Re: Prague

[Daniel Harms <dmharms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:25 PM 2/17/2000 +0100, you wrote:
>Daniel M Harms wrote:

>>      Was this perhaps a reference to the Enochian workings of John
>> Dee, in which the keys were given backwards and then written 
>> forwards?  Or was it something else?

>Well, this was one of the things we learned, which struck my 
>imagination. Any hints about what may have been meant by it
>would be very much appreciated. For example, it was not clear
>whether the text was readable in both directions or only 
>backwards. The implication was in any case that it was done
>spontaneously, but of course the suspicion may exist that 
>Kelly prepared it all in advance (whatever _it_ was).

>If one of {Dee, Kelly} fabricated the VMs, my bet would be that 
>it was Kelly rather than Dee. Since we have seen that the MS
>text has some fascinating features, which make it look like
>real meaningful text in a real meaningful language, it would take
>a person with unusual capabilities to generate it as a fake, 
>hence my interest.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this - this is hardly
my specialty.

Over a number of years, Dee performed a number of experiments in 
mirror-gazing with a medium.  He made use of a few people to do this,
and undoubtedly the most successful (or at least, the most prolific) was
Edward Kelley.

The most significant portion of their work was centered around a set of
"calls" or "keys" - powerful incantations - supposedly in a language called
Enochian.  The entire process by which they were received can be found
in Meric Casaubon's _True and Faithful Relation of What Passed Between
John Dee and Some Spirits..._.  Apparently, Kelley would gaze into the
crystal and hear a coordinate from the spirits.  In front of Dee and Kelley
were a series of grids, each one filled with letters.  Kelley would call out
a grid, column, and row, and Dee would write down that letter.  When
they were finished, they had a number of phrases - written backwards,
to keep the transcriber safe - in an unknown tongue that nonetheless 
seemed to have a grammar and syntax of its own.

There are three explanations advanced for this:  

1)  Kelley was receiving channelings from angels.  

2)  Dee and Kelley fabricated the material together, as a cover for 
espionage or something else, and it was never transmitted in the
way described.  

3)  Kelley created a false language of sorts, turned each word around,
memorized each of those grids, and provided his creation to Dee.
Dee was taken in, and recorded it as angelic conversation.

Most scholars won't touch #1, for obvious reasons, and #2 may be 
incompatible with our knowledge of Dee.  That usually leaves #3.

Corrections?

Yrs.,


Daniel Harms     dmharms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Internet:  Learn what you know.  Share what you don't.