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INTRODUCTION

O my Son Roboam! seeing that of all Sciences there is none more useful than the knowledge of Celestial Movements, I have thought it my duty, being at the point of death, to leave thee an inheritance more precious than all the riches which I have enjoyed.' And in order that thou mayest understand how I have arrived at this degree (of wisdom), it is necessary to tell thee that one day, when I was meditating upon the power of the Supreme Being, the Angel of the Great God appeared before me as I was saying, O how wonderful are the works of God! I suddenly beheld, at the end of a thickly-shaded vista of trees, a Light in the form of a blazing Star, which said unto me with a voice of thunder: Solomon, Solomon, be not dismayed; the Lord is willing to satisfy thy desire by giving thee knowledge of whatsoever thing is most pleasant unto thee. I order thee to ask of Him whatsoever thou desirest. Whereupon, recovering from my surprise, I answered unto the Angel, that according to the Will of the Lord, I only desired the Gift of Wisdom, and by the Grace of God I obtained in addition the enjoyment of all the Celestial treasures and the knowledge of all natural things.

It is by this means, my Son, that I possess all the virtues and riches of which thou now seest me in the enjoyment, and in order that thou mayest be willing to be attentive to all which I am about to relate to thee, and that thou mayest retain with care all that I am about to tell thee, I assure thee that the Graces of the Great God will be familiar unto thee, and that the Celestial and Terrestrial Creatures will be obedient unto thee, and a science which only works by the strength and power of natural things, and by the pure Angels which govern them. Of which latter I will give thee the names in order, their exercises and particular employments to which they are destined, together with the days over which they particularly preside, in order that thou mayest arrive at the accomplishment of all, which thou wilt find in this my Testament. In all which I promise thee success, provided that all thy works only tend unto the honour of God, Who hath given me the power to rule, not only over Terrestrial but also over Celestial things, that is to say, over the Angels,

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of whom I am able to dispose according to my will, and to obtain from them very considerable services.

Firstly. It is necessary for thee to understand that God, having made all things, in order that they may be submitted unto Him, hath wished to bring His works to perfection, by making one which participates of the Divine and of the Terrestrial, that is to say, Man; whose body is gross and terrestrial, while his soul is spiritual and celestial, unto whom He hath made subject the whole earth and its inhabitants, and hath given unto Him means by which He may render the Angels familiar, as I call those Celestial creatures who are destined: some to regulate the motion of the Stars, others to inhabit the Elements, others to aid and direct men, and others again to sing continually the praises of the Lord. Thou mayest then, by the use of their seals and characters, render them familiar unto thee, provided that thou abusest not this privilege by demanding from them things which are contrary to their nature; for accursed be he who will take the Name of God in vain, and who will employ for evil purposes the knowledge and good wherewith He hath enriched us.

I command thee, my Son, to carefully engrave in thy memory all that I say unto thee, in order that it may never leave thee. If thou dost not intend to use for a good purpose the secrets which I here teach thee, I command thee rather to cast this Testament into the fire, than to abuse the power thou wilt have of constraining the Spirits, for I warn thee that the beneficent Angels, wearied and fatigued by thine illicit demands, would to thy sorrow execute the commands of God, as well as to that of all such who, with evil intent, would abuse those secrets which He hath given and revealed unto me. Think not, however, O my Son, that it would not be permitted thee to profit by the good fortune and happiness which the Divine Spirits can bring thee; on the contrary, it gives them great pleasure to render service to Man for whom many of these Spirits have great liking and affinity, God having destined them for the preservation and guidance of those Terrestrial things which are submitted to the power of Man.

There are different kinds of Spirits, according to the things over which they preside; some of them govern the Empyrean Heaven, others the Primum Mobile, others the First and Second Crystalline, others the Starry Heaven there are also Spirits of the Heaven of Saturn, which I call Saturnites there are jovial, Martial, Solar, Venerean, Mercurial . and Lunar Spirits there are also (Spirits) in the Elements as well as in the Heavens, there are some in the Fiery Region, others in the Air, others in the Water, and others upon the Earth, which can all render service to that man who shall have the good fortune to understand their nature, and to know how to attract them.

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Furthermore, I wish to make thee understand that God hath destined to each one of us a Spirit, which watches over us and takes care of our preservation; these are called Genii, who are elementary like us, and who are more ready to render service to those whose temperament is conformed to the Element which these Genii inhabit; for example, shouldest thou be of a fiery temperament, that is to say sanguine, thy genius would be fiery and submitted to the Empire of Baël. Besides this, there are special times reserved for the invocation of these Spirits, in the days and hours when they have power and absolute empire. It is for this reason that thou wilt see in the following tables to what Planet and to what Angel each Day and Hour is submitted, together with the Colours which belong unto them, the Metals, Herbs, Plants, Aquatic, Aërial, and Terrestrial Animals, and Incense, which are proper to each of them, as also in what quarter of the Universe they ask to be invoked. Neither are omitted, the Conjurations, Seals, Characters, and Divine Letters, which belong to them, by means of which we receive the power to sympathise with these Spirits.

TABLE OF THE PLANETARY HOURS

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NOTE BY EDITOR

These Tables have been collated and compared with various examples of them both MS. and printed. They are to be used thus:--Supposing the student wishes to discover the properties of the hour from 12 to 1 O'clock p.m. on a Tuesday, let him look in the 'Table of the Planetary Hours,' and having found the hour marked 1 in the column headed' Hours from Midnight to Midnight,' he will see in the column headed 'Hours from Sunset to Sunset,' on the same line the figure 8, showing it to be the eighth hour of the day; and in the column headed Tuesday, the name Mars, showing that it is under the dominion of the planet Mars. On consulting the 'Table of the Magical Names of the Hours,' etc., he will find under the number 1, the name Beron, and in the column 'Tuesday,' the name of the Angel Zamael over against it on the same line, showing that the ruler of the hour is the Angel Zamael, and that its Magical Name is Beron. Further, on referring to the third Table he will see that Tuesday is under the rule of the planet Mars, whose Archangel is Khamael, Angel Zamael, Metal Iron, and Colour Red. Similarly it will be found that the hour from 10 to 11 p.m. on Saturday is the sixth hour of the night, under the dominion of the Sun, that its Magical Name is Cäerra, and that the Angel Michael rules it; while Saturday itself is under the dominion of the Archangel Tzaphqiel, of the Angel Cassiel, of the Planet Saturn, and that the Metal Lead and the Colour Black are applicable to it.

The ensuing Text is taken from the following MSS., collated and compared with each other.

Sloane MSS. 1307; Sloane MSS. 3091; Harleian MSS. 3981; Add. MSS. 10862; King's MSS. 288; Lansdowne MSS. 1202.

Extracts have also been made from Lansdowne MSS. 1203, which differs considerably from the others in general arrangement, though containing very similar matter.

In cases where the MSS. varied from each other I have taken the version which seemed most likely to be correct, in some cases mentioning the variant readings in footnotes. I have also, wherever it was possible to do so, corrected the Hebrew names in the Incantations, for these were in some cases so marred as to be hardly recognisable; e.g. Zenard, written for Tzabaoth, etc.