Renaissance magic
John Dee
Mathematician, astrologer, navigator and adviser to Elizabeth I, whose attempts to speak with angels produced what modern occultists call Enochian magic.
- Dates
- 1527 – probably 1608 or early 1609
- Dating
- approximate dates
- Born
- London
- Died
- Mortlake
The life
From the 1580s especially, he attempted contact with angels through crystal-gazing mediums, most famously Edward Kelley. The two travelled through Poland and Bohemia (modern Czechia) seeking aristocratic patronage while continuing with their sessions. Dee later returned to England, served as warden of Christ's College in Manchester, and spent his final years at Mortlake.
Place in the tradition
Historically he was both a scientist by the standards of his time and a serious practitioner of angelic magic, and his later reputation has swung between the two rather than holding both.
a note on the record
History and later legend
His exact date of death is uncertain, largely because Mortlake’s parish register for the period and his original gravestone haven’t survived. He’s generally believed to have died at Mortlake in late 1608 or early 1609, although December 1608 is the traditional date. His final years were marked by poverty, bereavement, and declining influence.
the written record
Principal works
-
1558
Propaedeumata Aphoristica
Astrological and cosmological aphorisms exploring celestial influences.
-
1564
Monas Hieroglyphica
His famous enigmatic synthesis of planetary, elemental, alchemical and mathematical symbols into a single glyph.
-
1570
Mathematical Preface to Euclid
Not an occult manual, but part of Dee's belief that mathematics could open the order hidden in nature.
-
principally 1580s; partially published 1659 by Meric Casaubon
Spiritual and angelic diaries
Records of the angelic sessions: voices, letter tables, a purported angelic language and the cosmology disclosed through them.