Enochian Magick

 

The Enochian System is a magickal system revealed in 1581-89 to Dr Johannes (John) Dee, court Mathematician, magician and alleged spy for Queen Elizabeth I. The Enochian System differs from all other magickal systems in the fact that there is a large volume of work which has yet to be processed and interpreted. Dee himself was quoted as being more interested in dedicating the given knowledge to paper than actually using it. Another reason for this could be the mysterious life of Dr Dee, which lends many intellectuals to believe that the works are merely codifications or keys to codification for spied information. So the work is more important to historians than Magickians and this information could be gathered through easier means.

The Enochian System is named after the (extra-) Biblical character, Enoch. It was expressly named after the Dead Sea Scroll "The Book of Enoch". The connection is made between the revelation of angelic knowledge to Enoch by the Archangel Uriel and Annael, and the angelic knowledge given to Dee from many different spiritual entities, or angels.

The Enochian system has it's own language, complete with script, vocabulary, and even grammar, called, originally enough, Enochian. The language was revealed to Dee through visions from the angels, and seemingly evolved through the course of the revelations. This could quite simply be put down to the sloppiness or inadequate knowledge of the characters of Dee's scryer Edward Kelley. In fact, the spirits and Dee are quoted as being upset with Dee and Kelley's lack of knowledge of the language.

The whole system, including the language, was revealed through the use of a form of clairvoyance. Dee, however, had little psychic ability, and needed to employ scryers to act as a medium for this information. Dee originally employed a few scryers, the first of which was Barnabus Saul, who was the first to tell Dee of angelic conversations. Dee seemed to be dissatisfied with them all, until Edward Kelley arrived at his house in Mortlake. Kelley himself seemed to be a fairly mysterious man, with few records of his life before and after his encounter with Dee existing. There could be a suggestion put forward that Kelley himself did not exist, and he was "created" by Dee to aid in his mysterious use of spy codes. Other questions raised are that Kelley himself created the system, and then fed it to Dee in order to keep his job. This seems improbable given the complexity of the system, but not impossible. Either way, it seems ridiculous to state that all of the information was actually a complex ruse or spy plan!

A large part of Dee and Kelley's seances involved angelic beings (spirits) giving the information to Kelley to create such things as seals and tables. The seals were an early gift to Dee to aid in his later seances. The tables are where the true depth of the system is displayed. They were, as in the case of the "A specimen of the Tables or Book of Enoch", tables of 2401 characters consisting of both numbers and letters. These were arranged in the form of a 7x7 division of 7x7 characters. Truly a great number of characters to remember if Kelley was forming a hoax! These tables often held smaller patterns within them. One could gather that this would be Dee's influence, being such a great Mathematician of his time!

From these tables, Dee generated much of the Enochian system, and it's language. A very big part of this is the Enochian Keys or Calls. These call forth the spirits etc, and have been used by the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley, among many other people.

Much work is still left to be done in the deciphering of the Enochian System, and I hope that these pages will provide a jump point for further study. Most of the insights provided into such things as the tables are my own, and I greatly hope that anyone with further insights will continue what I place here, and further the Enochian study.

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