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.

Explanation of the Pentagram and Hexagram of Solomon

I previously wrote about the "Explanation of Certain Names Used in this Book Lemegeton". I glossed over the portion of the "explanations" about the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. After a forum thread at evocationmagic.com, I decided to look more closely at both the "explanation" and the Pentagram of Solomon.

In the following table you will see "The Explanation of the two triangles in the Parchment". The two "triangles" referred to are the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. In the left column are the words from the Hexagram and Pentagram being "explained" by the words in the right column. Under the words as they appear in the manuscript I have included the words that appear in the Mathers/Crowley version. I have colored alternate rows for easier reading.

The Explanation of the two triangles in the Parchment
Alpha and Omega	Thou O great God who art the beginning and the end who was before all Eternity and ever shall be Mathers/Crowley version reads: Thou, O great God, Who art the beginning and the end:
Tetragrammaton	Thou God of mighty power be ever present with us to guard us and protect us and let thy holy presence be now and always with us Mathers/Crowley: Thou God of Almighty power, be ever present with us to guard and protect us, and let Thy Holy Spirit and presence be now and always with us:
Soluzen	I command thou spirit of what Region soever thou art to come into this circle Mathers/Crowley: I command thee, thou Spirit, of whatsoever region thou art, to come unto this circle:
Halliza	and Appear in human shape Mathers/Crowley: And appear in human shape:
Bellatar M/C: Bellator or Bellaton	and speak to us audably in our mother tongue Mathers/Crowley: And speak unto us audibly in our mother-tongue:
Bellonoy M/C: Bollonoy or Bellony	and shew and discover to us all treasures that thou knowest of or that is in thy keeping and deliver it to us quietly Mathers/Crowley: And show, and discover unto us all treasure that thou knowest of, or that is in they keeping, and deliver it unto us quietly:
Hallÿ Fra M/C: Halli. Hra.	and answer us all such questions as we shall demand without any defect now at this time Mathers/Crowley: And answer all such questions as we may demand without any defect now at this time.

Alpha and Omega

can be found in the Hexagram of Solomon. This is the Beginning and End of the Greek alphabet.

Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_and_omega

Tetragrammaton

is found in the Hexagram and Pentagram of Solomon. This is, as most people know, the unspeakable four-letter name of God.

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton

Soluzen

In Folger Shakespeare manuscript V.b.26, this word appears as Soluze with a line above the last two letters. That line means there are missing letters.

Can be found with its sigil in the center of the Pentagram. This is possibly a corruption of the name of Solomon or Jerusalem. Here you see the seal of Jerusalem

(Image snagged from HERE)

Although the seal directly above is dated to the second century, it was in use for several hundred years, including the second temple period. That's the period we start seeing stories of exorcisms and rings handed down by Solomon.

Jerusalem and Solomon contain the same root word, SLM.

NOTE:

Although the word SHAMIR does not appear in this "explanation" or the pentagram in this grimoire, it should be noted that if you omit the Lamed from the seal of Jerusalem above and read from the letter Sin, you will see why this word became part of this legend.

Jerusalem:     Yud Resh Shin (Lamed) Mem
Shamir:          Shin Mem Yud Resh

Halliza

is in the Pentagram with its sigil.

Bellatar

is spelled Ballaton or Ballator in the Pentagram of Solomon. With the grimoiric obsession with creating words with the  "Aton" suffix, I am leaning in favor of Ballaton. Note the "name" begins with Bal or Bel, meaning "master". 

This "Aton" is likely Beleth, the 13th spirit of the Goetia of Solomon. Of Belleth (or Beleth or Bileth or Bilet or Ballat) the Goetia of Solomon Says:

The 13 spirit is called Beleth, he is a mighty king and terrable, ridding on a pale horse w^th Trumpets and all other kinds of Musicall Instruments playing before him, he is very furious at his first apperance That is whilest y^e Exorcist allay his Courage, for to doe that, he must hold a hazel stick in his hand, streched forth towards y^e South & East quarters making a Triangle without y^e Circle, commanding him into it by y^e vertue of y^e Bonds & chaines of spirits hereafter following, & if he doe not come into y^e by your Threats, rehearse y^e Bounds & chaines before him, and then he will yeild obediance and come into it and do what he is commanded by y^e Eorcist [Exorcist], yet he must receive him courteously, because he is a great king & doe homage to him, as the kings and princes doe that attend him, and you must [also] have allwayes a silver Ring on the middle finger of the left hand, held against your face as they do for Amaimon, This king Beleth causeth all y^e love that possible may be, both of Men and women till y^e Master Eorcist [Exorcist] hath had his mind fullfilled &c. he is of the order of Powers and governeth 85 Legions of [102v] spirits, his Noble seal is this w^ch is to be worne before you in the Time of working.

Balath's Noble or greater seal is given in the text and his lesser seal appears in the Pentagram of Solomon.

The Hebrew of Dr. Rudd has the name Beth-Lamed-Aleph-Tau.

Bellonoy

is in the Pentagram with its sigil. This name is spelled Bellonoy in the "explanation" and Bellony in the Pentagram of Solomon. Bellony is more likely. As with Bellatar, Bellany's name begins with Bel. I believe that in Hebrew his name may be spelled Beth-Lamed-Lamed-Vav-Nun-Yud. If you use these letters to trace a sigil over the kamea of Mercury (use the one with the Hebrew letters!), you will get something like this:

Most sigils these days begin with a circle and terminate with a little cross-line. As you can see from the image above, Agrippa (and the creators of the grimoires) had no such strict rules. Compare the sigil I have drawn above to the sigil of Bellony as it appears in the pentagram:

Like the Lesser Seal appearing in the Hexagram of Solomon, Bellony's sigil has been degraded and reversed. Compare these two versions of this sigil (1,2):

UPDATE: Find out more about this "sigil" here: http://brotherenochsgoetia.blogspot.com/2015/03/this-sigil-is-not-sigil.html


Another manuscript shows the sigil of Bellony more clearly:

The sigil seems to not include the final 'Y' or Yud. That leaves us Bal-LVN (Lord or master of the Levites), suggesting a Lord and possibly a connection to the Levites or priests of the Temple of Solomon.

Alternately, LVN could be Lamed-Beth-Nun, which means "white". 

Hallÿ Fra

is written (as Hally) in the Pentagram along with its sigil.

ABDIA

is written in the Pentagram along with its sigil. ABDIA does not appear in the "explanation". Abdia is another way of writing Obadiah. In V.b.26, the name is written Abdiah.

---

This post is more like notes for myself and I will probably return to it from time to time to see if I can make more progress.

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"?

Rooting Out Demons With Baaras

People are often spoken of as if they were plants. I probably don't have to explain myself when I tell you "My family has its roots in this country". You just know what I mean.

My family once had an over-sized Bible. It was not the kind you would pick up and carry off to church on Sunday. In the front of the Bible was a line drawing of a tree. On the tree were names. These were names of people in my family going back generations. After the page with the picture of the tree were even more hand written pages. These pages recorded births, marriages, baptisms, and important events. This family tree are called my "roots".

This concept of laying down roots is also applied to religious groups, political movements, and spy networks.

At times people get the feeling they don't know who they are or who they should be. They say "I need to find my roots." Or, if they are speaking for a family or church, they might say "We need to go back to our roots."

The Bible is filled with horticultural references that are actually about people. Grape vines, olive trees, the grafting of gentiles into Israel.

When things go wrong and something has "taken root" that we do not like or that might be harmful, what do we do? We "root out the evil", whether it be dissenters or heretics. But have you ever stopped to look at the symbolism as it appears in the Bible?

Although there are many references to the uprooting of evil, there are a couple whose imagery I would call to your attention. The first is Malachi 4:1:

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch." 

Here we have YHVH Sabaoth taking the evildoers and throwing them in a fire, leaving neither root nor branch.

And again in Isaiah 10:17:

The LORD, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night.

In this imagery we find the evil weeds are rooted out and consumed entirely in flames. These are, of course, not references to weeds and trees, but men and demons and their eternal souls.

Compare this imagery with that given by Jesus in Luke 17:6:

And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you."

Here Jesus is also using the imagery of a tree being uprooted and cast in the see, but is actually talking about the casting of demons into the abyss. The imagery of the uprooting of plants and bitter roots applies to people, but it also applies to the spirits that are behind the evil actions of men.

With this in mind, read the description Josephus gives of the root baaras in The Wars of the Jews (7.6.3):

But still in that valley which encompasses the city on the north side there is a certain place called Baaras, which produces a root of the same name with itself its color is like to that of flame, and towards the evenings it sends out a certain ray like lightning. It is not easily taken by such as would do it, but recedes from their hands, nor will yield itself to be taken quietly, until either the urine of a woman, or her menstrual blood, be poured upon it; nay, even then it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away. It may also be taken another way, without danger, which is this: they dig a trench quite round about it, till the hidden part of the root be very small, they then tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies immediately, as if it were instead of the man that would take the plant away; nor after this need any one be afraid of taking it into their hands. Yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue it hath, that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them. 

The name of this root is baaras, which probably comes from the Hebrew ba'ar which means "to burn". The root baaras is uprooted and burns with a ray "like lightning". Baaras "quickly drives away those called demons". This is probably the root applied to Eleazer's ring which, if held to the nose of the possessed, "roots out" the demon.

(Note: there is an archaic connection of the words 'root' and 'rout' which fits the lore of this plant well. Both root and demon need to be routed carefully and then plucked out whole so no portion remains below the surface.)

Many people have pointed out how much the lore behind this baaras root matches up with that of the mandrake. Others point out that the mandrake was a common plant in Palestine whereas baaras grew in just one small area. Being a common plant, Josephus was well aware of mandrake and elsewhere used its common name. Baaras may be the common mandrake, it may be a specific type of mandrake (this is what I believe), or it might be another plant entirely.

Eleazar's ring is the prototype of the ring found in the Goetia. Applying baaras or mandrake to the Ring of Solomon is a restoration of the original practice of exorcism handed down by Solomon. Use it on Beelzebub, Astaroth, your in-laws, or wherever you find evil that needs to be uprooted.

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.

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.

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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