ZAA keeps destabilizing its own sight: Crowley’s later, partly heard moon-crowned speaker gives way to a boiling forty-nine-petal rose, then a dragon in the twenty-seventh Aethyr.
- Aethyr number
- 27 of 30
- Earthly-part positions
- 79–81
- Crowley’s 1911 chapter
- Printed pp. 15–18
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.
The name before the vision
The Equinox I:8 prints ZAA as the twenty-seventh Aethyr, between DES and BAG in the numbered series. Under Whitby’s account of Dee’s thirty orders and ninety-one earthly parts, number twenty-seven has ordinal parts 79–81. These are calculated positions under the three-parts-per-order rule for the first twenty-nine. They are not claims that the moon-crowned figure rules three present-day territories.
British Library Sloane MS 3191 is the manuscript setting for Dee’s Liber Scientiae. The later 1912 list supplies the spelling used here. The speaking woman and forty-nine-petalled rose occur in the 1911 Vision and the Voice, a different and much later work. These sources preserve separate layers of ZAA: Dee’s manuscript scheme, a later spelling list, and Crowley’s visionary episode.
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 ↗
ZAA governor names: ordinals 79–81
The Equinox I:7 (1912) groups three names under ZAA on printed page 242. These are the spellings in that later table; the comparison labels below identify only forms that differ in a modern Great Table reconstruction.
- 79 SAZIAMISame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
- 80 MATHVLA2010 comparison form: MATHULA
- 81 ORPANIBSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
A moon-crowned speaker and broken hearing
The 1911 chapter begins with a rainbow-winged angel in green and silver. A woman of great age appears with a moon on her crest and another on her heart. Her speech names her as a solitary queen and connects her with stars and the goddess Nuit. Later the seer says rays beat against him while he sees himself enclosed in a blue-violet egg with a golden hawk’s head.
He then reports a continuous wail, a deep voice, and rapidly spoken words that he cannot hear. A few Angelical-looking syllables are printed, but the text itself warns that this is partial hearing. The limitation is central evidence about the report. It would be inaccurate to treat the printed syllables as a complete Enochian Call or as a dependable translation of the goddess’s speech.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 15–18 ↗
Rose, cauldron, dragon, and retreat
On printed page 16 a cauldron holds a rose with forty-nine petals. The woman blows iridescent rings toward it; its colours change, and tears fill the stone with moons. The cauldron later contains a dragon’s head. The dragon rises and blots out the sphere; white light, golden sparks, bell-like sounds, and an indescribable scent replace the prior images.
An olive-and-silver veil and a voice follow, then warriors fill the Aethyr until the report says there is nothing more to see. The closing date line is Sidi Aissa, Algeria, November 24, 1909. These changing events distinguish the 1911 scene from a fixed “ZAA equals moon magic” gloss. The rose’s forty-nine petals are a feature of this vision, not a revised count of Dee’s Aethyrs or Calls.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 15–18 ↗ · Whitby, John Dee’s Actions with Spirits, vol. 1, pp. 141–142 ↗
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. 15–18 ↗
The 1911 link opens a scan of the original supplement at PDF page 17, corresponding to printed page 15. 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
- 26. DES A dark, dazzling angel changes into an eagle before a red veil gives way to Crowley’s Thelemic imagery.
- 28. BAG A many-limbed warden hides a sapphire and admits limits to what its words and symbols can reveal.
- 29. RII Four directions, several speaking figures, and a printed chronology that deserves careful reading.
- 25. VTI A visionary lion and its strange tail, followed by a printed note about the difference between heard speech and perceived meaning.
- 30. TEX The exceptional four-part Aethyr in Dee’s scheme becomes a cube, four archangels, and sealed books in Crowley’s later vision.
- 24. NIA A warrior becomes a blue rose; a later visionary speech and a lettered wheel belong to Crowley’s account.