The Enochian Records of Dee and Kelley

In brief

The diaries of the Elizabethan scholar John Dee recording his sessions with the scryer Edward Kelley, in which angels were said to dictate a new language, an alphabet of 21 letters, the 48 (in practice 19) Calls or Keys, great tables of letters (later called the Watchtowers) and a seal, the Sigillum Dei Aemeth. Part was published by Meric Casaubon in 1659 to discredit Dee; the rest survives in the British Library.

Key ideas

• ✦The angelic (Enochian) language and alphabet
• ✦The Calls (Keys) as invocations
• ✦The Great Table and the Watchtowers
• ✦Scrying as a method of revelation

Why it matters

Dee's records are among the most extraordinary documents of Renaissance thought. The Golden Dawn built its most advanced magic on them, and they remain central to Western esotericism.