Triangle of Solomon (Take Three)

I previously wrote about "reconstructing" Solomon's Triangle of Arte.

Here's my updated version

Founded on TETRAGRAMMATON.
Through the power of the first (PRIMEumaton) unto the last.
Representing the AZoTh.

An Explanation of the Explanations of the Diagrams of Solomon

Within the Mathers/Crowley version of the Lesser Key of Solomon, titled "The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King" we find three "Explanations". These are actually more like prayers than explanations.

The first explanation is titled "Explanation of Certain Names Used In This Book Lemegeton". This title was made up by Mathers. This is like a prayer for the magic circle (figure 153).

The second explanation is titled "The Explanation of the Two Triangles in the Parchment". As the footnote points out, these words are in the Hexagram (figure 155) and Pentagram ( figure 156) of Solomon.

The third explanation is titled "An Explanation of Solomon's Triangle". As the title suggests, this explains the Triangle of Solomon.

These "explanations" only appear in Sloane 2731. Sloane 2731, like all the other manuscripts used by Mathers in this "translation", is in English. I know Crowley gives a list of languages, but it's just not true.  

Mathers' footnote to the first "explanation" reads:

This explanation, or rather paraphrased prayer, only exists in one codex as far as my knowledge goes. The Qabalist will remark that the orthography of several of the Qabalistical names is incorrect. I give it, however, as it stands.

To this Crowley ads:

In any case it is worthless; the names mean nothing of the sort.

For Mathers to criticize the orthography of the "explanations" is almost as appropriate as criticizing Mathers for spelling Cabalist with a "Q". Most of the words Mathers corrects were correct at the time of writing (as you will see in a little bit). And Crowley's dismissal shows he needed to look a little bit closer since the "explanations" have a source and are a key to understanding the tools used in the Goetia.

When dealing with grimoires you find many languages mixed together and you also find many strange spellings of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin words. It is obvious that most grimoires were composite works, built up over time by several people of varying knowledge of the languages and lore involved. I believe the Lesser Key of Solomon began its life as a catalog of demons. To the catalog conjurations were added. And sigils too. Elements were added layer on layer from other manuscripts. In time errors crept in and were embellished. It is only natural. Do you have a mastery of English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew as well as astrology, Cabala, correspondences, ritual procedures... If you think it's tough mastering all that in our time, just imagine you live in the 16th century. So we can forgive the author of the "explanations" for any corruptions and minor errors, right? As I have shown before, not even Agrippa is free of such errors.

Consider the word Tetragrammaton. It is a Greek word representing a Hebrew word written in Latin characters in an English manuscript. This is the nature of magic and old grimoires. Tetragrammaton has remained consistently spelled and defined in most books, but other words have not fared so well. You might find the word ANAPHAXETON spelled ANEPHEZETON, or ANAPHENETON.

So, can the words appearing in the "explanations" be traced to more definite sources? I believe they can. But before we get to the source, let's have a look at the first "explanation". The manuscript has planetary symbols and a formatting I will not try to emulate in this blog post. In place of the planetary symbol I will simply write the name of the planet. Also, I will place my comments in brackets [] and in red since there is no easy way to use footnotes on this blog. Numbers are placed for easier reference to the illustration appearing after the "explanation".

The Explanation of the Circle of Solomon

[1] Eheie [2] Kether		Almighty God whose dwelling is in the highest heavens
[3] Haioth		The great King of heaven and all the powers therein
[4] Metthraton [Mathers gives Methratton. Agrippa has Metattron]		And of all the holy hosts of Angels and Archangels
[5] Reschith		Hear the prayers of thy servant who put his whole trust in thee
[6] Tagallalim [Mathers gives Hagalgalim. Agrippa gives Hagallalim.]		Lett thy holy Angells command assist me at this time and at all times
	P:[rimum] M:[obile]	[Note that this sub-heading and all other sub-headings appears at the end of the section. This matches the order given in Agrippa's table.]
[7] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[8] Hadonath		Command thy holy Angels Above the fixed stars
[9] Ophamim		To be Assisting and Aiding of thy servants
[10] Jophiel		That I may command all spirits of the Air fire water earth and hell
[11] Masloth		Soe that it may tend to thy glory and Mans good
	Z [Sphera Zodiaci]
[12] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[13] Elohim		God with us God be always present with us
[14] Binah		Strengthen us and support us both now and forever
[15] Aralim		In these our undertakings which I doe as an Instrument in thy hands
[16] Zabbathy [Mathers gives Zabbathi and then adds the correction, "should be Shabbathii." Agrippa gives Sabbathai]		Of thee the great God of Sabaoth
	Saturn [Sphera Saturni]
[17] Hesel [Mathers writes "should be Chesed". Agrippa gives Hesed]		Thou great god governour and creator of all the Planets and host of heaven
[18] Hasmalim [Mathers "should be Chashmalim". Agrippa gives Hasmallim]		Command them by the Almighty Power
[19] Zedez [Mathers gives Zelez then notes "should be Zedeq".  Agrippa gives Zedeck]		To be now present and assisting to us thy poor servants both now and forever
	K: S. Jupiter [Spera Iouis]
[20] Elohim Geber [Mathers notes Geber "should be Gibor"]		Most Almighty eternal and everliving Lord God
[21] Seraphim		Command thy Seraphims
[22] Camael [23] Modim [Mathers/Crowley edition correctly changes Modim to Madim without noting it]		To attend on us now at this time to assist us and defend us from all perils and dangers
	Mars [Sphera Martis]
[24] Eloha		O Almighty God be present with us both now and forever
[25] Tetragrammaton [The author's copy of Agrippa was probably not as clear as mine. This should be Tiphareth.]		And let thy Almighty power and presence ever guard us and protect us at this present and forever
[26] Raphael		Lett thy holy Angell Raphael wait upon us at at this present and forever
[27] Schemes [Mathers notes "or Shemesh".]		To Assist us in this our undertakings
	Sun [Sphera Solis]
[28] Jehovah		God Almighty God omnipotent hear my prayers
[29] Sabaoth		Thou great God of Sabaoths
[30] Vesah [Mathers corrects Vesah to "Netzah (or Netzach)". ]		All seeing God
[31] Elohim		God be preset with us and let thy presence be now and always present with us
[32] Haniel		Let thy holy Angel Haniell come and minister unto us at this present
	Venus [Sphera Veneris]
[33] Elohim		God be present with us and let thy presence be now and always present wth us
[34] Sabaoth		O thou great god of Sabaoths be present with us at this time and forever
[35] Hodben [Mathers writes, "should be Hod simply". I believe this is a result of the ink from the word Binah on the facing page along with the word bne (later prints of the table read ben) in the cell directly below it in Agrippa.]		Let thy Almighty power defend us and protect us both now and forever
[36] Michael		Let Michael who is under thee Generall of thy heavenly host
[37] Cockab		Come and expell all evil and danger from us both now and forever
	S. Mercury [Sphera Mercurii]
[38] Sadai		Thou great God of all wisdom and knowledge
[39] Jesal [Mathers notes "should be Iesod"]		Instruct thy poor and most humble servant
[40] Cherubin [Mathers has Cherubim]		By thy holy Cherubins
[41] Gabriel		By thy holy Angel Gabriel who is the Author and messenger of good tidings
[42] Zenanah [Mathers corrects to Levanah without note]		Direct us and support us at this present and forever
	S. Luna [Sphera Luna]

In the first "explanation" we see many Hebrew words. These fit not only the order found in the grimoire's manuscripts, but can be found in Agrippa (De Occulta Philosophia,  Book II, chapter 13). The "explanations" were probably made while referencing a later version of Agrippa's table "The Scale of the Number Ten". Note that in the following illustration you can see where ink has bled from the other side of the paper and also transferred by way of contact from one page to another. This along with other characteristics of old books can explain the errors in the "explanations".

The second "explanation" lists the words found in the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. These are spirit names and Greek terms which are known well enough not to mention. The variants listed are found in the pentagrams and hexagrams of several manuscripts.

I wrote briefly about the third "explanation" in the post Reconstructing Solomon's Triangle. I gave a theory on what Hebrew words I believed to be implied by the Greek words around the triangle and I gave my reasoning why. While working on the illustration above I noticed something interesting.

Although I'm still not 100% certain, I am now more convinced than ever that I have the meanings of the two mysterious words ANAPHAXETON and PRIMEUMATON. Did you notice there was another "ATON" born in the first "explanation"?

The Ring of Solomon in The Testament of Solomon

So, lately I've taken to reading old books. Alright, I've always liked reading old books, but now I seem to be reading even more of them than usual. I'm mostly looking for magical lore. Right now I'm focusing on the magic of King Solomon. You know, the books, incantations, and magical artifacts attributed to Solomon.

I find myself reading giant collections of Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha and the complete works of Josephus. Nobody reads Pseudepigrapha. I mean, it's so obscure a subject that it's not even in blogger's spell check.

I am wading through mountains of ancient lore for juicy morsels of magic. Right now I'm looking for an English translation of Codex pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti (1713) by Johann Albert Fabricius. Then I'll trace the sources listed in that work, and so on. You see what I do for you, my loyal readers? Actually google tells me I have no readers, but this is what I have decided to do and I hope the occasional reader finds this blog useful and interesting some day.

Anyway, yesterday I got to reading an interesting piece of  Pseudepigrapha called The Testament of Solomon. As the title suggests, it is attributed to King Solomon. You can find an English translation of the text at Esoteric Archives.

I believe I first encountered this text at Esoteric Archives a couple years ago, but didn't think much of it. Recently though, I became interested in Solomonic magic and The Testament of Solomon fits nicely into this tradition.

The Testament of Solomon, much like the Goetia, lists demons and Solomon's interactions with these demons. This Testament is a composite work of several authors and has elements of Christian, Jewish, Arab, Greek, and Roman lore.

Of special interest to me is the description of the Ring which King Solomon used to control the demons:

5. Now when I Solomon heard this, I entered the Temple of God, and prayed with all my soul, night and day, that the demon might be delivered into my hands, and that I might gain authority over him. And it came about through my prayer that grace was given to me from the Lord Sabaoth by Michael his archangel. [He brought me] a little ring, having a seal consisting of an engraved stone, and said to me: "Take, O Solomon, king, son of David, the gift which the Lord God has sent thee, the highest Sabaoth. With it thou shalt lock up all demons of the earth, male and female; and with their help thou shalt build up Jerusalem. [But] thou [must] wear this seal of God. And this engraving of the seal of the ring sent thee is a Pentalpha."

Here the text gives a pentagram to illustrate the pentalpha.

With this Ring Solomon commands demons and even Beelzeboul (Beelzebub), the Prince of all the demons.

This Ring has a stone engraved with a pentagram. Using this Ring, Solomon is told to "lock up all demons of the earth... and with their help... build up Jerusalem." Despite what you may have heard, the pentagram was a Holy symbol and used in the seal of Jerusalem. Here is a picture of the seal of Jerusalem on an ancient pitcher:

The vessels mentioned in the Testament of Solomon would have had such pentagrams marked on them or sealed using the stone on the Ring. This type of pentagram seal was used at least until the second century and would look like this:

(Image snagged from HERE)

The Testament of Solomon gives examples of how Solomon made use of demons to build up Jerusalem and also how he captured and contained demons in jars, vials, and wine skins. If you have not read it, you should.

Talmudic lore also gives Solomon a ring with a stone and the Name of God. The lore mentions the Ring of Solomon is set with a stone called Shamir. This stone called Shamir can cut stone and was used in the building of the Temple so that the mishna against using stone tools in the Temple would not be broken. I believe the Stone in Solomon's Seal (Ring) is based on the Seal of Jerusalem you see on the two items above. If you hold your thumb over the letter Lamed and then read around the pentagram starting with the letter Shin, you can plainly see the word Shamir (Shin Mem Yud Resh).

Note: While reading over the description of the ring I noticed something that may just be coincidental. Here I give part of the description of Solomon's ring again, highlighting what I am seeing:

And it came about through my prayer that grace was given to me from the Lord Sabaoth by Michael his archangel. [He brought me] a little ring...

And look again at the Ring of Solomon I devised previously from my contemplation of the Triangle of Solomon:

That's YHVH Sabaoth and Michael written in the same type of Hebrew script as the Seal of Jerusalem. Intresting... Very Interesting.

The Goetic Ring of Solomon

After my recent post about the Triangle of Solomon, I remembered that there was another item in the Goetia that used the words Tetragrammaton and Anaphaxeton. That item is the Ring of Solomon.

The ring appears in the Mathers/Crowley edition of the Goetia. It is presented as a kind of disc with concentric rings.

Many people have used this design as a bezel on a ring or a disc that hangs as an amulet of sorts.

The illustrations of the ring which appear in the original manuscripts look like this:

I once saw a diagram like this used in a book describing finger rings. The diagram was laid out the same, but with different words. The description revealed that the diagram was of a plain band with writing on the outside and also the inside of the band. If we assume the Ring of Solomon shown here is a similar design, we see Tetragrammaton is engraved on the inside of the band and the words "Anapheneton (or Anaphaxeton) + Michael" are written on the outside of the band.

The Ring is to be made of Silver and worn on the middle finger of the left hand. It is to be held to the nose of the Master when confronted with the "stinking fumes of spirits".

Many people claiming to have great Goetic experience say the Ring is useless because the spirits have no odor. One could argue the spirits don't have bodies either. Yet we see them anyway.

Even if you are of the belief that spirits only affect the sense of sight, there is another, more practical use for the ring.

In The Key of Solomon, Book 2 Chapter 10, we read:

There are many kinds of Incense, Suffumigations, and Perfumes, which are made for and offered unto the Spirits; those which are of sweet odour are for the good, those which are of evil savour are for the evil.

The Key of Solomon and the Goetia of Solomon may be different, but they follow the same reasoning. In the GoS, when the spirit is being conjured, the exorcist goes through a series of appeals and threats. The exorcist starts with the first and second conjuration. If that fails, he reads a stern "constraint". If even that fails, the exorcist demands the spirit's boss (or King, as it were) send the spirit right away. If that fails, the exorcist recites the "Spirits Chaine" and threatens to send the spirit to the depths of hell bound "in chaines of fire and Brimstone unquenchable, unless you dost forthwith appear before this circle in This Triangle to doe my will..."

After the Spirit Chain the spirit had better be there with bells on. If the spirit still isn't there (or your scryer is no good), the GoS instructs the exorcist:

Then write his name and seal in [on] virgins parch [parchment] and put it into a black Box with Brimstone aquafateda [assafoetida] and such things that have a stincking strong smell and bind the Box round with a wire and hang it on y^e swords point and hold it over the fire of Charcoles...

There follows "The Conjuration of the Fire". With the spirit's seal in a black box bound with chains along with "such things that have a stincking strong smell", the exorcist holds the spirit over hot coals and threatens it with eternal suffering starting right about now.

If even this threat and torture does not work, the exorcist recites "The Curse" and drops the black box into the hot coals. That's right, 'it just got real up in the chamber. The exorcist is now making good on his promise to send this rebellious spirit to the fiery pit of Hell! If the spirit does not appear, I suppose he gets sent to Hell forever and crossed out of everyone's grimoires.

Luckily, the GoS tells us:

Here the Exorcist must put the box into the fire and by and by he will come. But as soone as he is come quickly quench the fire that the Box is in and make a sweet perfume and give him a kind entertainment shewing him the pentacle that is at y^e bottom of y^e vesture covered with linnen cloath, saying. 

So, what does this have to do with the Ring of Solomon?

In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus writes:

God also enabled him (Solomon) to learn that skill which expels demons, which is a science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this: He put a ring that had a Root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was shown very manifestly: for which reason it is, that all men may know the vastness of Solomon's abilities, and how he was beloved of God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this king was endowed may not be unknown to any people under the sun for this reason, I say, it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these matters.  

As you can see, the exorcist's ring is treated with an herb (Root).  The herb and the ring work together with incantations handed down from Solomon in order to command the demon. In the Goetia of Solomon, the Exorcist is to hold the Ring to his own nose. The powerful herbs on the Ring counters not only the odor of demons, but also the odor of the foul smelling substances used while conjuring demons. The exact words in my GoS are "This Ring is to be held before the face of the Exorcist to preserve him from The stinking fumes of spirits &c." I think this includes sulfur, brimstone, and assafoetida.

I have heard of crime scene investigators rubbing different salves and creams with menthol and similar substances on their nose and upper lip when investigating foul crime scenes. The menthol makes the odor more bearable. The herbs used on the Exorcist's ring may have a similar effect.

Now, I'm not saying to use Vicks VapoRub in place of the Ring of Solomon. I'm just pointing out the fact that the Ring of Solomon may need to be treated with a powerful herbal concoction to render it useful against foul suffumigations.

In closing this post I give you my version of the Goetic Ring of Solomon:

Reconstructing Solomon's Triangle

I have been discovering occult blogs the last few days. You have the usual spells/home remedy type stuff. These have become more of a curiosity with all the over the counter remedies you can get these days. You have your harmonic alien chakra crystals. You have Thelemic treacle. There's the same introductory Runic lore you can find in old '80s paperbacks. And then...

Yesterday I read a blog post about the Triangle of Solomon. I highly recommend reading the post HERE.

The goal is to understand the Triangle of Solomon as it appears in the Goetia. The theory is that the original Triangle was in Hebrew.

While reading the blog I was reminded of a time back in the late '90s (on further reflection I believe it was '94 or 95) when I and a friend of mine decided we would attempt to reconstruct the original Magical Triangle of Solomon. Our reasoning was much like that in the article linked to, but with one difference.

For those of you who have clicked the link to read the article and comments, let me risk some redundancy.

We start the reconstruction of Solomon's Triangle with the word Tetragrammaton. Tetragrammaton is the unspeakable four letter name of God. Many books and websites detail this fact. Far too many sources to list here.

Since all three words around the triangle of Art have a similar ending, they probably represent three names of God.

Primeumaton is probably God's Prime (first or primary) name. The first and most commonly used name of God (in the Hebrew Old Testament) is Elohim.

This is the line of reasoning I followed and which seems to be the line of reasoning for the others who have tried to decipher the Triangle.

The last word of the Triangle is Anaphaxeton. Gilbert, in his excellent article breaks down the word Anaphaxeton into its separate parts and suggests AHYH as the possible original Hebrew name of God.

As I was in public high school at the time, and knew only the smattering of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew I could pick up from grimoires, I came to a very different conclusion about Anaphaxeton.

My only copy of the Goetia had a little section called "An Explanation of Solomon's Triangle". The line describing Anaphaxeton reads:

Anephezeton.  Thou great God of all the Heavenly Host:

This implied to me that Anaphaxeton was related to the Heavenly Host. The one word that comes to mind is Tzabaoth.

The resulting Triangle of Solomon looks like this:

Back then I was using modern Hebrew characters, but thanks to Carroll "Poke" Runyon, I know to use older characters. When the words are substituted and read from the Tetragrammaton we have the words "YHVH Elohim Tzabaot". There is the ineffable Name and the Alpha and Omega (Aliph is the first letter of Elohim, and Tau is the last letter of Tzabaoth).

In The Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis),  Book 1, Chapter 5 there is a conjuration in which spirits are commanded by the many Names of God. After the list of names, the spirits are conjured

"by the troops of Angels who cease not to cry day and night, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, ADONAI ELOHIM TZABAOTH"

In Chapter 9 of Book 1 there is an oration which reads in part:

Thou Who art seated upon the Kerubim and the Seraphim, in the high places, whereunto human understanding cannot penetrate: Thou Who hast created all things by Thine agency, in Whose Presence are the Living Creatures, of which four are marvellously volatile, which have six wings, and who incessantly cry aloud:

"QADOSH, QADOSH, QADOSH, ADONAI ELOHIM TZABAOTH, Heaven and Earth are full of Thy glory";

Both of these passages refer to Isaiah 6:1-4
¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD (YHVH) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
 ²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
 ³And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD (YHVH) of hosts (Tzabaoth): the whole earth is full of his glory.
 ⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

The Adonai of the Key of Solomon is YHVH. You will notice the passage in Isaiah lacks the word Elohim while the Key of Solomon includes it, twice. I do not think that is a mistake. It is my belief that the magic circle is a symbolic representation of this vision of Isaiah.

The YHVH is in the center, surrounded by the Seraphim (four hexagrams).  The 24 triangles (or wings) are the 24 hours of day and night (24 x 3 = 72).

Or that's the way I imagined it as a teenager. I still think it's a solid reconstruction. Let me know what you think.

---

UPDATE!
Since writing this post I came across a thread at www.evocationmagic.com
THIS post clearly shows a triangle strikingly similar to my own. I have conversed with the creator of this other Triangle. He also formulated his Triangle of Art in the '90s.

I also just found THIS cool picture of the Triangle at a blog I need to subscribe to. Very crafty stuff there.

I can now think of a couple slight changes that would make the Triangle even better. I don't know if or when I'll get around to drawing them up, but here's a quick explanation:
YHVH should form the base or foundation of the Triangle, opposite the K of MI-K-AL
ALHIM is now on the left with the A in some way highlighted so it stands out
TzBAUTh is on the right hand side of the Triangle with Th highlighted

This is your first and last, the ox and a cross (use the older letters).

All three names should be easily read from within the Circle.

Here's the updated version:
http://theoccultandmagick.blogspot.com/2012/05/triangle-of-solomon-take-three.html