The Key of Solomon is the most famous, or infamous, of all magical textbooks and influenced many of the other grimoires of ‘grammars’ of magical practice. It is of unknown but considerable antiquity. MacGregor Mathers, who prepared the present edition from seven manuscripts in the British Museum, accepts the traditional authorship of King Solomon himself for the work. The King instructs his disciples in incantations which will summon and master the spirits. The processes of summoning these beings illustrate the extraordinary and exhausting complexity of European ritual magic - the choice of a favorable place and time, the preliminary prayers, fastings and preparations, as well as the manufacturing of the magical equipment, the robes, trappings and fumigations. The Key itself amply demonstrates that the usual theoretical distinction between black magic and white, evil magic and good, is not so simply drawn. This most celebrated of all magical textbooks, believed to be written by King Solomon himself, details the processes for summoning and mastering the spirits. Demonstrates that the usual theoretical distinction between black magic and white, evil magic and good, is not so simply drawn. Translated and edited from manuscripts in the British Museum.