The Golden Dawn

by Israel Regardie

  Although no philologist, and without the least scientific knowledge of comparative languages, yet I have found the study of this angelical or Enochian language an absorbing interest. Going through the invocations with the intention of compiling a dictionary of the extant words has convinced me personally that we have here fragmentary pieces of a very ancient tongue—a language which is far older even than the Sanskrit. It must have been a living tongue at one time, though many thousands of years ago, and it may therefore be claimed for Enochian that the fragments we do have are in the oldest language of which we have any knowledge. In short, though as pure speculation, it is believed that the language in which these invocations are written are remnants of the tongue of the age-old Atlanteans. True, there are no means for the time being of proving this speculation, or of bringing forward the least convincing item of corroboration other than that it is an instinctive or intuitive conviction. In the quotation rendered above, Frater Sub Spe does give one example of an Enochian word appearing in antiquity, and this to some may prove suggestive. If only we knew it, there probably are hordes of words similar to the case quoted, and these may come to light when expert attention is given to the subject.

  Since writing the above, another instance of an Enochian word has come to my attention. Reading Charles Johnson’s translation of, and Theosophical commentary upon, the great Upanishads of India, I find reference to a certain character of legend, Uma Haimavati. The Kena Upanishad speaks of her as the daughter of the Snowy Mountain, and she is, interprets Mr. Johnson, a symbol of the hidden Wisdom personified as the child of the Himalaya who reveals the Eternal. And Charles Johnson then proceeds, “Curiously, while the inner significance of the name of this woman greatly radiant is lost in Sanskrit, it must have been clear in the older tongue which lies behind Sanskrit, for it remains in the group of younger Aryan tongues called Slavonic. Here, the root Um is the common word for intelligence.”

  The italics marked in Johnson’s commentary are mine. This point must strongly be indicated, for the significance of that word Um is retained, not alone in the Slavonic as shown by Mr. Johnson, but also in the Enochian or angelical language. For example, in the Second Enochian Key, used to invoke the angels of the Spirit Tablet, and in the Sixteenth Key we find the word Om translated by “understand.” (Let me remark here too, that the translation of the words in the Enochian invocations came from the same occult or angelic source as the invocations themselves, and were not made by either Dee or Kelly.) Again, in the Fifteenth Key, we find the English version of the Call “O thou ... who knowest” as equivalent to Ils...ds omax. While in the Call of the Thirty Aethers, Oma is rendered as “understanding.”

  Thus there is every indication to believe that if there was a language “which lies behind Sanskrit” as supposed by Mr. Charles Johnson and of course by many others, which according to the philosophy of the ancient wisdom is that of Atlantis, then the Enochian or angelical language bears several strong points of resemblance to it.

  Yet, the puzzle is this. Prior to the previously described ceremonial skrying of Dr. Dee and Sir Edward Kelly towards the close of the sixteenth century there is absolutely no trace of any part of the Enochian magical system or angelical language in Europe. There are innumerable ancient and mediaeval records of so-called “barbarous names of evocation,” many of them being assembled apparently in sentences and runes, etc. But none of these latter have the coherence which the Enochian language does have, nor do they betray traces of grammar and syntax which are clearly indicated in the angelical keys. In some incomprehensible manner, this pair of psychics must have stumbled on a thread which unfolded, perhaps from their own subconscious memory of former lives, parts of this strange tongue of a bygone age. Stumbled, I use advisedly, for a close perusal of their diaries both published and unpublished reveals nothing to indicate that Dee or Kelly had anything but the remotest idea of what it was that they were recording so carefully. The way they have recorded the invocations, as shown in Sloane ms. 3191 in the British Museum, indicates they had never studied its intricacies or grammar, and thus many words became jumbled and joined together. Only a little study of the Calls is necessary to reveal their mistakes, and to restore what is clearly the original arrangement of words. For instance, the word L or El meaning “the first” or “one” is invariably joined on to the succeeding word in the Dee version; there is no necessity for this.

  It is clear that the angelical language was not in the possession of a possessive case, and thus we find several instances of the English translation, where the possessive case is used, not tallying exactly with the Enochian. We find Lonshi Tox translated by “his power” when strictly it ought to be, if the words are literally to be translated “the power of him,” and Elzap Tilb is rendered “her course” instead of “the course of her.” I mention this simply to show that the language is a real one, and not a mere jumble of unmeaning words to which an arbitrary translation was given. With the publication of the invocations here, I hope that serious experienced philologists will devote some attention to this matter so that we can thrash out once and for all, on the objective plane, the true nature of the language and the vertical source of its origins.

  It is said in the 5° = 6 ritual that some of the early fratres of the order compiled a dictionary of this language. At any rate, such is not in existence now, though the writer, using the Angelical Calls, has compiled a dictionary of the extant Enochian words. Unfortunately, it is not possible to include this dictionary with the present account of Order teaching.

  Incidentally, for practical purposes, the language is pronounced by taking each letter separately, whenever a lack of vowels renders it necessary. But, with a little practice, the pronunciation will come instinctively when the student wants it. “Z” is always pronounced “Zod” with a long “o.”

  My last word is an insistence upon the necessity for a thorough grasp of the preliminary part. It should be read again and again, so that the student actually absorbs the material, rather than learns it by a feat of memory or conscious intellection. It may take some months this way, but once he has made it a part of his mode of thinking, so that it has been assimilated into the very structure of his brain, the real significance and meaning of the system will begin to dawn on him.

  —Israel Regardie 1

  [contents]

  1. Note by JMG: See color insert page 16–19, for the Four Enochian Tablets.

  THE BOOK OF THE CONCOURSE OF THE FORCES

  Part One: The Enochian Tablets

  The Enochian tablets are four in number, each referred to one of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. In addition to these four there is another smaller tablet, which is called the Tablet of Union, referred to the element of ether or spirit. Its function, as its name implies, is to unite and bind together the four elemental tablets. For purposes of study, the four elemental tablets or watchtowers are arranged as are the elements in the pentagram, although the order is rather different:

  1.

  Air Tablet

  2.

  Water Tablet

  3.

  Earth Tablet

  4.

  Fire Tablet

  To each tablet are referred innumerable attributions, which will be dealt with in the course of this paper, the principal elementary ones being those of colour. Certain squares on each tablet were painted in the colour of the element, according to the King Scale, whilst others were left wholly or partly white. Thus in each tablet there are four principal types of square. There are those of:

  1. The Great Cross of thirty-six squares, lettered in black on white, stretching through the entire tablet.

  2. The Sephirotic Calvary Crosses, lettered also in black on white, in the four corners on the tablets.

  3. The Kerubic squares, which are always in the elemental colour of the tablet, and are the four squares immediately above each Sephirotic cross.

  4. The servient squares, always in the colour of the tablet, and consisting of the sixteen
squares of each lesser angle beneath each Sephirotic cross.

  The Kerubic and servient squares on each tablet are coloured in the elemental colour, with the letters drawn thereon in the complementary colour, thus:

  Air tablet painted in yellow. Lettering on air quarter mauve.

  Water tablet painted in blue. Lettering on water quarter orange.

  Earth tablet painted in black. Lettering on earth quarter green.

  Fire tablet painted in red. Lettering on fire quarter green.

  The lettering on the other three angles follows the element. Thus, to consider the fire tablet as an example, the colouring of each angle of the tablet will be:

  1.

  Lesser angle

  of Air

  yellow letters

  on red

  2.

  Lesser angle

  of Water

  blue letters

  on red

  3.

  Lesser angle

  of Earth

  black letters

  on red

  4.

  Lesser angle

  of Fire

  green letters

  on red

  The Tablet of Union, which is attributed to spirit, the fifth point of the pentagram, is a small tablet of twenty squares, five letters wide, four deep. Its letters are painted on a white ground:

  EXARP, attributed to air, is painted in yellow letters. 1st line.

  HCOMA, attributed to water, is painted in blue letters. 2nd line.

  NANTA, attributed to earth, is painted in black letters. 3rd line.

  BITOM, attributed to fire, is painted in red letters. 4th line.

  Each of these twenty squares is attributed in part to spirit, and its letters are used in combination with those on the elemental tablets in the formation of certain names.

  The most important item on each angelic tablet is the Great Cross whose shaft descends from top to bottom and whose bar crosses the tablet in the centre. This cross comprises thirty-six squares, and has a double vertical line which is called Linea Dei Patris Filiique, the Line of God the Father and the Son, and Linea Spiritus Sancti, the Line of the Holy Spirit, crossing this horizontally, and containing one rank of letters. The Linea Spiritus Sancti is always the seventh line or rank of letters from the top, while the two vertical columns of the Linea Dei Patris Filiique are always the sixth and seventh columns counting from either right or left.

  From this Great Cross, various angelic and divine names are produced, which are of supreme importance. First of all there are the “three great secret holy names of God” which are found in the Linea Spiritus Sancti. This line comprises twelve letters, which are divided into names of three, four, and five letters reading from left to right. Thus in the air tablet, you will find ORO IBAH AOZPI; in the water tablet, MPH ARSL GAIOL; in the earth tablet, MOR DIAL HCTGA; and in the fire tablet, OIP TEAA PDOCE.

  These three secret holy names of God are the major names of the tablets. These names are conceived to be borne as ensigns upon the banners of the great king of each quarter. The name of the great king is always a name of eight letters and comprises a spiral or whirl in the centre of the Great Cross. Thus in the air tablet, the great king is BATAIVAH. It is produced:

  Creation of BATAIVAH

  And so for the other three angelic tablets. The king is a very powerful force, and since it initiates the whirl it is to be invoked with due care.

  The next series of important names obtained from the Great Cross are the six seniors. Their names begin from the sixth and seventh squares of the Linea Spiritus Sancti, including these squares, and read outwards along the three lines of the cross to the edge of the tablet. Each is a name of seven letters. In the case of the air tablet, the six seniors are:

  HABIORO

  AAOXAIF

  HTMORDA

  AHAOZPI

  AVTOTAR

  HIPOTGA

  Creation of Six Seniors

  (Note the overlapping of names in the central squares.) The eight-lettered name of the king and the six names of seven letters each of the seniors are invoked by means of the hexagram. They are attributed to the sun and planets and are on a different and higher plane than are the elemental names. The attribution to the points of the hexagram is:

  The king is attributed to the sun, and the six solar hexagrams invoke him. The senior formed on the left hand of the Linea Spiritus Sancti is attributed to Mars; that on the right hand to Venus. The name of the senior formed by the letters in the upper half of the Linea Dei Patris (which is the left descending column of the cross, as the right column is the Linea Dei Filiique) is attributed to Jupiter, and the lower half to Mercury. The senior formed by the letters on the upper half of the Linea Dei Filiique is referred to Luna, whilst the name formed by the letters in the lower half is referred to Saturn.

  These rules apply to each of the four tablets and are constant and invariable throughout. These three sets of names—the holy names of God, the name of the king, and the names of the six seniors—are all taken from the great central cross. Their names are always painted in black letters on a white ground.

  We must now refer to the lesser angles of each tablet. The order given to the arrangement of the four tablets also applies to the structure of each individual tablet, for each is shown together with its appropriate sub-elements. The Great Cross is the mechanism which divides the tablet and separates (and binds together) the four sub-elements or lesser angles, as they are called, from the other.

  In the centre of each lesser angle will be seen a cross of ten squares. This is called the Sephirotic Calvary Cross. From the letters arranged on this cross are taken two divine names which call forth and control the angels and spirits of the lesser angle, and their names are used in a preliminary invocation when working magically with a square of a lesser angle. From the vertical line of the Sephirotic Cross, reading from above downwards, comes a deity name of six letters. Thus, in the air lesser angle of the air tablet, we find, in the white descending line of the cross, the name IDOIGO. It is with this name that the angels and spirits of the lesser angle are to be called. From the crossbar, reading from left to right, comes the deity name of five letters, ARDZA, which is used to command those angels called by the first name. Thus in every Sephirotic Cross in every lesser angle, we obtain two divine names. One on the descending shaft, always of six letters, and one on the crossbar, reading from left to right, of five letters. These names must be read in these prescribed directions, for if they are reversed, they call forth evil forces. Like the names from the Great Cross, these names on the Sephirotic Cross are painted in black letters on white. But unlike the former, these latter are employed with the pentagram.

  We now come to the coloured squares grouped above and below the Sephirotic Cross in each of the lesser angles. The most important of these are the four above the crossbar of the Sephirotic Cross—called the Kerubic squares. From these four squares are derived four names of four letters each. Thus, for the top rank of the airy angle of the air tablet, we have:

  R Z (I) L A

  Note that the white square in the centre belongs to the Sephirotic Cross and is not included in the names derived from the Kerubic squares. From these four letters we obtain four names, thus: RZLA, ZLAR, LARZ, ARZL.

  These four names, the names of the four Kerubic angels of the lesser angle, rule the servient squares below the Sephirotic Cross, and of the four, the first is the most powerful as the others are derived therefrom. By prefixing to these four names a letter from the appropriate line of the Tablet of Union, we obtain even more powerful names, archangelic in character. Thus for the Kerubic rank of the air lesser angle of the air tablet, which we are using as our example, the letter E of the word EXARP on the tablet of Union is prefixed. This produces ERZLA, EZLAR, ELARZ, EARZL.

  The rule is that the first letter of the appropriate line of the Tablet of Union is prefixed only to the names formed from the Kerubic squares. In the airy angle of the water tablet, the principal Ker
ubic name is TAAD. The name formed by the addition of the appropriate letter from the Tablet of Union is HTAAD: and so on. As an example of this method applied to the remaining servient squares of the air angle of the air tablet, we find:

  X is added to the sixteen servient squares of the angle of air.

  A is added to the sixteen servient squares of the angle of water.

  R is added to the sixteen servient squares of the angle of earth.

  P is added to the sixteen servient squares of the angle of fire.

  Hence EXARP will be used entirely on the air tablet, and is never used on the other three tablets. The first letter applies to the Kerubic squares of each of the four lesser angles, whilst the remaining four letters apply to the sixteen servient squares of those angles as shown above. The other names of the Tablet of Union are attributed similarly to water, earth, and fire. As an example, I give below names formed from the lesser angle of fire in the water tablet:

  Lesser Angle of Fire of Water Tablet

  The ritual for the consecration of the four elemental weapons gives excellent examples of the spirit or archangelic names formed from the Kerubic squares by the addition of letters from the Tablet of Union.