The Seal of Solomon
King Solomon is a biblical figure recognized even by those unfamiliar with the subject. The "Solomonic decision" is well-known: he proposed cutting a child in two when two women were fighting over who would claim him as their son. This ensured that the true mother preferred her son to live with another woman rather than die, while the false mother did not show the same love. The biblical text in 1 Kings 3:9-12 says that Solomon was offered a divine gift, and that he chose wisdom, the ability to distinguish between good and evil. And while this may seem like a wise decision in itself, Solomon is not exactly an exemplary figure. Furthermore, in 1 Kings 11, it is recounted that Solomon strayed from his Hebrew faith, worshipping the gods Astarte, Chemosh, Milcom, and Molech, and frequently indulging in worldly pleasures. Finally, his figure is distorted in traditions through his thirst for knowledge, which led him to explore esoteric and unorthodox arts, make pacts with demons, and control them—the latter through a ring with a divine seal, now known as the Seal of Solomon.
This ring-seal is referenced in the Talmud and also in the Haggadic tradition, where Solomon imposes a seal on Jeremiah's language to exorcise him. In Flavius Josephus's Jewish Antiquities (8.42-49), the Jew Eleazar frees some possessed people with a ring and a root whose use and knowledge are attributed to the mythical king, before the eyes of Vespasian. The Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) refer to talismans used for exorcisms or contact with spirits, and these are associated with Solomon. Therefore, it is clear that the idea of the Seal of Solomon was not only recurrent but also widely recognized as a magical tool.
We can assume that this entire legend had an origin, a foundation that was later disseminated. This foundation appears to be an apocryphal text of the Old Testament, called the Testament of Solomon (3rd-4th centuries BC). It was written in Greek and subsequently transmitted in Aramaic and Syriac. The story is as follows: a temple overseer is tormented and afflicted by the demon Ornias and asks Solomon for help, who in turn asks God for help. Then the archangel Michael descends from heaven and gives him a ring with an engraved seal, with which he will have "all demons, male and female" under his control. The ring was to be thrown at the demon's chest, proclaiming that it was Solomon who called him, and once conjured, the spirit would be forced to reveal everything that was asked of it. The rest of the text is, therefore, a list of demons, each indicating its astrological sign, the powers it holds, the forms it takes, and the angel who can neutralize it.
From roughly the same period dates a work considered minor, called Hygromanteia. In it, Solomon appears to be teaching his son Rehoboam all kinds of magical arts, especially the invocation and control of spirits. The novelty here is that it doesn't only discuss demons, but also angels and Greek gods, linked to the planets. It also enumerates their various abilities and their most auspicious times and days of influence, as well as minerals, plants, and so on. The name Hygromanteia comes from the fact that a section of the text teaches lecanomancy, divination through spirits or answers revealed in water.
Currently, there are many variations of this seal, but since antiquity, there has been much debate about its appearance. Unfortunately, we have lost some of these references due to Byzantine compilations and revisions, which removed or added what they deemed appropriate. Even so, they remain significant sources of ideas from antiquity. In manuscripts from Mount Athos (in Greece) and others from the National Library of France in Paris, both from the 15th century, it was stated that they were five intertwined capital alpha letters forming a circle, that is, forming what we would now call a pentacle or pentagram.
We also find descriptions in Arabic literature, which is prone to the appearance of magic rings and djinns or genies. Although we could cite Aladdin and the magic lamp as an example, where rings that must be rubbed to summon the genie associated with them also appear, we have the story of the fisherman who finds a sealed bottle with the symbol of Solomon's (Suleiman's) ring, containing a genie; it is said to have been made of iron and brass, with the name of God on it. The Arabs are commonly credited with changing the five-pointed star to a six-pointed one, that is, to the Star of David or Jewish star, perhaps as an identifier of the king's Hebrew origins.
While the importance of Arabic texts in the spread of magic in the Western world cannot be denied, the six-pointed star already possessed talismanic value, which can be seen drawn or engraved on buildings in the three major empires.
Religions, without needing to make any reference to Judaism itself (for example, there are six-pointed stars in many mosque decorations, or on the facades of cathedrals). Many magical and esoteric texts use the six-pointed star intertwining two triangles that represent opposites in balance. It was in the Italian Renaissance that the pentagram became more prevalent as a magical symbol, probably due to its connection with the image of man and the four/five elements. However, alchemists continued to use the six-pointed star because, according to alchemical symbols, it symbolized the union of water and fire.
The association of stars with the Jewish people in the general mindset seems to be a medieval construct, later expanded when, in Central Europe, specifically in Prague in the 14th century, Jewish communities were given various flags with six- or five-pointed stars in gold. But unfortunately, it wasn't until World War II that the six-pointed star became the quintessential symbol of the Jewish people, a symbol later sanctified.
On the other hand, we have manuscripts that place less emphasis on the symbol itself and more on the magical formula. These magical words are practically heirs to Greco-Egyptian magic, as they share the same system of combining confusing words with magical words and invocations that are difficult to pronounce. For example, a manuscript held in the British Museum states that the ring contained the inscription kothrsbionkaoaoeligoissgoaaesrour. Another manuscript from the University of Bologna reads: Of the great King Solomon: Ithlthi, 40,000, Lord our God: lion, sabaot, aiaó, bioniká, oaleoí; ioasé, sugeó; aaié; ae; niufiune, iaeso.
There are several stories about Solomon's ring. Arab tradition offers several tales on the subject. One attributes the ring's first possession to Adam; another, its discovery by the archangel Gabriel in the stomach of a fish. The Quran itself recounts that David showed his son Solomon how to control the winds and storms, how to command the jinn, and the language of birds (in Surahs XXI, 81-82, XXVII, 17, XXXIV, 11, and XXXVIII, 35-37).
Rabbinic literature uses Solomon as the recipient of religious, ethical, and moral lessons from the demons or jinn with whom he speaks. It is also responsible for transmitting legends related to his ring, such as the king's replacement by the demon Asmodeus, who then throws his ring into the sea, leading to the search for and recovery of the throne and developing an adventure story surrounding the king (Gittin 68b).
In medieval and Renaissance grimoires, we find mention of King Solomon whenever an important figure is required in the authorship or origin of a particular spell. In the Liber Iuratus, or Grimoire of Pope Honorius, dating from the 14th century, we find the Sigillum Dei, which was and still is spoken of as if it were the one engraved on the ring, since it is a divine seal said to allow one to "become God" and therefore command all angelic and demonic spirits. If we follow the Sloane Manuscript 3853, we see that the letters appearing throughout the seal are:
h, t, o, e, x, o, r, a, b, a, s, l, a, y, q, c, i, y, s, t, a, l, g, a, a, o, n, o, s, v, l, a, r, y, c, e, k, s, p, f, y, o, m, e, n, e, a, u, a, r, e, l, a, t, e, d, a, t, o, n, o, n, a, o, y, l, e, p, o, t, m, a
These are the esoteric letters of the Shemhamphorasch, or true name of God, which, as we have already said, is the key to the power of this sign. The name Elohim and the names of angels and archangels also appear in different forms.
In Renaissance writings, such as those of Pietro d'Abano, we find that the magical seals associated with Solomon fulfill the characteristics we have seen up to this point: a recognizably Hebrew symbol (the Star of David) and the circles typical of magical pentacles.
The Key of Solomon, whose original grimoire likely dates from the late 16th century, was translated into Italian by the mathematician and humanist Abraham Colorni from a Hebrew work called Maphteaḥ Shelomoh. Although earlier examples exist, the model of this grimoire more closely resembles the lists of demonology and talismans from the Byzantine era.
This seal is taken from the Lansdowe Manuscript 1202, from which Mathers would later draw his model for the edition of the Little Key of Solomon, or Clavicles of Solomon, for his esoteric orders. The seals that appear in the Clavicles of Solomon (18th century) are attributed to him, only some of them being renamed "of Solomon," and they bear absolutely no resemblance to the seals on the ring we have been discussing. Nevertheless, influences of Arab and Jewish thought can be seen in the creation of these talismans, both in the magic squares and the use of Hebrew letters, as well as symbols of power, among other details. We include here another example of a seal called "of Solomon."
Later, all the demonic seals collected in the Goetia, reorganized by S.L. Mathers and A. Crowley, would be attributed to a Solomonic tradition of demon control. However, the main seal for the development of the Goetia will also not have any six- or five-pointed star.
Currently, the Seal of Solomon is confused with the Tetragrammaton. The Tetragrammaton ("four letters" in Greek) consists of the four Hebrew letters of God's name, YHWH. As an amulet, the four letters evoked divine power, but today it is better known as the representation of a five-pointed star, with these letters drawn at its four outer points. In some cases, the word Tetragrammaton is divided into four or five parts to encircle the star, and it is also accompanied by other astrological or Kabbalistic symbols, including the Hebrew letters themselves. The combination of the Hebrew concept with the star has led many esotericists to consider this the most complete "Seal of Solomon." However, this popular amulet is not that old; it is actually a creation of Eliphas Levi, the 19th-century French occultist and author of Dogma and Ritual of High Magic, one of the key works of modern occultism, and its tetragrammaton has a much greater complexity than simply a name and a biblical owner.
Pietro V. Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com
Bibliography:
- Díez Macho, Al. Apócrifos del Antiguo Testamento. Ediciones Cristiandad, 1982
- Tondriau, J. Diccionario de las ciencias ocultas, La tabla esmeralda, EDAF, 1985.
- Torijano Morales, P. Solomon the Esoteric King. From King to Magus, Development of a Tradition. Ed. Brill, 2021
Related posts:
> Jewish Medieval Magic (II): Amulets, Rituals, Divination
