If one could speak the language of Angels, it was believed one could directly interact with them. The term "Enochian" comes from Dee's assertion that the Biblical Patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language.Īccording to Tobias Churton in his text The Golden Builders, the concept of an Angelic or antediluvian language was common during Dee's time. ĭee's journals did not describe the language as "Enochian", instead preferring descriptors like "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ", the "Holy Language" or " Adamical" because, according to Dee's Angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. The phonology is thoroughly English the grammar seems to be less so, but the translations are not sufficient to work out much grammar. The language of the Calls, which are translated, may be more like an artificial language. The untranslated language of the Liber Loagaeth manuscript recalls the patterns of glossolalia. Several linguists, notably Donald Laycock, have studied the Enochian journals, and argue against any extraordinary features in the language. The language found in Dee's and Kelley's journals encompasses a limited textual corpus, only some of it with translation. The language is integral to the practice of Enochian magic. The men claimed that the language was revealed to them by the Enochian angels. Kelley was a spirit medium who worked with Dee in his magical investigations.
Enochian ( / ɪ ˈ n oʊ k i ə n/ ə- NOH-kee-ən) is an occult language or languages, claimed to be angelic, recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England.