In 1581, occultists John Dee and Edward Kelly claimed to have received a message from the angels in which they presented them with the basics of language with which to communicate "with the other side." This language of the angels contained its own alphabet, grammar and syntax, which they wrote down in their diaries.
The new language was called "Enochian" and, according to John Dee, comes from the biblical patriarch Enoch - the last person to know this language.
Dr. John Dee, 1527-1609, was an occultist, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer who lived most of his life in Mort Lake, west side of London. An educated man who studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, he was accepted into influential circles of the ruling elite and acted as a scientific adviser and confidant of Queen Elizabeth I. His name is associated with the minting of the phrase on the British Empire.
Early in his life, Dee showed little or no interest in the supernatural. Later, he became disillusioned with science and began to experiment with the occult. Dee hoped to discover the lost spiritual knowledge and restore the wisdom he believed was hidden in ancient books.
Among these books was the legendary Book of Enoch at the time, which was conceived as a book describing the magical system used by the Patriarch in the Bible.
The term Enochian comes from the biblical figure of Enoch, who ascended into heaven and was the source of hidden mystical knowledge. According to Genesis 5:24, he “walked with God” and Hebrews 11: 5 says that he “was taken out of this life so that he did not experience death.”
From 1581 to 1585, a series of magical events took place in Dee's life. In 1581, at the age of 54, Dee wrote in his personal diary that God sent “Good Angels” to communicate directly with humanity. By 1582, he was collaborating with fellow occultist and seer Edward Kelly (1555-1597) to communicate with these angels.
Hundreds of conversations with spirits have been recorded, including what they claimed was the language of the angels, called Enochian, consisting of non-English letters. The Enochian alphabet was shown to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly during divination on a mirror surface, when various texts and tables were received from the angels.
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This divination technique is used by seers, psychics and sorcerers to predict the future, and involves gazing intently into a reflective surface to receive a message.
It is documented that Dee and Kelly used certain objects, such as a black obsidian mirror and a crystal ball, to experience these visions. Dee acted as an orator, directing prayers to God and the Archangels 15 minutes to 1 hour.
A fortune-telling stone was then placed on the table and the angels were called to manifest themselves. Dee and Kelly looked at the stone and wrote down everything they saw and heard. They were told by the angels that magic would give superhuman abilities to his practitioners, change the political structure of Europe and notify of the coming Apocalypse.
Dee believed that what he was doing would benefit his offspring and documented information in a number of manuscripts and books. He never described the language used during the sessions as "Enochian", but preferred to call it "Angelic", "Heavenly Speech", "Native Language of God-Christ", and in particular "Adam", because he argued, Adam used this language in the Garden of Eden to name all of God's creatures.
There are two different versions of the Enochian alphabet, with one script slightly different from the other. The first version is found in Dee's Manuscript, the first five Books of Mysteries, and the second, and generally more common version, is found in Liber Loagaeth, with the latter replete with Kelly's original drawings.
The original is written from right to left and may include accents. Some Enochian letters are equivalent to English and are pronounced the same as in English, but many are pronounced differently. The alphabet is used in the practice of Enochian magic on the Angelic or Enochian Keys. They were received through Edward Kelly in 1584 in Krakow, Poland.
In the same year, he wrote down in his diaries a series of nineteen magic spells. The keys contain 48 lines of poetry and correspond to various functions in the Enochian Magic system. They are given in the original Enochian language, and in a modern English translation based on Old English versions by John Dee.
Due to the loss of some of John Dee's original manuscripts, interpretations have arisen regarding the meanings of reality and the authenticity of the language of the angels. Some magicians claim that it is the oldest language in the world, predating all other human languages.
In some circles, this is considered one of the most powerful strains of magic and a way of communicating with sentient beings from other dimensions. Detractors pointed out that the syntax of Enochian strongly resembles English, the natural language of Dee and Kelly.
Such common features, for example, include the word luciftias and the term meaning "brightness", which have a connection with Lucifer, whose name means "light-bearer." Londoh, the Enochian word for “kingdom”, may simply represent Dee's connection to his royal patron, the Queen of England.
Computer analysis has also shown that Enochian has a grammatical relationship to the English language. The texts in Liber Loagaeth exhibit phonetic features not found in natural language. Phonetic features are associated more with glossolalia, or speaking in other languages.
Modern occultists have found it difficult to reconstruct the Enochian system, although some progress has been made in the study of the original manuscripts found in the collection of Sir Hans Sloan. From this research, various groups and authors have created a functional system of magic.
The Enochian language was taken up and popularized by occultists such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, and Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan. Many Satanists have incorporated the Enochian Keys into their rituals, and some have adopted the entire language for use.
The language of angels was also studied by the American astronomer Jack Parson at the OTO. In 1994, Enochian letters were used as symbols to define coordinates in the movie Stargate.
Another aspect of modern Enochian magic is Enochian chess. It is both a game and a prediction tool derived from the original John Dee tablets. It is a complex system that requires a solid foundation in the study of Kabbalah, Geomancy, Tarot, Alchemy, and Astrology.
Many of the original items used by Dee and Kelly can be found in the British Museum in London, England.