Whose Name Was Writ in Water
Dee believed by communicating with angelic or other higher spiritual entities as Enoch and the biblical prophets did, it would be possible to gain knowledge not previously available to humanity: I have often read in Thy books and records, how Enoch enjoyed Thy favor and conversation; with Moses Thou was familiar; and also to Abraham, Isaack and Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, Eddras, Daniel, Tobias, and sundry others the good angels were sent by Thy disposition, to instruct them, informe them, helpe them, yea in worldly and domestick affaires, yea and sometimes to satisfie their desires, doubts, and questions of Thy Secrete; and furthermore concerning the shewstone, which the High Priest did use, by Thine own ordering… that this wisdome could not be come by at man’s hand or by humaine power, but only from Thee, O God.
Dee began his magical experiments early in 1581. His intent was to contact higher spiritual beings through crystal gazing guided by ritual invocation.
—Bill Whitcomb, The Magician’s Companion
We all remember Enoch, right? Guy who dropped the dime on the fallen watcher angels to God and caused the flood, and the destruction of the Nephillim? Well, let us ask ourselves a few questions. Isn’t it odd that both elementals and angels should wish to unite with mortals? On the surface, this would seem a degradation of both parties, yet both parties seem to wish it so much that they are willing to incur God’s wrath to do it… a pretty big deal, one would think. Second, Iblis (who calls himself the Son of Fire when refusing Allah’s command to bow down before Adam) is the Quranic equivalent of Lucifer, a fallen Archangel… and he also seems to be an elemental spirit, doesn’t he? Furthermore, the whole lynchpin of Dee’s Enochian magic is the command of four elemental kings, whose names are Tahaoelog, the king of air, Thahebyobeaatnun, the king of water, Thahaaothe, the king of earth, and finally Ohooohaatan, the king of fire. Besides the fact that these four elemental kings have names out of a Lovecraft story (and that king of fire reminds me of the last word written down by the vanished colonists of Roanoke, Croatoan), the entirety of the Enochian system of magic was supposedly handed to Dee and his somewhat deceitful scryer Ed Kelly by angels.
Well, perhaps they were… or perhaps, when angels fall themselves, they are stripped of their divinity, and reduced to mere elemental beings without the grace of God, unable to endure eternity. Perhaps the reason conjurors and magicians can control elemental spirits is twofold; by using ritual, they can briefly regain a sense of the divine in themselves, and thus contact the angelic uncorrupted spirits of the elements who freely served Adam before the fall… and by using necromancy, as Dee often did, they can contact those fallen angels who seek a back-door into immortality and offer them the one thing they need… union with a human.
Not every authority has painted so attractive a picture of the creatures of the elements as has the Abbé de Villars. By some it is believed that there are numberless degrees among these beings, the highest resembling the lowest angels, while the lowest may often be mistaken for demons.
—Lewis Spence, An Encyclopedia of Occultism
Happy, happy glowing fire,
Dazzling bowers of soft retire,
Ever let my nourish’d wing,
Like a bat’s, still wandering,
Nimbly fan your firey spaces
Spirit sole in deadly places;
In unhaunted roar and blaze,
Open eyes that never daze:
Let me see the myriad shapes
Of men, and beasts, and fish, and apes,
Portray’d in many a firey den—John Keats, Song of Four Fairies: Fire, Air, Earth and Water
