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Black Magic?

Dr John Dee (1527-1608)

Enochian magic: echoes of Dee?

In his day, John Dee was a highly significant figure, influential in the fields of architecture, painting and the arts, as well as being recognised as a remarkable scientist and mathematician. But his achievements are often omitted from historical textbooks in favour of his occult activities - despite the fact that he was known in his lifetime as the most learned man in Europe.

Dee was obsessed by knowledge and when Mary I refused his request to set up a national library, he formed his own collection of nearly 4000 books and manuscripts, an astonishing library for the time and one that people visited from all over Europe. His influence didn't stop there, however. He also went on to promote the reform of the English calendar and, due his obsession with conquering new frontiers, made massive leaps forward in the science of cartography.

He is even responsible for coining the phrase 'British Empire' and was one of the first British supporters of Copernicus' theory that the Earth orbits the Sun. But he is seldom remembered for these achievements - instead, Dee has become synonymous with angels, the occult and the Enochian Keys.

Thanks to Dee, anyone can purchase Enochian tarot cards today, or even an Enochian chess game, once played by the dark magic society the Golden Dawn. There is also an Enochian web ring on the internet, dedicated to the practice of Enochian magic.

Dee's legacy doesn't end there, however. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the belief in angels and there are even classes to help people learn 'the traditional and modern methods for calling and amplifying the angelic presence'. He may have been a great renaissance scholar, but Dee's foremost legacy will always be an occult one.

PLUS: Was Edward Kelley a black magician? Read Gavin Baddeley's expert opinion