Treadwell’s Bookshop, London, has announced a lecture: ‘The Enochian Language: Human or Divine?’ by Dr Mark Newbrook of Monash University. Read on for full details… It looks fascinating.
‘The Enochian Language: Human or Divine?’
By Dr Mark Newbrook of Monash University
Thursday, 1 April
7.15 for 7.30 start
Treadwell’s Bookshop
34 Tavistock Street
Covent Garden, London
In the 1580s, the Enochian Language was dictated to scryer Edward Kelley by angels (so he said) for the great Elizabethan magus John Dee. It was alleged to be the very language of creation, the language spoken by the angels and by God himself. Kelley claimed that angels instructed for sigils, tables, and seals to be inscribed in the language. Dee, who was so keen to receive this language that he payed his scryer handsomely, obeyed.
Some of the resultant objects still survive in the British Museum.
The Enochian language has entranced magical students ever since; chanting the Enochian ‘Keys’ or ‘Calls’ is said to open up celestial gates – powerful, spiritual, dangerous. People who have tried it include the members of the celebrated Victorian magical fraternity, the Order of the Golden Dawn, as did that legendary magus of the fin-de-siecle, the ‘Great Beast’ Aleister Crowley. Gerald Gardner, who later founded Wicca, even dabbled with Enochian invocations.
Mark Newbrook, historical linguist, asks the question: what sort of language is Enochian? And… to a linguistic expert, does it look like a fraud?
Newbrook looks at: How does it work as a language? Could it be spoken easily? Is its grammar similar to that of any existing languages.. or not? Was any of it a spy cipher? Newbrook adds his own thoughts to that of previous scholarship on the matter.
This talk is of central importance to anyone who has worked with Enochian angelic magic, or who has a biographical interest in John Dee and Edward Kelley.
Dr Mark Newbrook studied Classics at Oxford, then Linguistics at the University of Reading, obtaining his PhD in 1982. He has taught and researched in Singapore, Hong Kong, Perth and since 1990 at Monash University in Melbourne, where he was a Senior Lecturer. His main fields of expertise are dialectology, historical linguistics and ‘fringe’ ideas about language. He has lectured world-wide. Mark is an engaging, entertaining and clear speaker, with a gift for making complex concepts lively and comprehensible. Don’t miss him!
To reserve phone or email Treadwells. Early booking is recommended as places are limited and we expect a large turnout. The cost is £5.00/4.00 conc.
Treadwell’s Bookshop and Performance Space is at
34 Tavistock Street Covent Garden, London.
Hours: 12 noon – 7.00 pm.
Days: Open seven days a week
Telephone: 0207 240 8906
info@treadwells-london.co.uk