Enochian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
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.

The angelical language as revealed to Dee and Kelley encompasses a limited text corpus. Additionally, only parts of it come with English translations. Nonetheless, some linguists, notably Donald Laycock, have studied Enochian, arguing against any extraordinary features in the language.

Dee's journals did not describe the language as "Enochian," instead preferring descriptors like "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ," the "Holy Language," or "Adamical" because, according to Dee's Angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. The term "Enochian" comes from Dee's assertion that the Biblical Patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language.

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. If one could speak with angels, it was believed one could directly interact with them.

In 1581, Dee mentioned in his personal journals that God had sent "good angels" to communicate directly with prophets. In 1582, Dee teamed up with the seer Edward Kelley, although Dee had used several other seers previously.[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. After his Fall from Paradise, Adam lost the language 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 reception of 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, or squares made of 49 by 49 letters.[4] Dee and Kelly said the angels never bothered translating the texts in this book.

The other 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 intending 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 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, suggesting that Kelley actually received at least this set via "speaking in tongues."

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 conjugation seems quite reminiscent of English, more so than with Semitic languages as Hebrew or Arabic, which Dee claimed were debased versions of the original Angelic language.[10] These and other points arguably make the reception of the Enochian language less mysterious than some practitioners of Enochian magic have typically contended.

Finally, Enochian language is a hybrid language, because it uses various words taken from ordinary languages.[11]

[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, in the original and in English translation, in his The Satanic Bible. In this same book, he says that Enochian is considered older than Sanskrit.

Occasional other references to Enochian have appeared in popular media.

[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.
  • Finnish black metal band Enochian Crescent have songs with a mixture of English, Finnish, and Enochian.
  • Finnish black metal band Impaled Nazarene's first album is called "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz", Enochian for "You Shall Be Numbered Six Six Six".
  • Some lyrics websites incorrectly put "the Enochians" in the lyrics to the song "Machine in the Ghost" on The Faint's album Fasciinatiion. In actuality, the lyric is "theologians".
  • The Russian expiremental electronica duo Dvar record all the lyrics (as well as song titles) of their songs in Enochian.
  • Minneapolis hardcore band Disembodied have a song titled Enochian Prayer on the compilation album titled The Difference Between Us put out by Goodfellow Records.

[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.[12]
  • Simon R. Green's Nightside series mentions Enochian as a language that was created so that humans could speak to angels.
  • 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.
  • Enochian is the primary method of communication and magic by Nephilim, in the french Role-Playing Game of the same name.
  • A passing reference to this language was mentioned in Angel Sanctuary, and is stated that the divine nature of the language would allow a blind angel to read it without trouble.
  • In the British T.V. show Hex, (Season 2, Episode 2) Ella, the 445 year old daughter of John Dee, draws a protective hexagram on the floor that includes Enochian Letters.
  • In the Angel Stone by Livi Michael Enochian is the language used by the ominous Warden or Dr. Dee.

[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. ^ Laycock, p. 43.
  10. ^ Ibid.
  11. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20071227112822/http://members.aol.com/AJRoberti/enorg.html Aaron Leitch, "On the Origins of the Enochian Language"
  12. ^ 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).

[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 .[dead link]
  • 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


v • d • e
Constructed languages (conlangs)
Types and concepts
Most notable conlangs
Blissymbol · Bon Wen · Enochian · Esperanto · Glosa · Ido · Interlingua · Ithkuil · Kēlen · Klingon · Láadan · Lingua Franca Nova · Lingua Ignota · Loglan · Lojban · Mänti  · Nadsat · Newspeak · Novial · Occidental · Quenya · Sindarin · Solresol · Teonaht · Toki Pona · Volapük
Resources
Portal · WikiProject
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian"
Personal tools