An Introduction to Enochian Shamanism

Enochian Shamanism - An Introduction

     "Enochian shamanism" sounds like an impossible combination. Magicians with a solid education in ceremonial magic and well versed in Aleister Crowley´s and other initiated magicians writings may have serious problems with this new concept. They will state that it is thoughtless, impossible even, to practice Dee´s highly sophisticated system under clear skies with a drum in the hand (and perhaps even without a robe). O.K. I am overdoing a little bit, as you can guess I am not exactly a friend of old-fashioned ceremonial magic (experience, no prejudice). Dee´s enochian system can be practiced in the fields and forests with minimum requirements. I will explain how enochian shamanism works step by step from the beginning. Assuming the reader is familiar with shamanism I still have to introduce the enochian system to most of you. In germany literature is rather scarce and as far as I know it is the same problem with english literature.

     In the year 1581 the english mathematician and scientist Dr. John Dee began with spiritistic experiments, to learn more about the inner structures of the universe. He tried to establish contact with some angels. Because Dee himself possessed no mediumistic abilities he worked in collaboration with professional mediums. With Edward Kelley he achieved the best and convincing results. They received a magical system and 19 enochian keys written in a language they called "Angels Tongue". They worked with this system but had only occasional successes. Later on they separated. Dee feared repressions and he hid the manuscripts within a chest. Elias Ashmole found this chest and edited Dees manuscripts. Then the traces are lost again until the Rising of the Order of the Golden Dawn, which was the next promoter of enochian magic. In this magical order the skeleton of Dee´s system was improved and developed further. Aleister Crowley was the first known human which scryed all the 30 Aethyrs and compiled his experiences in his work "The Vision and the Voice".

     One part of the enochian system is dealing with manipulating, conjuring and invocation of the elements fire, earth, water, air and spirit. Each element is being represented by a tablet of letters, on which the enochian powers are being structurally organized. There are four tablets and the Black Cross of Unity, which represents as the Tablet of Unity the element spirit. The tablets of the elements are also known as "watchtowers": The eastern watchtower of air, the western watchtower of water, the northern watchtower of earth and the southern watchtower of fire. The first 18 calls are dealing with the various powers of these watchtowers. The other part of enochian magic emphasizes the illumination process and is an initiation system to the 30 Aethyrs. The last key and the names of the Aethyrs and their gouvernours are the known material.

      An interesting part of enochian magic is the protoenochian. Dee and Kelly received during their scryings two gigantic tablets of 49 x 49 squares each. Each column is a complete text of a spell in protoenochian. There exists no translations and no informations on these spells, their powers and effects. Revealing their powers is a fascinating but dangerous task.

      The elaborated and often dogmatic nature of the publications about enochian magic can be discouraging to the reader. The thelemitic tendencies of most books on enochian magics is another reason, I think. In german speaking countries exists only one reasonable book, Frank D. Schultens "Praktisches Arbeitsbuch der henochischen Magie" which contains many eclatant errors but also some valuable hints and ideas for the enochian shamanism. Within the internet the resources are quite good and displaying various individual approaches to enochian magic. An excellent starting location is the Coffee House at Mortlake on the Thames.

     The enochian system itself was being received by spiritistic methods. Dee got informations from angels in a spirit language. This language doesn´t have any known historical roots and seems to be of purely spiritual origins. Spirit languages are rather common in shamanism and the enochian language could have some counterparts in traditional spirit languages throughout the whole world. The two magicians received a system which had nothing in common with the christian beliefs in that time period. The spirits used terms like "watchtower", "kings", "angels" because Dee and Kelley wouldn´t have understood other more appropriate terminologies.

Some ideas how to divinate with the elemental forces

     To divinate with the element water situate yourself in front of a body of water and vibrate the name MPH ARSL GAIOL (He who is the first true creator; the horned one) and concentrate on your question. The spirits will respond in some ways.

     The similar procedure with fire. Use OIP TEAA PDOKE (He whose name is unchanged from what it was). The answer is in the flames.

     Use ORO IBAH AOZPI (He who cries aloud in the place of desolation) for air divination. The clouds, breezes and birds are bringing the answer.

     For Earth divination ask the mountains, the forest or volcanoes. You can create a set of materials representing the enochian symbols. When throwing the symbols (as in a runic oracle) you vibrate MOR DIAL HKTGA (He who burns up iniquity without equal).

Other ideas for enochian shamanism

     During a 24 hours shamanic rite (a choedd rite) I experienced the various states of Bardo, outlined in the tibetan book of the dead. I discovered fundamental similarities between the Aethyrs and the Bardos. These similarities are striking if you know both systems. After vibrating the appropriate keys and names gates can be opened to the desired elemental plane or Aethyr. The nature of the Aethyrs is more dreamlike than the usual lower or upper shamanic world or the elemental planes. Imagine a large tree of life, on its branches the Aethyrs can be reached and its roots are in the lower shamanic world. The elemental planes are everywhere in this picture, filters so to say, which must be overlaid to build up the known multiverse.

     Sometimes during the conjuration of enochian spirits I am ignoring the habit of using pentagrammatas and vibrate only the names and their translation. The various elemental beings can be imagined very easily as terrifying primordial elemental powers. Any other magic and shamanic technic can be used with enochian spirits. Healings, doll magic, enchantments and invocation. Making a sweat lodge, for example, use a being from the fire tablet, subcorner water or one of the tablet of water, subcorner fire. For conjuring the fire during a fire walk I conjure the great name and the elemental king of fire.

     As you can see, practicing enochian shamanism requires to know the 19 keys inside out. Vibrating enochian is much more effective if it is done freely without a script in the hand. The anchoring of the keys in your auric field effectively enhances the powers of the keys. Shamans are keepers of the mythology and the legends of their culture and often know many legends they had to memorize during their time of apprenticeship. Knowing 19 keys is really not too much for serious enochian shamans. This may take some time but it is worth the effort. Reading a enochian key does lower its efficiency and the spontaneity of shamanism and magic.

     During shamanizing in the forest I am using natural elemental weapons. Sulphur is best for representing fire (or a meteorite, or the classical wooden staff). Air is best represented by a feather, Earth by bones, stones or bark, Water by a bowl of water or a drinking horn. Preparing a place in nature for enochian magic can be done easy. I am using a square instead of a circle, made of branches on the ground. The elemental weapons can be positioned in the corners and the black cross is symbolized by thin twigs in the square.

     Each elemental watchtower consists of 156 squares. Each square is a gate to an elemental plane, specified by its position on the tablet and the letter it contains. Empirical researches in the beginning of the 20th. century resulted in a system to describe the elementals being encountered in these planes. These beings are most of the time mixed creatures, thus the egyptomaniacs of that time named the blueprints of these beings "sphinxes". If you are not used to this system you can encounter these beings, nonetheless. It is better not to know too much theories. The gestalt of these beings can be seen regardless of your knowledge. No text of the golden dawn time can list the variations of appearance that can occur. As long as the characteristics of the elemental planes can be traced back somehow, it is unimportant how these beings look like.

      To receive shamanic rituals I am using following technic: The circle is being sent to a special entity in order to get informations about a healing session, for example. Each participant tells his experiences and answers to the circle. The material is being collected and organized by the shaman which leads the circle. The ritual is created with the gathered informations. Such rites are much more effective than any other rites, learned from books.

     The power animal is a vital aspect of shamanism, not to be ignored in enochian shamanism. It is absolutely important to know about the nature of it before practicing enochian shamanism. The elements can be represented by rhythms, singing and dancing, too. Water is a simple heartbeat-rhythm, sung in normal voice and flowing movements. Earth is a slow and heavy rhythm, slow and heavy movements, sung in Kargyraa voice (Choomej from Tuva!). Air is a fast rhythm or a rattle, flying movements and sung in Sygyt voice (Choomej from Tuva!). Fire is furious, loud and dry. Wild and uncontrolled screams represent it.

A possible way of practicing Elemental Shamanism with Enochian Spirits

     For many days it was really hot and dry. The countryside is thirsty after a rainshower. The shaman is vibrating MPHARSLGAIOL to establish a channel to the elemental water. After that he shapeshifts into the elemental water that can be found on the ground: Water of a sea, ground water or steam. Slowly he let himself be evaporated by the rays of the sun and be drifted up in the sky. In the sky he is condensing himself into clouds and then to clouds, capable of producing a good shower.

     It is necessary to shapeshift as best as possible. The melting should be done without haste and pressure. If you are unhappy or distracted by other thoughts no magic can be done. You can shapeshift or melt with any kind of water in the nature, of course. As a rule of thumb for meltings you should know that it is important to change the intention of the melted phenomenon, if you want to change it. Intention implies life in natural phenomenons.

     If you have problems with melting or shapeshifting remember the animal dance. It is easy, belief me. Creation of a short rite for melting or shapeshifting is a good idea.

     The procedure is similar with the other elements. You vibrate OIPTEAAPDOKE for tuning to the fire element before melting with it. Fire is a sensible element and reacts very good on the thoughts af the shaman. You can perceive this at an open fire in the nature. Melting with fire is intense and ecstatic (beware of jumping in the flames during melting, this urge can be very strong). If it is difficult to start a fire or a fire is breaking out somewhere, you can perhaps influence the things with a successfull melting. The effect depends on how experienced you are with melting.

     Weather alterations can be achieved by manipulating the element air, too. Wind is blowing away or brings clouds. Tornados, cyclones or thunderstorms are extreme emanations of the air element (rain is more akin to water, of course). Vibrate OROIBAHAOZPI to establish a channel to the air element and melt as described above. To understand thunderstorms or cyclones, imagine a little child playing with grenades or torturing an insect. Pricks of conscience or sense of responsibility in human terms are unknown to elemental forces. Thunderstorms love it to thunder around and smashing hail to the ground (that´s what they are here for). There is no sense in trying to convince them to stop it. It is much better to offer alternative places, where it is much better to thunder. Simple banishing simply is the least successful way of dealing with them.

     The last element is the earth element. You can melt with the countryside, with mountains, forests, rivers, caves, glaciers. If you are melting with a region (in a fantasy story this is called "Earthright") you can loose or increase tensions. In regions of war the natural disasters are increasing, too.

     Of course the corners of each tablet are useful for meltings, too. Note that some corners are akin to each other. Water of Air and Air of Water, for example. The natural form of the first is the rain cloud and the natural form of the second is the foam of the sea or the strongest cloud-burst you can imagine. To open a good channel to the corners vibrate the great name, then the elemental king and then the invoking or banishing elemental name of the calvary cross of the corner. The planetary names are only included for special tasks. For example the corner Earth of Fire: OIPTEAAPDOKE - EDLPRNAA - invoking: VOLXDO, banishing: SIODA.

     Some examples of natural phenomenon in connection to some subcorners:

Air of Air: Storms, wind. Not the clouds of a strom but the winds and breezes.
Water of Air: Raining, clouds, fog, steam.
Fire of Air: Lightnings, Electricity, smoke of a fire.
Earth of Air: Hailing, meteoric shower.

     This list can be continued for all the other tablets. Most of the time it is enough to use the great names and the elemental kings. If I want to use more enochian energy I am including the corners, of course. It is enhancing the effects if you vibrate the enochian keys, too. A simple rite for weather alteration:

     Go to a place, where you are next to the elements and remote enough not to be disturbed by civilization. You are going to call a thunderstorm. The weather conditions should be good. Draw the signs of OROIBAHAOZPI in the air. Use a feather for this. Vibrate the name until you feel the air elemental power. Then repeat the same procedure with BATAIVAH. To increase the influxus and to channel the energies more effective you can vibrate the third and the seventh enochian key to embody LILAKZA. Call LILAKZA in all four directions. Melt with the weather condition and feel the current intention. Alter this intention slowly to the point when it wants to create a thunderstorm. Feel the clouds growing and see the thunderbirds gating into the clouds from the spiritworld. You have to know about the natural processes you want to manipulate. If it feels right, draw back your consciousness and return to your normal conditions by grounding. Thank the elements with a sacrifice of water. Blow a mouthful in each direction and end the rite, perhaps with a dance to honor the spirits. The less you are distracted by unnecessary procedures the better will be the outcoming effects. The "neither-neither" state of mind should be achieved and held up during the melting.

Some notes to the ethical aspects of elemental manipulations

    You should be able to ignore such virtual constructs like ethics and morality during elemental manipulations, they are blocking the "neither-neither" consciousness very effectively. You know that is not easy. But elemental forces are neutral in any aspects. They cannot be measured by common human standards, because they don´t have any such standards. During melting with a thunderstorm you will soon realize that it is senseless to discuss with it. If you are fighting with your pricks of conscience it is better not to practice elemental shamanism.