Enochian

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This article is about the Angelical Language recorded in the journals of Dr. John Dee. For Dee's overall system of Angel Magic, see Enochian Magic. For other examples of divine or angelic languages, see Divine language.

Enochian is a name often applied to an occult or angelic language recorded in the private journals of Dr. John Dee and his seer Edward Kelley in the late 16th century. The men claimed that it was revealed to them by angels, while some contemporary scholars of magick consider it a constructed language.

Applying the term "Enochian" to the language is a modern convention—not found in Dee's journals. Dee referred to the language as "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ" and the "Holy Language". He sometimes referred to its alphabet as "Adamical" because (according to Dee's Angels) it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. Dee also recorded that the Patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language—thus prompting later scholars to refer to the language and Dee's entire magickal system as "Enochian".

Contents

[edit] Dee's Angelical

According to Tobias Churton in his book The Golden Builders,[1] the concept of an Angelic or pre-deluge language was common during Dee's time. The importance of it was connected with the idea that if the language of angels could be known then it would be possible to directly interact with them and with the universe through it.

Dee began to allude to his search for knowledge through the angels in 1581 when he mentioned in his personal journals that God had sent "good angels" to communicate directly with his prophets. In 1582 Dee teamed up with the seer Edward Kelley (although there had been at least a couple of others before him)[2]. With Kelley's help as a scryer Dee set out to establish lasting contact with the angels, which resulted among other things in the reception of the Enochian or Angelical language.

According to Dee's journals [3], Angelical was supposed to have been the language God used to create the world, and which was later used by Adam to speak with God and the angels, and to name all things in existence. Adam then lost the language upon his Fall from Paradise, and constructed a form of proto-Hebrew based upon his vague memory of Angelical. This proto-Hebrew, then, was the universal human language until the time of the Confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel. After this, all the various human languages were developed, including an even more modified Hebrew (which we know as "Biblical Hebrew"). From the time of Adam to the time of Dee and Kelley, Angelical was hidden from humans with the single exception of the patriarch Enoch—who according to the angels recorded the "Book of Loagaeth" (Speech From God) for humanity. The book was then lost again in the Deluge of Noah.

The angelical language as revealed to Dee and Kelley encompasses a very limited text corpus. Additionally only parts of it come with English translations. The reception of what has become known as Enochian started on March 26 1583, when Kelley reported visions in the crystal of the twenty-one lettered alphabet characteristic of the language. A few days later Kelley started receiving what became the first corpus of texts in the purported Angelic language. This resulted in the book Liber Loagaeth (“Book [of] Speech from God”). The book consists of 49 “calls” or prayers in the Angelic language, but also of 95 great letter tables, each of 49 x 49 letter-filled squares.[4] Unfortunately the angels never bothered translating the texts in this book.

The other and most important set of Enochian texts was received through Kelley about a year later, in Krakow. These are more important since they come with English translations, thus providing the basis for the Enochian vocabulary. The texts comprise 48 poetic verses, which in Dee’s manuscripts are called “Claves Angelicae”, or “Angelic Keys”. The Keys are assigned certain functions within the magical system. Dee was apparently intended to use these Keys to "open the 49 Gates of Wisdom/Understanding" represented by the 49 magic squares in Liber Loagaeth:

I am therefore to instruct and inform you, according to your Doctrine delivered, which is contained in 49 Tables. In 49 voices, or callings: which are the Natural Keys to open those, not 49 but 48 (for one is not to be opened) Gates of Understanding, whereby you shall have knowledge to move every Gate… [5]
But you shall understand that these 19 Calls are the Calls, or entrances into the knowledge of the mystical Tables. Every Table containing one whole leaf, whereunto you need no other circumstances. [6]

While these texts contain most of the vocabulary dozens of further words are found hidden throughout Dee's journals, and thousands of undefined words are contained in the Liber Loagaeth. Marked stylistic differences between the words in Loagaeth and in the Keys have led some present-day magicians to assume that these represent two different "dialects" of the language[citation needed].

[edit] Skeptical and linguistic evaluations

Skeptics have pointed to this discrepancy between the two revealed sets of Enochian texts as an indication that Enochian is in fact not a consistent language.[7] For instance it has been noted, especially by the Australian linguist Donald Laycock, that the texts in the Loagaeth material show phonetic features that do not generally appear in natural languages. [8] Rather, the features shown are commonly found in instances of glossolalia. This could be indicative of Kelley actually receiving at least this set of texts through the well-known phenomenon of glossolalia.

Building on Laycock’s linguistic analysis skeptics also point out that there are even problems with holding that the texts of the Enochian keys represent a genuine natural language. It is observed that the syntax of the Enochian calls is almost identical with that of English. [9] Also the very scant evidence of Enochian verb declension seems to be quite reminiscent of English – more so than with Semitic languages as Hebrew or Arabic, which one perhaps would have supposed Adam’s pristine language to be closer related to than English.[10] These and other points arguably make the reception of the Enochian language less mysterious and hard to account for than some practitioners of Enochian magic have typically contended.

John Dee was convinced that there was a hidden message for mankind written in Angelical and as he called upon angels to help him understand it, Angelical, or Adamic as it is often known, appears to say "angel I call". One modern Adamic medium points out that English is close to Angelish and that the Angelish language can attest to a test. Others are beginning to point out that traces of the language have left clues in all other languages. For example, pointing out that in English it is apparent that there is a parent language, the similarities between planet and plan it, and the story of God in a garden that he later put a guard on before he moved father away. Other examples have been listed on the Adamic Talk Page of Wikipedea.

At two points in the Bible, Paul seems to say that he could not repeat what he heard in his head because it was unlawful, suggesting that there is an unexpected sense of humour and quite possibly an inherent banter to be found in Adamic as it split into different languages. Classic examples being Diarrhoea, dire rear and derrière. A less humorous (humour us) example is Unicorn or Unique horn and those fluent in Adamic claim that it reveals constant alternative meanings, including information that appears to explain the so called "meaning of life" and prophecies in the passed, present and future. While those who have fixed religious beliefs may have a strong aversion to an alternative view of the mystery of the universe, those fluent in Adamic say it appears to hold a stronger version which the broadcasters at the BBC's flagship radio station have supposedly received in text messages to the studios since Easter 2007.

[edit] Leo Vinci

In 1976, Leo Vinci published a book entitled Gmicalzoma: An Enochian Dictionary.

[edit] Enochian in popular culture

Anton LaVey included nineteen of the Enochian Keys, both in the original and in English translation, in his The Satanic Bible. He edited them, however, by replacing the angelic names with the names of demons from Christian theology. Occasional other references have appeared in popular media. In this same book, he says that Enochian is considered older than Sanskrit.

[edit] Music

  • The title of the track "Faaip de Oiad" on the Tool album Lateralus is Enochian. Tool intended for it to translate to "the voice of God."
  • The track "All Along The Watchtowers" on the Aarni album 'Tohcoth' (title itself in the Angelic tongue) is sung entirely in Enochian.
  • The newest Demo track "Foraging for Metals" by the musical artist "Their Name Escapes Me" is intended to reclaim the word BRAP from popular youth culture as it as the name often lesser know Enochian angel (Brap or Briap).
  • Finnish black metal band Enochian Crescent have songs with a mixture of English, Finnish, and Enochian.
  • American rock group Open Systems uses the Enochian language in their art on their recording of Open Systems.

[edit] Fiction

  • The language has been associated with the Hymn of One, a fictional cult in the popular lonelygirl15 web series.
  • The Enochian alphabet is used to represent the Golem language in Terry Pratchett's novels Going Postal and Making Money. In Going Postal it is referred to as a mystic language, said to be spoken by angels.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh, the character Dartz wears a pendant with a unicursal hexagram and Enochian writing around the rim, which is the symbol of the Orichalcos Stone. The Orichalcos Seal that came from the Stone also has Enochian writing on its rim. [11]
  • A reference appears in the movie series Prophecy, which features Christopher Walken as Gabriel.
  • In the TV series Supernatural, an Enochian summoning ritual is apparently placed into a movie script causing the set of the film to be haunted by ghosts (Season 2 Episode 18 "Hollywood Babylon")
  • In Kyt Dotson's serial novella Mill Avenue Vexations, Enochian symbols are used in the invocation ritual performed in Volume 1. Enochian language also made several appearances in other volumes of the book.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Churton, Tobias (2002). The Golden Builders. Signal Publishing. ISBN 0-9543309-0-0. 
  2. ^ Deborah Harkness, John Dee's Conversations with Angels, 16-17.
  3. ^ Now in various collections of the British Library. See especially Sloane MSS 3188, 3189 and 3191, and Cotton Appendix XLVI. All the above are available in digital scans at : http://www.themagickalreview.org/enochian/mss/.
  4. ^ This book is now in British Library MS Sloane 3189.
  5. ^ The angel Nalvage, cited in Casaubon ed., A True and Faithful Relation…, p. 77
  6. ^ The angel Illemese, cited in Casaubon ed., A True and Faithful Relation…, p. 199)
  7. ^ See Donald Laycock, "Enochian: Angelic language or mortal folly?", 19-64 in The Complete Enochian Dictionary. Also Egil Asprem, "'Enochian' Language: A proof of the existence of angels?" in Skepsis (13.12.2006), http://www.skepsis.no/marginalia/enochian_language_a_proof_of_t.html.
  8. ^ Laycock, "Enochian: Angelic language or mortal folly?", p.33.
  9. ^ Ibid, 43.
  10. ^ Ibid.
  11. ^ playthedamncard: Why yes, I AM a Geek God

Note: most of these primary sources relate to a version of this entry that was radically rewritten but is still available at http://paganpedia.mind-n-magick.com/wiki/index.php?title=Enochian

[edit] Primary sources

  • Barnstone, Willis, ed. The Other Bible: Ancient Alternative Scriptures. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1984.
  • Dee, John. The Diaries of John Dee. Ed. Edward Fenton. Oxfordshire: Day, 1998.
  • John Dee's Library Catalogue. Ed. Roberts, Julian, Andrew G. Watson. London: Bibliographic Society. 1990.
  • Causabon, Meric. A True & Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits. Introduction by Lon Milo Duquette, New York: Magickal Childe, 1992.
  • John Dee's Actions with Spirits: 22 December 1581 to 23 May 1583. 2 vols. Ed. Whitby, Christopher. New York: Garland Publishing, 1988.
  • Laycock, Donald. The Complete Enochian Dictionary: A Dictionary of the Angelic Language as Revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley. Foreword by Lon Milo Duquette, York Beach, ME: Weiser Books 1999.
  • Leslau, Wolf. Comparative Dictionary of Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic): Ge'ez -English / English- Ge'ez with an index of the Semitic roots. Wiesbadan: Otto Harrassowitz. 1991.
  • Concise Dictionary of Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic). Wiesbadan: Otto Harrassowitz. 1989.
  • Liber Henoch Æthiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus cum variis lectionibus. Ed. Dillmann, A. Ms. 5. Leipzig. 1851.
  • Pantheus, Joannes. "Voarchadumia contra alchimiam, ars distincta ab archimia et sophia, cum additionibus, proportinonibus numeris et figuris opportuni." n.d. [1] Gallica – Bibliothèque nationale de France. 1550.
  • Trithemius, Johannes. "Steganographia Book One." n.d. [2] (14 December 2002).
  • The Seal of Orichalcos ( Yu-Gi-Oh!)

[edit] Books and articles

  • Asprem, Egil. "'Enochian' Language: A proof of the existence of angels?" in Skepsis, published 13.12.2006, http://www.skepsis.no/marginalia/enochian_language_a_proof_of_t.html.
  • Brooks, Lester. Civilizations of Ancient Africa. New York: Four Winds Press, 1972.
  • Harkness, Deborah. John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999.
  • Laycock, Donald. "Enochian: Angelic language or mortal folly?", 19-64 in: The Complete Enochian Dictionary, edited by Laycock and Steven Skinner. York Beach, ME: Weiser Books 1999.
  • Mandeville, John. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Translated by C. W. R. D. Mosley. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1983.
  • Phillipson, David. Ancient Ethiopia. London: British Museum Press, 1998.
  • Schmidt, Nathaniel. "Traces of Early Acquaintance in Europe with the Book of Enoch." Journal of the American Oriental Society 42 (1922): 44-52.

[edit] External links

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