TAN, the 17th Enochian Aethyr: Balances, Madimi, and Mercy

TAN’s position in the earlier scheme

The Equinox I:8 lists TAN as number seventeen, between LEA and ZEN. Under the thirty-order, ninety-one-part structure described by Whitby, its ordinal earthly-part positions are 49–51. They locate the name in the historical arrangement without supplying a map of present-day regions or a set of fixed modern correspondences.

Sloane MS 3191 contains Dee’s Liber Scientiae as well as the Claves Angelicae in separate folio ranges. The manuscript catalogue establishes an earlier documentary setting for Aethyr work. It cannot be used to date Crowley’s reported TAN images to Dee or Kelley.

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 ↗

Madimi, scales, and the blue plume

In the 1911 chapter, a dragon’s head precedes a figure called Madimi. Crowley expressly compares her with Casaubon’s account of Dee’s spirit actions, then asks why she appears differently. Her answer introduces a contrast between judgment and justice. Balances appear with a written phrase about motion; behind them is an azure feather, then a vertical quartz-like filament and winged disk.

That self-conscious reference to Casaubon is important. It shows a later author engaging with an earlier printed Dee tradition, not a seamless continuation of an identical recorded scene. The scales and plume resemble an apparatus for weighing claims, but the page does not give a simple sign translation for TAN or a reproducible test for its alleged effects.

Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 56–60 ↗

From weighing to a voice of mercy

A dark angel becomes a small point within a sphere that changes from gold through green to blue. The narrator connects green Libra with yellow air and blue water, then reports the voice’s assertion that TAN means mercy. A silver armoured angel develops the theme: human justice is a compromise between truth and falsehood, whereas the vision imagines a larger truth beyond that opposition.

Later the text invokes the High Priestess, a silver star, a black cross of Themis, and a descending ladder of light. It closes with cymbals, three bell strokes, and a Bou Saâda date line of December 2, 1909. “TAN means mercy” is a statement inside this later vision. It is not an etymology demonstrated by the 1912 roster or the Sloane catalogue.

Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 56–60 ↗ · The Equinox I:8 (1912), p. 125 ↗

Source editions and page locators

1. The Equinox I:8 (1912), p. 125 ↗
2. Whitby, John Dee’s Actions with Spirits, vol. 1, pp. 141–142 ↗
3. British Library, Sloane MS 3191 catalogue ↗
4. The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 56–60 ↗

The 1911 link opens a scan of the original supplement at PDF page 58, corresponding to printed page 56. 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 →

Continue reading the Aethyrs

• 16. LEA The earlier Aethyr name and three earthly-part positions beside a later vision of displaced kingship and a returning woman.
• 18. ZEN A later vision moves from a disturbing opening image to a crystal mountain and a chamber whose centre cannot be seen.
• 19. POP An arch of dagger-shaped letters gives way to an abandoned threshold, a battlefield, and a dazzling book.
• 20. KHR A peacock dissolves into angels and a complex wheel; the seer then questions what can be remembered from his own vision.
• 21. ASP The older name and earthly-part position beside a later report of wind, a throne, and speech that the seer cannot reliably hear.
• 22. LIN A luminous tablet, a musician-angel, and a striking example of why visionary number claims need their own source label.

Read about the shared Aethyr Call →