Enochiana in a Nutshell

Enochiana refers to the 16th century records of alleged dialogues between Dr. John Dee, Edward Kelly, and—according to them—celestial beings. Often times, Enochiana is also used to describe ceremonial magical practices that draw inspiration from this body of work.

As for the term itself, "Enochiana" comes from the biblical patriarch Enarch, reputed to have received divine wisdom via the Book of Life while in heaven before (temporarily) returning to earth. Over a thousand years prior, the Catholic church had struck the Book of Enoch from its canon, but the story and rumors about it lived on.¹ Dee and Kelly asked the angels for "the book of Enoch", believing the angels could help find lost objects (specifically: that book). What they received instead was, according to the angels, the Book of Life Enoch had read in heaven along with instructions about how to reproduce the experiences Enoch had while in heaven. What the two mortals transcribed, as far as scholars are concerned, is probably nonsense.

While I don't make any claims being on track to find some hidden meaning in the text, it is my intent to take a stab at what Dee and Kelly transcribed to see if, with ample curiosity and modern technology, some meaning can't be wrestled out of it.

¹ The Book of Enoch was later found to be part of the Ethiopian Biblical canon sometime in the 19th century, well after Dee's life.

The Elizabethan Era

16th century Britain had a lot going on with it—then was an era of significant exploration, scientific advancement, and religious turmoil (more on this in a moment). The reign of Queen Elizabeth I marked the transformation from medieval to early modern England. During this time, belief in supernatural forces was highly prevalent, and scholars studied practices like alchemy and astrology alongside fields that evolved into contemporary forms of science. Dee, a preeminent intellectual of his era, epitomized this synthesis of science and magic.

Kelly was a wholly separate matter.

John Dee and Edward Kelly

Dr. John Dee (1527-1608/1609), eminent mathematician, astrologer, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, assembled one of England's largest libraries and harbored a deep interest in alchemy and the occult. He gave lectures across Europe on mathematics, packing lecture halls and commanding the respect of the academic world across Europe—Dee was considered one of the greatest minds of the age.

In 1582, Dee collaborated with Edward Kelly (1555-1597/1598), a scryer recommended to Dee by a friend, to aid in Dee's spiritual goals. Kelly remains a mysterious and notorious figure: he may have worked as a notary, may have been convicted of forgery, and may have been trying to swindle and/or take advantage of Dee.

There is a lot to unpack with these two.

Either way, from 1582 through 1589, Dee and Kelly intermittently engaged in a series of séances, during which Kelly perceived and conversed with angels while Dee meticulously documented their "spirit communications".

The Magical Systems of Enochiana

Dee and Kelly received a large amount of instruction from the angels, including information about how to go about conjuring them. The core magical parts of Enochiana¹ are as follows (with further details below):

• Magical equipment: basically, Dee and Kelly got instructions on how to construct a lot of magical artifacts (including: Solomon's ring, Sigillum Dei Aemeth, planetary ensigns, etc.) that are used as part of the inspired practices.
• Heptarchia Mystica: literally the mystical sevenfold kingdoms. 7 kings and 7 princes and 35 ministers govern the days of the week and aspects of the cosmos.
• Liber Loagaeth: Liber Loagaeth is the name of the text the angels claimed Enoch had read (or experienced). It is comprised of 49 leaves (a and b sides to each)—like sheets of paper—that are predominantly 49 x 49 squares of letters. It makes about as much sense as it sounds the first (and probably last) time you look at it.
• Gebofal: less of a thing, more of a process in which one uses particular invocations (specifically: the 48 Keys) to access the wisdom of the book. Which key corresponds to which leaf of Liber Loagaeth is entirely unclear. Further, one of the leaves has a "silent call" (which accounts for the missing one if 49 - 48 = 1).
• The 48 Keys: this is the main source of translated Enochian (see below) the world has. They are 19 invocations, with the 19th containing a fill-in-the-blank section with thirty possible options, giving us 18 + 30 = 48.
• The 30 Ayres and Parts of Earth: the 30 fill-in-the-blank options are the ayres (levels of heaven that go continually outward from the globe), for which different parts of the Earth correspond to. Each part of Earth is ruled by a governing angelic force who has a particular "symmetric figure".
• The Great Table: a grid in which the symmetric figures fit. Particular arrangements of letters yields particular angels or "hidden names of God". It went through revisions.

¹ To pretend that this goes into any level of depth that this material deserves is silly; my only hope with this section is to lay out the pieces and their names so if someone wants to reconstruct anything, they'll at least know what the pieces are.

The Enochian Language

In addition to a series of interconnected, complex magical systems, the angels imparted passages in a language they claimed was the one Adam spoke in the Garden of Eden. While not a magical system per se, it is the cornerstone of the Enochian magical systems—and has been my primary area of interest.

Regardless of any spiritual import you wish to impart onto the language, it does have enough inner-consistency and coherence that it qualifies as a language—albeit a constructed one. The morphology is highly irregular and the language itself is closest in many ways to English. I'll explain later.

As far as resources go, there are many—including what you can find on this site. However, my biggest recommendations are Aaron Leitch's Angelical Language Vol. II, the website Towards and Enochian Grammar (although it does have errors, so double-check your findings). For what it's worth, I've also put together a searchable dictionary on the Enochian Gematria site.

Liber Loagaeth

Liber Loagaeth, or the "Book of the Speech of God," is a series of tables filled with seemingly random letters, which comprise the Book of Life Enoch read from in heaven. As mentioned before, this text is the cornerstone of the Enochian systems, the part from which they get their name.

Rather than trying to explain what this text is, I'd direct readers to take no more than five to ten minutes (unless they feel impassioned) to take a look at Joseph Peterson's online transcription of the text.

Heptarchia Mystica

The mystical sevenfold kingdom is a hierarchical structure of angels—a king, a prince, and their ministers—who preside over the days of the week and their hours. Above the all the kings and princes is the King Carmara and Prince Hagenol, which are more like titles than anything.

The Great Table

Also known as the Table of the Watchtowers, the Great Table is a grid inscribed with the names of numerous angels and spirits derived from the Parts of Earth symmetrical figures. The angels and spirits on the Great Table are divided into different quadrants and sub-quadrants, governing different aspects of human life and workings of the cosmos.

The 19* Enochian Keys

These Keys are a series of invocations or calls in the Enochian language, and their purpose(s) are not entirely clear across the literature. Regardless, their beauty lies in their depth and complexity—both the angelic language of the Keys and their translations are fascinating to me. In addition, there are subtle implications about morality and metaphysics, which I have not seen anyone delve into to my satisfaction thus far.

Needless to say, that's some of what I'll be doing.

* Technically, there are 48 Enochian Keys—the 19th Key has a spot where you fill in the blank with one of the thirty aethyrs, so in a way it's more like: 18 + 30 = 48 Keys.

Monas Hieroglyphica

This isn't actually a piece of Enochiana that Dee and Kelly received from angels together; it's actually a math treatise that Dee wrote some years prior. However, it has geometric, qabalistic, and overall metaphysical implications that seep their way into Enochiana. It's a dense text and difficult to digest. However, I'd be remiss not to mention that this exists.

This is an older translation that you might find interesting. As mentioned in the commentary at the top of the page, there is a much better translation available (that I have unfortunately not gotten around to reading yet).

Influence and Legacy

Despite its limited recognition during Dee's lifetime and over two-hundred years following, Enochiana has significantly influenced modern occultism. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn revived and expanded the system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with notable contributions from figures such as Aleister Crowley. Today, Enochiana remains a vital and esteemed tradition within the Western esoteric tradition, studied and practiced by occultists worldwide. There also is some niche interest in academia here and again.

Final thoughts

So yeah, hopefully this gives you a refresher or at least a basic starting point as to what the different parts of Enochiana are. With it, the #lab portion of my site should make more sense.

Post-Script: pardon my use of AI in writing this—the material here can be found in many books and all over the Internet, so nothing novel is written here. In writings concerning matters of innovation and novel discoveries, I'll tend to all the letters myself. Perhaps even, when the feeling hits, I'll go in and do a rewrite of this using entirely my own words.