So, @ceruab13 was asking about books focused on Enochian magic and the Angelical language.
I scrolled a bit, and it turns out that the interest stems from the popular television drama, Supernatural! I actually think it’s kind of neat that Supernatural incorporated the Enochian language into the show. I watched an episode or two back in the day, but have trouble keeping with long shows, so it’s not my fandom.
If people are interested in learning more because of it, though, so be it. I could try to write my own summary of Enochian magic, but other people have done that, and much better than I could, so I’m providing a list of books instead. Some are published and available in ebooks and print; a few are freely available online, either out of copyright or just free to distribute.
This is a short reading list featuring books I’ve read focused on Enochian magic, the history of it, and the concepts involved. It is not a recommended reading list, exactly. It’s just a list of everything I’ve read that might be relevant, with a little bit about each book.
Some are books written by magical practitioners to help others learn the art; others are focused on the history surrounding John Dee and Edward Kelley. I hope you find something worth reading here. Again, these aren’t limited to recommended favorites - it’s just a list of everything that might be, in some way, helpful.
They’re actual diaries, and you should keep them handy in a tab if you’re reading more about this. Also check out A True and Faithful Relation, which is a later account of their workings. That link includes (typed) excerpts, but you can find scanned copies through Cornell’s digital library, too. You can keep these handy while reading any of the following works, and it’ll be helpful. Don’t feel discouraged if the Elizabethan grammar and such seems obtuse, and if secondary sources help provide context, let them!
The Essential Enochian Grimoire, by Aaron Leitch.
This one’s really comprehensive, and covers both purist interpretations of the tradition and Neo-Enochiana. On top of that, there’s a lot of good historical context here, too. A lot of the strictly historical authors ignore the existing occult traditions that influenced Dee and Kelley, or just don’t talk about them enough, whereas here there’s entire sections devoted to them.
I really liked the chapter that attempts to outline the worldview present in Dee’s diaries. I recommend this for the willworker who hasn’t got any experience with Enochian, but not for someone just starting out with magic. If you’re used to working in a spartan fashion, you might find the calls for equipment daunting, but the workings in this book are very adaptable.
John Dee and the Empire of Angels, by Jason Louv.
Not a book of practical magic, but a biography of Dee and Kelley. Louv himself is an occultist, and therefore willing to entertain explanations for the incidents that other history researchers might not. He also keeps grounded and admits that none of this can be strictly proven, and that Kelley, of course, could’ve been a charlatan. I tend to see a critical approach to Dee and Kelley (rather than treating them both as sages) as the mark of a decent book on Enochian magic.
Here, the author speculates a lot on what was actually going on, and doesn’t shy away from mentioning the paranormal aspects that are hard to explain. Louv’s tone and pacing are excellent, and the conversational tone of the book will no doubt maintain your attention to the very end. A lot of it feels like juicy Elizabethan gossip (except with citations!), and will give you a feel for Dee and Kelley’s complicated world.
The Angelical Language, by Aaron Leitch.
Whereas The Essential Enochian Grimoire covered the working of Enochian magic in practice, Leitch’s The Angelical Language gives us a narrative of the system’s reception and development, with special attention to the language itself. There’s plenty of practical bits woven in there, and the blending of history and magical technique enriches the experience of both. Also, while I did like this book, I had a tonic clonic seizure while reading it. I liked how the author included pronunciation notes for the Enochian letters, even though I doubt I vocalized them properly.
Primarily focused on the language itself, the book doesn’t include as much practical advice as The Essential Enochian Grimoire. The practical parts he does give look like they’d be easy to adapt to different scenarios, though. There’s not an overt focus on having a lot of tools. I lost consciousness and seized for a good three or so minutes while reading this book on break at work and woke up in the emergency room. I’ll probably get the second volume and read it soon. Leitch himself suggested not reading the Angelical words out loud next time? 😆
Enochian Vision Magick, by Lon Milo DuQuette
Lon really isn’t my cup of tea, particularly since I’ve ditched Thelema and don’t plan on ever going back. This book is notable, though, because he uses really archaic techniques for his scrying operations, making them quite different in energetic texture than the more common Golden Dawn methods. His methods require a lot of “stuff,” so to speak: ritual tools and accoutrement.
DuQuette’s attitude of treating ritual tools as training wheels to be internalized and eventually rendered unnecessary as skills develop isn’t exactly unsound. It’s certainly one method of doing it, but it’s not very accessible. It’s certainly not how most people (who tend to pick up magic in their early years, and may not have a ton of resources) are doing things. I didn’t. I’m mentioning this one for completeness, mostly. Read it to see what Thelemites are doing Enochian-wise, and how Crowley’s influence survives to this day in Enochian magic.
The Vision and the Voice, by Aleister Crowley
Crowley was an abusive piece of shit. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, you can check out The Vision and the Voice. It’s available here online. It’s Crowley’s journal of his experience scrying the Enochian aethyrs with his student and service top, Victor Neuberg. They had decided that the Algerian desert was the perfect place for a month-long scrying operation facilitated by a sex magic ritual wherein Crowley took the passive role. In the desert. Let that sink in. 😝
Following this experience, Crowley considered himself to have reached a state of enlightenment. The experiences therein and the visions were, in fact, fairly intense. Oddly, I hadn’t read this when I did my (first) Enochian workings, and didn’t pick it up until much later, and then only for completeness sake. I don’t recommend actually listening to Crowley’s advice on hardly anything, but it’s good to read this to understand his influence and history. You probably shouldn’t listen to one iota of his actual “teachings,” but there’s plenty to be learned from the guy. You can learn a lot about aerodynamics from watching a fiery plane crash.
The Queen’s Conjuror, by Benjamin Woollet
This is more of a straight-up history book detailing the remarkable lives and work of John Dee and Edward Kelley. Woollet provides enough background material to give an ample window into Elizabethan life, occult and beyond. This book gives no practical (or other) instructions and, as far as I’ve been able to tell, was written by a non-magical historian. I consider The Queen’s Conjuror a necessary read for that reason.
Sometimes we forget how magic can intersect with things like politics and science. This biography of John Dee reminds us that it’s all always already connected, and that Dee’s primary impetus was a (highly political) “immanentization of the Eschaton”. This book entertains various theories about the situation at Mortlake, fully admits Kelley may have been a charlatan in some capacity, and features other refreshing takes from an academic perspective.
The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz, by Satyr
Magic, much like fire, can be a useful tool. It can also reduce precious things to embers. This is the memoir of a magician who, in the late 1980s, was part of a small and controversial Enochian studies group in California. Read it here.
Satyr, working with his wife and their easily-possessed mentor, begins a series of experimental Enochian workings. Things rapidly spiral out of control amid already tense occult political situations. The context for this (the Caliphate OTO’s squabble over succession, etc) may feel irrelevant to modern practitioners (it is to me, for all intents and purposes). Nevertheless, we can all recognize the egos, personality clashes, ambition and other factors that contributed to the unique situation in Santa Cruz. In terms of magic itself, this memoir documents a period of great innovation, both inside Enochian circles and in other areas.
Heartbreaking in places and illuminating in others, The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz gives the story of one of the most infamous cases of the notorious “Enochian breakdown” phenomenon people talk about, where someone starts doing intense Enochian workings only to have their lives driven into pure chaos. Recommended reading before you attempt any so-called hell-rides (those month-long scrying operations people keep doing), at very least.
I hope something here interests someone!
