The Book of ceremonial Magic

greater and more worshipful than all men of his time, his name being Sameton, while the
two wise men who brought it were called Kamazan and Zazant. The Latin title of the
treatise is said to be Angelus
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Magnus Secreti Creatoris; it was the first book after Adam, was written in the language
of Chaldea and afterwards was translated into Hebrew. It is a noticeable fact that in this
work the first section is entitled Clavis, and if we may regard the Sepher Raziel as
antedating the Claviculæ, it explains why a Key was attributed to Solomon. The Clavis in
question is, however, concerned with the magical influences of the stars, "without which
we can effect nothing." The second book is called Ala; it treats of the virtues of stones,
herbs and beasts. The third is Tractatus Thymiamalum, the use of which term connects it
with the Sworn Book of Honorius; it treats of suffumigations. The fourth sets out the
times of the year, day and night which are disposed to operation; the fifth embodies the
laws regarding lustrations and abstinence; while the sixth, called Samaim, expounds the
nature of the heavens, of the angels and of the operations of each. The seventh and last
book is concerned with the virtues of names. A Latin version of the Sepher Raziel occurs
in Sloane MS. 3853, ascribed to the same period. It differs from the former in several
considerable respects, being also much shorter and full of rare magical symbols.
The MSS. of the third group are all in English, and all of late date.
Sloane 2731 is a very neat MS., begun on January 10, 1676, and containing the entire
Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon, in English. Some account of this celebrated work,
which has so unaccountably escaped publication, will be found in the third chapter of this
part. Sloane 3648 is another manuscript of the Lemegeton, also in English, together with
the Ars Notoria, a book of invocations and prayers attributed to Solomon, of which there
are many examples extant in England and on the Continent. 1 It is a work which connects
with Magic
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without being itself Magical, and, in fact, stands in much the same relation to the Key or
Clavicle as the Enchiridion of Pope Leo to the Isagoge of the Arbatel. Lastly, the same
MS. contains the Magical Archidoxies of Paracelsus, but the version seems to be quite
distinct from the treatise so entitled in the Geneva folio, containing the collected writings
of the German adept. 1 In either case, it is not a work of Ceremonial Magic, its title
notwithstanding. Sloane 3805 is a quarto MS., chiefly alchemical and medical,
comprising a translation of the forged epistles of Sendivogius, and towards the end the
Lemegeton, started by the writer apparently with the intention of transcribing all the
works attributed to Solomon under the heading of this angelic name. It breaks off,
however, at the end of the offices of the thirteenth spirit belonging to the Infernal
Hierarchy.
It should be added that the three groups contain materials which are common to all. The
independent treatises which follow the Sepher Raziel in Sloane 3826 extract matter from