The Key of Solomon is a famous Grimoire from the Renaissance period, attributed to the Ancient Israeli King Solomon. Most agree this is a pen name, and the actual author(s) remain unknown. Whatever it's sources, it remains a solid work of 14th and 15th century Renaissance magic, full of popular magical techniques and mystical gnoses of the time. Magic in the Renaissance was a melting pot of religious ritual, mystical spiritualism, science, math, angelology, demonology, research and exploration. There were lay practitioners, but a significant number of Grimoire magicians of the time were members of the clergy, due to the customs of the time. (Low birth control, lots of kids, sending one kid per family to be a priest. There were more priests than were needed to serve the religious needs of the public. All those extra young men had plenty of spare time to get into other pursuits, and a popular option was magic.) Many distinguish this heritage of magic from herbalistic/folk witchcraft by calling it High Magic, or Ceremonial Magic. The Key of Solomon, like many ancient books before printing, exists in many languages and versions, and so there are many different sets of the Pentacles or Seals (I use these terms interchangably) contained in this book. I use the set of 44 Pentacles from the 1914 English translation by S L Mathers.