Hello there! I want to get started in studying and then practicing from the Lesser and Greater Key of Solomon. Which books and edition(s) would you say are the best (preferably on the cheaper range) for a beginner? Thank you!
I already replied to this but for some reason it didn’t work. Mildly annoying.
I’d say this copy. I use this one after my previous edition got horribly water damaged. It’s amazon so it’s quick delivery and cheap. It’s only £15, dunno how that equates to dollars but it’s reasonable.
I’m sorry but I had quite a long response to this about the pentacles and so on but I really don’t want to type it all again! Sorry haha
But no worries and thank you
Gonna have to strongly disagree and say you should shell out for the more expensive and more accurate versions:
Mathers and Crowley took a number of liberties with the Keys, going as far as to remove some of the spells, add additional operations, and “correct” things by imposing Kabbalah where none previously existed. While Mathers/Crowley is certainly serviceable accuracy is important and if you’re serious about practicing this Keys, Peterson’s editions will impart more knowledge of the system itself and progress your studies further faster.
Both Mathers and Crowley made massive contributions to the English Magical Revival and magick as a whole. Crowley is a controversial figure, but the one thing you can’t argue is his influence on modern magick.
That being said, while both of those gentlemen were highly intelligent, their scholarship is outdated. If you are looking for translations of older magical texts, there is almost always better sources out there and they can easily found with some google searches.
