Enochian Calls

The magic incantations used by John Dee and Edward Kelley in the sixteenth century to invoke "angels " or elementary spirits. The Enochian language, in which the calls were spoken, has a consistent grammar and syntax and curiously impressive sound values.

There are 19 Enochian calls or keys. The first two conjure spirits; the next 16 the elements earth, fire, air, water; the nineteenth any of the "30 Aethyrys." The calls were supposed to have been dictated backward to Kelley, as direct communication from the "angels" would have invoked forces that were too powerful.

In 1912 magician Aleister Crowley, in the company of Victor Neuburg, worked a series of magic operations using the Enochian calls. During the midst of these Crowley discovered the principles of what he would later develop into a system of sex magic. He recorded his work in a lengthy article originally published in his journal Equinox and later published a separate book The Vision and the Voice. The writings of Crowley made Enochian magic widely known to twentieth-century magicians, several of whom have developed it as a variation of modern ceremonial magic. Among those who have discovered and utilized Enochian magic is Anton LaVey, who adapted it to his Satanic system as described in his book The Satanic Bible (1969).

Sources:

Crowley, Aleister. The Vision and the Voice. Dallas, Tex.: Sangreal Foundation, 1972.

LaVey, Anton S. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969.

Regardie, Israel. Enochian Dictionary. Dallas, Tex.: Sangreal Foundation, 1971.

Schueler, Gerald J. An Advanced Guide to Enochian Magic: A Complete Manual for Angelic Magic. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1987.

——. Enochian Magic: A Practical Manual. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1985.

——. Enochian Physics: The Structure of the Magical Universe. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1988.

Turner, Robert. Elizabethan Magic. Londmead, Dorset, England: Element Books, 1989.

Zalewski, Patrick J. Golden Dawn Enochian Magic. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1990.