The Book of Solomon's Magick [Paperback]

Carroll Poke Runyon (Author), Poke Runyon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 096548811X | ISBN-13: 978-0965488112 | Publication Date: September 15, 1996

This book presents unique and effective practical methods for invoking angels into a crystal ball and evoking spirits to visible appearance in a dark mirror. It is the companion book to "The Magick of Solomon" video produced by the same author. The techniques taught in this system are hypnotic and subjective. No special psychic talents are required to master this system. The author guides the reader step-by-step to proficiency in the ancient art of Magick.

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . What makes this (book) remarkable is that the theoretical part (the first half) is easy to read and understand (more or less), due partly to Runyon's mastery of his topic and partly to his folksy, down-home style. . . He takes a hugely complex subject and actually makes it interesting and comprehensible. The second half goes on to outline the rituals and describe in detail the 72 spirits of Solomon and illustrate their sigils. . . -- Ed Buryn, author-artist : The William Blake Tarot

It is rare that we see such an explicit, and well-written guidebook for a subject matter that's been secret for thousands of years. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the supernatural. I give it my highest recommendation. -- Geoffrey James, author: Angel Magic and The Enochian Magick of Doctor John Dee

The Book of Solomon's Magick commences with a personal narrative by Runyon of his involvement in magick, including an initiatory near-death experience . . . The bulk of the book, however, is the clearest exposition I have ever seen of the modern meaning of ritual magick, the complex system of spirits invoked, and the practical set-up of a magickal temple. . . -- Robert S. Ellwood, Univ. of S. Calif.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Church of the Hermetic Science Inc (September 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096548811X
• ISBN-13: 978-0965488112
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LON MILO DUQUETTE says "THE REAL THING", January 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Solomon's Magick (Paperback)

For those of us who spend a great deal of our time with our noses stuck in volumes of quaint and curious lore, this one is a real eye-opener (and without question...a must have). The first thing aspiring magicians are taught, (or should be taught), is that Magick is an art. Unfortunately, it is also the first thing most of them forget. In this marvelous book Mr. Runyon reveals himself to be not merely a theoretical expert, but a true artist - a master of the "art" of Magick. The Book of Solomon's Magick reads pleasantly, as if the author and you were sitting up late in front of a fireplace telling stories. It's easy to forget, however, that these tales of angels and demons are real (or as real as anything that affects our consciousness). The practice of Magick takes knowledge, skill, imagination, emotional stability, and a profound sense of humor. It is obvious from reading The Book of Solomon's Magick that Mr. Runyon possesses all these qualities plus one that, sadly, too few people today enjoy...the heart of a true romantic.--- LON MILO DUQUETTE, author of "The Magick of Thelema" and "My Life With The Spirits"

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fills in the blanks., March 25, 2003

By 

Asbestos Gustos - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Solomon's Magick (Paperback)

In the simplest of terms, Solomon's Magick fills in the blanks. As practitioner of Golden Dawn methods and as one who has a great respect for Franz Bardon's system, I must say that I've always been just a tad confused. G.D. methods assume too much. The practitioner is left wondering if that's all there is to magick. Bardon's methods are great, but take FOREVER--and the assumptions in his book regarding how long it should take a person to reach certain states are more than a little overly optimistic. Runyon presents a in clear terms what the others are missing--even aside from accessing the spirits of the Goetia. On top of it--it's easy. Don't get me wrong...the work must be done, but once done the work really pays off. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this book outlines one of the most workable methods of magickal development on the market. On top of that, Runyon never suggests that a person can achieve these things with no work or with no study...just the opposite in fact.

61 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful work, but full of assumptions and errors, April 29, 2005

By 

M. Stone "Frater Iustitia Omnibus" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Solomon's Magick (Paperback)

Let me start by saying, I suspect this will not be a popular review. For some reason the Goetia is one of these subjects that fosters a "fan boy" vibration for any author that writes on the subject. Anyone who produces a book on this material will have no end of reviews stating "This is the real thing!", "Best book of its kind!" and similar phrases of praise, completely devoid of specific or helpful information about the book's content. Never the less, this book makes some glaring errors, and what sort of magickian would I be if I didn't point them out to the novice?

First some of the attributions require the author to change the order of the entities involved. That is to say, the author actually over-rules Solomon, and "corrects" the order in which the spirits are laid out. Since they don't fall in line with his own beliefs, they MUST be out of order. Obviously!

Further, the author follows in the mistakes of Crowley, The Golden Dawn, The Aurum Solis, and Samuel Mathers in attempting to create attributions for the primary 72 djinn of Solomon's work, that have some flavor of symmetry. (please note that almost all of these sources disagree with each other, as well as the author of this book, as I will show later.)

The fact is, Solomon gave the proper attributions by way of their office, and the metal that their seal would be made of. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Western Tradition would be able to pick this out, but I will explain in detail, for the benefit of the novice reader.

Let's have a brief look at how Solomon laid these spirits out, and what his intentions were:

*** Spirits associated with the Sun are called KINGS. There are 9 of these in the text.
Bael, Paimon, Beleth, Purson, Asmoday, Viné, Balam, Zagan, and Belial. Their seals are to be made of gold.

*** Spirits associated with Venus are called DUKES. There are 23 of these, and it should be noted that the more feminine spirits fall here without any jury-rigging required by the Magickian. Agares, Valefor, Barbatos, Gusion, Eligos, Zepar, Bathim, Sallos, Aim, Buné, Berith, Astaroth, Focalor, Vepar, Vual, Crocell, Alloces, Murmur, Gremory, Vapula, Haures, Amdusias, Dantalion. Their seals are to be made of copper.

*** The spirits of Jupiter are called PRINCES AND PRELATES. There are seven spirits in this category.
Vassago, Sitri, Ipos, Gäap, Stolas, Orobas, Seere. These spirits should have their seals engraven on tin.

*** Spirits of the Moon are called MARQUISES of which there are 15.
Samigina, Amon, Leraje, Naberius, Ronové, Forneus, Marchosias, Phenex, Sabnock, Shax, Orias, Andras, Andrealphus, Cimeies, Decarabia. Following the same planetary metal scheme, these spirits are to have their seals imprinted upon sliver.

*** Spirits associated with Mercury are known as PRESIDENTS. There are 14 of these.
Marbas, Buer, Botis, Marax, Glasya-Labolas, Foras, Gäap, Malphas, Häagenti, Caim, Ose, Amy, Zagan, Valac.

*** Then there are a number of spirits associated with BOTH the Moon and Venus. These spirits are called EARLS, or COUNTS. There are nine of these spirits. (Again there is a feminine vibe here. Andromeda for example was the sacrificed daughter of Cassiopeia in Mythology)
Botis, Marax, Glasya-Labolas, Ronové, Furfur, Halphas, Räum, Viné, Bifrons, Andromalius.

*** Spirits of Saturn, oddly, there is only one. He is called a KNIGHT. His name is Furcas and obviously his seal is made of lead.

Saturn is a "malefic" planet, and has only a single representative. Notice that Mars, which would have a seal made of iron, is completely absent from the list. Mars being the other "malefic" celestial wanderer, this would seem to confirm that there is SOME method to Solomon's list, and that this is not just some scribe's mistake.

Now the REASON Saturn and Mars are under such a tight reign in the List of 72 is one of the Secret Lectures of the K.O.R. and rather than break my oath, I will simply point you in the right direction. For a clue to that mystery, I direct you to review the "Secret Seal of Solomon" as found in the Goetia. After a little meditation, I promise you an "Ah ha!"
Make sure you read how Solomon, himself used this seal. The answer is there in plain sight.

The desire to have a balanced number of Goetic Spirits assigned to elements, planets or the zodiac is natural, and I understand it completely. Unfortunately that isn't how they were laid out, and in fact there is much internal evidence that they are in the correct format, as delivered.

These 72 entities were generally accepted as androgynous. Being neither male or female, but one will note that most of the Dukes are the ones with female qualities, and indeed, the duke's sigils are to be imprinted on copper, the metal of Venus. (Astoroth, is a corruption of Astarte, once worshipped AS Venus!) One can see how I come to the conclusion that they are already sorted properly as to their sponsor planet.
However, there is contention among different occult schools just what any Goetic spirit's attributions should be, and I will briefly give some samples of the varying attributions, using Dantalion as the example spirit:

*** The Golden Dawn & Priscilla Schwei place Dantalion at 20-24 degrees of Pisces. His dates of power would be March 11-15. Planetary association is Mars. His element is water. The proper scent is Honeysuckle. Tarot card affinity is the ten of cups. Candle color for spells: purple.

*** Crowley puts Dantalion in the second decan of Pisces by night. The 777 key scale is 29. Planetary attribution is Venus. His element would be water.

*** Aurum Solis places Dantalion in the third quinance of Cancer. (Note Crowley places the djinn at decanates, and fills them with day spirits, then starts over with an equal number of night spirits. The Aurum Solis simply plots them out on the quinance model, doing away with assigning day and night stations. Also it should be mentioned that the A.S. rather than starting in Ares, starts the attribution in Leo, as was the habit of Mathers. That is all fine and well, if we can be sure Solomon was a student of Mathers. **chuckle**)

Why do all of these respected authorities disagree with each other, and more importantly the author of this book? Because they are all trying to force their own view onto the structure of the Goetia's curriculum, instead of being humble enough to accept the wisdom as it is given. There is a logic to dividing a list of 72 names by 12, and sorting them into neat little cosmic piles. However sometime 72 is just a number.

My personal opinion is that only the planetary attributions are indeed proper. This is how the original text of the Goetia seems to lay them out, and I see little use for attributing them to any of the tarot cards as we know them, or worse yet, to Chinese tri-grams of the I-Ching!

This is an interesting work of speculative Goetia. The Ceremonial procedures are dead on, and you will find them quite effective, however if you are picking this up on the author's claim of having "Corrected" the Goetia, you will led very far astray.