Why Cedar B Hartley's Work Still Comes Up in Practical Magic Circles
Cedar B Hartley is primarily known as an author and researcher in the field of ceremonial magic, particularly for bridging Western occult traditions with astrological and kabbalistic frameworks. His most well-known work, The Magic of the Spheres, attempts to map the 72 Goetic demons onto planetary influences, zodiacal signs, and Kabbalistic correspondences. The idea is that instead of treating the Goetia as a random list of entities to command, you can use astrological timing and symbolic matching to work with them more systematically. Here is the straightforward version. Hartley was not a traditional ceremonial magician in the line of Crowley or Eliphas Levi. He was more of a researcher who compiled existing correspondences and organized them into a coherent system. The "slightly true" part comes from the fact that his system works in the sense that it gives practitioners a structured way to approach Goetic operations, but it is not a direct line from any single historical source. It is a synthesis. Some of the correspondences he draws are well-grounded in traditional grimoire literature. Some of them are stretches based on numerical or symbolic reasoning rather than documented precedent. I worked through his system around 2018 on a project involving planetary hours and spirit work. The initial setup takes longer than standard Goetic work because you have to calculate the appropriate planetary hour, determine the zodiacal position of the entity, and align the timing accordingly. That said, once you get comfortable with the process, it usually cuts the preparation phase down to about 20 to 30 minutes compared to the standard 45 minutes to an hour for a basic operation. The real difference is whether you stick to his correspondences or adjust them based on what you find in your own practice.
The counter-intuitive thing most beginners miss is that Hartley's system is not really about following every correspondence exactly. The value is in the framework itself. When I first used it, I found that some of the planetary hours he recommends did not produce noticeable results in my practice, while other hours that seemed irrelevant according to his chart worked just fine. The workaround I ended up using was to treat his correspondences as a starting point rather than a fixed rule set. I would note the recommended hour, perform the operation at that time, and then independently test whether the entity responded differently at alternative planetary hours. After about six months of tracking results, I had a customized schedule that I actually trusted. Another nuance people overlook is the relationship between Hartley's system and the Key of Solomon. His planetary attributions for certain entities do not always align with the Solomonic tradition. For example, he assigns certain entities to Mars while the Key of Solomon places them under different planetary rulers. This matters if you are trying to combine both systems. Mixing them without noticing the discrepancy can lead to timing errors that make your operation feel off. I ran into that exact problem during a working where I followed Hartley's hour recommendation while simultaneously using Solomonic banishing rituals tied to a different planetary attribution. The session felt disjointed and the entity response was weaker than expected. Once I standardized everything to the Solomonic system, the results became much more consistent. The downside of Hartley's approach is that it requires a solid baseline understanding of astrology and Kabbalah before it becomes useful. If you are new to ceremonial magic, starting with his system can feel overwhelming because you are trying to learn multiple correspondences at once. A better entry point for beginners is to work with simple planetary evocation first, using well-documented correspondences from the Lesser Key of Solomon, and then graduate to Hartley's expanded framework once the basics are second nature. Another limitation is that the Goetic entities themselves vary in how they respond to timing-based operations. Some seem fairly indifferent to planetary hour selection. Others are noticeably more responsive when the timing aligns with their traditional rulerships. There is no universal rule here, which is why keeping your own records is essential.
If you want to dig into his work, The Magic of the Spheres is available through major online retailers and some occult suppliers. There are also PDF copies circulating on various esoteric forums, though the quality of those scans varies. Hartley has other publications as well, including writings on alchemy and angel magic, but The Magic of the Spheres remains the one most people reference when discussing his contributions. The practical takeaway is that his system is a useful tool for structuring your work, not a definitive manual. Treat it as one layer in a larger toolkit, keep your own notes, and adjust the correspondences based on what your practice actually shows you over time.
Get the Full Details
