LIT, the 5th Enochian Aethyr: Pylons and the Arrow

LIT divides in two: Crowley’s fifth Aethyr moves from pylons and a guarded shrine to a returning child whose arrow overtakes the snakes.

Aethyr number: 5 of 30
Earthly-part positions: 13–15
Crowley’s 1911 chapter: Printed pp. 128–136

Two historical layers

Dee’s Liber Scientiae is the earlier manuscript setting. The Equinox I:8 (1912) supplies the spelling and number used here. Crowley’s Vision and the Voice (1911) supplies the much later vision described below.

LIT in the list and manuscript scheme

The Equinox I:8 prints LIT between PAZ and MAZ. In Whitby’s account of Dee’s ninety-one earthly parts, each of the first twenty-nine Aethyrs has three parts; the fifth therefore covers calculated positions 13–15. These numbered positions do not point to a modern place name or explain why Crowley later associated this order with Egyptian figures and arrows.

The British Library catalogues Liber Scientiae in Sloane MS 3191. Crowley’s 1911 supplement begins the LIT vision on printed page 128, PDF page 129 of the checked facsimile. That is the same printed page on which the preceding MAZ chapter ends. Manuscript arrangement, printed name list, and visionary story each answer a different historical question.

Sources: The Equinox I:8 (1912), p. 125 ↗ · Whitby, John Dee’s Actions with Spirits, vol. 1, pp. 141–142 ↗ · British Library, Sloane MS 3191 catalogue ↗ · The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 128–136 ↗

LIT governor names: ordinals 13–15

The Equinox I:7 (1912) groups three names under LIT on printed page 239. These are the spellings in that later table; the comparison labels below identify only forms that differ in a modern Great Table reconstruction.

13 LAZDIXISame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
14 NOCAMALSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
15 TIARPAXSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix

Open LIT in the complete 91-name concordance →

Avenues of pylons and a guarded shrine

The vision starts with an image of Isis-Hathor and the child Horus. Many stone avenues, lined with pylons and national gods, lead to a common high shrine. Around its central altar stand armed guardians making a sign of silence. An utterance admits the narrator, who at first misunderstands it as a denial of divinity; the guardians’ reaction makes him realise that another meaning is intended.

A black, dragon-like angel displaces the scene and challenges the seer’s idea of a separate self. Much of its speech is reported as difficult to catch, amid smoke and roaring. The chapter interrupts itself after the guardian promises a further encounter. Its first date line places the narrator in the desert between Benshrur and Tolga on December 12, 1909. The pause is explicit in the publication, not an editorial gap.

Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 128–136 ↗

The second encounter: child, snakes, and Arrow

On returning, the narrator sees a golden-haired child holding red and blue snakes. The child identifies himself as Eros and links Isis with sorrow and Nephthys with perfection. A white arrow aimed at the child does no harm, while a barbed black arrow is felt in the seer’s own heart. The child disappears and an enormous Arrow fills the vision with crown, shaft, and silver point.

The account dwells on apparent contradictions: movement without moving, one image taking several roles, and a desired vision displaced by ordinary memories. Its closing sentence says the shew-stone has become dull and the narrator sees only recollection. A Tolga date line of December 13, 1909 ends the chapter. This reports Crowley’s interpretation and perceived limits; the earlier Dee record supports the named order, not the claimed occurrence or efficacy of the scene.

Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 128–136 ↗ · British Library, Sloane MS 3191 catalogue ↗

Source editions and page locators

The 1911 link opens a facsimile scan of the original supplement at PDF page 129, corresponding to printed page 128. The 1912 issue link is a modern reconstruction. This page paraphrases the original printing and does not treat the visionary report as independently verified.

See all thirty Aethyr names and the ninety-one-part table →

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