The Key of Solomon the King [book]
Jun. 29th, 2012 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daidoji_giseiMy current bathtub reading is a grimoire. I think this says something about me, but I am not sure exactly what.
I picked up the Dover reprint of this book, which is a compilation and translation of a number of manuscript scrolls purporting to be a book of magic written by King Solomon. I think this alleged authorship can be easily called into question by the fact that the intro, which is supposed to be something Solomon wrote to his son Roboam, explains how the book was excavated from Solomon's tomb years and years after his death by a group of Babylonian Philosophers during a remodeling project at the tomb and who then figured out how to read it. I realize Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but still.
The book is mainly concerned with how to conjure demons and spirits and oblige them to do stuff for you, and it goes into sometimes maddening detail in how to prepare oneself, one's companions, the circles, the medals or pentacles, the candle, incense, pens, inks, water, salt, etc, etc.
I say "sometimes" because in the third chapter of the second book it states, "And if he [the Magus] cannot have Companions, he should at least have with him a faithful and attached dog." The purpose of the dog is nowhere explained. The (human) Companions' role is explained much earlier in the book: they help cart stuff into the circle and then stand around looking calm and impressive while the conjuration is going on. So what does the dog do? Solomon is clearly serious about the dog, as he even provides a Conjuration to be said over the dog while bathing and perfuming it with incense. It's baffling.
I picked this up to serve as a reference work for writing, and I think it will serve nicely, both in its own contents and as a model for fictional girmoires. In the meantime it's amused me over the course of several baths, which makes it worth the cost right there.
I picked up the Dover reprint of this book, which is a compilation and translation of a number of manuscript scrolls purporting to be a book of magic written by King Solomon. I think this alleged authorship can be easily called into question by the fact that the intro, which is supposed to be something Solomon wrote to his son Roboam, explains how the book was excavated from Solomon's tomb years and years after his death by a group of Babylonian Philosophers during a remodeling project at the tomb and who then figured out how to read it. I realize Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but still.
The book is mainly concerned with how to conjure demons and spirits and oblige them to do stuff for you, and it goes into sometimes maddening detail in how to prepare oneself, one's companions, the circles, the medals or pentacles, the candle, incense, pens, inks, water, salt, etc, etc.
I say "sometimes" because in the third chapter of the second book it states, "And if he [the Magus] cannot have Companions, he should at least have with him a faithful and attached dog." The purpose of the dog is nowhere explained. The (human) Companions' role is explained much earlier in the book: they help cart stuff into the circle and then stand around looking calm and impressive while the conjuration is going on. So what does the dog do? Solomon is clearly serious about the dog, as he even provides a Conjuration to be said over the dog while bathing and perfuming it with incense. It's baffling.
I picked this up to serve as a reference work for writing, and I think it will serve nicely, both in its own contents and as a model for fictional girmoires. In the meantime it's amused me over the course of several baths, which makes it worth the cost right there.