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Enochian Aethyrs

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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 Period
1582-1589, the Aethyrs in 1584 1Tradition: John Dee and Edward Kelley: the angelic sessions
Origin Period
1888-1909 2Tradition: Golden Dawn and Crowley: the modern working
Place of Origin
England and central Europe: the sessions ran at Mortlake and, for the Aethyr material of 1584, at Cracow. 1
Origin of the Name
Aethyr, 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 Is
The 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 Is
The 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
Structure
Thirty 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 Set
Thirty Aethyrs, from TEX nearest the earth to LIL the highest 1
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.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Entries in This Category

ARN, Enochian Aethyrs
ASP, Enochian Aethyrs
BAG, Enochian Aethyrs
DEO, Enochian Aethyrs
DES, Enochian Aethyrs
ICH, Enochian Aethyrs
KHR, Enochian Aethyrs
LEA, Enochian Aethyrs
LIL, Enochian Aethyrs
LIN, Enochian Aethyrs
LIT, Enochian Aethyrs
LOE, Enochian Aethyrs
MAZ, Enochian Aethyrs
NIA, Enochian Aethyrs
OXO, Enochian Aethyrs
PAZ, Enochian Aethyrs
POP, Enochian Aethyrs
RII, Enochian Aethyrs
TAN, Enochian Aethyrs
TEX, Enochian Aethyrs
TOR, Enochian Aethyrs
UTA, Enochian Aethyrs
UTI, Enochian Aethyrs
ZAA, Enochian Aethyrs
ZAX, Enochian Aethyrs
ZEN, Enochian Aethyrs
ZID, Enochian Aethyrs
ZIM, Enochian Aethyrs
ZIP, Enochian Aethyrs
ZOM, 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
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