The Enochians A subgroup of Order of Hermes by Anders Sandberg
The Enochians are a small group inside the Order of Hermes. Not many mages outside of the Order know of them, and even among the members of the Order they are not very well known. Those mages who know of them regard them with a mix of irritation, worry and respect. They are a small, isolationistic fraction which tend to avoid contact with outsiders, spending their time and energy in study or on their secret projects. While they lack any real influence on the rest of the Order, the enochians have played a important role in the development of the Hermetic theories of magick. Many theories advanced by enochian mages have become mainstream in the Order the last few centuries. But the enochian mages have a very different view from their more conservative brethren. Many hermetic mages are studying magick in order to find the foundations of the Universe. The enochians claim they have found them. The rest of Order of Hermes remain sceptical of their claims, and argue that the enochians certainly have found some very important truths and made several influential discoveries, but hardly The Truth. The enochians seldom reply to the criticism, and continue their work.
History and Philosophy The study of enochian magick began in April 20th 1587, when Dr John Dee, the famous Elizabethan mage, and his medium Edward Kelly encountered a being in the Umbra. This Being, which called itself the archangel Raphael, gave the mages a tablet of letters today known as "The Great Tablet", or "The Tablet of the Four Watchtowers". According to Raphael, it contained the secret names of the angels. The mages began to experiment with it, and found that they could summon a hierarchy of spirits, which today is known as the "Enochian Hierarchy". From communications with these spirits and Raphael they began to formulate a theory of the Universe and magick, which became the enochian theory of
magick. Soon they had gathered followers in the Order of Hermes, and became a small but dedicated group which still continue to work today. The enochian theory of magick is complex and hierarchic. Every being, every pattern and every process have a superior. This superior have another superior, and so on. To control something the mage must contact a spirit or force which rule over the thing the mage want to happen. To create fire the mage must summon one of the angels of fire. To extinguish the fire the mage must summon another angel who controls the extinguishing of fire. A more powerful mage may of course summon a superior of both fire- angels, but this may be a bit risky since the superior angel may become irritated with the mage asking such trivial services. Enochian magick use the enochian language. This language is the true language of spirits according to the enochians. It is a complex language with almost no vowels and an alphabet without earthly counterpart. Most mages in Order of Hermes acknowledge that enochian is a very powerful language, and some groups use it besides the enochians. The enochians tend to be very careful to use it correctly, pronouncing everything exactly right. According to at least some enochians the language is so powerful that a incorrectly pronounced letter in a ritual can bring the mage certain doom. Enochian magick is based upon the secret names of angels, spirits and demons found in the Great Tablet. This tablet, a 27x25 rectangle of letters without any meaning to a nonenochian, contains the secrets of the universe. The letters represent the true hierarchy of forces in the universe. It is the blueprint of the universe, containing the true name of every angel, spirit, demon and god. Every pattern exists in this tablet, every human fate, and even the fate of the universe. The question is in which directions the mage reads it horizontal, vertical, diagonal or in zigzag. In short the universe works as follows: In the top of the hierarchy there is The Highest, the Unknowable, the True Force. This pure state of existence have allowed a tiny spark of itself to fall down to create the universe. The force divided into the four elements. Each element is ruled by one secret name. Each element is also ruled by three god-names. These 12 names correspond to the signs in the zodiac. Each element is also ruled by the planetary lords of each element, besides the names of God. The elements mix with each other, and create 16 sub-elements, like Air-Water or Fire-Fire. Each of these subelements is ruled by two names of god, one to call upon the angels of the sub-element, the other to control them. Each sub- element has one archangel and four servant angels. Finally, there are the cacodaemons, the simplest entities who actually do the dirty work of creating the universe. There are 1024 greater cacodaemons and a lot more smaller demons. The universe is divided into 33 aethyrs, each separated from the others by almost impassable walls, or ring-pass-nots as they are called in the jargon. The physical world is the lowest of the aethyrs, surrounded by higher and higher spheres. The Gauntlet and the Horizon is the two lowest ring-pass-nots. Many enochians believe the ring-pass-nots must be broken down to ensure the future ascension of humanity.
Everything that happens is part of the Great Plan. Nothing is random, everything is planned from the beginning by the Highest. The mage must understand this Plan, and do his or her duty as a servant of the Plan. This plan for the universe is revealed in the forty eight keys, 19 short invocations in the enochian language (The final key, "The Call of the Thirty Aethyrs" is counted as 30 keys for at total of 48 keys). Most enochians spend much time studying the keys, meditating on their meaning and listening to what the spirits have to say about them. To use his magick an enochian often calls upon some of the angels, spirits or demons using the holy names of their superiors. Its highly ritualistic, and tend to take a long time. Their magick is almost completely ritual, and requires complete mastery of pronunciation and the secret names and titles of the spirits. In fact, they almost never use magick outside their temples. Instead they might send spirits or forces outside to perform tasks. Their magick is rigid and somewhat clumsy, but its power cannot be denied. The hierarchy of spirits they work with can be extremely powerful, and tend to take an interest in the life of the magician if he displays enough power and knowledge. It is unwise to harm a enochian with powerful spirit friends. Many enochians have spirit mentors which teach the mage in the true meaning of the Plan. On the other hand, the mage is quite dependent on the spiritual hierarchy. If he loses contact with it or irritate the spirits, he may suffer horribly. All in all, enochians tend to do as the spirits say and the spirits do what the mage says. Both are anyway small cogs in the mighty Plan of The Highest. The enochians are solitary, and seldom involve themselves in the affairs of other traditions . They have some contact with groups in the Celestial Chorus, but that is just about all. Most of the time they tend to avoid contact with anyone, preferring to speak with the spirits. Old enochians are often disturbing and asocial even to mages, having spent more time communicating with spirits than with people. They tend to talk in a very formal way, as they are performing a magickal ritual, and they often think in terms a bit alien for most humans. One area enochian mages tend to be active in is the search for nodes and quintessence. They will use almost any means to gain control over nodes in order to turn them into temples for the enochian hierarchy. This is often the only time they clash with the other traditions. They also sometimes try to explain their vision to others, sometimes with surprising patience.
Philosophy We have seen a part of the Great Plan, and know our duty. We must obey the Plan and make the world ready for the next step in evolution, regardless of personal pain or danger. We must strive to understand the Plan every moment, both in our hearts and our minds. Soon the time of testing will come, the time when the barriers which imprison humanity will fall and the elements will be set free. It will be a time of chaos, destruction and
sacrifice, but we will lead humanity out of darkness into the blinding light of the higher spheres.
Organisation None. Each enochian is working alone on his little part in the Great Plan. But they do keep in touch using the spirits, and often get their orders from ÓaboveÓ. In practice each enochian tend to know his place in the cosmic hierarchy, and become very irritated when someone or something overstep his bounds.
Meetings None.
Initiation Enochians seldom train apprentices. Most members are mages from the Order of Hermes or Celestial Chorus who have seen the enochian vision and joined. Some are orphans, who have contacted (or been contacted by) the enochian spirits themselves. They have never had any human mentor, and tend to be very strange.
Chantry None. Many enochians search for nodes to build temples on. These are guarded by the most powerful spirits and forces the mage (and his assisting entities) can summon.
Acolytes None. Enochian mages tend to be solitary. In the old times they often used a medium to speak with the spirits the mage summoned, but today the mage usually speaks with the spirits himself.
Sphere Forces, Spirit or Prime (Almost all the other spheres are regarded as unimportant. The mage chooses one sphere as his speciality)
Concept Hermit, Weird Old Man, Ceremonial Magician.
Foci
Enochian: All spheres. This is a complex, powerful and secret language with its own alphabet. According to the enochians each letter contains enough power to shatter the world if pronounced the wrong way. All magick involving the spirits or the elements in any way must use one of the 48 keys, which must be memorised. Tablet of Union: Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Prime. This is a 4x5 square containing the four holy names of the elements. It is often written on a parchment or a metal tablet worn as a amulet. The Great Tablet: Not really necessary for any sphere, but unless the mage has perfect memory he should have one. This is the tablet representing the structure of the universe. It is a 27x25 square, containing all the holy names when read in the right directions. Showstone: Spirit, Time. Often a black mirror (or a crystal among the more conservative enochians). Enochians prefer to contact spirits through the mirror rather than summoning them directly, since the spirits are supposed to dislike appearing in material form. Temple: Spirit. Enochians use not only a circle, but need a whole room correctly consecrated, with the right incenses, the altar of exactly the right dimensions and the symbols on the walls drawn at the astrologically right moment. Often the elemental subtablets are hung on the walls, and the Great Tablet is placed at the altar. Before entering the temple the mage must purify himself, and inside enochians wear ceremonial robes.
Quote "This I was told by the third archangel of Air in Fire: we must consecrate temples around the world to prepare for the day when the time is ready. That day the lines of force between them will burn through the barriers. That day the foundations will crumble. That day mankind will find its destiny."
Stereotypes Celestial Chorus Our brothers and sisters have seen the Light, and a small part of the Plan. Unfortunately they have not yet realised that we must break free from our bonds to reach The Highest, not the other way around. Hopefully they will realise this, and join us in our work. Hollow Ones A sign that the Day is not far ahead. Order of Hermes They do not want to realise that most of their theories are illusions or half-truths. Too bad. All other traditions
Enochian mages tend to agree with the views of Order of Hermes on these traditions. Of course, most enochians prefer to avoid any contact as much as possible, so they seldom have any views at all.
Example Rotes Opening the four watchtowers (Spirit 3 Forces 2) The mage summon the powers of the four elements to protect him and his temple. As long as the mage stay inside the temple he is protected by the enochian hierarchy. Anything that happens inside the temple is known by the spirits, who may choose to intervene. They mostly use coincidental magick, but may in extreme cases choose to manifest
Closing the veil of the temple (Mind 2 Prime 2) This rote is a often used way to protect the temple. The mage cloaks the temple in a veil of uninterest, and seal this by routing some of the temples quintessence into the veil. A person who don't know about the temple will simply not notice it, or remain uninterested. It will not protect from those who know of the temple, but even those will have some difficulty to find a way in.
Contact spirit (Spirit 2) The mage summon the spirit by reading the first enochian key and another key relating to the spirits position in the hierarchy. If successful, the mage may communicate with the spirit through the showstone. This rote is very often used, but the mage must be powerful enough to impress the spirit. Most enochians start out with cacodaemons and the servant angels, and go on with the greater angels. All the following rotes use this method to perform magick.
Manifest cacodaemon (Spirit 2 Matter 2 Prime 2) Allows a cacodaemon to physically manifest. The mage reads one of the 48 keys, and draws the three letters of the demons name in the air while chanting the two secret names who rule over that daemon. Cacodaemons are generally not very intelligent, and somewhat lazy. They do not like to have anybody ordering them around, and would happily escape or hurt the mage if the threat of their superiors keep them in check. The daemons size and physical shape is up to itself, and often quite weird.
Summon one of the sixty-four good angels most skilled and effective in medicine and the cure of sickness. (Spirit 2 Life 3 or 4)
The mage summons a healing angel in order to heal himself or another. If the angel choose to help depends upon the situation, the power of the summoner and if it was the correct angel for that type of wound or sickness. Each angel has its own speciality.
Summon one of the sixteen good angels potent in changing of place (Spirit 2 Correspondence 3) The mage summons an angel who will transport him or somebody else to a desired place. Each angel is specialised in one kind of transport. For example, Tdim will perform transports over seas and water while Anaa can transport the mage to hot and sunny places (Hawaii or a desert).
Summon one of the sixteen good angels skilled and potent in understanding the secrets of all men (Spirit 2 Mind 3) The mage summons an angel in order to gain information about somebody. The angel (if it was correctly summoned and the right angel for the job) will search out the individual, subtly read his mind and body and return with the requested information. They are also good at finding information about other things. Many enochians spend a lot of time conversing with these angels.
Summon the mighty archangel Pziza of Fire of Fire and his four cherubic servitors (Spirit 2 Forces 3) The mage summons one of the archangels of pure fire. The archangel prefer not to manifest physically, but may perform services using its static magick. The mage should not summon Pziza lightly, since fire-angels tend to be impulsive and a bit aggressive. The archangel is very good at controlling the forces of fire, heat and destruction, if somewhat overeager to do so.
Summon the mighty archangel Erzla of Air of Air and his four cherubic servitors (Spirit 2 Mind 4) The mage summons one of the archangels of pure air. The archangel tend to manifest mentally, speaking directly into the mages mind. Air-angels are quick, highly intelligent and curious, but have a short span of attention unless the mage have something interesting to say. Erzla is very good at explaining abstract theories and magick.
Summon the mighty Lord Uolxdo of Earth of Fire, He whose name is Annihilation (Spirit 2 Forces 4 Entropy 3) The mage summons one of the Lords of Fire. If the Lord chooses to help the mage it can destroy almost anything or anyone, using its own considerable power or its servitors. This often happen using static magick. Typical effects is terrorist bombings, small earthquakes,
traffic accidents, chemical explosions or riots. The targets demise is almost a certainty, since the Lord is known for his tenacity.
Summon the Senior Lord of Saturn in Fire, Arinnap, He who Protects with a Sword. (Spirit 2 Forces 5 Prime 2 Entropy 2) The mage summons one of the most powerful spirits in the hierarchy to protect him. Arinnap will, if the mage has a good reason, protect him from any harm. Anybody who tries to harm the mage in any way, even unintentional, will be slain by the Lord. This Lord is not to trifle with, and can be as dangerous for the mages friends as for his enemies.
Other Sources of Information FTP to Lysator Enochian Archive FTP nic.funet.fi Enochian archive.
