Origin 1582-1589, the Aethyrs in 1584
The thirty Aethyrs, or Aires, are the concentric heavens of the Enochian system received by John Dee and Edward Kelley in a series of scrying sessions between 1582 and 1589. Each is named by a short call and governed by a set of angelic governors. Aleister Crowley's The Vision and the Voice, recording his scrying of all thirty, is the source of most modern interpretation.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period1582-1589, the Aethyrs in 1584 1Tradition: John Dee and Edward Kelley: the angelic sessions Origin Period1888-1909 2Tradition: Golden Dawn and Crowley: the modern working Place of OriginEngland and central Europe: the sessions ran at Mortlake and, for the Aethyr material of 1584, at Cracow. 1 Origin of the NameAethyr, also written Aire, is Dee and Kelley's own word for the thirty heavens. Enochian is not: Dee calls the language Angelical or Adamical in his diaries, and the label Enochian, after the patriarch Enoch, is later usage. 1 Whose Classification This IsThe form in which the Aethyrs are worked today is not Dee's. It is the Golden Dawn's reworking and Aleister Crowley's, who scried all thirty in 1900 and 1909 and published the record as The Vision and the Voice. 2Tradition: Golden Dawn and Crowley (the modern working) Whose Classification This IsThe thirty Aethyrs come from the records of John Dee and Edward Kelley's angelic sessions, the Aethyr material being received in 1584 while the two were at Cracow. 1Tradition: John Dee and Edward Kelley (the reception) Structure
StructureThirty Aethyrs in a graded ascent, from TEX nearest the earth to LIL the highest, each entered by its own call and each governed by three angelic governors - four in the case of TEX. 1 Overview
Size of the Traditional SetThirty Aethyrs, from TEX nearest the earth to LIL the highest 1 Comparison
Cultural OriginEnglish Renaissance (Enochian) 3 Era of Origin Learn More
The thirty Aethyrs
The thirty Aethyrs, or Aires, are the concentric heavens of the Enochian system received by John Dee and Edward Kelley in a series of scrying sessions between 1582 and 1589. They are arranged as thirty successive realms, from TEX, the lowest and nearest the earth, up to LIL, the highest, each named by a short call and governed by a set of angelic governors distributed among them.
The Aethyrs are entered, in the practice, by reciting a call in the Enochian language and scrying the vision that follows, and they form a graded ladder of spiritual realms through which the magician ascends.
Dee, Kelley and Crowley
The Aethyrs come from the records of Dee and Kelley's angelic communications, but it was Aleister Crowley who, in 1900 and 1909, famously "worked" the thirty Aethyrs, recording his visions in The Vision and the Voice and making them central to the modern practice of Enochian magic. The atlas distinguishes the original Elizabethan material from Crowley's later elaboration.
The atlas gives each Aethyr its call, its governors, and its place in the ascent. The ninety-one governors distributed among the Aethyrs are treated in their own category, within Ceremonial & Esoteric Magic.
Browse By
Enochian Aethyrs
Sources
1. John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature
Deborah E. Harkness, Cambridge University Press, 1999on the reception of the Aethyrs and the parts of the earthView the Source 2. Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism
Henrik Bogdan and Martin P. Starr (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012on Crowley's Enochian workings
3. Wikipedia: Enochian
WikipediaWikipedia lead section, Aethyrs culture
Enochian is an occult constructed language, said by its originators to have been received from angels, recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England.
Wikipedia lead section, Aethyrs era
recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England
View the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.