ZAX’s Choronzon confrontation belongs to Aleister Crowley’s later account, not to the tenth three-letter name in the thirty-Aethyr sequence or its bare 1912 roster.
- Aethyr number
- 10 of 30
- Earthly-part positions
- 28–30
- Crowley’s 1911 chapter
- Printed pp. 92–103
Dee’s Liber Scientiae supplies the earlier manuscript setting. The Equinox I:8 (1912) supplies the spelling and number used here. Crowley’s Vision and the Voice, printed in 1911, supplies the later narrative described below.
What the earlier Aethyr framework establishes
The 1912 Equinox roster numbers ZAX tenth. Whitby’s description of the Liber Scientiae places three earthly parts under each of the first twenty-nine Aethyrs, so ZAX falls at ordinal positions 28–30. The British Library catalogue locates the Liber Scientiae in Sloane MS 3191. These are the appropriate sources for the name, sequence, and structure.
The name list does not itself narrate an encounter with Choronzon, define the tenth as an initiatory threshold, or prescribe a modern reading of the Abyss. Those familiar associations require attribution to a later source.
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 ↗
ZAX governor names: ordinals 28–30
The Equinox I:7 (1912) groups three names under ZAX 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.
- 28 LEXARPHSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
- 29 COMANANSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
- 30 TABITOMSame spelling in the 2010 comparison appendix
The Choronzon episode in the 1911 supplement
The 1911 Vision and the Voice introduces ZAX with a ceremonial preface, then shifts into a reported exchange involving a seer, a scribe, and Choronzon. The printed narrative describes rapidly changing appearances and speech, distractions directed toward the scribe, and an episode of conflict in the sand. The scribe’s own note follows the main account.
The supplement dates the account to December 6, 1909, near Bou-Saâda and says it was edited and revised the next day. That editorial admission makes the printed piece a shaped report, not an unmediated recording of every spoken word. It is a primary witness for what Crowley and his circle published about the working; it does not independently verify a supernatural event.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 92–103 ↗
Why “ZAX equals Choronzon” is too compressed
In Crowley’s text, Choronzon changes form and subject repeatedly; the scribe’s postscript stresses dispersion and the difficulty of holding attention. These are the author’s and scribe’s interpretations inside a Thelemic ceremonial narrative. They should be discussed as part of that narrative rather than assigned as the timeless properties of a name from Dee’s manuscript.
The printed account includes animal killing and threatening gestures. Its scribe note is separate from the principal vision, and the episode belongs to the 1911 supplement. The earlier manuscript Aethyr list supplies names but does not contain this later account.
Sources: The Equinox I:5 supplement (1911), printed pp. 92–103 ↗ · The Equinox I:8 (1912), p. 125 ↗
Source editions and 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. 92–103 ↗
The 1911 link opens a scan of the original supplement. Its PDF viewer page is two higher than the printed page number. The 1912 issue link is a modern reconstruction.