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John dee and synchronicity

  
 
thedude
21:24 / 27.02.03
An interesting synchronicity that was chasing me around for a few days, and finally caught up with me last week:
Ok, I was reading House of Dr Dee by Peter Ackroyd (about Elizabethan mage John Dee). Suddenly, John Dee's name starts appearing in everything I read - newspaper articles, books I've had lying around for ages that I pick up again for one reason or another. Then, I go for an interview at a bookshop in Notting Hill, and while I'm killing some time I pick up a biography of Dee and turn to the page where he first moves into his house at Mortlake (in Hammersmith). (I get the job incidentally - yay for me!)
Out of the blue, my best friend announces that she's moving flat from Shepherd's Bush to - that's right - Mortlake. At the weekend I go round to visit. After very few drinks, I suddenly flip out and act like my usual drunken, abusive, general arsehole self, and find myself late at night by the banks of the Thames chasing the ducks into the water.
It might sound pretty inconclusive, but I read the whole thing as a sign that I should get back into magic - something I've been into for years, but that I've let slide drastically in the last two, as various other bad things started happening. John Dee was pushing me out of a crisis, and back into something which I can use to manage crisis.
So, this can either be read as a post on letting magic back into your life, or on adopting your very own Elizabethan Hermetic philosopher/guardian angel!

Enjoy.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
22:10 / 27.02.03
Welcome back to the game.

Interestingly your return also coincides with this book hitting shelves, John Dee's Five Books of Mystery: Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
22:14 / 27.02.03
For Ukers thats here so that Tom gets a boon.
 
 
Dances with Gophers
09:27 / 28.02.03
Another parallel coincidence. I was talking to a friend at London Earth Mysteries on Tuesday he said "An interesting thing just happened, I got here slightly early and was sitting in the half dark. Someone else came in and jumped, they said for a minute there I thought you were John Dee. Funny thing is I was researching John Dee yesterday!"
 
 
Sebastian
10:38 / 28.02.03
John Dee?? You brits are oh so distinguished... I can even hear you talking through the centuries, in your halls, in your streets...

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm caught, of course. Before I make a web search, does anybody already know a good on-line source?
 
 
illmatic
10:52 / 28.02.03
Seb, if you haven't already you might want to check out Kaos Magazine.It's not an intro to Enochian but there's loads of brilliant writing in there about that subject, Dee, Kelly etc.

This is the third time I've posted it as a link, that's how much I like it.
 
 
thedude
17:00 / 28.02.03
New Dee book looks excellent Nietzsch E. I've read a lot about him, and about Enochian language/calls, but I've never actually read anything he's written (or had dictated to him, so to speak). If anyone's interested, the Ackroyd novel was pretty good, although he screws up the ending.
Haven't actually started any ritual work - feel that after such a long break I need the time to prepare my head. Any good programmes for meditation and/or visualisation that anyone recommends?
 
 
thedude
17:03 / 28.02.03
Also, this weekend I might vivit my friend in Mortlake again and see if I can find any traces of Dee's old house. I know it was burnt to the ground by an angry mob when he was in Prague, but it was reportedly opposite Mortlake church, right next to the Thames. Figure I can just find one of the older churches there and make my own judgement. Perhaps I could dowse for traces.
 
 
I The Golden Dawn-nie Darko U
18:53 / 28.02.03
Synchronicity,indeed.I logged on to this sight to actually post about John Dee today.

John Dee-007-Elizabeth's personal astrologer. Though the actual "fonts" were stolen from another source and used as the Enochian language, I believe there is still something to this system and it is shrouded in secrecy - the reason why there are so many repetitions of letters(?).

Question:

1) Does this language/magic system have any connection to the biblical Enoch?

2) Who was Enoch? (in BARBELITH's oppinion)

3) Has anyone had any success with this system?If so,how so?
 
 
thedude
20:14 / 28.02.03
I think the Enochian system must have something to do with the Bibilcal Enoch - after all, something which a lot of people conveniently ignore, John Dee still considered himself a Christian working for the greater glory of God. And as far as I know, the Enochian system is used in pretty much every form of ceremonial magick, so I suppose someone must have had some success, otherwise none of us would be wasting our time here!
I have to admit though, not having a bible to hand, I don't know much about the biblical Enoch.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
22:26 / 28.02.03
Enoch was an old testament prophet who "walked with god" and learned the language of the angels. I believe, that he gets taken bodily into heaven. The connection that Dee makes, if I remember correctly, is a metaphorical one. He also learns the language of the angels so his magick is like Enoch.
 
 
thedude
22:21 / 01.03.03
I see. Taken bodily into heaven like the Assumption? I've heard contradictory reports that Dee's scrying crystal is buried in Mortlake, or that it's in the Tudor gallery of the British Museum. I went there the other day to see if I could find it, but typically the gallery was closed for bloody refurbishment. (A less politcally sensitive way of saying that the government wont stump up the cash to keep the whole place running. Bastards.)
 
 
Dances with Gophers
10:04 / 03.03.03
The crystal ball was there a few months ago when I popped in to find it, it was a lot smaller than I was expecting. The link below is to the John Dee Pages on the British Museum Website. For some reason they don't show the crystal ball.

British Museum Website

If I've posted the link incorrectly then goto www.british-museum.ac.uk and click on compass.
 
 
Stone Mirror
14:40 / 03.03.03
I think the Enochian system must have something to do with the Bibilcal Enoch...

Why would you think that? Enoch has a cryptic two-line mention in the Bible.
 
 
I The Golden Dawn-nie Darko U
22:02 / 03.03.03
Read: The First and Second book of Enoch

Compare: Genesis 4 where it states Enoch was the 3rd born - grandson of Adam and Genesis 5 where it states he was the 7th born of Adam. Enoch is probably THE most important biblical figure. He was/is THE MORNING STAR. His number 365? In the days of 360 days to a year?!? Enoch=Thoth=Hermes=Mercury. Why? The clue is there. 3x7=21 or 777.

Or 26.
 
 
Stone Mirror
22:37 / 03.03.03
Puts me in mind of Wilson's statement on the "Law of 23s": "Any phenomenon can be related to the number 23, given sufficient ingenuity on the part of the relater."
 
 
grant
15:31 / 04.03.03
Enoch actually has more than a cryptic two-line mention in the Bible.

He's got his own book - apocryphal, yes, but actually cited in the New Testament. It's quoted in the Book of Jude, vs 14 & 15.
"Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: 'See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'"

The Catholic Encyclopedia refers to it as "The Book of Henoch" and as an "Ethiopic" book. I think this means that it's still in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, it wasn't included in the canon in the 300s in part probably because Enoch gets bodily assumed into heaven and is transformed into an angel - something that makes Christ less remarkable. (Although that bit is actually mentioned in the Book of Hebrews.) The story of the Book of Enoch is about angels falling *without* Satan's encouragement, which is a little dogma-threatening. And the astrological stuff near the end of the Book of Enoch could also be an invitation for sorcerors and conjurors.


Excluded from the official Catholic Bible (this is before the Eastern Orthodox schism), the texts got cited less and less until:
"So great was the oblivion into which they fell that only scanty fragments of Greek and Latin versions were preserved in the West. The complete text was thought to have perished when it was discovered in two Ethiopic manuscripts in Abyssinia, by the traveler Bruce in 1773."

I'm pretty sure there were extensive fragments of the Book of Enoch either at Qumran or else in the Nag Hammadi library, both of which were uncovered about 40 years after the Catholic Encyclopedia was written.

Anyway, people now have a pretty good idea about what was in it. Here's one version, on the Wesleyan University website.

--------

edited in later:
I just found this Protestant Bible study page that says the Book of Enoch is in the Douay Bible (the Roman Catholic equivalent to the King James - yes, Protestants and Catholics have different Bibles). Let me check that - it doesn't sound right to me.

Yeah, they're full of poop on that one.

There are other "deuterocanonical" books - ones which the Catholics accept and the Protestants don't - but Enoch only seems to be accepted by the Ethiopians.

Yeah, they have the widest canon - look at all these books. Go figure.

--------

My own two bits: I'm fairly sure the "Enochian" is named for Enoch because he was assumed into heaven and made into the angel Metatron, the Voice of God (as played by Alan Rickman in that Kevin Smith movie). He was a human who was raised up and learned the tongue of the angels.

Make sense?
 
 
Stone Mirror
16:03 / 04.03.03
apocryphal, yes...

I.e., not "in the Bible".

But yeah.
 
 
Who's your Tzaddi?
19:03 / 04.03.03
On a semi-related topic: What is the opinion on the theory that Enoch, who measured the entire planet to it's extremities, was the designer/force behind the construction of the Pyramids of Giza?
 
 
thedude
20:33 / 04.03.03
Another thread has started aiming to explore the summary of this one further, ie: in "reading the signs of synchronicity", so I thought I'd do my best to bring this one back on track.
I'm getting interested in city magick at the moment, learning to read the signs the urban space throws up, and yesterday I noticed the following:
I was walking out to do something prosaic like get the week's shopping, when I noticed what looked like a car bumper sticker on the pavement - the word "Standby" was written on it. Walking further on I noticed a poster on the wall of a building - the word "Wait" leapt out at me.
Nothing else happened that day, and I'm still waiting. Waiting for what? Is this significant, does anyone think, or just one of those weird things that happen? Has anyone else got particular city-synchronicity stories they want to share? Is there any inherent significance in them, or do they act just as a means of opening your mind further to magical reality?
 
 
Dances with Gophers
11:36 / 05.03.03
Another coincidence from last week concerning John Dee. The Day after my conversation with a friend about John Dee coincidences, I went to Talking Stick (Weds 26th). The talk was about Enochian Chess a divinatory system/game attributed to John Dee. I don't know much about either subjects but think given recent coincidences I should find out more. Just remembered Time Team (a British Archaological programme) came from Mortlake a few weeks ago, but said nothing about Dee.
 
 
Quantum
11:56 / 05.03.03
I have a copy of 'Enochian Chess of the Golden Dawn' but I am not sure how much is original Dee. (although he is tenacious ) I'm just about to read 'the queens conjuror' so I can give a more Dee-informed opinion on Enochian chess, watch this space... I'll try and scan a pic of the board, it's classic GD and worth a look.
 
 
grant
16:47 / 05.03.03
apocryphal, yes...

I.e., not "in the Bible".

But yeah.

Well, "the Bible" is a tricky determinant. What's in it depends on who you believe - a Catholic Bible is bigger than the Protestant Bible, for instance. The Ethiopians always had the Book of Enoch in their Bible, and it's evident that the gospel writers & early disciples (not to mention Christ Himself) considered it as part of scripture (it's in the Dead Sea Scrolls, for instance). For most of us, though, there's nothing but footprints and traces.

The question pertinent to the discussion here is how much John Dee would have known about it - and what his sources were. I've read that the Ethiopian texts only came to light in Europe in the 1700s. There was probably some knowledge of it kept alive in the European Jewish community, above and beyond the scanty references scattered in Genesis and the New Testament. So how did Dee learn about it? Who were his sources?
 
 
Who's your Tzaddi?
17:32 / 05.03.03
Dr. John Dee was in the service of Queen Elizabeth as her personal astrologer, and as previously mentioned, perhaps England's first spy - bearing the call sign of 007 - ( truth is stranger than fiction ) To the best of my knowledge, the term ESPionage was based on Dee's techniques. Enochian was delivered to him via Edward Kelly's scrying techniques, and apparently, several bouts of mystical anal sex between Dee and "Talbot",the crop-eared magician. Due to his "royal clearance", Dr.Dee has access to several "secret" doccuments, which, one would assume, included the "full" version of what we call the bible. Another fine example of Dee's knowledge was during one of the duo's scrying sessions, Dee was "tramsmitted" the Gnostic text "Thunder, Perfect Mind" (aproximate name)a good 400 years before it's discovery @ Nag Hammadi. Makes you wonder about the origin of the recovered texts and their authenticity. Keep in mind as well, Will Shakespear (or Francis Bacon to some) was responsible for re-writing a majority of the bible for the King James Version. Again, this demonstrates that the monarchy of England had in it's possession the original texts of the "Bible" - and they pulled an Emperor Constantine - ie re-creating the word of God in their image. The most facinating aspect of the Enochian language (which was an existing gothic language reworked for the purpose) was the ability of this system to control the various governments of the world using the various "watchtower calls". How covenient for England! Jihn Dee, Enochian,et all, represents the point that (apologies in advance) England killed magick(which is why the "magical buck" stops at England) and began to utilize possibly the most advanced form of Magick for the purpose of world domination.

****mmmmwahahaha****

PS: Has anybody on the board noticed the Edward Kelly / Rose Kelly connection?
 
 
Who's your Tzaddi?
17:35 / 05.03.03
PPS: On Enochian practice; It is coded and scrambeled and diluted with additional superflous letters. Apart from that, it works. On my days off I enchant Turkey utilizing the Enochian system.

So Far, So God.

3i
 
 
klint
21:04 / 23.04.06
Tzaddi, do you have references for more info re: Shakespeare's re-writing of the King James bible, and Enochian as an existing gothic language?
 
  
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