The 30 Aethyrs

Professor X

This is my first post on AT in a while.

I am current reading the book Visions & Voices: Aleister Crowley's Enochian Visions with Astrological & Qabalistic Commentary by James Eschelman.

It is has turned out to be a very interesting read and I have really learned a lot of about Enochian Magic. I am actually considering using the 19th key to explore the 30 Aethrys one day. I realize that this is no light undertaking and is not something that someone should do who is merely curious about these type of things. In fact people who are novices should definitely stay away from Enochian magic. This is something that I feel I may need to explore for my personal spiritual reasons. With that in mind I have some questions that perhaps someone can shed some light on.

I see from reading in the book that they is apparently more than one way to pronounce the Enochian language. I see that the Golden Dawn had their own dialect of Enochian which Crowley used. Which dialect is the correct one to use? Should I study more about the Enochian language before using the system?


What should I use to scry the Aethyrs with? I know that Crowley used a topaz stone to view the visions with. I would assume I could things like mirrors,a bowl of water or even a crystal ball to view the visions in. I guess it would likely depend on what is most useful for myself.

Another question I have is the effect that these Calls had on Crowley himself. It has been said by some that the reason that Crowley had so many problems in the last part of his life was because of his mispronouncation of these keys. Does anyone have any information to either prove or disprove. Right now I am inclined to think that is true which is why I am trying to find out the correct pronounciation of Enochian.

Just reading the book about it all has got my interested in learning more.
 

Aeon418

Should I study more about the Enochian language before using the system?
If it will help you stop worrying about it, then yes.
What should I use to scry the Aethyrs with?
If you've already experimented with skrying use whichever technique you've had most success with. Play to your strengths.
It has been said by some that the reason that Crowley had so many problems in the last part of his life was because of his mispronouncation of these keys.
It could have been that ladder he walked under when he was boy. ;)
 

Professor X

So which pronounciation of Enochian is the correct one?

The Golden Dawn version or the other one?
 

Grigori

So which pronounciation of Enochian is the correct one?

The Golden Dawn version or the other one?

The other one. The GD made it up, it seems the most correct is to just say it like it's spelt :)
 

Aeon418

So which pronounciation of Enochian is the correct one?

The Golden Dawn version or the other one?
The Golden Dawn method of pronunciation is almost certainly not how Dee and Kelley did it. But that didn't prevent Crowley from using it to good effect in Mexico 1900 and Algeria 1909. (See Liber 418)
The scare stories you mentioned are, in my opinion, superstitious nonsense. Hence my seemingly flippant remark about walking under ladders.

The trouble with Enochian is that it is pretty much in the same boat as biblical Hebrew.
No one really knows how it is meant to be pronounced. There are some very good educated opinions out there, but whether any of these are "correct" is anyones guess.

I remember Lon DuQuette mentioning that he uses a kind of mix-n-match system in his own work. For the most part he uses the say-what-you-see method. But for the Keys he still uses the Golden Dawn method simply because he likes it. (I will dig out a quote later.)
And he hasn't been hit by a bus or struck by lightning........ yet. :rolleyes: :laugh:
 

Aeon418

Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Milo Duquette p.101-102

Superstition.
"The Method of Science - The Aim of Religion" was the official motto of The Equinox, the great magical periodical first published by Aleister Crowley and his colleages in the early years of the twentieth century. This same phrase could also comfortably serve as the watchwords that describe what the art of magick is to me.

Conversely, superstition (as the word is commonly understood) has, in my opinion, no place in the arsenal of the modern magician. This, I believe, is especially true concerning the practice of Enochian vision magick. In all my years of magical practice and exploration of this system, I have never encountered a single case of so-called psychic attack, demon possession, headache, hives, or hernia - indeed any ill effects whatsoever - resulting from the practice of this particular kind of magick.

That being said, strange and unexpected things do occasionally happen to those who practice magick. And while I believe it is bad for one's mental health to ascribe undue importance to these phenomena, it is important that they be dispassionately observed and recorded.
 

Aeon418

Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Milo Duquette p.197-198

Pronunciation.

You will probably be very surprised at how little time I spend on this subject. In fact I am tempted to simply paraphrase Rabbi Ben Clifford's heretical comment about the Hebrew language and tell you bluntly, "There is no such thing as correct pronunciation!" On a few occasions, the communicating angels gave Dee and Kelley suggestions as to how certain words were pronounced. But, by and large, we modern magicians are left to our own devices as to how to push these awkwardly constructed words out of our mouths.

Dee notated the words of the calls in columns. The left contained the Enochian word in all uppercase letters - PIRIPSOL, for example. The right column contained the word in upper and lowercase letters, which split the word into syllables and characterized certain letters as if to suggest pronunciation: Pe rip sol. Sometimes the translation of the word appeared in a center column: "of the heavens."

The Golden Dawn and Crowley use a pronunciation method that they felt rolled more fluidly off the tongue. This method obliged the magician to insert a natural Hebrew vowel sound after every Enochian consonant. For example, the word butmon (meaning "mouth) would be pronounced, "but-a-mon-u." This is wonderful for words such as this one, giving it an almost Italian lilt. But things get a little crazy when it comes to the letter z, which the English currently pronounce as "zed" and in Dee and Kelley's day was pronounced "zod."

The angels did on occasion instruct Dee when and when not to use "zod," but it's universal application to a language that uses the letter z very often becomes, in my opinion, laughably cumbersome. Using the Golden Dawn pronunciation method, the simple, one syllable Enochian word zims ("clothing") becomes the unwieldly, four syllable "zod-I-me-zod." You tell me which rolls off the tongue better.

The most obvious alternative to the GD pronunciation is simply sounding out the words as they are written (which appears to be what the angels generally wanted Dee and Kelley to do). For the last fifteen years, this is what I have done, and it is what I recommend to students who are learning Enochian magick. Before that, however, I used the GD/Crowley pronunciation method and was perfectly happy with it. In fact, I still use the Italian sounding method when I recite the first and second calls because I have them memorized and they hold a special place in my heart.

Both methods work just fine. In fact, any sincere effort on the part of the magician to sound out the words as they appear in the call works. Some of the best group scrying sessions I have experienced have followed the most horribly butchered recitations of the calls. It's as though the Enochian angels (like the French) appreciate any attempt on your part to speak their language. I often use the example of a mouse. If a mouse hopped up on your shoe and squeaked, you'd just shoo it away. But if it hoped on your shoe and started to talk to you in your native tongue, you'd be impressed. You wouldn't even care if it spoke with a thick accent!
 

Professor X

I can say this much so far, I have recited some little parts of the keys just as a example and I have indeed experienced some increased energies from it all so there is no doubt these call will work for me.

This is just something I need to gradually work myself into.

I dont suppose either one of you guys has explored the Aethyrs before?
 

Aeon418

I dont suppose either one of you guys has explored the Aethyrs before?
I've worked some of the Aethyrs, but not all of them. Success with the Aethyrs seems to be keyed to an individuals "actual" level of attainment. Crowley himself could only obtain the first two in 1900 and then found himself blocked.

Also consider this from Crowley's vision of the 13th Aethyr:
And I said to him: Concerning the Vision and the Voice, I would know if these things be of the essence of the Aethyr, or of the essence of the seer.

And he answers: It is of the essence of him that is called NEMO, combined with the essence of the Aethyr, for from the 1st Aethyr to the 15th Aethyr, there is no vision and no voice, save for him that is called NEMO. And he that seeketh the vision and the voice therein is led away by dog-faced demons that show no sign of truth, seducing from the Sacred Mysteries, unless his name be NEMO.
I think this same principle holds true for the earlier aethyrs too, but on a lower octave.
 

Professor X

I think I am going to start working with the Enochian Alphabet to see what happens with it.
I have done the same thing with the Hebrew Alphabet and I have made great use of it, perhaps that can be a gateway for me to work with Enochian Magick.