Dee, John

Dee, John (1527–1608) : During the reign of England’s Queen Elizabeth I, John Dee was respected not only as a scholar but as a magician and an alchemist. He also claimed to have regular communications with angels, and he wrote extensively on the occult. Few of Dee’s works were published in his lifetime. Instead, most seventeenth-century readers knew about Dee because of a book published by Meric Causaubon more than fifty years after Dee died. Titled A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits, the book told of Dee’s experiences with the occult.

Before becoming involved in the supernatural, Dee was a student of science and mathematics at St. Johns College in Cambridge, England. After leaving school to travel through Europe, he became an expert in astrology, alchemy, scrying, and other arts associated with the occult. (His interest in alchemy and scrying was inspired by his poverty at the time; alchemy involves attempts to turn base metals into gold and silver, and scrying involves using magic or psychic powers to locate hidden or lost objects, such as money.)

Royal Astrologer

Eventually word of Dee’s skills reached England, and he returned there by royal request to serve King Edward VI. After the king’s death in 1553, Dee became astrologer for Edward’s half sister, Queen Mary. For a few months he foretold her future on a daily basis and was a favourite at court, but when he befriended another of Edward’s half sisters and Mary’s rival to the throne, Princess Elizabeth, Mary had Dee arrested as a witch. The specific charges were false; nonetheless, Dee was imprisoned until 1555.

In 1558 Mary died and Elizabeth assumed the throne, whereupon Dee became the new queen’s astrologer, numerologist, magician, and adviser. Some say he worked as her spy as well, telling the queen whenever he heard someone speak ill of her. He also worked as a geographer and as a mapmaker. During this period he collected books on magic and the occult. His collection eventually numbered several thousand volumes, making it one of the largest private libraries on the occult ever known to exist.

Dee also collected tools said to attract angels and make possible communication with them. These tools included a piece of obsidian he called his “magic glass” or “magic mirror” and a pale pink crystal he said had been given to him by an angel in human form. Dee claimed to have much success in receiving messages from angels, though he admitted he had never actually seen nor spoken to them directly. Instead, his assistant, Edward Kelly (originally named Edward Talbot), let Dee know when they were present and passed along their messages. According to Kelly, the angels spoke in a strange language, Enochian, which he and Dee then wrote down and translated.

At first Dee and Kelly communicated with angels for their own personal enlightenment, but at some point they began engaging in such communication for the benefit of others. From 1585 to 1589 they toured Europe as professional angel communicators, allowing other people to ask questions of the angels. Their tour ended when the two had a falling-out because Kelly was attracted to Dee’s wife. Dee then returned to England and found a new partner in spirit/angel communication, Bartholomew Hickman, but he and Hickman never achieved fame together.

Fall from Grace

Dee survived on the favours of the royal court until Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, whereupon he lost his position and was thrown back into the poverty he had known prior to becoming involved in the occult. He also feared that without royal protection he would be attacked for his earlier activities as a magician since witch hunts were becoming increasingly common in England and Europe. Dee petitioned King James I to publicly declare that he had never actually been a magician at all but rather was a scholar and a scientist. Dee failed to get such a royal declaration, but luck was with him and he was not targeted by witch hunters.

Dee died of natural causes in 1608, still penniless. He is remembered not only for the many books he wrote but also for the Enochian language he claimed to have learned from angels. This language is still used by some witches today because they believe it is imbued with magic. One of the first modern witches to employ this language was Aleister Crowley, who advocated its adoption by all witches in his book Magick in Theory and Practice.

SEE ALSO:

• Angel Encounters
• Aleister Crowley
• Occultism
• Witches

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning