ENOCHIAN Messages---Opinions on Dr. John Dee?

Was he anything like Nancy Reagan's astrologer?

Of course, he was a complete fake and a charlatan, but the Kabbalistic magical systems folks like him used which evolved into the stuff practiced by the Golden Dawn and later Crowley’s Order of the Silver Stars is pretty deep and fascinating on some levels.


Of course, it isn’t “real” magic in the Harry Potter sense; the foreword to the Golden Dawn handbook actually strongly implies all the rituals are just metaphors. As in, the ritual for “Invisibility” doesn’t make it impossible for others to see you, nor should you expect it to. Rather, it is designed to create a spiritual or psychological state. Much more interesting than Dee’s stupid parlor tricks.

I actually wasn't kidding. The stuff is pretty brilliant, I just don't think it amounts to an effective spiritual or philosophical system. Too obtuse.

Just for the record, I'm hardly a "spiritual" person, whatever that is supposed to mean. I just geek out over this kind of stuff. My fascination for this system of interlocked, networked web of metaphors which somehow simultaneously model the functions of the universe while connecting them with the workings of the mind has more in common with my obsession with complicated board games than any religious impulse. If that makes any kind of sense.

In canis copore transmuto

Catman's favorite alchemist is Edward Elric (though Al is a close second, and Roy Mustang certainly deserves honorable mention).