Everything about Enochian Language totally explained
» 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".
Dee's Angelical
According to Tobias Churton in his book
The Golden Builders, 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). 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, 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. 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'm 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 isn't to be opened) Gates of Understanding, whereby you'll have knowledge to move every Gate…
» But you'll 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.
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 .
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. For instance it has been noted, especially by the Australian linguist
Donald Laycock, that the texts in the Loagaeth material show phonetic features that don't generally appear in natural languages. 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. 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. 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's 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's
apparent that there's
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.
At two points in the Bible, Paul seems to say that he couldn't repeat what he heard in his head because it was unlawful, suggesting that there's 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.
Leo Vinci
In 1976, Leo Vinci published a book entitled
Gmicalzoma: An Enochian Dictionary.
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.
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 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.
The lyrics to "The Devil Rides Out" by The Monochrome Set on the Eligible Bachelors album are from the Enochian Keys in The Satanic Bible.
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's 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.
Simon R. Green's Nightside series mentions Enochian in reference to angels. Enochian is never used in the books.
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.Further Information
Get more info on 'Enochian Language'.
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