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Dr. John Dee - Some Background
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. He was also an advocate of England's imperial expansion into a "British Empire", a term he is generally credited with coining.
Dee straddled the worlds of modern science and magic just as the former was emerging. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on the geometry of Euclid at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery.
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination. Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called "pure verities".
In his lifetime, Dee amassed one of the largest libraries in England. His high status as a scholar also allowed him to play a role in Elizabethan politics. He served as an occasional advisor and tutor to Elizabeth I and nurtured relationships with her ministers Francis Walsingham and William Cecil. Dee also tutored and enjoyed patronage relationships with Sir Philip Sidney, his uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Edward Dyer. He also enjoyed patronage from Sir Christopher Hatton.
Dee attended the Chelmsford Chantry School (now King Edward VI Grammar School) from 1535 to 1542. He entered St John's College, Cambridge, in November 1542, aged 15, graduating BA in 1545 or early 1546. His abilities recognised, he became an original fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, on its founding by Henry VIII in 1546. At Trinity, the clever stage effects he produced for a production of Aristophanes' Peace procured him the reputation of being a magician that clung to him through life. In the late 1540s and early 1550s, he travelled in Europe, studying at Louvain (1548) and Brussels and lecturing in Paris on Euclid. He studied with Gemma Frisius and became a close friend of the cartographer Gerardus Mercator and cartographer Abraham Ortelius. Dee also travelled extensively throughout Europe meeting and working with as well as learning from other leading continental mathematicians such as Federico Commandino in Italy. He returned to England with an important collection of mathematical and astronomical instruments. In 1552, he met Gerolamo Cardano in London: during their acquaintance they investigated a perpetual motion machine as well as a gem purported to have magical properties.
Rector at Upton-upon-Severn from 1553, Dee was offered a readership in mathematics at Oxford in 1554, which he declined; he was occupied with writing and perhaps hoped for a better position at court. In 1555, Dee became a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, as his father had, through the company's system of patrimony.
That same year, 1555, he was arrested and charged with "calculating" for having cast horoscopes of Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth; the charges were expanded to treason against Mary. Dee appeared in the Star Chamber and exonerated himself, but was turned over to the Catholic Bishop Bonner for religious examination. His strong and lifelong penchant for secrecy perhaps worsening matters, this entire episode was only the most dramatic in a series of attacks and slanders that would dog Dee throughout his life. Clearing his name yet again, he soon became a close associate of Bonner.
Dee presented Queen Mary with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library, in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up.[18] Instead, he expanded his personal library at his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the European Continent. Dee's library, a centre of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.
Dee's glyph, whose meaning he explained in Monas Hieroglyphica.
When Elizabeth took the throne in 1558, Dee became her trusted advisor on astrological and scientific matters, choosing Elizabeth's coronation date himself. From the 1550s through the 1570s, he served as an advisor to England's voyages of discovery, providing technical assistance in navigation and ideological backing in the creation of a "British Empire", a term that he was the first to use. Dee wrote a letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, in October 1574 seeking patronage. He claimed to have occult knowledge of treasure in the Welsh Marches, and of valuable ancient manuscripts kept at Wigmore Castle, knowing that the Lord Treasurer's ancestors came from this area. In 1577, Dee published General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation, a work that set out his vision of a maritime empire and asserted English territorial claims on the New World. Dee was acquainted with Humphrey Gilbert and was close to Sir Philip Sidney and his circle.
In 1564, Dee wrote the Hermetic work Monas Hieroglyphica ("The Hieroglyphic Monad"), an exhaustive Cabalistic interpretation of a glyph of his own design, meant to express the mystical unity of all creation. Having dedicated it to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor in an effort to gain patronage, Dee attempted to present it to him during the time of his ascension to the throne of Hungary. This work was esteemed by many of Dee's contemporaries, but the work can not be interpreted today without the secret oral tradition from that era.
He published a "Mathematical Preface" to Henry Billingsley's English translation of Euclid's Elements in 1570, arguing the central importance of mathematics and outlining mathematics' influence on the other arts and sciences. Intended for an audience outside the universities, it proved to be Dee's most widely influential and frequently reprinted work.
One of the important early products of the English School was the first English translation of the Elements of Euclid. This translation was carried out by The Lord Mayor of London Sir Henry Billingsley and not from a Latin translation but direct from the Greek. Published in 1570 this mathematical milestone contained a preface as well as copious notes and supplementary material from John Dee and this preface is considered to be one of Dee’s most important mathematical works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee
The Enochian Alphabet
The 16th century Enochian Alphabet is credited to occultist and astrologer Dr. John Dee and his psychic associate Edward Kelly. It is a magically sourced system that was allegedly dictated via angels ... or was it?
Dee was a respected scholar in his day but Kelley was a man of ill repute with a well known shady past but with equally well known genuine psychic ability. Dee had confidence in Kelley's abilities and their association lasted for seven years.
Dee’s interest in “angelic magic” began after reading Steganographia by Abbot Trithemius around 1553. His communication with angels began in October of 1581. These were troubled times for Dee who suffered from strange dreams. He was also kept awake by strange knockings throughout the house. It was almost as though certain spirits were trying to contact Dee rather than the other way around.
Dee originally worked with a medium by the name of Barnabas Saul who claimed to see angels in a crystal ball. Dee however was neither convinced nor satisfied with Saul’s work and dismissed him. In 1582, Dee met Edward Kelley - a strange young man of 27 who had been a student but who never acquired a degree. Kelley had been convicted of forgery and was known to engage in necromancy and other magical rituals.
Dee and Kelley held hundreds of séances mainly in England and Poland. In 1583 Kelley allegedly made contact with the Angel Uriel who prophesized the attempt of invasion of England by Spain and also the death of Mary Queen of Scots. These prophesies came to pass in 1587 and 1588. Uriel claimed Enochian was the language spoken in the Garden of Eden and further linguistic teaching ensued. In April of 1587, an angel calling herself Madimi contacted Dee and Kelley with instructions that the two should swap wives. This disturbed Dee who felt that “devils” were impersonating angels and he was reluctant to listen. Madimi it seems was rather persuasive and on May 22 the swap occurred. The event put a great strain on the relationship between Dee and Kelley and they parted ways. Dee gave up his magical practices and returned to England where he died in poverty in 1608. Kelley died abroad under “mysterious circumstances.”
http://www.thegalaxyexpress.com/celestial-dialog
Derivative Images
Contemporary commentary on Dr. John Dee ...