Enochian (language)

(Revision as of 02:11, 20 Jan 2005)

Categories: Magick | Types of Magick | Enochian

Enochian is an occult language introduced by John Dee and Edward Kelley in the 16th Century. Dee and Kelley claimed that it was revealed to them by angels.

The language appears slightly inflected and has a word order close enough to English that it can usually be translated without changing the order. Inflections, under close scrutiny, appear to be random.

Enochian has its own alphabet which can also be transliterated into the Latin alphabet. Several words have rather intimidating consonant clusters; they are pronounced by inserting a vowel, e.g. "nazpsad" is pronounced "nazepesad". Other words consist entirely of vowels. Several systems of pronunciation exist.

Most of the vocabulary consists of names of angels derived from four acrostic tablets. Besides that, there are fewer than 1000 attested words, which appear in 19 symbolic poems, called "keys". Dee's use of the keys is not entirely clear, although one key, the 19th, appears to lead to visions of 30 "aethers" or dimensions.

Enochian, and the magical system that Dee and Kelley based on it, were incorporated by Aleister Crowley as part of his popular and influential system. It is also popular in Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, from which Crowley learned it, and in the Aurum Solis.

Perhaps the most important student of Enochian at the turn of the 21st Century was the late Benjamin Rowe (http://www.hermetic.com/browe-archive), a.k.a. "Josh Norton," a self-taught ceremonial magician who authored many papers on the use of Dee and Kelley's magical system.

See also

• Enochian Magick

Links of Interest

• Enochian Linguistics (http://members.aol.com/AJRoberti/enochlng.htm)
• Digital Scans of the Enochian Manuscripts (http://www.themagickalreview.org/enochian/enochian_mss.php)

References

• Wikipedia. (2005). Enochian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian). Retrieved Jan 19 2005.