The Language of Angels - Enochian & Magic

A conlang from Angels: Enochian and Magic

Angels and Demons, we humans have been fascinated with the divine from very early on in our history. Equally, we have gravitated towards language and the various forms that is has taken. As conlangs become increasingly popular and the craft continues to grow, it is also important to take a look at the history of conlangs and some of older forms of invented languages. Enochian, a 16-century language that was written by John Dee, came from the Angels themselves. In fact, it is a corpus and alphabet that Dee and many others believed to be the only way to communicate with Angels. 

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At this time the idea of angels communicating to humans via their own language was commonplace. It was believed that Angels were sent to communicate with prophets. Dee at the time set out to put this language on record. It was his belief that this angelic speech was used by God to create our world. As well he believed, this was the language first spoken by Adam. However, after Adams fall he lost the ability to use the language. Adam would go on to create a Proto-hebrew language based on his recollections of the celestial speech. This would be the universal language until the time of the Tower of Babel aka the "Confusion of Tongues." At this time, according to Dee, Angels hid their language from humans. Dee began his quest to speak with Angels and received his first vision about the language through a crystal in 1583.

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His first vision was successful in giving him information about the elusive speech of the angels. He was able to derive 21 alphabetic letters and 3 days later, in another vision, was able to get a larger corpus of text of the Angel language.  Much later, he would receive full translations of the language from Angels that enabled the speech to be read in English. Below is an image of the written alphabet. 

Aside from the vocabulary, alphabet, and full translations; Dee would go on to develop series of ceremonies/rituals to assist others in not only contacting Angels, but using their speech to perform magic. This "Enochian magic" was quickly taken on by the occult and continues to have users of its ceremonies today. So the real question, is what do linguists and conlangers think about Enochian? 

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There have been a few linguists who have investigated the Angelic Language, the majority of which see one fatal flaw not in the language itself, but in its supposed backstory. The etymology of the language, according to Dee, lies in a proto-hebrew language used by Adam. However, investigation into the language show that both the syntax and semantics of Enochian are more symmetrical with English than they are with any Semitic language. At the time of the creation of these text, Dee was also a well known informant for Queen Elizabeth I of England. This analysis coincides with some other academics who believe that Dee's Enochian was actually apart of a much larger cryptic codex that he used to pass information to Queen Elizabeth without anyone being able to decipher it. If you want more information on Enochian, check out this link here.