Hello everyone, I've recently come across bits and pieces of the Key of Solomon and the Lesser Key of Solomon in my studies. Before I delve into something I don't fully understand yet, does anyone have any advice or warnings against this? Please let me know at your earliest convenience.
Should be nothing to worry about as long as you aren't just blindly doing following rituals without knowing what you're doing. The Keys have great information and instruction on evocation and working with all sort of spirits, both benevolent and malevolent. Just reading it shouldn't cause you any problems.
The KoS and other medieval and renaissance books on magic assume that you already have some magical understanding and competence. They are not beginners manuals. You need to learn proper methods of evocation and banishing, make connections to the proper entities that will assist you, properly prepare your magical instruments and learn how to work with entities properly before attempting things in the KoS. Get some training in the basics first. The psyche you save may be your own.
I also have this book, The lesser key of Solomon. The book is instructions/ rituals on how to Command these beings to come to you. That can be dangerous because you aren't asking politely you are demanding it. That is my biggest concern with it and why no haven't tried using it. I just do normal rituals and ask them to come, not command. Good luck and be careful
Shawn has it bang on. These grimoires are an interesting blend of Early Christian belief, ritual practice, and Shamanic techniques derived from the older pagan religions. As such, it would be wise to look into all of these things prior to undertaking the work described in those texts.
For ritual magic I would recommend a study of Golden Dawn texts such as those written by the Ciceros, Pat Zalewski, and Israel Regardie. I would also recommend a study of Agrippa, and I believe one of the best manuals on ritual magic to be Liber ABA or "Book 4" by Aleister Crowley.
For Early Christian belief I would suggest of course the bible, but you can get what you need from the internet in this respect- if you come across a concept you don't understand google it, but have a look at more academic sources. There are books out there, but I could never be bothered to go through them as my interest is more in the practical side of the magic- I actually don't prescribe the term demon to the goetianor am I overly fond of the term angel, they are more for convenience rather than literal ideas.
As for Shamanistic practices there are a few books by Jan Fries I like, the internet is a good source, but what you are mainly looking at are trance techniques ,breath work, visualisation, and self hypnosis- all these are good search terms.
For an overview of grimoiric magic I recommend Owen Davie's "Grimoires: A History of Magic" and "Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires: The Classical Texts of Magick Deciphered" by Aaron Leitch- espescially the latter, it goes into great detail and is a great blend of academia and practical instruction.
Joy of Satan is a very unreliable website that is full of misinformation. I wouldn't trust it to tell me the correct time of day.
While the Key of Solomon contains some potentially risky rituals there have been many over the years who have used the Key without damage to themselves. It all depends on learning the basics before you try advance work, as Shawn said quite eloquently.
