One reader asks: “I’m seeing a lot of concepts, including the Enochian alphabet, being used non-paradigmatically or in other paradigms entirely. What aspects of Enochian do you feel can be incorporated successfully without adopting an Enochian paradigm? Is full initiation required to successfully adopt these techniques?”
This is a great question, and I’m grateful for it.
I’ll start off by saying no, I don’t think you need full initiation into Enochian in order to practice it (I myself have not been initiated into Enochian via an order, but have only learned how to do it from books and online resources). I do think that in general the concern to have respect for any tradition is important (at the same time it’s not a good idea to infer someone else’s respect or lack thereof!). Let’s start with the background of Enochian and then the angels themselves. Dee was a Christian but also a humanist, and while the angelic transmission–often in apocalyptic imagery–at the time came through in an apocalyptic cultural context, Jason Louv comments that this can be understood in either an exoteric and esoteric sense.
Regarding the use of Enochian in other paradigms, it’s clear in the original transmission that the angels fundamentally want us to simply love each other, and so as long as that is fulfilled, the exact way that happens is less important to them. My main focus has been to uphold that second-greatest commandment, and thereby help uphold the greatest, and so I have been working with Enochian with an eye toward linking it with Buddhism. I see no contradiction between the two systems. This has been my focus because Buddhism has struck me as having the most appropriate and loving orientation toward our fellow beings. That is to say, Buddhism, when performed well, orients the believer whole-heartedly towards love than other systems I’ve come across. Furthermore, the same kind of ego-undoing that happens with Enochian also happens with many of the intermediate Buddhist teachings and practices I’ve been exposed to. Finally, different schools of Buddhism emphasize different means to realizing Buddhahood, including deity work, and the Enochian angels haven’t scolded or directed me away from adopting Buddhist practices or work with such deities. For these reasons, I see them as largely congruent.
Nonetheless, I think different traditions will work less well with Enochian due to how closely they do or do not abide by this view to love each other. Thelema is probably one of the better ones; as a religious edict, it can be (over)simplified with the familiar Law: “Do What Thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will.” These two short sentences reflect a deceptively simple idea of the True Will, that I consider orthogonal to the commandment-style, OCD-righteousness. There are billions of different ways to go through your day and keep all of the rigorous commandments of the Bible, but following Thelema as a Law, you would simply choose the path that also reflects your True Will. In other words, Thelema isn’t necessarily in contradiction with other religious tenets (i.e., if it’s your Will to be a strictly observant member of another religion, you may do that and also anything else that encompasses your True Will). Thelema puts “Love under Will,” which is a phrase with frustrating multiple meanings; does it mean under as in “secondary,” “subservient,” or “foundational”? Regardless, Love is clearly integral to the True Will. In this way, I’d say Thelema could use Enochian well.
What wouldn’t work well? Systems or individuals that have selfishness (sorry, Objectivism!) or cruelty as central to their tenets, or parochial rather than universal views (though there’s nothing wrong with acting locally, as long as you’re also thinking globally). I would also say that saying an Enochian-language prayer to an anti-angelic entity is an altogether bad idea. I’d advise the reader to reflect on the Bible verses of “Lord, who is my neighbor?” and “Love thy enemy” as well as the Eight Verses of Training the Mind by Langri Thangpa (note: all of this must be done without self-hatred).
Working backward to the original question, how to use Enochian respectfully is important. It probably is okay to use Enochian in cultural works, but it’s important to be careful: this is powerful stuff. Having a good deal of humility and care is ideal for any magical working (but especially for Enochian!), so accept beforehand that you can and will make mistakes. However, it’s my view that you can probably speak Enochian to, say, a Hindu or Greek deity (such as what you would see in a Chaos Magick approach), since–in my view–all beings are are enfolded with the Divine as a whole, and deities in some ways are higher than humans in the chain of being. Enochian angels simply seem powerfully tied in to the Divine and much closer to the universal divine consciousness and Buddha nature. I would also say that using the Holy Table and SDA in the manner that Scott Stenwick suggests is largely a good one (but I haven’t done every kind of experiment he has posted on, so your experience may vary). You can also experiment, but be sure to really ask yourself if your use of Enochian is following that main spirit of love that the angels themselves prescribed. If so, then that’s fine.
Enochian Today 