel 4° Ms. astron. 3, fol. 104r.
My reconstruction based on description in Liber Iuratus and Ganell's drawing
Athanasius Kircher Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652) Kircher's discussion of Sigillum Dei Aemeth (Latin)
Leipzig mag. cod. 16, p. 175, from uni-leipzig.de (ca 1750)
BNF ms. 14783 f6r
Sloane 313, fol 4r. (late 14-early 15 ce)
My reconstruction based on Sl. 313
Sloane 3850, fol 70v
Sloane 3853, fol 127v
From Faust, Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis
From an Italian manuscript of the Key of Solomon in the Bodleian Library, MS. Mich. 276, fol 13r.
Redrawn but based on Mich. 276.
From a Latin manuscript of the Key of Solomon in the Bodleian Library, MS. Aubrey 24, fol. 60r (1674)
John Dee
From Will Erich Peuckert, Pansophie (Berlin, 1956)
La Véritable Magie Noire ("Rome", "1750")
Oxford, History of Science Museum (16th ce?)

Miscellaneous

Semamphoras table
FONTS
Occult symbols and esoteric GIF's
Angel Registry: Index of Angel names, magical words, and names of God
Theodore Besterman, Crystal-Gazing
Chaldaean Oracles of Zoroaster (W.W. Wescott, 1895)
Chaldaean Oracles (Stanley, 1661)
Images from Bartholomeus Cocles, Chyromantie ac phisionomie anastasis (Bononie 1504)
Dionysius the Areopagite: Mystical Theology
Dionysius the Areopagite: The Celestial Hierarchies
E.S. Drower: Peacock Angel (1941)
Magical Psalter
Magic wand lore
Pseudo-Psellos, On the Operation of Daemons.
Solomon and the Ars Notoria: From Lynn Thorndike, Magic and Experimental Science, 1923-58, Chapter XLIX.
Iamblichus: Theurgia, or the Mysteries of Egypt
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Of Being and Unity
Pico: Conclusiones sive Theses DCCCC (Latin)
Proclus: Metaphysical Elements
The Sphere of Sacrobosco