In LOE, a chariot and radiant cup dissolve the surroundings. Its blood, compassion, and Babalon belong to Crowley’s 1911 language, not Dee’s twelfth Aethyr name.
- Aethyr number
- 12 of 30
- Earthly-part positions
- 34–36
- Crowley’s 1911 chapter
- Printed pp. 81–87
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.
LOE’s earlier documentary place
The Equinox I:8 prints LOE at number twelve. Using Whitby’s account of three earthly parts beneath each of the first twenty-nine Aethyrs gives it ordinal positions 34–36. Those are calculated positions in the ninety-one-part arrangement. No claim about a country, four sphinxes, or the cup can be drawn from the part numbers alone.
The British Library places Liber Scientiae in Sloane MS 3191, distinct from the folios of the Claves Angelicae and De heptarchia mystica. The much later 1911 supplement reports a vision under LOE. Keeping the manuscript, printed roster, and visionary account apart lets readers see which source supports each part of this page.
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 ↗
LOE governor names: ordinals 34–36
The Equinox I:7 (1912) groups three names under LOE on printed page 240. These are the spellings in that later table; the comparison labels below identify only forms that differ in a modern Great Table reconstruction.
- 34 TAPAMALSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
- 35 GEDOONSSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
- 36 AMBRIOLSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
A chariot held beneath the night sky
The scene begins with two pillars of flame and a chariot of white fire drawn by four differently composed sphinxes. Crowley compares it to the seventh tarot key. The vehicle is also a waning lunar crescent, while eight amber pillars hold a canopy that becomes the entire vault of night. Its armoured driver carries a glowing cup.
As the cup brightens, the narrator reports a complex scent, then an awe-inspiring voice that interprets the vessel through Crowley’s Babalon symbolism. A parenthetical aside calls the experience compassion and describes a yielding of self. These are the chapter’s own associations; they should not be projected backwards onto the short name LOE as if it were a literal translation.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 81–87 ↗
A speech of interpretation, then the veil
The driver’s long speech joins the cup to a City of the Pyramids, the Beast, the Rosy Cross, and a dispute over knowledge of the Aethyrs and the Tree of Life. The speaker explicitly says that the order of the Aethyrs does not simply coincide with the Tree. This is an important internal caution against drawing a one-to-one diagram from the visionary passage.
At the end, six children carry an almost transparent veil across the cup. Its light goes out and the whole scene becomes dark; the seer says he is cold. The chapter is dated Bou Saâda, overnight December 4–5, 1909. The cup imagery is rich evidence for Crowley’s reception of Enochian material, while the earlier source establishes only the named order and part scheme used here.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 81–87 ↗ · The Equinox I:8 (1912), p. 125 ↗
Source editions and page locators
- 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. 81–87 ↗
The 1911 link opens a scan of the original supplement at PDF page 83, corresponding to printed page 81. The 1912 issue link is a modern reconstruction. This page paraphrases the original printing and does not treat the visionary report as independently verified.
Continue reading the Aethyrs
- 11. ICH An armed but motionless host guards nine towers; the later narrative ends before the Abyss.
- 13. ZIM A peaceful garden appears, but the account asks what unseen work sustains it and who can interpret the vision.
- 14. UTA The 1911 heading spells UTI; the later roster spells UTA. Both point to the fourteenth order discussed here.
- 10. ZAX How the famous Choronzon episode entered the later literature of the tenth Aethyr.
- 15. OXO A dancing figure becomes a rose-shaped amphitheatre, followed by layered tables and a vision that resists simple transcription.
- 16. LEA The earlier Aethyr name and three earthly-part positions beside a later vision of displaced kingship and a returning woman.