III - Enochian Language & Alphabet

[Frater Yechidah]

I - The Enochian Language, Introduction

The Enochian Language is the central piece of the entire system. It is the Language of the Angels (according to the Angels), and, while we don't have a full "guide" available to us, there is clear indication of syntax and grammar, which alone suggests that this is indeed a real language, and not, as some suggest, a product of Kelley's diabolical (yet ingenious) imagination. The reception of this language is largely based around the Enochian Calls/Keys, which are large poetic invocations that were received backwards, since the Angels believed that the words were too powerful to deliver to Dee forwards. The language itself may appear very strange, as there are often lots of consonants next to each other, making words seemingly unpronounceable, but this has been worked around with various approaches, some of which will be explained in a later lecture in this thread.

LLLSHJ,
Yechidah.

[Frater Yechidah]

II - The Enochian Alphabet

The Enochian Alphabet was delivered by the angels showing a red outline on the paper, and then Kelley coloured it in. However, when the Golden Dawn adepts were in the British Museum looking through the material there, they obviously made a few errors (and who wouldn't? We now have the luxury of the documents in print), in both the form of the letters and (more importantly, in my opinion), the spelling of the letters.

Here's a table I've composed to show you this, with both for comparison (if there are errors, feel free to point them out and I will correct them):

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s22/yechidah/enochian-alphabet.jpg


As you will notice, there are some subtle (and not so subtle) differences between the two. I'm not trying to discredit the G.'.D.'., of course, but the most noticeable change is "Na" to "Na-Hath". I think the problem here arose from one of Dee's documents, which had the word "Hath" in place of the letter "H", though this is obviously just an error or one of the many unusual notes Dee left throughout his work (the letter is called Na in all other accounts throughout his diaries). You can see where this mistake arose from here:

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s22/yechidah/nahath-mistake.jpg


You might also notice some slight changes in the font, but this was Dee's handwriting, not Kelley's, and seems to be a shorthand form, rather than the "prettier" designs we see in modern fonts (both G.'.D.'. and Dee purist-style). In fact, I usually use the G.'.D.'. style font, as I like it better, and it generally encapsulates the important features of each letters, but feel free to use whichever resonates with you best.

Another thing I want to point out (if you haven't noticed it already) are the blue lines that divide the letters into three groups of seven. This is actually how the language operates (just as the norse runes have three groups of eight), though there are no official names for each group (Tyson names them the "Family of [first letter]"). I think this is an important point if we are to understand this language and how we can utilise its alphabet for best effect.

You'll note that there is only one letter for C/K, I/Y/J, and V/U/W - most of these letters have the same or similar sounds (and they were often interchangeable in Latin words and even English words that Dee wrote throughout his journals). I don't believe the multiples are needed, so I just use C (other people use the K), I, and V. In the Kelley font, however, there is a dot with the letter Gon, which distinguishes it as I instead of Y. This seems to have been a pronunciation effort by Dee, but I feel it is not needed, as the pronunciations (like Dee's English and Latin) seem to change depending on the circumstance. They are both the letter Gon, so I don't see any real reason to distinguish them, unless we want to make it a more perfect match for English, which any real language shouldn't be. I will also point out now that the C should be a hard C sound (i.e. K), but that's mostly my Celtic soul coming through, so feel free to pronounce them any way you like.

I hope this is interesting and useful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask (in the Q&A thread).

LLLSHJ,
Yechidah.

[Frater Yechidah]

III - How Do You Pronounce Enochian? Pt. 1

To answer this simply, I will quote Fr. Neshamah. He makes a very good point here, which I feel should be made long before any pronunciation guides are given. In the second part of this pronunciation lecture, I will give some suggestions and examples for pronouncing words, from a couple of different perspectives, so that you can have somewhere to start from and choose whatever suits you best. At the end of the day, however, the following words are more important:

Excellent question. There are certain guidelines with which one works to pronounce the difficult words, but for the most part, you do the best you can (at least at first). It is more important to get the emotive quality into the Calls or Prayers, rather than make certain each word is pronounced correctly. Enochian is an intense language that evokes strong responses from those speaking it and those hearing it. It is that "strong response" that is more important to the Angels than the content of what you are saying (although, there is a right and wrong way to say the words). The point I'm trying to make is this: When you first begin, the words can be intimidating, but struggle through them anyway. The content is less important than the quality of the delivery. After you've had some practice at speaking the Enochian words, it does become easier, and before long you have both content and emotive quality in your delivery.

- Fr. Neshamah

LLLSHJ,
Yechidah.