The likelihood that the biblical King Solomon probably never existed in empirical history should be of no concern to modern magicians, because the “formula” for doing this kind of magick isn’t an aspect or product of history or religion but of the mythology and traditions that are attached to Solomon’s name. The magical myth goes something like this:
When Solomon became king, his first job was to build a temple worthy to house the presence of the True and Living God Most High, something his father, David, hadn’t been able to do. Before beginning the project, Solomon paused and thought things over and wisely came to the conclusion that he couldn’t undertake such an important task without the blessing and guiding intelligence of God. In prayer, Solomon didn’t ask for money or building materials or contractors; he simply asked for an “understanding heart.”
How cool was that! It impressed God so much that Solomon was granted his request and given everything else to boot, including the divine secrets of how to magically summon the evil spirits of the world and (diverting them from their natural preoccupation with mischief) compel them to work for the good guys and help build the great temple.
On the surface, this spiritual worldview appears to be at odds with the Chrislemew doctrines we discussed in the preceding chapter. We’ve got God up above, and we’ve got demons down below, but it appears that’s where the similarity ends. In fact, the whole format of Solomonic magick appears to be an incongruous mixture of high and low magick. The key to understanding this paradox lies with the person of Solomon himself.
Solomon represents a new kind of human being—a person who has broken free of the old ways of looking at God and our place in creation—a person whose consciousness has expanded beyond the prison universe of good gods and evil devils—a person who grasps the concept of a supreme consciousness so absolute that all forces and powers of creation (even those that to others appear evil and destructive) are pressed into service of the Great G Goodness.
A true “Solomon” confidently knows his or her place in this new understanding of the divine scheme of things. A true Solomon is a proactive full citizen of both heaven and hell. A true Solomon is, in fact, encouraged by the Great G God Almighty to conjure the devils and put them to work doing good things!
Are you confused? Don’t be. You’ve just learned a fundamental secret of magick, and if you can free yourself from the old Chrislemew way of looking at things, you are well on the way to becoming a true Solomon yourself. Let me put it in less romantic terms.
The nature of existence is consciousness. We are conscious beings, each of us an integral part of the whole consciousness enchilada. There are levels of consciousness (and realities) above the one in which we normally function, and there are levels of consciousness below. As yogis, mystics, and adept magicians can attest, we can access the higher levels of consciousness in meditation or under other extraordinary circumstances. In those altered states we not only realize the oneness of the supreme consciousness, we become the oneness of the supreme consciousness. Ultimately, this transcendent state is our true and natural state of being, our true self; it is who we really are. It is the “heaven” where we dwell when we have fulfilled our adventures pretending we are somehow disconnected from the supreme consciousness. Our ascent into higher consciousness is Solomon’s prayer to God—Solomon going up to be in the presence of Deity.
However, because most of us have not yet played out our adventures of dreaming we are separate entities, we can abide these exalted states for only fleeting seconds before once again descending to the middle-muddled world of the rational mind, which in turn is supported by the “infernal” world of matter and energy at the lowest end of the consciousness scale. It is a place where the blind forces of nature (if left uncontrolled and undirected) happily discharge their wild energy in explosive flashes that surge through the streets and sewers of our souls along the paths of least resistance. From our narrow, middle-world perspective, these blind forces appear to be destructive and evil. However, when they are harnessed and directed by an intelligence that is in tune with the highest levels of consciousness, they are transformed into organized units of the constructive power—loyal servants dutifully grunting and straining to perform all the heavy lifting in the universe. These are the demons who build the Temple of God—demons Solomon draws up from hell so he might bind them to work under his enlightened and organized direction.
For the magician, archangels, angels, spirits, intelligences, and demons are merely colorful metaphors for the cascading hierarchy of all the natural forces and energies of the universe. This is the secret of Solomon. Once we’ve really pounded it into our heads, we recognize that we, too, have our unique place in the universe. Proactively operating halfway between the above and the below, we are poised to connect with and become charged by forces of the stratum of consciousness above us so that we may connect with, master, and direct the forces in the stratum beneath us.
For the magician, the energy flow of the Solomonic formula moves perpetually upward. The magician’s consciousness rises to connect with the divine consciousness (earth up to heaven) to become attuned with the divine perfection; and the demon is made to rise up (hell up to earth) to become controlled and directed by the magician. From the demon’s point of view, the magician is God, and as long as the magician’s link with the “above” is true and
